OF THE COMING OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD
BY THE INWARD LIFE
by M. Guyon
Introduction:
That the gospel of the kingdom concerns the inward life.
That the kingdom of God and of Jesus Christ must come in individual souls, in the Church, over all the earth, by the inward life, by the spirit of truth, of faith, of pure love, of self-renunciation, of inward prayer, and of the presence of God, etc. no matter what opposition the spirit of Antichrist and of Satan may put up etc., and that thus the whole earth will be renewed.
Based on these words: And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come…. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. Matthew 24: 15,35
1. What is the gospel of the kingdom? It is the inward life. There is no question about this since Jesus Christ Himself has said so. When “he was asked” where “the kingdom of God” was, “he answered: the kingdom of God is neither here nor there, but the kingdom of God is within you” Luke 17: 20,21. So this is that inward Gospel which must be preached in all the world before the second coming of the Son of God. How this message will be preached, or by whom, is hidden from our eyes, but it shall be done and sooner than we think.
The kingdom of God is quite clearly in evidence in one who surrenders his independence to God and allows Him to rule as Lord. For to rule over the whole of one’s being is the possession Jesus Christ has acquired for Himself. So He answered Pilate when asked if He was a king: “For this I came into the world.” O glorious Jesus! Reign, reign, most earnestly I desire it! But He reigns in us only in proportion as we resign to Him all claim to our own lives, all self-interest, all self-will no longer to have other than His. Our very nature must give place to His, and finally instead of our own life we have Him as our resurrection and our life. Now it is very evident that only by way of the inward life can Jesus Christ reign thus. Reign then by the inward life.
2. How will this be brought about? In speaking of His kingdom Jesus Christ said that He “came to bear witness unto the TRUTH” John 18: 37. It is by “the truth” He must reign. By turning to the inward life the soul, inwardly occupied, is taught by “the truth.” It sees the allness of God and its own nothingness; sees that its complete nothingness is nevertheless a rebellious nonentity; that it has, by its ignorance and sin, arrogated to itself God’s right to rule, always wanting its own way and holding to its own opinions. As a result Jesus Christ does not receive obedience and so is not king over that soul, since a king is king only so far as we pay homage to him. We must then submit and resign ourselves unremittingly so that our wills become displaced by His. Otherwise we remain ursurpers and He is no king.
It is love which subjects our will to God, as it is faith which brings our natures under complete control. This faith, the gift of God, and this pure love, put God on the throne of our lives. “The truth” prepares His kingdom for Him, and removes the obstacles which prevent His reigning. The truth enlightens the soul on its self-domination and leads it to restore all to God. Jesus Christ then comes to reign therein. As St. Paul says “he will deliver up the kingdom to his Father,” so He reigns in each individual and then delivers up His Kingdom to His Father, losing the individual with Himself in God.
3. In the Church at large when the Gospel of the kingdom has been preached everywhere and Jesus Christ has really reigned in every heart, then we shall see the end of the world. He will be King on earth which has not been the case so far. Then He will deliver up His kingdom to His Father for all eternity.
A king not only exercises sovereign power but to add to his prestige he disposes of his subjects as he pleases. Does he not constantly jeopardize their lives for that prestige of his? He takes of their belongings whatever suits him. It may be he leaves a poor laborer only a small part of his earnings to live on; he must be prepared to join the colors at short notice, obey unhesitatingly and without delay, and finally give up life itself. Men are led to the slaughter: they go joyfully for the honor of their king and the support of his kingdom. Now you see how we must act towards our heavenly King. We are to obey wholeheartedly in everything, without the least unwillingness, suffer the loss of our possessions, and make a sacrificial offering to Him of all we have, even to our very life.
4. In some hearts Jesus Christ has had a throne but His kingship has not been worldwide, as it must be to fulfill the scripture: “Sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies the footstool of thy feet” Psalm 110:1. This does not imply total destruction but a worldwide subjection to the dominion of Christ. God will doubtless destroy those who do not submit but He makes the submission of the rest serve as His stepping-stone. Now, just as the step serves as the dais of the throne, this submission of all wills and spirits becomes the foundation of the throne of our heavenly King Jesus.
