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In the foregoing message we saw that the kingdom of God is first God’s reign in a general way by power and authority and then God’s reign in a particular way in the sense of life. In this message we shall cover further aspects of God’s reign in a particular way.
The kingdom of God as God’s reign in a particular way drew near at John the Baptist’s preaching (Matt. 3:2). You may wonder why John the Baptist told people to repent for the kingdom had drawn near, since the kingdom of God had been present with Israel in Old Testament times. The reason is that the kingdom of God was about to have a new beginning, to come in a new sense. In the Old Testament the kingdom of God was present in a general sense by authority and power. But now in the New Testament the kingdom of God was to have a new start in a particular way in the sense of life.
First the kingdom of God in the sense of life drew near, and then it came in reality in the Lord’s ministry. This is indicated by the Lord’s word in Matthew 12:28. “If I by the Spirit of God cast out demons, then the kingdom of God is come upon you.” The Spirit of God is the power of the kingdom of God. Where the Spirit of God is in power, there the kingdom of God is, and there the demons have no ground. By the Lord’s word here we see that the battle fought for the kingdom is not fought by a man himself but by a man with the Spirit of God. The Lord said that He cast out demons by the Spirit of God and that this is the coming of the kingdom of God. Wherever the Spirit of God exercises His authority over the opposing situation, that is the kingdom of God coming in reality.
The kingdom as God’s reign in a particular way in the sense of life goes in parallel with the church. This is revealed clearly in the book of Acts, where the kingdom and the church are frequently mentioned. Many verses speak of the kingdom (Acts 1:3; 8:12; 14:22; 19:8; 20:25; 28:23, 31), and many other verses speak of the church (5:11; 8:1, 3; 9:31; 11:22, 26; 12:1, 5; 13:1; 14:23, 27; 15:3-4, 22, 41; 16:5; 18:22; 20:17, 28). The kingdom is mentioned first. Acts 1:3 tells us that to the apostles the Lord Jesus “presented Himself alive after His suffering by many convincing proofs, through a period of forty days, appearing to them and speaking the things concerning the kingdom of God.” This indicates strongly that the kingdom of God would be the main subject of the apostles’ preaching in the coming commission after Pentecost. Before the Lord Jesus ascended to the heavens and poured out Himself as the all-inclusive Spirit to establish the church, He taught His disciples about the kingdom. If they had not had any knowledge or realization concerning the kingdom, it would have been difficult for the Lord Jesus to bring them into the church. Therefore, in the first chapter of Acts the kingdom was taught thoroughly.
In the following chapters of Acts the church is brought in. The first mention of the church is in Acts 5:11. Acts 8:1 refers to the church in Jerusalem. Throughout the book of Acts the church is mentioned again and again. However, after the church comes in, the kingdom is still preached. In 8:12 Philip brought the good news concerning the kingdom of God to the Samaritans. Acts 14:22 says that “through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God.” According to 19:8, Paul spoke boldly in the synagogue concerning the kingdom of God. Furthermore, 20:25 tells us that Paul went about proclaiming the kingdom. Finally, in 28:23 Paul “expounded and solemnly testified the kingdom of God” to those who came to him in his lodging. From this we can see that the book of Acts begins and ends with the kingdom of God. Moreover, Acts shows us that the kingdom and the church are a pair, for the kingdom goes in parallel with the church. Without the kingdom there is neither the beginning nor the conclusion of the church life. The church life is intimately related to the kingdom because the kingdom is the life pulse of the church. Therefore, the kingdom is absolutely crucial to the church life.
Some Bible teachers have mistakenly taught that the kingdom has been suspended. According to their understanding, due to rejection by the Jews, the kingdom has been suspended, the present age is the age of the church, and the kingdom will come back after the church age. This interpretation may be correct in one aspect of the truth concerning the kingdom but not in all aspects. In the aspect of life the kingdom has not been suspended. Yes, in the Gospels the Jews rejected the Lord’s presentation of the kingdom to them. Nevertheless, in Acts 1:3 the Lord, after His resurrection and after breathing Himself as the Spirit of life into the disciples, stayed with them for forty days in order to teach them the things concerning the kingdom. As we have seen, later in Acts we have the church and the preaching of the kingdom of God as the gospel.
