“But the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.” Dan. vii, 18.
“And from the days of John the Baptist, until now, the kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.” Matt. xi, 12.
“Then is the prey of a great spoil divided; the lame take the prey. And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein, shall be forgiven their iniquity.” Isa. xxxiii, 23, 24.
These expressions concerning the kingdom of God, which is to be established in our earth and to stand forever, would seem at first view to almost imply that the saints were to take the kingdom by actual conquest. That is, that they should by violence seize, not the kingdom now possessed by the men of the world, but the glorious kingdom of God itself. This of course cannot be literally true. When the saints do actually enter upon the possession of the kingdom of God, Jesus himself invites them to it, saying, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Matt. xxv, 34.
Yet the saints are spoken of as taking the kingdom as if by force, violence and conquest, and as though it became a Spoil to be divided to them. There is some truth to it after all. But they have no occasion to take the lives or to shed the blood of others. They have battles to fight, victories to gain, conquests to win. But their war is with sin, with Satan, and with self. If any blood is to be shed, it is their own. If any lives are to be sacrificed in the conflict, it is not others but themselves that die. They overcome not by killing others, but by dying themselves. They resist the Devil, who attempts to prevent their progress heavenward. They make him flee before them as they meet him clothed with the strength and the armor of God which he cannot withstand. They overcome sin by repenting of it, confessing its wicked power and presence and resisting its alluring and deceitful charms. They overcome self by dying to it daily. They snatch victory even from defeat by the help of the angels of God. They go from strength ‘to strength, till at last they appear in Zion before God.
The conquest of the kingdom is the conquest of the evil powers that oppose our march to that country of eternal joy. The overcomers shall inherit it. And when as victors they shall receive the kingdom of God, they are represented as having a great spoil to divide. Every man shall have a mansion in the city. Every man shall have an inheritance in the fair plains of the new earth. Every one shall have a crown of heavenly glory, and a place with Christ upon his throne.
And who shall take this infinite spoil? Not the great and mighty and noble of earth. The world that now is has too many charms for them. But the poor, the humble and the lowly, these are the lame that shall take the spoil, the very ones that would seem utterly incapable of winning the victory in this mighty conflict, shall, by the grace of God, obtain the prize, while the wise and great of earth shall be cast out into outer darkness.
J.N. Andrews
The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald June 8, 1869