1. Christ does not “receive the Kingdom” until the time of His Second Advent.

We must quote once more a passage that has already engaged our attention in another connection, namely, the Parable of the Nobleman. Before quoting from it, however, we would first observe that this parable was uttered by our Lord in order to correct a mistaken notion that was being entertained by certain of His auditors: “And as they heard these things, He added and spake a parable, because He was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought the kingdom of God should immediately appear” (Luke 19:11). Here is further proof that the “Kingdom,” referred to subsequently by our Lord was not a spiritual Kingdom instituted by Him just after His death and resurrection, but was a Kingdom which was not to “appear” for a considerable length of time, in fact not until He returned again to the earth. To quote once more from this parable—

“He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for Himself a Kingdom and to return. ** And it came to pass, that when He was returned having received the Kingdom, then He commanded these servants to be called unto Him, to whom He had given the money, that He might know how much every man had gained by trading” (Luke 19:12, 15). Thus we see that our Lord’s receiving of the Kingdom and His return synchronize. The Kingdom to which was the subject of numerous Old Testament prophecies. It was the “Kingdom” mentioned by Daniel in 7:13, 14 of his prophecy—“And I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought Him near before Him. And there was given Him(compare “received” in the above parable) dominion, and glory, and a kingdom,that all peoples, nations, and languages, should serve Him.” As the context here shows, the time when the Son of Man is “given” this Kingdom is immediately following the destruction of t he Gentile powers which from the Book of Revelation, we know will occur just prior to the Millennium. If further proof be needed that Christ’s “receiving of the Kingdom” takes place before and not after the Millennium it is furnished by 1 Cor. 15:24 where we are told that at the close of the Millennium—which is the time when He shall have “put down all rule and all authority and power”—He shall deliver “up the Kingdom to God, even the Father.” If then Christ “delivers up” the Kingdom to the Father at the close of the Millennium then the conclusion is irresistible that He “receives” the Kingdom at the beginning of the Millennium.