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Scripture Reading: Psa. 90:2; Dan. 2:44; Matt. 21:43; Mark 1:14-15; 4:3, 26; Luke 17:20-21; Acts 8:12; 1:3; 19:8; 20:25; 28:23, 31; 1 Cor. 14:33b; Eph. 2:19; Rom. 14:17; 1 Cor. 1:2; 10:32; 6:9-10; Gal. 5:21; Eph. 5:5; Acts 14:22; 1 Thes. 2:12; John 3:5
Prayer: Lord, we worship You and thank You for this blessed hour in which You have called us into Your name. What a blessing that we can be with You to seek after You through Your word! Lord, bless Your word and bless our spirit. Lord, bless our mind. We desire to hear You, to meet You, to be touched by You, and to touch You. Thank You, Lord, for Your living word. Thank You for Your presence. We enjoy it. We believe and feel assuredly that You are with us. You are with us in Your word and in our spirit. You are with us to be one spirit with us. We desire to speak You forth to others in the spirit. Thank You, Lord. Every time we speak Your word, You are speaking with us. We practice the very fact that You are one with our spirit. Lord, speak in our speaking. Be one spirit with us, and shame the enemy in that You have gained a people on this earth. Lord, at least You have gained us; we are one with You on this earth to testify of You, to tell the whole universe that God is the very God, the very Lord of the entire universe, not only in the heavens but also on earth. We are here testifying of You. O Lord Jesus! Tonight, shame the enemy; shame Satan. Lord Jesus, we accuse him before Your throne. Lord, put him to shame and release all Your riches. Amen.
The entire New Testament concerns God’s New Testament economy from the incarnation of God to the consummation of the New Jerusalem. The first thing that the New Testament teaches us is the incarnation of the Triune God. The second thing is the all-inclusive death of Christ, the third is the resurrection of Christ, and the fourth is the ascension of Christ. The fifth item of God’s New Testament economy is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit for the baptizing of all the believers into one Body. In previous chapters we have covered six aspects of the one Body: the Body of Christ; the bride of Christ; the universal new man; the household, or family, of God; the temple of God; and the church, the called-out assembly. In this chapter we will begin to consider an additional aspect of the one Body — the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the heavens.
In the Bible the kingdom has many aspects. The first aspect of the kingdom is the kingdom of God, and the second is the kingdom of the heavens. Very few students of the Bible know what the difference between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the heavens is. Mark, Luke, and John refer to the kingdom of God, whereas Matthew refers to the kingdom of the heavens. This causes many Bible students to think that the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the heavens are identical. However, there is a great difference between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the heavens.
In the New Testament the kingdom is a complicated matter. For example, certain portions of the New Testament indicate that even at the time of the apostles the kingdom of God was something that would come in the future (Acts 14:22b; 1 Cor. 6:9-10; 15:50); whereas other portions of the New Testament indicate that it is present now (Rom. 14:17; 1 Cor. 4:20; Col. 4:11b). Thus, it is not easy to know the truth concerning the kingdom in the Bible. According to the New Testament teaching, we must classify the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the heavens as two different, particular matters. In this chapter we will cover the kingdom of God, and in the next chapter we will consider the kingdom of the heavens.
The kingdom of God is the realm of God’s governmental administration, which, like His existence, is from eternity to eternity (Psa. 90:2; Dan. 2:44; Matt. 21:43). Psalm 90:2 says that God’s existence is from eternity to eternity. The kingdom of God comes with God’s existence. God’s kingdom goes along with God’s existence. Since God exists, His kingdom surely is present. Wherever God is, His kingdom also is there.
Every man has many desires and intentions. To carry them out, he needs a kingdom; that is, he needs a realm in which to carry out his intentions. When he marries, his wife becomes the first citizen in his “kingdom.” Later, he may have children, who also become citizens of his kingdom. When the man is away from his family, his wife and children may feel free to do as they please, but when he is at home, his presence becomes a kingdom, a ruling influence, to them. Thus, the man’s existence is a kingdom to his family. The duration of this kingdom is the length of the man’s life, or the duration of his existence. His existence determines the duration of his kingdom.
