282 The Plan of the Ages.
from heaven, alone understand heavenly things. "No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man."* A knowledge of the heavenly things can be received only after the begetting of the Spirit ; and the heavenly things themselves, when born of the spirit, spirit beings.
Thus it required patience on the Lord's part, in declar- ing the nature of the kingdom to those whose prejudices and education hindered their seeing anything except dis- torted views of the earthly phase of it. Nevertheless the selection of a proper class to share Messiah's kingdom pro- ceeded, though but a few were selected, from Israel, to whom exclusively it was offered for seven years. As God had foreseen, through their unreadiness for it, and their failure to grasp and comply with the conditions presented, the privilege of sharing in Messiah's kingdom passed from them as a people, only a remnant of whom received it, and came to the Gentiles to take out of them also "a people for his name." And among these also only a remnant, a " little flock," appreciate the privilege and are counted worthy of joint-heirship in his kingdom and glory.
Serious has been the error introduced into the nominal Christian Church, which misinterprets this promised king- dom to mean merely the Church nominal in its present con- dition, and its work merely a work of grace in the hearts of believers ; and to such an extreme has this error been carried that the present unholy alliance and reign of the Church nominal with the world is believed by many to be the reign of the Kingdom of God on the earth. True, there is a sense in which the Church is now the Kingdom of God, and a work of grace is now going on in the hearts of believers ; but to consider this all, and to deny a veritable
��*The words "which is in heaven" (vcrbe 13) are not found in the most ancient and reliable MSS.
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