In the prayer Jesus taught, we find the words: “Thy kingdom come.” Matthew 6:10. For a long time, we have prayed for this kingdom to come. More than two millennia have passed since that prayer was taught but we are still here.

“God’s purposes know no haste and no delay.” For instance, “Through the symbols of the great darkness and the smoking furnace, God had revealed to Abraham the bondage of Israel in Egypt, and had declared that the time of their sojourning should be four hundred years. ‘Afterward,’ He said, ‘shall they come out with great substance.’ Genesis 15:14. Against that word, all the power of Pharaoh’s proud empire battled in vain. On ‘the self-same day’ appointed in the divine promise, ‘it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt.’ Exodus 12:41.” –The Desire of Ages, p. 32

Soon God will fulfill His promise about the establishment of His kingdom.

To understand the nature of this kingdom and the time of its establishment, we need to consider its two natures or phases. These are the kingdom of grace and the kingdom of glory. Not a few during Christ’s first coming hoped that He would rise to the throne of David, and avenge their oppressors and their enemies. Contrary to that however, Christ came to establish on earth, first the kingdom of grace which would prepare the way and give place to that of glory.

“This kingdom is not, as Christ’s hearers had hoped, a temporal and earthly dominion. Christ was opening to men the spiritual kingdom of His love, His grace, His righteousness.” –Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, p. 8

“In vain had John the Baptist, with the heart-searching power of the ancient prophets, called them to repentance. In vain had he, beside the Jordan, pointed to Jesus as the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world.” –Ibid., p. 2

“The kingdom of God’s grace is now being established, as day by day hearts that have been full of sin and rebellion yield to the sovereignty of His love. But the full establishment of the kingdom of His glory will not take place until the second coming of Christ to this world. ‘The kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven,’ is to be given to ‘the people of the saints of the Most High.’ Daniel 7:27. They shall inherit the kingdom prepared for them ‘from the foundation of the world.’ Matthew 25:34.” –Ibid., p. 108

God has given us the time in this kingdom of grace that we may prepare to live in the kingdom of glory. This is so because in heaven there will enter nothing that defiles. Christ wants “to present [us] faultless before the presence of His glory.” Jude 24

The first thing is for us to secure our personal salvation now. We need to cast off every pride, lusts of the flesh and all kinds of besetments. As God is adding days to our lives, it is important that they must be used for personal cleansing through the power of the blood of Jesus. This means true and sincere repentance from sin. Then, let us keep all His commandments and principles of His kingdom. As we do this we build the kingdom of grace.

Christ does not mention ceremonial purity as a condition for heaven. Rather He erects a high standard and says: “Be ye therefore perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.” Matthew 5:48. Also, “… every man that hath this hope in Him purifieth himself even as he is pure.” 1 John 3:3. Let us strive with more effort than we have ever done before. Never to give up! Praying hard, we cry to Jesus to impart us strength daily and we will overcome.

We need then to work also for the salvation of others in order to help build His kingdom of grace. On the other hand also, we hasten His kingdom of glory. Remember that that “this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” Matthew 24:14

Those who compose the kingdom of grace are the ones that will make up the kingdom of glory.

When He began his ministry, “Jesus  came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.” Mark 1:14–15. He meant the kingdom of grace.

When He said “the time is fulfilled”, He was referring to the seventy weeks allocated to Israel, a proportion of the 2300 days as revealed to the beloved prophet Daniel. (Daniel 8:14, 9:24) The 70 weeks, when we calculate, we find that they come to 490 days or years as one day in prophecy is equal to one year (Numbers 14:34, Ezekiel 4:6). They started in 457B.C. (the decree as completed by Artaxerxes Longimanus) and terminated in 34 A.D. However, a week (7 years) before this (27 A.D.) Christ was baptized and anointed by the Spirit, according to prophecy. It was not long after His baptism that He spoke those words in Mark 1:15, declaring the commencement of the kingdom of grace as based on prophecy.

“As the message of Christ’s first advent announced the kingdom of His grace, so the message of His second advent announces the kingdom of His glory. And the second message, like the first, is based on the prophecies. The words of the angel to Daniel relating to the last days were to be understood in the time of the end. At that time, ‘many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.’ ‘The wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand. Daniel 12:4, 10. The Saviour Himself has given signs of His coming, and He says, ‘When ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.’ ‘And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.’ ‘Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.’ Luke 21:31, 34, 36

“We have reached the period foretold in these scriptures. The time of the end is come, the visions of the prophets are unsealed, and their solemn warnings point us to our Lord’s coming in glory as near at hand.

“The Jews misinterpreted and misapplied the word of God, and they knew not the time of their visitation. The years of the ministry of Christ and His apostles,—the precious last years of grace to the chosen people,—they spent in plotting the destruction of the Lord’s messengers. Earthly ambitions absorbed them, and the offer of the spiritual kingdom came to them in vain. So today the kingdom of this world absorbs men’s thoughts, and they take no note of the rapidly fulfilling prophecies and the tokens of the swift-coming kingdom of God.

“‘But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.’ While we are not to know the hour of our Lord’s return, we may know when it is near. ‘Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.’ 1 Thessalonians 5:4–6.” –The Desire of Ages, p. 234–235

May the Lord help us to make the needed preparations. AMEN.

Joe L. Msiska

Malawi/Tanzania