the Old, to be opened up in the New Testament - as did the mystery of its realisation. 45
But this rule of heaven and Kingship of Jehovah was the very substance of the Old
Testament; the object of the calling and mission of Israel; the meaning of all its
ordinances, whether civil or religious;46 the underlying idea of all its institutions.47 It
explained alike the history of the people, the dealings of God with them, and the
prospects opened up by the prophets. Without it the Old Testament could not be
understood; it gave perpetuity to its teaching, and dignity to its representations. This
constituted alike the real contrast between Israel and the nations of antiquity, a nd Israel's
real title to distinction. Thus the whole Old Testament was the preparatory presentation of
the rule of heaven and of the Kingship of its Lord.
44. Keim beautifully designates it: Das Lieblingswort Jesu .
45. Rom. xvi. 25, 26; Eph. i. 9; Col. i. 26, 27.
46. If, indeed, in the preliminary dispensation these two can be well separated.
47. I confess myself utterly unable to understand, how anyone writing a History of the
Jewish Church can apparently eliminate from it what even Keim designates as the
'treibenden Gedanken des Alten Testaments' - those of the Kingdom and the King. A
Kingdom of God without a King; a Theocracy without the rule of God; a perpetual
Davidic Kingdom without a 'Son of David' - these are antinomies (to borrow the term of
Kant) of which neither the Old Testament, the Apocrypha, the Pseudepigraphic writings,
nor Rabbinism were guilty.
But preparatory not only in the sense of typical, but also in that of inchoative. Even the
twofold hindrance - internal and external - which 'the Kingdom' encountered, indicated
this. The former arose from the resistance of Israel to their King; the latter from the
opposition of the surrounding kingdoms of this world. All the more intense became the
longing through thousands of years, that these hindrances might be swept away by the
Advent of the promised Messiah, Who would permanently establish (by His spirit) the
right relationship between the King and His Kingdom, by bringing in an everlasting
righteousness, and also cast down existing barriers, by calling the kingdoms of this world
to be the Kingdom of our God. This would, indeed, be the Advent of the Kingdom of
God, such as had been the glowing hope held out by Zechariah, 48 49 the glorious vision
beheld by Daniel. 50 51 Three ideas especially d id this Kingdom of God imply:
universality, heavenliness, and permanency. Wide as God's domain would be His
Dominion; holy, as heaven in contrast to earth, and God to man, would be his character;
and triumphantly lasting its continuance. Such was the teaching of the Old Testament,
and the great hope of Israel. It scarcely needs mental compass, only moral and spiritual
capacity, to see its matchless grandeur, in contrast with even the highest aspirations of
heathenism, and the blanched ideas of modern culture.
48. xiv. 9.
49. 'And the Lord shall be King over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and
His Name one.'
50. vii. 13, 14.