God’s existence is nearly equivalent to His kingdom. God’s existence is from eternity to eternity; hence, His kingdom also is from eternity to eternity. The whole universe is under the government of God. This is a view of God’s kingdom in a broad sense. Adam was in God’s kingdom, as were Enosh, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and the children of Israel. In Matthew 21:43 the Lord Jesus told the chief priests and the Pharisees, “Therefore I say to you that the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and shall be given to a nation producing its fruit.” This proves that the kingdom of God was among the children of Israel in the Old Testament time. Daniel 2:44 indicates that God’s kingdom will never be destroyed and that it will stand forever.
The kingdom of God has different sections. One section, mentioned previously, is the kingdom of God in the Old Testament age. The kingdom of God as the realm of God’s governmental administration also has a particular section, which is the kingdom of God in the New Testament age, that is, in God’s New Testament economy. The section in the New Testament is different from that in the Old Testament.
The particular characteristic of the New Testament section is the divine life. The kingdom of God has a section of the divine life in God’s New Testament economy (Mark 1:15). The divine life is only partially revealed in the Old Testament, but the divine life is a particular characteristic of the New Testament. In Genesis 2 the divine life is revealed in a symbolic way with the tree of life (v. 9). It is not revealed as definitely in the Old Testament as it is in the New Testament. In John 10:10 the Lord Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life.” In Greek the word for life in this verse is zoe, referring to the eternal divine life, not psuche, referring to the soulish life, or bios, referring to the physical life. In Colossians 3:4 Paul uses the expression Christ our life. We cannot find such a definite and clear expression in the Old Testament. In John 3:14-15 the Lord said, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that everyone who believes into Him may have eternal life.” Again, the life referred to here is the divine life.
The particular characteristic of the New Testament is this divine life. This is why in John 3 the Lord Jesus told us that if we desire to enter into the New Testament section of the kingdom of God, we must be reborn, or regenerated (vv. 3, 5). Nicodemus was a leading teacher in Israel, yet he could not understand such a word spoken by the Lord. He misunderstood the Lord’s word to mean that he had to return to his mother’s womb and be born a second time. The Lord Jesus told him that even if he could return to his mother’s womb, he would still be the flesh, because “that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (v. 6). The flesh and the spirit are of two different realms and of two different natures. If we desire to enter into the New Testament section of the kingdom of God, we must be born of the Spirit; we must have another life.
Every kingdom has its particular life. One cannot enter into a kingdom without having the life that matches that kingdom. To enter the animal kingdom we must have the animal life, and to enter the vegetable kingdom we must have the vegetable life. If we are not a lion, we could never be a part of the kingdom of lions. If we desire to understand the communication among the birds, we must be born into the kingdom of birds. The only way to be a part of a particular kingdom is to be born into that kingdom. By our physical birth we were born into the kingdom of man, and by the divine birth we, as men, are born into the kingdom of God.
As we have seen, a particular matter in the New Testament section of the kingdom of God is the divine life, the life of God, which is God Himself to be our life. In the Old Testament we could not see that God was life to Noah or to Abraham. But today, in the New Testament age, God is life to us. Thus, the realm of God’s governmental administration has a section of the divine life in the New Testament economy of God. Mark 1:15 indicates that at the time the Lord Jesus lived on the earth, the kingdom of God had only drawn near. However, Matthew 21:43 indicates that the kingdom of God was already present with the children of Israel. It seems that these two verses contradict each other. Actually, they refer to two sections of the kingdom of God. In Mark 1:15 the Lord Jesus preached the gospel, saying, “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has drawn near.” This indicates that while the old section of the kingdom of God was in existence, a new section was about to begin. This new section is new in the divine life. In the old section the divine life had not yet come. However, the very content of the new section of the kingdom of God is God’s divine life.