Because the kingdom and the church are in parallel we cannot separate them. Actually, the kingdom and the church are one thing in different aspects and with different terminology. When we speak of the church, the kingdom also is present. When we speak of the kingdom in the sense of life, the church is present as well. As believers in Christ, we need to live in the kingdom, and we also need to be in the church and live in the church both in reality and in practicality. This means that we need to have the practice of the church life. We need to be a church people, living in the reality of the church according to the truth and also living in the practicality of the church, practicing the church life wherever we may be. If we live in the kingdom and in the church, then we shall also live in the Body.
The kingdom of God in the sense of life is the reality of the church life. Romans 14:17 says, “The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” This verse is a strong proof that the church in the present age is the kingdom of God, because the context here is dealing with the church life in the present age. In this verse Paul does not say that the kingdom of God shall be; he uses the present tense and says that the kingdom of God is. According to the context of Romans 14, which speaks of receiving the believers, the kingdom is today’s church life. The reality of the church life is the kingdom. Romans 12 speaks of the Body life, and Romans 14 speaks of the kingdom life. This indicates that, according to the book of Romans, the kingdom life is the reality of the Body life — the church life.
In 14:17 we see that the kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. When we live in the reality of God’s kingdom, righteousness, peace, and joy will characterize our daily life. We shall be righteous toward ourselves, we shall have peace toward others, and we shall have joy with God.
As we live the kingdom life in the church, we live righteously toward ourselves. This means that we are strict with ourselves and make no excuses for ourselves in anything we do.
To live the kingdom life in the church also means that we live peacefully toward others. This indicates that our relationship with others must be characterized by peace. Toward others we must endeavor to pursue peace, continually seeking to be at peace with them. We must be careful to maintain peace with everyone related to us. Such a peace is always related to righteousness. If we do not have righteousness, we cannot have peace. Righteousness must come first, and then peace will follow. If we are righteous toward ourselves, we shall be at peace with others.
Living the kingdom life in the church requires that we live joyfully to God in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a Spirit of joy. Therefore, if we are truly living the kingdom life, we shall be joyful with God, praising Him. The more we live righteously toward ourselves, peacefully toward others, and joyfully to God in the Holy Spirit, the more the kingdom will be manifested in our daily living in the church life. This is the kingdom in the sense of life being the reality of the church life.
As believers, we have been regenerated into the kingdom of God (John 3:3, 5). This means that our regeneration was the initial entrance into God’s kingdom. To be regenerated, therefore, is to enter into the kingdom of God. All believers in Christ have entered the kingdom of God by being regenerated into it. This is the reason the Lord Jesus said in John 3:3, “Unless a man is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” In verse 5 He goes on to say, “Unless a man is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” These verses are a clear revelation of the fact that regeneration is the unique entrance into the kingdom of God. In order to enter into the kingdom of God, we need to be born again. There is no other way for us to enter into the kingdom of God.
A kingdom is always related to life. The vegetable kingdom is related to the vegetable life, and the animal kingdom is related to the animal life. In order to share in a certain kingdom, we first need the life of that kingdom. If we did not have human life, we could not have entered the human kingdom. Only human beings can participate in the human kingdom because only they have a human life. Likewise, if we did not have the divine life, the life of God, we could not enter the kingdom of God. In order to enter the divine kingdom, we must have the divine life. Because through regeneration we received the divine life, regeneration was our initial entrance into the kingdom of God.
The kingdom of God is not only the reign of God but also the divine realm or sphere. In order to participate in the reign of God and to be in the divine realm, we need the divine life. Only those who have the divine life can be in the divine realm and share the divine kingdom. We need to be regenerated that we may have the divine life, the life which enables us to enter into the divine realm and participate in the divine kingdom. No matter how good, clean, and pure our human life may be, it is not able to realize the things of the divine realm, and it is not qualified to enter into the divine kingdom. Only the divine life is qualified to be in the divine realm.
