the supreme judge and ruler of the world, and as prophet, priest, and king he must needs exercise his power in accordance with the nature of his kingdom. It has pleased the Almighty Father that all the fullness necessary to his world-wide mission should dwell in the Son of his love (Col. i, 19), and according to John's gospel (v, 19-27) the Father has given the Son power to make alive whom he will, and authority to execute judgment because he is Son of man; and so all men should honor the Son even as they honor the Father. We must, therefore, keep constantly in mind that in all his work of revelation, mediation, salvation, and dominion the Christ of God represents no separate or independent power. Rather, as he himself affirms (John x, 30), "I and my Father are one."

10. Its Period One of Untold Ages and Generations. It is thus in a broad and truly scriptural way of thinking that we conceive the continuous development and advance of the kingdom of Christ in the world. Its period of development is one of untold ages and generations. Through all the passing centuries, and probably for many millenniums of human history yet to come, this King of glory sits upon his throne, directing and overruling all. He has come to execute judgment many times since he ascended to the glory of the Father. And he has appeared in glorious revelations of heavenly life to millions of his saints at the hour of their departure from this world. Thus in a very true and holy sense were they caught away to a meeting of the Lord in the air. Such a departing to be with Christ is not to be deemed incompatible with the Lord's coming to receive them unto himself. And this glorious process is continually going on, and has been since the time when Stephen saw the heavens opened, and beheld the glory of God, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God.' We should not suppose that the exit from the world of the Lazarus who was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom (Luke xvi, 22) was essentially different from that of every other child of God who departs this mortal life in the faith of Jesus. It is equally proper for us to think of angels coming in like manner and gathering to the heavenly home all those who are counted worthy to obtain that world; and in no case are we to suppose that such ministering spirits are sent forth without the Lord. He who was with the disciples always, even to the consummation of the age (Matt. xxviii, 20), and who is present wherever two or three are gathered together in his name (Matt. xviii, 20), is competent to be in like manner with every angel that ministers to such as shall

'Comp. Biblical Apocalyptics, p. 481.

inherit salvation. In every event of the departure from this life of those whose names are written in heaven, "the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with the angels of his power to be glorified in his saints, and to be marvelled at in all them that believed in that day" (2 Thess. i, 7-10). Thus is he continually coming to verify the promise of John xiv, 3, and to receive unto himself and glorify the devout Stephens and Pauls who long for that heavenly manifestation as their most blessed hope. Blessed is that disciple who is thus ready to depart and to be with Christ; for he can say in fervor of spirit: "Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the righteous judge shall give me at that day" (2 Tim. iv, 8). That day is the day or time of his departure (ver. 6). For why should we commit this scripture to the notion that even now, after nearly two thousand years, Paul is still waiting and longing for the crown of righteousness!

11. Regeneration and Restitution of All Things. This incalculable period of Christ's dominion over the world is requisite for the regeneration and restitution of all things. In Acts iii, 21, we read of the "times of restoration of all things, of which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old." This word restoration (ȧToKaтáσтaσ15, restitution, reconstruction) seems to point to the rectifying of all that has gone wrong in the world, and the ultimate abolishing of all rule and authority and power that oppose the progress of the kingdom of God. In Matt. xix, 28, we read of "the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory." The word regeneration (ʼn πaλɩyуeveσía) fitly points out the spiritual character of Christ's rule in the world, and suggests the unseen forces which he employs in executing the saving work of the gospel of his kingdom. The period of this regeneration is coëxtensive with the Messianic era, and must continue as long as the Son of man sits upon the throne of his glory; but "the times of restoration of all things" suggests rather the idea of a finished work, when the Lord shall have put all his enemies under his feet (comp. 1 Cor. xv, 25). The times are those of an indefinite future when Israel's highest hopes are to be realized. The restoration of the kingdom to Israel, referred to in Acts i, 6, entered into the Messianic hope of the disciples. The expectation that in some way Elijah must first come and restore all things is witnessed in Matt. xvii, 11, and Mark ix, 12. This expectation appears to have been based upon the prophecy of Mal. iv, 6, and it should be noted that our Lord assured his disciples that Elijah had already come, and that they understood him to refer to John the Baptist (Matt. xvii, 12, 13). We find no detailed exposition of what the biblical writers understood by these

allusions to a "restoration of all things," but, in general, we may well believe that they included all that was ever contemplated by the Old Testament prophets as destined to result from the coming of the Messiah in the world. His kingdom would sooner or later put an end to the evils introduced by sin, and restore the world to a state of universal peace and happiness somewhat like that blissful ideal which the traditions of Eden and Paradise suggested. Some such ideal may be inferred from what Paul writes about "the earnest expectation of the creation waiting for the revealing of the sons of God," and his hope that "the creation itself shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God" (Rom. viii, 19-21). Both "the regeneration" and "the restoration of all things" imply some such glorious future, but its times and seasons of accomplishment are not made known to us. Such regeneration and restoration of the world are not the work of a day or a year. But the ages of ages belong to Him at whose right hand the Son of man is seated, and in his own times and ways the Christ of God shall receive "the nations for an inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for a possession."