The new section of the kingdom of God is of the seed of life sown by Christ. Mark 4:3 says, “The sower went out to sow.” The Lord Jesus was the Sower, and He sowed Himself as the seed of life into Peter, John, James, and all the disciples. In verses 26 and 27 of the same chapter we find, “So is the kingdom of God: as if a man cast seed on the earth, and sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and lengthens — how, he does not know.” The kingdom of God is like a seed that grows after it has been sown. This is something new.
In the Old Testament, there was no regeneration. God was not a seed sown into His chosen people that this seed might grow in them. The word concerning the new section of the kingdom of God reveals that God came through incarnation to sow Himself as the seed of life into His chosen people. The seed of life is the seed of the kingdom of God. It grows up to be the kingdom of God. This does not refer to the old section of the kingdom of God. In the old section of the kingdom of God, God Himself was not there growing as the seed of life. It was in the new section of the kingdom of God that God came to sow Himself as the seed of life into His chosen people. Hallelujah, God has been sown into us!
The kingdom of God in the new section is God Himself as the seed of life that is sown into us and grows to be the kingdom of God. The seed of life, which is God Himself, not only produces the kingdom of God; it grows to be the kingdom of God. Just as the kingdom of lions is the lions themselves, and the kingdom of vegetables is the vegetables themselves, so the kingdom of God is God Himself growing in us. We are part of the kingdom of God because God is in us growing as the kingdom of God. If we do not walk according to God, we will not bear the appearance of the kingdom of God. Whenever we walk according to God, we bear the appearance of the kingdom of God.
In Luke 17 the Pharisees questioned the Lord Jesus as to when the kingdom of God would come. He answered them, saying, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, Behold, here it is! or, There! For behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you” (vv. 20-21). Since Jesus was there, God was there; and since God was there, the kingdom of God was there, for the kingdom of God is God Himself. We must know the kingdom of God in a spiritual way. The kingdom of God does not come with the observation of our physical eyes. The very Jesus who was speaking there was the kingdom of God, because He is God.
This section of the kingdom of God was brought in by the gospel of God (Mark 1:14-15; Acts 8:12). Mark 1:14-15 says, “After John was delivered up, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has drawn near. Repent and believe in the gospel.” This clearly shows that the kingdom of God was brought in by the gospel. As we preach the gospel, going to visit people by knocking on their doors, we are spreading the kingdom of God. We are bringing the kingdom of God into those homes, because our going is with the purpose of dispensing God into people. Any time we preach the gospel to people, we dispense God into them. Immediately after baptizing a certain one, we are able to declare, “Hallelujah, the kingdom of God is here!”
The kingdom of God was taught by Christ and the apostles for the producing and the establishing of the church (Acts 1:3; 19:8; 20:25; 28:23, 31). In the book of Acts, the word kingdom is used as well as the word church. We must not think of the kingdom of God as one thing and the church as something else. These two are actually one thing. On the one hand, the Body formed on the day of Pentecost by the outpouring of the Spirit is the church of God, and on the other hand, this church of God is also the kingdom of God. The church and the kingdom of God are one entity in two aspects. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost did not produce two entities. The outpouring produced one Body as the Body of Christ, the bride of Christ, the new man, the family of God, the temple of God, the church, and the kingdom. These are seven aspects of the one Body.
The Brethren taught that since the Jewish people rejected Jesus when He brought the kingdom of God to them, the kingdom of God has been and still is suspended. Therefore, it could not now be present on the earth. They taught that the church and the kingdom are different, that the church is present but the kingdom is yet to come. This is contrary to what both the Lord Jesus (1:3) and the apostle Paul taught. At one time Paul spent three months teaching concerning the kingdom of God (19:8). In his ministry he went about proclaiming the kingdom (20:25). In fact, the book of Acts closes with his testifying of the kingdom of God (28:23) and proclaiming the kingdom of God (v. 31). In actuality, the New Testament section of the kingdom of God is just the church.