Now triumph has come and “judgment is sent forth unto victory” Matthew 12:20. For judgment is achieved in each soul by the full restitution of all its stolen prerogatives, to be followed by the surrender of the self-nature and self-will. This righteous judgment which leads the soul to consider no longer either herself or self-interest, and causes her to love the righteousness which strips her equally of all – this righteousness, I say, turns into victory for Jesus Christ. Having destroyed all his enemies in the soul, which are also the enemies of the soul itself, He triumphs in this conquest; He takes full advantage of His position as Victor; He gives not His glory to another, as He says Himself: “I will not give me glory to another”; but He becomes sovereign Lord to him who no longer acknowledges any but His glory, hating self-glorification more than death itself.
5. What He does in the truly inward individual He will do in the whole Church, which will at that time have spread to all parts of the world. He will be successful and His “judgment returns in victory.” Men, angels, and saints will consent to the justice of it. They will bless Him for the double victory He has won over both themselves and their enemies.
It is quite certain that this inward kingdom will spread everywhere, although this has not yet been the case. Men have considered as an accessory this actual sole necessity; they will then know it as it really is – the indispensable necessity on which everything else depends. For to lay hold of sin by the power of the inward life is to undermine it at its roots and the root of all sin is self-love and self-appropriation, which are not brought to ruin but by the inward life. These are the most determined enemies of Jesus Christ.
6. Jesus Christ finally wins the day when we renounce in His favor all claim to our own lives. He alone is able to bring this to pass for we could never of ourselves overcome this tyranny: He alone can do it. O my heavenly King, reign in me and in the hearts of all men! Come and tear from us this life of self-appropriation, so fatal to us, and yet so closely identified with us as to seem the very essence of the nature of man. This explains Jesus’ command to “deny ourselves and all that we have of our own” which means this self-appropriation. It must be constantly denied producing ceaselessly, as it does, within us in great profusion the fruits of its evil disposition. If Jesus Christ did not destroy it for us we should never be done with it.
7. How does Jesus Christ drive it out? He merely implants in us little by little His own life as the Word. Now since self-appropriation and the life of the Word cannot abide together, in the measure in which the former enters so must the latter withdraw. To begin with, however, it strengthens its hold, until the life of the Word increasing in fullness captures all its strongholds. Then having forced us to yield all to Him, Jesus Christ becomes the life of our soul, enabling us to say, “I live not, but Jesus Christ lives in me!”
8. At the same time Jesus Christ also becomes King and “for that He was born and came into the world.” It was His own desire to have the inscription on the cross proclaim Him KING OF THE JEWS. O my divine master, why do you call yourself King of these very Jews who have brought about your death? Because “my kingdom is not of this world.” The Jews thought I would reign as an earthly king. They had no idea or comprehension of my desire to reign over the hearts of men, even the hearts of those Jews who, though uncircumcised in the flesh, yet have hearts that are circumcised. For the true Jew is one spiritually. Now it is those whose hearts and inmost natures are circumcised by complete self-renunciation in whom I reign freely and for whom I came. The Jews were so completely set in their idea that the kingdom of Jesus Christ was a temporal one that His apostles asked Him when He would come “to set up the kingdom of Israel.” He told them that as for times and seasons they were in the power of His Father. Even then they did not see that He spoke of that interior kingdom for which the soul can make ready by a continual attention to God, drawing it to a life within. But only God by His almightiness can make Him absolute ruler of our lives through such complete self-renunciation.
9. When Jesus Christ directs us in the “Lord’s prayer” to ask for “His kingdom to come,” He desires us next to say: “Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.” In other words, He asks us to say this: That you might reign, O God, we must make such a complete renunciation of self that, having no longer a will of our own, we do “your will” only, never our own, and do it as perfectly as the blessed “in heaven.” They do it the more perfectly as they are most completely free from the encumbrances of self. That the kingdom of Jesus Christ must come is beyond question: this takes place by the loss of our will in God’s after the gospel of the kingdom has been preached. The Gospel has been preached in all the world, but the gospel of the kingdom has been welcomed in but few hearts. When men learn, however, what it means to let Jesus Christ be King by complete self-renunciation, then they will endeavor to enter this kingdom. Then will the “Dragon” be chained. The Dragon is none other than self-love.
