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In this message we shall cover the three remaining aspects of the believers’ status after being saved: co-kings of Christ, partakers of the Holy Spirit, and heavenly citizens.
We have seen that the believers are priests of Christ. Now we need to see that they are also co-kings of Christ. Those believers who live in the reality of the kingdom in this age will be co-kings with Christ in the millennium.
It is in resurrection that the believers are co-kings of Christ. Speaking of the overcoming believers, Revelation 20:4c says, “They lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.” Here the word “lived” means that they were resurrected.
Revelation 20:6 says, “Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection: over these the second death has no authority; but they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with Him a thousand years.” The first resurrection here is the best resurrection. The Greek word translated “first” is the same word rendered “best” in Luke 15:22, where the father commanded that the best robe be put on the returned prodigal. Hence, the first resurrection in Revelation 20:6 may actually be translated “the best resurrection.” Those who are co-kings of Christ will enjoy this resurrection. The first resurrection is also the out-resurrection, for which Paul sought (Phil. 3:11). This is a resurrection that is set apart from the common resurrection; it is a resurrection with honor. This is a resurrection of kingship as a reward to the overcoming believers. Hence, the first resurrection is also the resurrection of reward.
Revelation 20:6a says, “Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection.” This must be the highest blessing — to inherit the kingdom manifested on earth and even to be co-kings of Christ in it.
Being co-kings of Christ is in the consummation of the believers’ maturity in the divine life. Until we reach maturity in the divine life we are like young princes, those who are too young to be kings. A king must be a matured person. Before a prince can be a king, he needs to grow and mature in the kingly life. Then he will be qualified to be a king. Likewise, we need to grow in the resurrection life. Eventually, this growth will reach the consummation of maturity in the divine life. Once we have reached this maturity we shall be qualified to be co-kings of Christ.
Second Timothy 2:12a says, “If we endure, we shall also reign with Him.” This verse implies being a co-king of Christ in the consummation of maturity in the divine life. If we endure in this age, we shall reign with Christ in the coming age.
Those who are co-kings of Christ will reign over the nations and shepherd them on earth. Revelation 2:26 and 27 say, “He who overcomes, and he who keeps My works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will shepherd them with an iron rod, as vessels of pottery are broken in pieces, as I also have received from My Father.” Reigning with Christ over the nations is a prize to the overcoming believers. As they reign over the nations, they will shepherd them, for in the millennial kingdom the ruler is the shepherd.
In Psalm 2:9 God gave Christ authority to rule over the nations. Here in Revelation 2:26 and 27 Christ gives the same authority to the overcoming believers.
Two other verses that speak of the believers reigning over the nations on earth are Revelation 12:5 and 5:10. Revelation 12:5 says that the man-child will “shepherd all the nations with an iron rod.” This man-child signifies the stronger part of God’s people. The fact that the man-child will shepherd the nations with an iron rod indicates that the man-child consists of the overcoming believers, as mentioned in Revelation 2:26 and 27. Furthermore, Revelation 5:10 says that the believers will reign on the earth.
It will be in the millennial kingdom that the believers will be co-kings of Christ. Revelation 20:4 and 6 both speak of the overcoming believers reigning with Christ “a thousand years,” referring to the coming age of the millennial kingdom.
Hebrews 6:4 reveals that the believers are partakers of the Holy Spirit. As such partakers, we share in the Holy Spirit and enjoy Him. The Holy Spirit is what God promised to give man in His gospel (Gal. 3:14). In His gospel God has called us from the heavens to the heavenly things that we may partake of His Holy Spirit. Now by the Holy Spirit we taste the heavenly gift, partake of the divine holiness, and live a heavenly life on earth. As partakers of the Holy Spirit, we partake of the Triune God as our enjoyment.
The book of Hebrews reveals that the all-inclusive Christ is superior to the angels, Moses, Aaron, and the old covenant. In our practical experience, however, this all-inclusive Christ is the Spirit. Hebrews does not tell us that we are partakers of the all-inclusive Christ, but that we are partakers of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is the consummation of the Triune God and also the reaching to us of the Triune God. This Spirit is much superior to the angels, Moses, and Aaron, and He is the reality of the new covenant, which is much superior to the old covenant. Now we are partakers of this Spirit. As partakers of the Spirit, we partake of and enjoy the processed Triune God with all His riches.