We all were born into the human kingdom. No one has ever been naturalized into the kingdom of man. The principle is the same with the kingdom of God. The divine life brings us into the kingdom of God. This is the reason the Lord Jesus says that we must be born into the kingdom of God. We cannot enter into the kingdom of God by learning or by being naturalized. We enter the kingdom of God only by regeneration. When we believed in the Lord Jesus and called on His name, the divine Spirit came into us, regenerated us, and caused us to be born into the kingdom of God.
The kingdom of God as God’s reign in the sense of life is a present incentive to the believers to suffer the tribulation with endurance in Jesus. This is indicated by John’s word in Revelation 1:9a: “I John, your brother and joint partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and endurance in Jesus.” Although John was on the isle of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus (Rev. 1:9b), he was there living the kingdom life. That kingdom life was the incentive that encouraged him to suffer persecution and tribulation with all endurance. Therefore, he could still be happy and work for the Lord, for within him he had the kingdom of God in life as an incentive.
We partake of the kingdom both in tribulation and in endurance. If we do not have endurance, we shall be able to withstand tribulation only for a limited time. As we live in Christ, we partake not only of His life but also of His endurance. When we abide in Christ, we partake of His endurance and have the endurance to bear suffering and opposition. We suffer tribulation with endurance in Jesus with God’s kingdom in life as our incentive.
In Acts 14:22 we see that Paul and Barnabas told the disciples that “through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God.” The entrance here is not the initial entrance but the ultimate entrance. Instead of being frustrations, the tribulations are the way that ushers us into the kingdom. Today we are on the way to enter into the kingdom of God as our destination. Actually, our going on in the way to enter into the final entrance of the kingdom of God is the developing of the kingdom of God. The more we go on, the more the kingdom of God is developed among us.
The kingdom of God in the sense of life is actually Christ Himself (Luke 17:21) as the seed of life sown into His believers, God’s chosen people (Mark 4:3, 26), and developing into a realm in which God may rule as His kingdom in His divine life. Its entrance is regeneration (John 3:5), and its development is the believers’ growth in the divine life (2 Pet. 1:3-11). It is the church life today in which the faithful believers live (Rom. 14:17), and it will develop into the coming kingdom as an inheritance reward (Gal. 5:21; Eph. 5:5) to the overcoming saints in the millennium (Rev. 20:4, 6). Eventually, it will consummate in the New Jerusalem as the eternal kingdom of God, an eternal realm of the eternal blessing of God’s eternal life for all God’s redeemed to enjoy in the new heaven and new earth for eternity (Rev. 21:1-4; 22:1-5, 14).
The kingdom of God in the sense of life is also a blessing for the believers to inherit. Eventually, if we live in the reality of the kingdom, we shall inherit the kingdom of God. Inheriting the kingdom of God is different from entering into the kingdom of God through regeneration. Having entered into the kingdom of God by being regenerated, we need to grow and develop in the divine life. Then, as a result of this growth and development, we shall inherit the kingdom of God as a blessing.
In 1 Corinthians 6:10 Paul speaks of inheriting the kingdom of God. The word “inherit” here implies enjoyment. Thus, to inherit the coming kingdom means to enjoy the kingdom. The coming kingdom will be a joyful inheritance to the overcomers. According to Matthew, the manifestation of the kingdom will be a reward to the overcoming saints as their enjoyment with the Lord. To inherit the kingdom, therefore, is not simply to enter the kingdom but to receive the kingdom as a reward, as a blessing, for our enjoyment.
In Galatians 5:21 Paul again speaks of inheriting the kingdom of God. Once again, the inheritance of the kingdom of God refers to the enjoyment of the coming kingdom as a reward. This is not related to a believer’s salvation. Those believers who practice the works of the flesh listed in Galatians 5:19-21 are saved, but they will not inherit the coming kingdom as a reward.
In Luke 12:31 and 32 the Lord Jesus says, “Seek His kingdom, and these things shall be added to you. Do not fear, little flock, because your Father delights to give you the kingdom.” Here the Lord is referring to the kingdom of God as a blessing for the believers to receive from the Father.
Another verse that speaks of the kingdom as a blessing for the believers to inherit is James 2:5. “Listen, my beloved brothers: Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which He promised to those who love Him?” The kingdom here is the kingdom of God and also the kingdom of Christ (Eph. 5:5), which will be inherited by the overcoming believers as a reward for their enjoyment in the coming age.