10. St. Paul says (Romans 11: 11-15) that if such mercy was shown when the Jews rejected the kingdom, how much more abundant will it be at their admission. Not only the conversion of the Jews is meant, which undoubtedly will take place, but more, the entry of God’s people into this interior kingdom, into this kingdom which is “peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” God chose to portray this kingdom from the foundation of the world by the rest of the seventh day. To this the Jews were called and this is the true promised land. But they did not enter into the mind and will of God, did not understand that He was speaking of the inward life, and rather focused all their attention on legal ceremonies. They did not suspect that God had given them a multitude of ceremonies only because of the hardness of their hearts. So David says: “I have sworn in my wrath, they shall not enter into my rest.” Psalm 94: 8,11. And why, O God, do you swear so? Because they have not “listened” to Me, their heart has become “hardened.” They have not listened to that inward voice by which I called them to enjoy My rest. They have followed the way of self-will; they have not obeyed Me; and far from esteeming My commands they “murmured” against My guidance. I therefore swore they should not enter My rest. Further, because “this people honor Me with their lips” Isaiah 29:13 while their heart is far from Me, “therefore this people will be my people no longer. I will call another people My people, who were not my people” Hosea 2:23. and they will do My will. This is how My people will be known, for “the children of Wisdom are a nation of obedience and love”. These children of Wisdom are inward souls. Wisdom sits at our door so as to enter when we open. Let us open the door of our heart to Wisdom, which is the Word, Who will enter and destroy our enemies. “Come, Lord Jesus. Yes, I come” Revelation 22:20 I come to be King and reign in the hearts of men.
11. It is also written that “this kingdom will be preached as a witness for ALL nations,” (This refers to us as well as all other peoples distinct from the Jews) so that if we had really wanted God to reign over us He would have become our King and we should have been delivered from all our enemies. Thus the fault is ours if we perish. I may say that as the Jews deceived themselves by believing Jesus Christ should have an earthly reign, we likewise deceive ourselves in desiring and envisioning only an exterior reign. This is the result of our failure to understand and grasp this reign of God WITHIN which would have brought us into the “rest of God.” Like the Jews we are endlessly looking for it without. Not finding this promised rest through failure to look where it is to be found we continue our search busying ourselves more than ever in our investigation and works. But still it is not found, for we do not enter the inward tabernacle of which David speaks: “How amiable are thy tabernacles, my soul longeth for the courts of the Lord” Psalm 84: 1,2. This reference looks far beyond the tabernacle containing the ark of the covenant, even to this inward tabernacle, this rest of soul in the kingdom of Jesus Christ. It was this kingdom seen from afar he so earnestly longed for. I say, then, that our failure to enter the inward sanctuary of our soul has brought us to a life of ever-increasing toil and complexity so as to merit the reproach of Isaiah: “They have gone astray in the multiplicity of their ways and have not said, Let us abide in peace” Isaiah 57:10. They lade themselves with works and formal prayers, dry up in soul, and become so jaded as to be fit for nothing. They busy themselves “hewing out cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water” Jeremiah 2:13, instead of hastening to the source of living water, Jesus Christ Himself, Whose thirst-quenching draught heals our sicknesses and diseases. In this rushing life of much ado, interest finally wanes and they turn to seek the amusements of the world. Worse still, after having sought God laboriously in an exterior fashion without finding Him, they forsake all, and even come to doubt the truth. With truth gone, error and falsehood take its place and thus His enemies come to power. For as the truth prepares the way for the kingdom of Jesus Christ, falsehood opens the door to the reign of His adversary.
