Jehovah’s Witnesses - Part VII

This article continues a discussion of the kingdom began two weeks ago. What is the nature of the promised kingdom of the Messiah? Daniel 2 records a dream of the Babylonian king in which God presented a prophecy of the future world powers beginning with Babylon. The application begins in verse 38 and reads as follows from the ASV.

. . . thou art the head of gold. And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee; and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron, forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things; and as iron that crusheth all these, shall it break in pieces and crush.

During the period of rule by the forth kingdom Daniel said "And in the days of those kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, nor shall the sovereignty thereof be left to another people; but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever" (Daniel 2:44). Notice the kingdom established by God in the days of these kings, the Roman kings for they followed Greece as the dominant world ruler, God would establish a kingdom which would do several things. This kingdom would: 1, "set up and never be destroyed;" 2. Its sovereignty would not be assumed by others as the sovereignty of Babylon was assumed by the Medes and Persia and theirs in turn by Greece under Alexander the Great; 3. break in pieces and consume the others; 4. stand forever.

This kingdom is also known as the church. Consider the following evidence for this. First, if Jesus' kingdom was designed by God as an earthly kingdom with Jesus ruling from Jerusalem, the Jews were ready to make it happen as John 6:15 indicates, "Jesus therefore perceiving that they were about to come and take him by force, to make him king, withdrew again into the mountain himself alone." Here was the perfect time to establish this earthly kingdom, so why did Jesus withdraw and hide? John 18:33-36 contains the answer,

Pilate therefore entered again into the Praetorium, and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews? Jesus answered, Sayest thou this of thyself, or did others tell it thee concerning me? Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests delivered thee unto me: what hast thou done? Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.

He hid because His was not then nor is to be later an earthly kingdom. The church was established on the first Pentecost after Jesus death and resurrection, Acts 2:47; 5:11; etc. This occurred in the days of the Roman Empire (see Luke 2:1; Acts 25:11). The rule of this kingdom remains with Jesus, no one else can take it away. It spread into all the world in the first century, Colossians 1:23, and has stood for nearly 2000 years while Rome, which sought to destroy it, has long ago fallen. It is this kingdom which Paul had reference to in Colossians 1:13. So Jesus does not need to return to the earth to establish His kingdom, it is here already, it is the church He died to purchase (Acts 20:28).