It is
to be expected, of course, that the unrighteous governments would hold
on to their power in earth as long as possible, and that they would
still be thus doing at the coming of the great King, and that he would
oust these earthly kingdoms of unrighteousness and establish a righteous
government. Thus says the Lord through the prophet Daniel: "In the days
of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall
never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people,
but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it
shall stand for ever". (Daniel 2:44) It follows, then, that this
righteous King must be present before he breaks to pieces and consumes
the other kingdoms. The Scriptures speak of the righteous kingdom as the
kingdom of heaven, because it is in accord with the heavenly Father's
will and ruled by the invisible power of the great Messiah.
[359]The term kingdom is used in a two-fold sense: (1) referring to the
king or ruler, the dominating or controlling factor; and (2) to the
dominion and subjects of that kingdom. Almost all the parables of Jesus
were concerning the kingdom of God, or kingdom of heaven. So great is
that kingdom in importance in the Lord's arrangement that Jesus taught
his disciples to pray: "Thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as
it is done in heaven".
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