upon the Cross. He was not merely the greatest of God-inspired
teachers: but He came to found God's Kingdom upon earth, and to rule
in love over the hearts of men of all nations and ages, and thus
prepare them for life everlasting. And when Nicodemus, one of the
rulers of the Jews, thus addressed Him, "We know that thou art a
teacher come from God," He at once endeavoured to lead him to grasp
this truth, by the abrupt reply, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God;" and
again, "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot
enter into the Kingdom of God" (S. John iii. 2-5). In other words, men
must not merely listen to His teaching; but they must have their eyes
opened to see Him as the promised King, and receive the principle of a
new Life as His subjects; or, else, His coming would be in vain.

Taking now as our starting-point the great truth that the Lord Jesus
Christ came to found a Kingdom, our next enquiry must be respecting
the subjects or citizens of this Kingdom.

Who are the subjects of "The Kingdom of Heaven?"

One of the woes pronounced by our Lord against the Scribes and
Pharisees was for this, "Ye shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men;
ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering
to go in" (S. Matt. xxiii. 13). They would not themselves enter this
Kingdom by accepting Him as Christ the King; and they hindered others
from doing so. The Jews had thought themselves to be the subjects of
God, whilst all the rest of the world were castaways. But from these
words, as well as from those referred to above, which were spoken to
Nicodemus, we conclude that the subjects of Messiah's Kingdom are
they, and only they, who "believe and confess that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God" (1 S. John iv. 15, v. 1), and, having thus
accepted Him as their King, have been admitted by a formal act into
His Kingdom.

When the Herald proclaimed "The Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand" (S.
Matt. iii. 2), he was calling upon the whole Jewish people to enter
into it. But the call to enter Messiah's Kingdom was not to be
confined to the Jews. It was to be published far and wide throughout
the world.

The Prophets had foretold a day when "The Gentiles shall come to Thy
light, and kings to the brightness of Thy rising" (Isaiah lx. 3), and
that "in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not My people,
there it shall be said unto them, Ye