«　WEEK 12　DAY 1　»

　　Rom.14:17 For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

　　Matt.5:10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.

　　According to the Gospel of Matthew, there are three aspects of the kingdom of the heavens…he reality of the kingdom of the heavens is the proper church life (Rom. 14:17), which is within the appearance of the kingdom of the heavens, known as Christendom. The manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens will be the heavenly part of the coming millennial kingdom.

　　Matthew 5—7 reveals the reality of the kingdom of the heavens…is the revelation of the spiritual living and heavenly principles of the kingdom of the heavens.

　　The reality of the kingdom of the heavens is the reality of the overcoming church life…the reality of the high standard of the divine life.

　　The reality of the kingdom of the heavens exists today within the church in the church age. However, there is not much of the reality of the kingdom of the heavens in today's Christianity. We hope that among us in the church life the reality of the kingdom of the heavens will increase continually.

　　A number of verses in Matthew indicate that the reality of the kingdom of the heavens is an exercise to the seeking believers. Matthew 5:3 says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.” The spirit here refers not to the Spirit of God but to our human spirit, the deepest part of our being, the organ for us to contact God and realize spiritual things. To be poor in spirit …is to be emptied in our spirit, in the depth of our being, not holding on to the old things but being unloaded to receive the new things, the things of the kingdom of the heavens. We need to be poor, emptied, unloaded, in this part of our being so that we may realize and possess the kingdom of the heavens…This means that if we are poor in spirit, we are in the reality of the kingdom of the heavens now in the church age.

　　Matthew 5:10 says, “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.” The whole world lies in the evil one (1 John 5:19) and is filled with unrighteousness…If we hunger and thirst for righteousness (Matt. 5:6), we shall be persecuted for the sake of righteousness. This indicates that we need to pay a price for the righteousness we seek for the kingdom of the heavens. If we are righteous, we shall be condemned, opposed, and persecuted. This is another aspect of the exercise of the kingdom of the heavens in its reality.

　　In Matthew 5:20 the Lord Jesus says, “Unless your righteousness surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall by no means enter into the kingdom of the heavens.” The surpassing righteousness is the condition of entering into the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens in the millennium. By keeping the highest law to the highest standard, we fulfill the condition for entering into the coming manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens.

　　To enter into the kingdom of God requires regeneration as a new beginning of our life (John 3:3, 5), but to enter into the kingdom of the heavens demands surpassing righteousness in our living after regeneration…To enter into the kingdom of the heavens means to live in its reality today and to participate in its manifestation in the future. In Matthew 7:21 the Lord says, “Not every one who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of the heavens, but he who does the will of My Father who is in the heavens.” To enter into the kingdom of the heavens we need to call on the Lord and do the will of the heavenly Father. To call on the Lord suffices for us to be saved (Rom. 10:13), but to enter into the kingdom of the heavens we also need to do the will of the heavenly Father…Because entering into the kingdom of the heavens requires doing the will of the heavenly Father, it is clearly different from entering into the kingdom of God by being regenerated (John 3:3, 5). This latter is by the birth of the divine life; the former is by the living of that life (The Conclusion of the New Testament)