12. Jesus Christ says this kingdom, called the kingdom of heaven, is “like a man who having found a treasure in a field sells all that he has to buy that field.” Matthew 13: 44. If we knew the inestimable worth of the inward life and of the kingdom of God, we would sell all we have to possess it by a thorough consecration and complete self-renunciation, without and within. Our heavenly King must reign at all cost, and we may say that we are Kings when Jesus Christ reigns within; for until then we are subject to the tyrannical rule of our passions, and by covetousness of self-love and the desire to be somebody. The deep-rooted love of our own pre-eminence, together with our self-appropriating spirit, once subjected to Jesus Christ, no longer dominate us. Understood thus we say: to serve God is to reign.
13. The reference in the Gospel goes on to say that "then the end comes." Certainly for the world at large the end will come after this worldwide reign of Jesus Christ in human hearts. When Jesus Christ reigns in this fashion we can say for the individual soul that it is the consummation of all experience and also of the soul itself in God. It is now no longer a matter of experiences or stages of experience but an eternal unchanging now. This finds support in the words of Paul: When the Father "has subdued all things" to Jesus Christ, "He will deliver up His kingdom to His Father" I Corinthians 15:28. One thing is sure: That throughout the world all will be brought into subjection to Jesus Christ by the power of the Father; the world's end has come when all nations including the Jews "see Him whom they pierced" Revelation 1:7. I seem to see the son of a powerful king who goes to subdue a kingdom with all his father's forces. He returns victor, but turns over to his father this kingdom conquered by the forces put at his disposal by his father. This is Jesus Christ's policy in the matter of this temporal kingdom. for, as the Word, He receives from His Father nothing He does not return, flowing ceaselessly back to its center of existence. Likewise, as the God-man He delivers up the dominion and the power given Him by His Father. He does the same in our souls. When the power of His Father has overcome all opposition and has brought everything including ourselves into subjection to the Son, when our inward being has become a peaceful kingdom where He exercises sovereign power, He tenders it all to His Father. With Himself the soul is lost away in God where it lives, according to St. Paul, "hidden with Jesus Christ" Colossians 3:3. "You are dead," that is, stripped of every vestige of self-life, "and your life" (which is Jesus Christ, as he says elsewhere, Who is our resurrection and our life) "is hid away in God," lost in that eternal Being where it dwells. For St. Paul does not speak of being hidden to come out again and then to be hidden afresh, but of a remaining hidden, suggesting permanence, which I called above an "eternal now."
14. As a foundation for the principles here enunciated Jesus Christ says: "Verily" (indicating the certainty of this teaching and its absolute verity) and then adds: "heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away." What do you mean, O divine Master, by these words? Will not the Gospels and all existence be destroyed together? But that very destruction is proof of the truth of His words. Besides, are not all the Blessed such by their having kept the words of Jesus Christ? Not one entered that state who was not (according to His words) completely emptied of self and in whom Jesus Christ did not fully reign. Purgatory will accomplish the work hindered by our opposition; the fire of righteousness will destroy the last stronghold of self. This explains the reference to Jesus Christ's kingdom as being a "kingdom of righteousness." Yes, divine Lord Jesus, you reign only by that righteousness which you bestow on your Father by stripping us of our stolen prerogatives to give God His true place. Your kingdom is that same righteousness since you hold those in whom you reign in complete self-renunciation and utter abasement. When you opened your mouth for the first time to speak to the people you said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit." The evangelist notes that these were the first words of your first sermon after having returned from the wilderness, where you suffered the audacious temptation of the prince of this world, whom you came to subjugate. Thus you teach us that we must suffer the attack of our enemies in the wilderness of faith before you can reign perfectly in us by poverty of spirit and complete self-renunciation. It is "the poor in spirit" you say "whose is the kingdom of heaven." You do not say they will enjoy the kingdom of heaven in the next life but speak of the present: Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. To have the kingdom of heaven is to have you as King, O glorious Jesus! Reign then in us by the loss of all; you can reign none otherwise. The damned are rebellious subjects who were never willing to submit to the dominion of Jesus Christ; guilt and fire will hold sway over them. But feeble souls, full of self, although not actual rebels, will be cleansed in purgatory from all hindrances to Jesus Christ's reign. Come, Lord Jesus! I come quickly!
