Page:Sermons on the Lord's Prayer.djvu/43

 church, or the regenerate, are called in the "Word, kings; as in the Apocalypse, "and hast made us unto our God kings and priests:" and it is also promised that they shall "reign with Christ," and that "they shall reign for ever and ever." By kings are signified, in the spiritual sense, those who are in truth, and by priests, those who are in good, from the Lord; and by reigning is signified the same as by being kings, namely, being in possession of wisdom by means of Divine truth from the Lord.

So, by the term kingdom, in the "Word, is signified Divine truth; and heaven and the church are called the Lord's kingdom, because there truth from him prevails and rules. That the "kingdom of God" signifies the church as to truth, is plain from the passage in Matthew, in which it is said, "therefore the kingdom of God shall be taken away from you, and shall be given to a nation bringing forth fruit." These words were addressed to the Jews, and the meaning was that the truth of the Divine "Word, which they possessed but did not use nor bring forth into life, should be taken away from them, and given to others, the Gentiles, who would make good use of it by applying it to life. So again, the Lord said, referring to the same nation, "the sons of the kingdom shall be cast into outer darkness;" where by the "sons of the kingdom" are meant those who then possessed the truth of the Church, but who not using it would be deprived of it, and sink into the darkness of falsity. So, in the parable of the sower, the seed,