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Scripture Reading: Matt. 7:21-23; 6:10; 12:50; 16:18-19; 21:42, 44; 5:14
I. In order to enter into the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens in the coming age, we must do the will of our Father in this age — Matt. 7:21-23; 6:10; 12:50; Rev. 4:11; Rom. 12:2; Eph. 1:5, 9, 11; 5:17; Col. 1:9; 4:12:
А. God is a God of purpose, having a will of His own pleasure, and He created all things for His will that He might accomplish and fulfill His purpose — Rev. 4:11; Eph. 3:9-11; Col. 1:9:
1. God’s will is His heart’s desire, His mingling with man, and the fulfillment of His eternal plan — Eph. 1:5, 9, 11; 5:17.
2. The will of God is to obtain a Body for Christ to be His fullness, His expression — Rom. 12:2, 5; Eph. 1:5, 9, 11, 22-23.
B. The kingdom is absolutely a matter of God’s will and completely fulfills God’s will; in fact, the kingdom is God’s will — Matt. 6:10.
C. The ultimate issue of the constitution of the kingdom of the heavens is the will of the heavenly Father — 7:21.
D. As the kingdom people, we are on earth to do the Father’s will — 7:21; 12:50.
E. In order to do the will of the Father, we need to enter in through the narrow gate and walk on the constricted way — 7:13-14:
1. The narrow gate excludes the old man, the self, the flesh, the human concept, and the world with all its glory; only that which corresponds with God’s will can enter in.
2. As we walk on the constricted way, we are restricted by a mysterious, invisible, inward control, and we live under this control.
F. Whoever does the will of the Father is a relative of the Lord Jesus — 12:50:
1. Christ, the heavenly King, always submitted to the Father’s will, taking God’s will as His portion and not resisting anything — 11:28-30; 26:39.
2. Whoever does the will of the Father is a brother who helps the Lord Jesus, a sister who sympathizes with Him, and a mother who tenderly loves Him.
G. The kingdom people need to pray for the Father’s will to be done on earth as in the heavens; this is to bring the kingdom of the heavens to the earth — 6:10.
II. The Father’s eternal will is to build up the church upon Christ the Son as the rock — Matt. 16:18; Eph. 2:21-22; 4:16:
А. God’s building is the desire of God’s heart and the goal of God’s salvation — Eph. 1:5, 9; 2:8, 10, 21-22; Exo. 25:8:
1. The desire of God’s heart is to have a dwelling place on earth constituted with Christ and according to Christ — Eph. 1:5, 9; 2:21-22.
2. God’s building is the Triune God as life being wrought into us so that we may become His corporate expression — 3:17a, 19b, 21.
3. God’s building is the mingling of God with man; the principle of God’s building is that God builds Himself into us and builds us into Himself — John 14:20; 15:4a; Eph. 3:17a.
4. God’s building is the enlargement, the expansion, of the Triune God, enabling God to express Himself in a corporate way — Col. 2:19; John 3:30a.
5. We need to be enlightened by and fully saturated with the thought that in this universe God is doing only one thing — building His eternal habitation — Matt. 16:18; Rev. 21:2-3.
B. The Lord’s word in Matthew 16:18 is the greatest prophecy in the Bible: “I will build My church”:
1. In His heavenly ministry the ascended Christ is directing and managing the building up of His church — Eph. 1:19-23; 4:8-16.
2. The rock in Matthew 16:18 refers both to Christ and to the revelation concerning Christ; this means that the church is built both upon Christ and upon the revelation concerning Christ — Eph. 2:19-20.
3. As the stone for God’s building, Christ is the foundation stone, the topstone, and the cornerstone; in Him and through Him, we are becoming living stones to be built up as a spiritual house — Matt. 21:42, 44; Isa. 28:16; Zech. 3:9; 4:7; 1 Pet. 2:4-5.
4. The Gospel of Matthew is concerned with the kingdom of the heavens, which is a matter of authority; thus, the church in this book represents the kingdom to reign — 16:18-19; 18:18:
a. In the church there is the heavenly rule and government, and there is the reality of the kingdom of the heavens.
b. Both aspects of the church — the universal and the local — indicate that the church represents the kingdom of the heavens, having authority to bind and to loose — 16:19; 18:18.
c. The Lord Jesus declared that the gates of Hades will not prevail against His church; Satan’s power of darkness cannot prevail against the genuine church built by Christ — 16:18b.
C. The Lord’s word about “a city situated upon a mountain” indicates that the kingdom people need the building — 5:14:
1. The light is not an individual believer; the light is a corporate city built up as one entity to shine over the people surrounding it.
2. The city is the light; if there is no city, there is no light — Rev. 21:23-24a.
3. If we are divided, we are finished with the shining; in order to be a shining city, we must keep the oneness and remain one entity, a corporate Body — Eph. 4:1-6; 5:8-9.
D. To be built up with fellow believers is the Lord’s supreme and highest requirement of His faithful seekers according to the divine oneness of the Divine Trinity — John 17:
1. The constitution of the kingdom of the heavens is not for individuals but for a corporate people — Matt. 5:3-16.
2. Being built up with fellow partakers of the divine life is the highest virtue of one who pursues after Christ according to God’s eternal economy — Eph. 2:21-22; Phil. 3:7-12.