15. We are told, it is true, that Antichrist must first come. Alas, he is only too much in evidence. He has spread his influence over the whole earth. All who resist the kingdom of Jesus Christ have the spirit of Antichrist. If St. John says that those who "deny Jesus Christ" are of the spirit of Antichrist how many such are there in our own generation? How many Socinians, worthless Christians who bear the "mark of the beast, his name," etc.? These have the spirit of antichrist. These are servants of the beast which rules over all nations, exercises authority on land and sea, wears a crown and demands obedience as a king. But it is "full of the names of blasphemy" Revelation 17:3. All who blaspheme, who deny Jesus Christ, who refuse to honor Him, who oppose His kingdom, are counted as blasphemers. Those whose conduct manifests the disorder of their lives have his name stamped on every member of their bodies; their words are marked by self-assertion. Alas, it is only too true that Antichrist has come. Come, Lord Jesus, and destroy him. Emitte spiritum tuum, et creabuntur et renovabis faciem terrae. Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created; and thou renewest the face of the earth. Psalm 104:30.
16. There are many good, virtuous people who are persuaded, and rightly so, that the whole universe needs renewal. They believe this must come about by something tremendously awe-inspiring and are waiting for things to happen quite out of ordinary. As a consequence, they are kept from entering into the purposes of God or being yielded to the movements of His Spirit. This halts them in the way and precludes their coming into full maturity in God. This renewal will take place as the scripture states: God "sends forth His Spirit and they are created," at which time "the whole earth will be renewed." God sends this inward "spirit" into our hearts which, by the destruction of the old man, as it fills these hearts more and more, makes us "new creatures" in Christ Jesus. The new man becomes, as St. Paul says (Romans 13:14; II Corinthians 5:3) not only our raiment but also our life. It is, then, by the inward spirit, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Word, that we are created anew. For what does it mean to be created anew if not to be made a new creature in Christ Jesus?
17. The devil sets himself against the work worldwide of the inward spirit, and resists it with all his might. He uses indiscriminately for this purpose the ungodly, spiritual people who have not this light, and intellectuals; uses them to stand against the inward spirit and the renewal which must come by the inward life. It is a strange thing that the worst criminals are left alone, the most outrageous sins cause no stir, and no one troubles himself about the offensive books that are written. But as soon as an inward book comes out the whole world is roused, and the most opposed elements of society unite on this point to fight it. The whole world seems to have a presentiment that by the inward life Nineveh will be turned upside down. But yet, despite opposition and persecution, the inward life is spreading more than ever. And if fear and self-love prevent nearly all from entering in, this does not hinder God from implanting it in some souls. Those who are so disposed and who long to be wholly God's relish this life. As a reward for the work of repentance God grants it to those who put no obstacles in its way. These are the ones God first brings into the inward life. Now as the kingdom of Jesus Christ cannot be established in the heart but by the inward life and the destruction of the old man, so it must be set up in all the world. Et renovabis faciem terrae. And thou renewest the face of the earth. This is easily seen for as a reform movement cannot succeed but by the reform of individuals, so will this inward life as it develops in each of us bring about the final renewal.
18. Many have recognized the laxness which comes with the passage of time, that the further water flows from its source, the more impure it becomes, and have made a great mistake by crying for reform. They have created discord and have produced as many monsters as they have fallen into different errors. They have divided Jesus Christ's robe. They have done as the soldiers at His death, who yet valued that robe woven without seam from top to bottom, a perfect type of Christian unity. For Jesus Christ "came to gather together" John 11:52 what had been scattered. They scatter what He came to unite. This is the word He gives us: "He that gathereth not with me scattereth" Luke 11: 23. Some people zealous to restore unity thought it an easy matter to unite in an outward fashion this great body divided into so many parts. They have labored diligently without much success as a result of their inability to se that this union can be attained only from within. The soul's union with God effected only by prayer, inwardness, and love results in the union of all things, for that unifying love, which joins the soul once more with its source of being, reunites all whom it possesses. If we were all truly interior souls we should be perfectly united in the oneness which Jesus Christ asked of His Father for all Christians. "Father," He said, "may they be one as you and I are one" John 17: 21. I say, then, that if we would really apply ourselves to the inward life we should all come into perfect unity. Then there would be no distinction as St. Paul says (Galatians 3:28) between bond and free or between Jew and Gentile all being one in Jesus Christ. This union of each soul with Jesus Christ would of necessity be a union of all with each other.