Those who are partakers of the Holy Spirit have been enlightened by the Spirit. Hebrews 6:4 speaks first of being enlightened and then of becoming partakers of the Holy Spirit. In Luke 15:8 the Spirit is symbolized by the fine woman lighting a lamp, sweeping the house, and carefully seeking a lost silver coin until she finds it. As portrayed by the parable of the seeking woman, the Spirit works to enlighten us inwardly. Little by little, in a fine, careful way, the Spirit enlightens our inner being. Before we were saved, we were in the darkness of sin. Therefore, the Spirit came to enlighten us that we might wake up, repent, and turn to God. Having been enlightened by the Spirit, who is able to penetrate the depths of our being, we have become partakers of the Holy Spirit.
Hebrews 6:4 tells us that we have also tasted of the heavenly gift. The heavenly gift includes the heavenly things given to us by God at the time of our salvation. This means that the heavenly gift is actually an aggregate of a number of items. The first of these items is forgiveness. Because God forgives us from the heavens, the forgiveness of sins is part of the heavenly gift. Other aspects of this gift are the washing of the blood, justification in Christ, reconciliation, and redemption. Regeneration is also a crucial aspect of the heavenly gift. Furthermore, this gift includes the divine life and sonship. The heavenly gift even includes the Holy Spirit.
As believers in Christ, we surely have tasted of the heavenly gift. For instance, we have tasted the sweetness of God’s forgiveness of our sins. We have also tasted the sweetness of Christ’s washing through His precious blood. Formerly, we were under the burden of our sins. But now that we have been washed in the blood of Christ we have been released. We also enjoy justification, reconciliation, redemption, regeneration, the divine life, and the divine sonship. Today we continue to enjoy these matters in our daily life. In addition to all this, we enjoy the Holy Spirit. As partakers of the Holy Spirit, we certainly have tasted of the heavenly gift.
Hebrews 6:5 says that we “have tasted the good word of God, and the works of power of the coming age.” In Greek “word” here is rhema, the instant word of God. The good word of God in 6:5 refers to the word of the beginning of Christ mentioned in Hebrews 6:1, which is the milk the Hebrew believers tasted (Heb. 5:12-13) when they believed in the Lord. The good word of God as the word of the beginning of the Christ is elementary and includes repentance, faith in God, baptisms, laying on of hands, resurrection, and eternal judgment, all of which are related to Christ’s earthly ministry. Without His earthly ministry we would have had no way to repent, receive baptism, lay hands on others, receive resurrection, or escape eternal judgment. Any word concerning Christ’s earthly ministry is the word of the beginning of the Christ in the primary stage. This is surely the good word because it is glad tidings, good news.
In particular, the good word of God is the good word of the gospel. The New Testament says that God loves the world, that Christ is our Savior, and that Christ died on the cross for our sins and even for us. These are good words. The New Testament also tells us that God is willing to forgive us and receive us. To be sure, these are good words. In the New Testament there are a great many verses that may be considered the good word of God tasted by us. When we read the Bible, often these verses become our enjoyment. As partakers of the Holy Spirit, we have tasted the good word of God.
According to Hebrews 6:5, we have even tasted “the works of power of the coming age.” We have been enlightened and we have tasted of the heavenly gift, the good word of God, and the works of power of the coming age. Here we have three kinds of tastes — of the heavenly gift, of the good word of God, and of the works of power. The enlightenment, the heavenly gift, and the good word of God belong to the present age, the age of grace. The works of power, which in the New Testament are synonymous with miracles, belong to the coming age, the age of the kingdom. Therefore, the enlightenment, the heavenly gift, and the good word of God are fully destined for us in this age, but the works of power of the coming age are not destined for us in this age of grace.
Miracles, works of power, and wonders and signs are not part of God’s central testimony of the incarnated, crucified, resurrected, and ascended Christ. Neither are they part of God’s full salvation. The Lord borrowed the miraculous things from the coming age to show that what the apostles preached and ministered and how they acted were absolutely of God, not of man (Acts 2:43; Heb. 2:3-4). God will not perform miraculous things all the time in this age of grace.
