I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me - The Codex Alexandrinus, with some other MSS., the later Syriac, and Origen, read in the first clause, διαθηκην, a covenant. I appoint unto you a Covenant, as my Father hath appointed unto me a kingdom: - Ye shall be ministers of the new covenant, as I am king in that spiritual kingdom to which it relates. This is a curious reading: but our Lord is probably to be understood as promising that they should get a kingdom - a state of blessedness, as he should get it - they must go through much tribulation in order to enter into the kingdom of God. So the Son of man suffered that he might enter into his glory: for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, and despised the shame, and is set down on the right hand of God.
And I appoint unto you a kingdom - He assures them here that they should “have” a kingdom - their expectations would be realized. They had continued with him; they had seen how “he” had lived, and to what trials he had been subjected; they had all along expected a kingdom, and he assures them that they should not be disappointed.
As my Father - They had seen how God had appointed a kingdom to “him.” It was not with pomp, and splendor, and external glory, but it was in poverty, want, persecution, and trial. So would “he” appoint to them a kingdom. They should “surely” possess it; but it would be not with external splendor, but by poverty and toil. The original word “appoint” has the force of a “covenant” or compact, and means that it should be “surely” or certainly done, or that he pledged himself to do it. All Christians must enter into the kingdom of heaven after the manner of their Lord - through much tribulation; but, though it must be, as it was with him, by many tears and sorrows, yet they shall surely reach the place of their rest and the reward of heaven, for it is secured to them by the covenant pledge and faithfulness of their Lord and King.
Said Christ, “All things that the Father hath are mine.” “I and my Father are one” (John 16:15; 10:30). “I appoint unto you a kingdom” (Luke 22:29). The Lord Jesus lays His hand upon the eternal throne of God with all the ease and assurance of one who rules and reigns, putting on His head the crown of deity. He sits at the right hand of God and receives supreme honor as God, the glory He had before the world was. He distributes His gifts to all who by faith shall claim them.... TMK 338.2
Read in context »I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me; that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Luke 22:29, 30. AG 67.1
What a promise is this! Christ's faithful ones are to be sharers with Him in the kingdom He has received from His Father. This is a spiritual kingdom, in which those who are most active in serving their brethren are the greatest. Christ's servants, under His direction, are to administer the affairs of His kingdom. They are to eat and drink at His table, that is, be admitted to near communion with Him. AG 67.2
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