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The kingdom shall be the Lord's. What fulness of brightest morning glory after a long night of blackest darkness! The kingdom longed for, the kingdom prayed for, the kingdom promised, the kingdom prophesied of, shall be the kingdom come. The kingdom. Not many kingdoms, but one. Now there are many, and these diverse from each other, and often at war one with another. The Prophet Daniel spoke of this when he said, "The Lord God shall set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed." The fulfilment is presented to us in Revelation 11:15, "The seventh angel sounded; and there followed great voices in heaven, and they said, The kingdom of the world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ: and he shall reign forever and ever." "The kingdom shall be the Lord's." Now the world lieth in the wicked one. The kingdom is Satan's. Look at its sins, its miseries, its darkness, its degradation, its ruin. The kingdom is Satan's. See the heathen world bowing to wood and stone, or worshipping devils. Look at the vast millions carried away by the Mohammedan delusion. Turn to the multitudes hardened by Jewish infidelity. View so called Christendom, with teeming myriads rejecting the truth. See also the millions that have not so much as the profession of any religion. Is not Satan the prince of this world? Is not the great enemy of souls usurping the seat of power? Oh, then, as we think of Israel not gathered home; as we think of Babylon drunk with the blood of saints; as we think of the infidelity and ignorance which stalk abroad in the professing Church and in the world; as we think of war and bloodshed deluging the earth; as we think of nations discomfited by the frailties of human governments; as we think of the Church torn by contentions; as we think of Rachels weeping for their lost ones; as we think of the tears which bedew the cheeks of orphans and widows; as we think of the sorrows in our hospitals; as we think of the bitter poverty in our large cities; as we think, too, of the groans of the poor brute creation; and as we think of the sad partings, the great disappointments, the strong animosities, and the cruel wrongs common to earth; - shall we not pray for the fulfilment of our text? shall we not cry, "Thy kingdom come"? shall we not exclaim, with St. John, "Come, Lord Jesus: come quickly"? It is a cry for the end of toil, the end of suffering, the end of tears, the end of temptations, the end of sin, the end of gloom, the end of darkness, the end of death. It is a loud cry for the song of heaven to be heard, "Now is come salvation and strength, and the kingdom of God, and the power of his Christ." It is an earnest longing to join in the Hallelujah chorus of the great multitude, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thuuderings, saying, "Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth!" "The kingdom shall be the Lord's." At present, although the kingdom of nature is his, creation groans, being burdened. At present the kingdom of providence is his, but man keeps blotting the pages of history, and things are not as they ought to be. At present the kingdom of grace is his, but his grace is often frustrated, and the subjects of his grace live far below their privileges and high calling. Ere long, and the three kingdoms shall be no more imperfect. They shall be consummated in the full Christocracy - "the kingdom shall be the Lord's." The kingdom of glory shall come, and shall have no end. In closing our study of the Book of Obadiah let us carry with us the sweet echoes of its last words. May the Holy Spirit, in all the vicissitudes of earth, keep us in mind that "the kingdom shall be the Lord's"! Ere long, and he shall come whose right it is to rein. In the interval before the advent let us be alive to our duty.

I. LET US BE READY FOR IT. No one who is impenitent and unbelieving can be ready. Like Ethelred, he is all unready. To be prepared for Christ's coming, we must be washed in his blood, justified by his righteousness, and sanctified by the Spirit of holiness.

II. LET US BE LOOKING FOR IT. Let us say with St. Paul, "We wait for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of his glory." Let us mount our heimwehfluh in longing expectation and hope. Christ's disciples are to be not only servants, but like unto servants who wait for their lord. The servant who expects his lord, has him in mind, and is on the look out, lest, coming suddenly, his lord finds him sleeping.

III. LET US BE WORKING FOR IT. The absent Saviour has given to every man his work. Each one has something to do. Every true disciple is a worker, called to prepare the way of the Lord - to make some crooked path straighter, some rough place smoother, some mountain lower, some valley higher. "The kingdom shall be the Lord's."

IV. LET US BE LIVING FOR IT. "What manner of persons ought ye to be?" How weaned! How unworldly! How heavenly-minded! How Christ-like! For "the kingdom shall be the Lord's."

V. LET US BE PRAYING FOR IT. "That it may please thee shortly to accomplish the number of thine elect, and hasten thy kingdom."

"Come, then, and added to thy many crowns
Receive yet one, the crown of all the earth,
Thou who alone art worthy."

VI. LET US BE GLAD. We ought to rejoice. We ought to lift up our heads. Advent bells are ringing. The sound of the bells on our High Priest's robe may be heard as he comes forth to bless. Hallelujah! "The kingdom shall be the Lord's." - A.C.T.

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Parallel Verses

KJV: And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD'S.

WEB: Saviors will go up on Mount Zion to judge the mountains of Esau, and the kingdom will be Yahweh's.