19. The means, therefore, of such union and the renewing of the face of the earth is to labor diligently at the development of the inward life by the putting off of the old man and complete self-renunciation. This is done by earnest prayer and the practice of the presence of God, which is not incompatible with such occupations as are permitted by God and are not in themselves sinful. Because of the mistaken idea that many employments of life must be given up to devote oneself to the inward life, few give themselves to it. No occupation is in conflict with it. St. John the Baptist advised everyone to become perfect in his present calling. Scarcely any one was more inward than David, and yet was any one busier than he? When he sinned he had not gone out at the head of the army as usual. Scripture makes that very clear. He stayed at home and, while walking on his balcony, he conceived the sin and carried it out. It is said that the duties of Marshal de Boucicaut did not prevent him from spending many hours in prayer. St. Louis, St. Elzear, and so many of our own nobility have learned how to live the inward life while holding the most responsible positions. So it is not at all necessary to give up one’s duties to be an inward Christian, but rather to endeavor to leaven the whole world with the inward life. One must be certainly separated from the sinful world by a complete detachment which makes the inward life possible. In cloisters how many are carried away by love of the world and are even more attached to it than those who live in the world itself? They fail to see their impropriety and become hypocrite, fine conceit filling them more and more, unable as they are to see the inconsistency of it all.
20. The “inward soul” which endeavors to have GOD always “present” within bears this presence of God everywhere. And being solely occupied with this sublime subject, all else appears so insignificant, so insipid, that only distaste for it remains. Such a one finds all the duties of life executed to perfection because of this presence of God. This results from the soul’s well-ordered interior life and continual adherence to God, enabling Him to crown his labors with success. The suppleness of his soul and will makes way for God to influence and move him as He pleases.
21. Solomon knew this well when he said to God: “Lord, give me a submissive heart to govern your people”. O Solomon, why do you ask for a submissive heart to govern and rule? Why not rather ask for a steadfast heart? Because in asking for a submissive heart I ask God to guide this people in and through me. When my heart is submissive I am as a weak instrument for Him to handle as He pleases and have no difficulty in leading. If all our judges were inward men injustice would disappear from the earth. Inward kings would rule their people in peace and justice; subjects would render them obedience as to God Himself. The great would not oppress nor despise the small; small people would respect the great. Fathers would rear their children in this spirit and in its fullness these children would pass it on to others. respected and honored in turn. Marriages would be blessed by the union of hearts and spirits, love would then be pure and not sensual, a kind of marital chastity.
22. Let us labor, then, for the inward life. Let us interest our brothers also as far as possible, and we shall see the “face of the earth renewed” and Jesus Christ universally acknowledged as King reigning in every heart. He can reign only by complete self-renunciation. We can have such self-renunciation only by the inward life bringing us into the truth, revealing to us our self-domination, and leading us to restore all to God. In this way Jesus Christ is given full rulership, controlling the life as He pleases and receiving full obedience from a heart emptied of all resistance. This is God’s design for the last days of this Church age. What each individual soul has experienced will be the portion of the whole Church. We shall see wrought out in it everywhere what has taken place in the individual soul, which God has conducted through many stages of experience, finally to arrive at complete self-renunciation and the absolute sovereignty of Jesus Christ. Following this He delivers up the kingdom to His Father. Come, Holy Spirit, fire divine, and in the flame of pure love consume every heart.
Emitte Spiritum tuum, et creabuntur; et renovabis faciem terrae!
Amen, JESUS!