The saints of the churches are the citizens of the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 14:33b; Eph. 2:19). Ephesians 2:19 says that we all are fellow citizens with the saints. This means that all the believers, who are the members of the church, are the citizens of the kingdom of God. As citizens of the kingdom of God, we are fellow citizens with the saints.
The life of the kingdom of God is the life of the Body of Christ in the local expressions (Rom. 14:17 chs. 12—16). The beginning of the book of Romans depicts men as sinners (3:23). In the second part of chapter 3, these sinners are redeemed (v. 24), and in chapter 4, these redeemed sinners are justified (vv. 2, 25). In chapters 5, 6, 7, and 8 they are wonderful persons who have the Spirit (8:9). They are those who have their daily life and even their being according to the Spirit (vv. 4-6, 14). Then in chapter 12 we have the Body (vv. 4-5). The Body life is described in chapters 12 through 16. In chapter 1 there are sinners, but in chapter 16 there are the local churches. This indicates that through the redemption of Christ and through the justification by God, those who were originally sinners have become saints. In chapter 12 those who have become saints are described as the Body. The remainder of the book of Romans, chapters 12 through 16, gives a clear presentation of the life of the Body of Christ. In the middle of these five chapters, there is a verse, Romans 14:17, which says that the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. This verse is speaking of the Body life, yet this Body life is called the kingdom of God. This indicates that today’s church life is the life of the kingdom of God. In this instance life means not only the life within but also the living without. The living of the church is the living of the Body of Christ. When we say “the life of the kingdom of God,” we mean the living of the citizens of the kingdom of God. This living of the kingdom of God is the living of the Body of Christ in its local expressions, which are the local churches. Hence, every local church is a part of the New Testament section of the kingdom of God.
The church of God refers to the believers’ life and right (1 Cor. 1:2; 10:32). Life here indicates the believers’ inner life. The church is a matter of life and also a matter of right. Today the people on this earth, especially Americans, are fighting for human rights. We also have a divine right, and we need to fight for our divine right. If we have the American life, we surely have the American right. Right is based on life.
The kingdom of God refers to the believers’ obligation and exercise (6:9-10; Gal. 5:21; Eph. 5:5; Acts 14:22). We may prefer to have the life and right in the church rather than the obligation and exercise in the kingdom. One may be in the church of God, but he will be excluded from the kingdom of God if he is a sinful person (1 Cor. 6:9-10; Gal. 5:21; Eph. 5:5). If we are fleshly, we can be sure that we will have no share in the kingdom of God. This means that we will have no inheritance, no participation, in the kingdom of God.
Acts 14:22 tells us that to enter into the kingdom of God, we must pass through many tribulations. The Christian life is a life with many tribulations. Every tribulation is an exercise, a training, and a discipline. As we suffer, we sense that we are being disciplined, trained, adjusted, and corrected. We prefer to have blessings and do not like tribulations. However, mere outward blessings are often vanity; but tribulations, sufferings, and afflictions always bring us many genuine blessings.
The kingdom is the realm of the divine life’s rule and discipline (1 Thes. 2:12). The new section of the kingdom of God is of the divine life in God’s New Testament economy, but the divine life is for us to be ruled, to be disciplined, and to be trained. A prince in a royal family lives a life that is always under a certain kind of rule and discipline. He must learn how to sit and how to talk with people. He must be strictly ruled, adjusted, restricted, and disciplined in everything. This means that he must be trained. If we would be kings, we must be trained and disciplined in everything. The kingdom of God with the divine life is for our training.
Regeneration is the initial entrance into this divine realm. In John 3:5 the Lord Jesus told Nicodemus, “Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” Regeneration is the beginning, the initial entrance into the kingdom of God, but not the entire entrance. We are still entering into the kingdom through tribulations. Every step of our entering into the kingdom of God is a tribulation. Although we may not like to walk the way of tribulations, there is no other way for us to enter into the kingdom except by the way of being exercised, trained, and disciplined.