12. Paul's Statement in First Corinthians xv, 24-28. It remains to add here the statements of Paul in 1 Cor. xv, 24-28, that there will come an end of the redemptive ministry of the Son of God, "when he shall deliver up the kingdom to the God and Father; when he shall have abolished all rule and all authority and power. . . And then shall the Son himself be subjected to him that did subject all things unto him, that God may be all in all." This terminus (TÒ Téλos) seems to imply the ultimate completion of the entire work of Christ's mediation, including the resurrection and the putting of all things in subjection, even the abolition of death. But that final issue is far away in the future times eternal, and it is not now manifest to us what its full significance shall be.

1Comp. Biblical Apocalyptics, p. 481.

CHAPTER IV

THE MISSION AND MINISTRY OF THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST

1. Vital Relation of the Kingdom of Christ and the Ministry of His Spirit. The biblical doctrine of the Holy Spirit furnishes additional light upon the mediation, the kingdom, and the coming of Christ. According to John's gospel the departure of Jesus from the world was expedient both for the highest good of the disciples and for the coming of the kingdom of God. The Lord Jesus must needs go away from the gaze of fleshly eyes in order that he might come again in the more heavenly glory of a living spiritual presence, and abide permanently with his disciples and with all those who should believe on him through his word. Herein we may see how the fourth gospel supplements the synoptics in a more spiritual disclosure of the kingdom of the truth and of the presence of the King invisible. The withdrawal of Jesus from the sight of men and his spiritual coming again in ways unseen by mortal eyes are to be understood as an essential part of the manner in which the Son of man was to be glorified. And so the doctrine of the Holy Spirit is essential to a complete presentation of the New Testament teaching concerning the parousia, the coming and dominion of the Christ of God.

2. The Spirit Operative Before End of Age. The true doctrine of the Holy Spirit will serve to obviate difficulties which some have felt in determining the exact date of the beginning of the gospel-dispensation. We have seen that so far as any traditional sayings of Jesus set a time limit to the pre-Messianic age and the coming of the Son of man in his power and glory, the end of that age was to be reached before the generation then living should pass away, and it was specifically connected with the overthrow of the Jewish temple. That significant event marked a crisis of the ages, a decisive turning point between the old and the new; but, as a matter of fact, the spirit of the new age became very powerful in the world sometime before that fearful day of judgment on the Jewish nation. It is also a fact that the spirit of the old age lingered as a shadow over many hearts long after that decisive event. There was no such clash between the dispensations of Sinai and Zion that the whole wide world must needs pause and say, Lo, there! Before the crisis it was richly given to the disciples

of our Lord to be made partakers of the Holy Spirit, to taste of the heavenly gift of saving grace and "the powers of the age to come" (Heb. vi, 4, 5). The coming and kingdom of Christ may have epochal times and seasons, but it is so spiritual and heavenly in its real nature that it may also transcend limitations of time and place. By duly observing different points of view and the manner of expression peculiar to different writers, we shall come to see that such a statement as John vii, 39, "The Spirit was not yet," does not mean that the Holy Spirit was not in the world and active in human hearts before the glorification of Christ. It was the Holy Spirit that spoke through the prophets and psalmists of Israel, and according to Gen. i, 2, the Spirit of God was distinctly active in the very beginning of the creation of the world.

3. Meaning of the Word "Spirit." The Scriptures furnish us no definition of the word spirit. The Hebrew and the Greek m Tνενμа have the same meaning, usage, and connotation as the Latin spiritus which has become familiarly Anglicized, and is employed in the same variety of significations, namely, breath, wind, courage, disposition, temper, vital principle which animates all sentient life, and especially, in the highest sense, that rational element, or entity in man in which we find the constituent powers of feeling, thinking, and volition. These powers we have already seen to be essential elements of human personality. We have also seen that the words spirit and soul, when referring to man, are often used interchangeably (pp. 52, 53), but the word soul is used in the Old Testament rarely (e.g., Judg. x, 16; Jer. xiv, 19; xv, 1; li, 14; Amos vi, 8), and never in the New in reference to God. In a general way we may understand the word spirit to mean the same when applied to God as when applied to man. In man it is that center and substance of his higher nature which is distinguished from his bodily form. We think and speak of God, however, as altogether spirit. "God is Spirit" (John iv, 24). Spirit constitutes, so to speak, the characteristic element and totality of his nature.

4. Threefold Elements of Personality. But in the unity of this divine spiritual nature as in that of man we may naturally look for the same trinal constituents of personality, Will, Feeling, and Intelligence. We have been told again and again that man exists as the image and glory of God (comp. Gen. i, 26; 1 Cor. xi, 7), and we may therefore appropriately inquire whether at least some essential elements of this image of God be not the trinal spiritual unity of personal thought, desire, and will. The trinitarian formula, in 2 Cor. xiii, 14, of "the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit,"