J.N. Darby on the Dispensation of the Kingdom of Heaven

by John Nelson Darby

I state synoptically what has been followed out as the subject arose. The kingdom of heaven we have as a state of things during the period when the Son is sitting on the Father's throne. During this period the children are in the Son's, but heirs of the Father's kingdom- a period during which the world is not ordered according to the righteous judicial power of the Son of Man's kingdom- the interval between the rejection of the Son of man upon earth abd His reigning upon earth, in which the saints are sustained by the Spirit, in the midst of the world, by the Spirit sent of the the Son by the Father, the witness of His exaltation there. Of this state of things, this chapter (Matthew 13) is full of prophetic announcement. The external character which it assumes in the world being depicted in the first three; the real blessing and value and the judgment of its results, its internal character in God's sight, in the last three of the six parables. It closes in the setting up of the Son of man's kingdom upon the earth, and the assumption of te righteous, during its continuance, to the Father's kingdom in the heavenlies. The first parable is the world of the kingdom. The expositions and internal view of the church or kingdom are given to the disciples; the judicial blindness of the Jews is declared, and the special privilege of the saints; and the parables are spoken distinctively as the 'utterance of things hidden from the world,' which the Spirit reveals to those 'who have ears to hear.'

Taken from The Dispensation of the Kingdom of Heaven in Collected Writings of J.N. Darby, vol.2, p.63

(This is an extract from one of Darby's early writings. These are quite exciting to read, because we see the Dispensational system being outlined for the first time.)

Key Words: John Nelson Darby, Plymouth Brethren, Bible Prophecy, eschatology, parables, kingdom of heaven, mysteries, mystery, dispensation, Dispensationalism, Second Coming