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In this message we shall cover one other aspect of the kingdom in its expression in the divine attributes and with human virtues — the shining as the light. Then we shall go on to consider the kingdom in its relation to God’s glory and in its unshakableness.
In Matthew 5:14-16 we see that the kingdom is expressed in its shining as the light. In verse 14a the Lord Jesus says, “You are the light of the world,” Here we see that the people of the kingdom of the heavens live a kingdom life to shine in the darkness of the world. The world, Satan’s system, the dark human society, needs light. To the darkened world, the people of the kingdom of the heavens are a light effacing its darkness.
In 5:14b the Lord Jesus goes on to say, “A city situated upon a mountain cannot be hidden.” As the shining light, the kingdom people are like a city situated upon a mountain. Such a city cannot be hidden. Ultimately, this city will be consummated in the holy city of the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:10-11, 23-24).
The light in Matthew 5:14 is not an individual person; on the contrary, it is a corporate city. This indicates that the kingdom people need the building. If we are in the building of the church in a practical way, we shall realize that only by being built together can we be a city situated upon a mountain. This city becomes a shining light. If the saints in the church in your locality are not built up but instead are scattered, divided, and separated, there is no city there. And as long as there is no city, there is no light, because the city is the light. The light is not an individual believer; it is a corporate city built up as one entity to shine over the people surrounding it. In order to shine upon others, we need to be built up as a city upon the mountaintop. For this, we need to keep the oneness and remain one entity, a corporate Body. Then we shall be a shining light as the expression of the kingdom.
Matthew 5:15 says, “Neither do men light a lamp and place it under the bushel, but on the lampstand, and it shines to all who are in the house.” The shining of the light has two aspects: the outward aspect and the inward aspect. The light as a city on a mountain shines over the outsiders, whereas the lighted lamp on the lampstand shines over those who are in the house. As the city, the light shines upon people, but as the lamp in the house, the light shines into people. This indicates that our influence over others should not be just outward but also inward.
In order to be a lamp shining into others, we need to be without any covering. As the lamp on the lampstand, the light should not be hidden. This is the reason the Lord Jesus speaks about placing the lamp under a bushel. A lighted lamp under a bushel cannot shine out its light. Therefore, the kingdom people as the lighted lamp should not be covered by a bushel, an item pertaining to eating, a matter which causes anxiety (Matt. 6:25). Hiding the lamp under the bushel indicates anxiety concerning our living. If we are anxious about our living, this anxiety will become a bushel covering our light. Instead of being covered by the bushel, we must be on the lampstand. If we live without anxiety concerning our existence, caring only for Christ and the church, we shall touch the hearts of others and shine into them.
Eventually, our shining will be for the glorification of the Father, for it will give glory to Him. Concerning this, the Lord Jesus says, “Thus let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in the heavens” (Matt. 5:16). As regenerated children of God (John 1:12; Gal. 4:6), we should have good works. These good works are the behavior of the kingdom people through which others may see God and be brought to Him.
Our shining will glorify the Father because it expresses what God is. To glorify the Father is to give Him the glory. Glory is God expressed. When the kingdom people express God in their behavior and good works, others see God and give glory to God.
God hidden is God Himself. But when God is expressed, that is the glory of God. If as the kingdom people we have such a shining light, God will be expressed in this shining, and all those around us will see the glory, God expressed. When others see God in our shining, that is the glory of God. Therefore, the shining of the kingdom as light is for the glorification of the Father.
We come now to the relation of the kingdom to the glory of God. God’s kingdom always goes with His glory.
In 1 Thessalonians 2:12 Paul indicates that we enter into the kingdom of God and into the glory of God simultaneously. “That you should walk worthily of God, who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.” God’s kingdom and glory are the goal of His calling. Contrary to what many Christians think, God has not called us to a heavenly mansion but to His kingdom and glory.
The kingdom of God is God being manifested through us. Whenever we express God in our daily walk, that is the kingdom. The expression of God from within us is the kingdom. When we live worthily of God, living a life in the Lord Jesus Christ, there is with us a particular kind of atmosphere, and this atmosphere is God’s kingdom. Furthermore, where the kingdom of God is, there the glory of God is also.
In the coming age, the entering into the kingdom of God and the entering into the glory of God will take place simultaneously. When we live by the divine life, the life of God, we surely will express God, and the expressed God is the divine glory. Since we live such a life, we are in the divine glory. Then spontaneously we are in the kingdom of God, because the kingdom of God is just God’s manifestation in His glory with His authority for His divine administration. Hence, to enter into the kingdom of God and to enter into the expressed glory of God transpire at the same time as one thing.
Matthew 6:13 says, “Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory.” This indicates that God’s glory goes with His kingdom and is expressed in the realm of His kingdom. The kingdom is the realm for God to exercise His power that He may express His glory.
Hebrews 12:28 reveals that God’s kingdom is unshakable as God Himself is. The kingdom is unshakable in its substance, foundation, structure, constituents, and expression.
The kingdom is unshakable in its substance, which is God. In the existing substance of the kingdom, actually it is God Himself exercised and expressed in His power with His glory for His divine administration.
The kingdom is also unshakable in its foundation, which is Christ. The earth and the heavens are shakable. Only the Lord and the things which come out of Him will remain forever (Heb. 12:27; 1:11; 13:8). This means that the kingdom which we are receiving has come out of the Lord Himself.
The kingdom is actually the Lord Himself as the kingship within us. Daniel 2:34 and 35 will help us to understand this matter. “Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.” The stone cut without hands is the heavenly Christ, who was cut on the cross without human hands. Daniel 2:44, referring to the toes of the image, says, “In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.” Verse 45 also speaks of the stone, saying, “The stone was cut out of the mountain without hands” and “it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold.” These verses indicate that the stone, which is Christ, will eventually become a great mountain filling the whole earth. This great mountain is the coming kingdom. Hence, the unshakable kingdom which we are receiving is Christ with His enlargement.
The kingdom is unshakable in its structure, which is the church. The church is the enlargement of Christ constituted of the riches of what Christ is, and today such a church is the reality of the kingdom of God (Rom. 14:17). Hence, the structure of this divine kingdom is unshakable, as the unshakable divine life of Christ is.
God’s kingdom is unshakable in its constituents. These constituents are all the riches of the processed and consummated Triune God. Since the structure of the kingdom is the divine structure of the church, which is the enlargement of Christ, the embodiment of the processed Triune God, its constituents are also the constituents of the church, which is the expression of the unshakable Christ.
Finally, the kingdom is unshakable in its expression, which is the glory of the Triune God, the very God Himself expressed in His glory. Such an expression nothing can shake, and it will remain and stand as the very God expressed forever.