Between eternity past and eternity future there are basically three ages: the age of the old creation, the age of the new creation, and the age of restoration. From God’s creation of the heavens and the earth in Genesis 1:1 to the beginning of the age of grace is the time span of the age of the old creation. The age of grace is the age of the new creation. In the age of the old creation God created mankind and the entire universe. When what He created became fallen, He came in to restore it, that is, to recover and maintain it. In the age of grace God is doing neither a work of creation nor a work of restoration. Whereas the old creation is merely the creation without God in it, the new creation is the old creation born of God with God as its new element. Therefore, through the addition of the element of God the old creation becomes the new creation. Now the new creation, the believers born again of God, has the divine nature (John 1:13; 3:15; 2 Pet. 1:4). Therefore, the believers are a new creation (Gal. 6:15), not according to the old nature of the flesh but according to the new nature of the divine life. The work of God in the age of grace is to produce the new creation. In the coming age, the millennium, God will neither create nor will He produce the new creation. Rather, through the works of power, He will do a work of restoring the old fallen creation.
In the age of God’s old creation God did the work of creation and also some work of restoration. The work of restoration involved miracles. It is crucial for us to see that miracles, works of power, do not belong to God’s new creation but to the restoration of God’s old creation. In New Testament times there were cases of healings. In the age of the kingdom all people will be healed miraculously. We must be clear, however, that no miracle belongs to God’s new creation. Therefore, we should not expect the Lord to perform miracles for His chosen people all the time during the age of grace. However, during the age of grace, the age of the new creation, for certain purposes the Lord may borrow the works of power from the coming age.
Basically, God does two kinds of work. One kind belongs to the spirit with the divine life, and another kind, which includes the works not of life but of power, involves miracles. Works of power are related to our physical body, not to our spirit. For instance, when the Lord Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, that was related to his body, not to his spirit, for Lazarus died again. During the Lord’s earthly ministry many were healed or raised from the dead, but eventually they all died. This is a strong proof that miracles do not have any relationship to our spirit. The work God is doing in this age is not in the physical realm but in the realm of our spirit. The majority of the New Testament writings are for God’s work in our spirit. Only a small percentage of the New Testament refers to God’s work in the physical realm. Whatever God works in the physical realm is a miracle. Whatever God does in the realm of our spirit is not miraculous but divine. We treasure this divine work. But we do not care much for the miraculous work, because that work belongs to God’s work of restoration in the coming age.
We need to be deeply impressed with the fact that God’s intention in His economy for us in this age is not to restore our body. Rather, God’s intention in this age of grace is to work on our spirit and soul. First, He regenerates our spirit. Then through our spirit He works to transform our soul. Eventually, at the coming of the next age, God will redeem, not heal, our body. Nevertheless, in His mercy and for His purpose, sometimes God borrows the works of power of the coming age and gives the believers a taste of them in this age.
The works of power of the coming age are related to the leaves of the tree of life. “The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations” (Rev. 22:2b). The leaves of the tree of life symbolize the deeds of Christ. The regenerated believers eat the fruit of the tree of life, receiving Christ as their life and life supply inwardly, that they may enjoy the divine life. But the restored nations will be healed by the leaves of the tree of life, taking the deeds of Christ as their guide and regulation outwardly. Today the life of the tree of life is dispensed into our spirit and soul. Furthermore, this life may even be dispensed into our mortal bodies through the indwelling Spirit (Rom. 8:11).
Paul experienced such a dispensing. As the leading apostle, he had great faith and did many miracles. But when he himself had a thorn in the flesh and prayed three times for the Lord to remove it, the Lord did not heal him. Instead, He said to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you” (2 Cor. 12:9). Furthermore, although the Lord released Paul from imprisonment in Acts 16 and also from his first imprisonment in Rome, eventually the Lord did not do anything to rescue Paul from martyrdom. The reason for this is that the age of grace is not the time for the Lord to rescue our bodies from sickness and death. The Lord may do this on occasion, but He will not do it continually. But in the coming age a great many will be healed by the leaves of the tree of life. There will not be regeneration, but there will be an abundance of healing. Today, however, there is not much miraculous healing, but there is much experience of regeneration and transformation. Furthermore, most of the healing we experience comes from the indwelling Spirit giving life through our spirit and mind to our mortal bodies.
In Hebrews 6:4 and 5 we see that the believers enjoy three matters that are genuine blessings assigned to us for the new creation — enlightenment, the heavenly gift, and the good word of God. In addition, the believers may also taste the works of power of the coming age. As the result of being enlightened and tasting the heavenly gift, the good word of God, and the works of power of the coming age, the believers become partakers of the Holy Spirit. This means that the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit and the tasting of the heavenly gift, the good word of God, and the works of power of the coming age issue in our partaking of the Holy Spirit. Today we are not merely enlightened by the Holy Spirit and we do not merely partake of a heavenly gift, a good word, or a work of power, but we are partaking of and enjoying the Holy Spirit Himself. This is truly a great matter. As believers we are not only partakers of the divine nature — we are also partakers of the Holy Spirit.
Finally, in their status after being saved the believers are heavenly citizens. Paul says, “Our citizenship is in the heavens” (Phil. 3:20a). The Greek word rendered “citizenship” may also be rendered commonwealth or associations of life. Our national life is not in any earthly country; it is in the heavens. Our real citizenship, our true commonwealth, is in the heavens. Therefore, we are not earthly citizens or worldly citizens — we are heavenly citizens.
Because our citizenship is in the heavens, we should not be occupied with earthly things, with the physical things needed for our existence. We should not place such a high value on material things. This does not mean, of course, that we should not have proper food, clothing, housing, and transportation. We need these things. But if we love the earthly things needed for human life, this is an indication that we do not treasure our heavenly citizenship. We all need to remember that our citizenship is in the heavens and that we are a heavenly people sojourning on earth.
The heavenly citizens are partakers of the heavenly calling (Heb. 3:1a). This heavenly calling is in contrast to the earthly calling. In God’s economy, in His full salvation, we have been called by God from the heavens and have been called to everything that is heavenly. Hence, this calling is a heavenly calling. Everything in it has a heavenly nature. We, the believers in Christ, are partakers of such a heavenly calling.
The heavenly calling first calls us to the heavenly Christ (Heb. 1:3, 13; 4:14; 6:20; 7:26; 9:24; 10:12). Christ was on earth and He will return to earth, but He is now in the heavens. He is the heavenly Christ ministering the heavenly life supply to us that we may live a heavenly life on earth.
As partakers of the heavenly calling, we have had our names enrolled in the heavens (Heb. 12:23). Today we are not in the heavens, but our names are written there. We also taste the heavenly gift (Heb. 6:4), have the heavenly worship (Heb. 8:5; 9:23-24), and come to the heavenly Jerusalem (Heb. 12:22). We have even been called to the heavenly country (Heb. 11:16). Moreover, we are partakers of the Holy Spirit (Heb. 6:4) and of the heavenly discipline (Heb. 12:8).
The believers as heavenly citizens have been born from above. In John 3:3 the Lord Jesus says, “Unless a man is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” The Greek word rendered “anew” can also be rendered “from above.” We have not only had an earthly birth; we have also been born from above, from the heavens.
Ephesians 2:6 tells us that God has “seated us together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.” The initial step of God’s salvation in life is to make us alive together with Christ (Eph. 2:5). The second step is to raise us up from the position of death (Eph. 2:6a). Then, as the third step of His salvation in life, God seats us together in the heavenlies in Christ. He not only raised us up from the position of death but also seated us in the highest place in the universe.
The word “heavenlies” is rather peculiar. It refers not only to a place but also to an atmosphere with a certain nature and characteristic. God’s salvation by life has brought us into a heavenly place and into a heavenly atmosphere with a heavenly characteristic. Because we are in a heavenly atmosphere with a heavenly nature and characteristic, we are a heavenly people. God’s salvation has transferred us into such a realm and atmosphere.
According to Ephesians 2:6, it was in Christ that God seated us all together, once for all, in the heavenlies. This was accomplished when Christ ascended to the heavens, and it was applied to us by the Spirit of Christ when we believed in Him. Today we realize and experience this reality in our spirit through faith in the accomplished fact.
Colossians 3:2 says, “Set your mind on the things which are above, not on the things which are on the earth.” The things above refer to the various aspects of Christ in His heavenly ministry: His being crowned with glory and honor (Heb. 2:9), His being made Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36), His being Head over all things to the church (Eph. 1:22-23), and His being the Forerunner (Heb. 6:19-20), the High Priest (Heb. 8:1; 4:14; 7:25), the heavenly Minister (Heb. 8:1-2), and the Lamb on the throne executing the divine administration (Rev. 5:6). We need to set our mind on these things. This means that we need to forget earthly things — culture, religion, philosophy, and natural human virtues — and instead lift up our eyes to the heavens and set our mind on the wonderful, excellent things, the things that are above. These things can cause us to be transformed, for they transmit a heavenly element into us. Therefore, we need to open our spirit and our whole being to the heavens that the divine transmission may flow into us unceasingly. Then the riches of Christ in His heavenly ministry will be transmitted into us, and we shall be transformed and constituted of Christ.
