«　WEEK 12　DAY 2　»

　　1 Cor.5:7-8 Purge out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, even as you are unleavened; for our Passover, Christ, also has been sacrificed. So then let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

　　Matt.13:43 Then the righteous will shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

　　

　　In Matthew 13:24-43…the parable of the tares (13:24-30, 36-43) reveals the establishment of the kingdom and its false constituents. Verses 24 and 25 say, “The kingdom of the heavens was likened to a man sowing good seed in his field. But while the men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares amidst the wheat and went away.” The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man (v. 37), the field is the world, the good seed are the sons of the kingdom, and the tares are the sons of the evil one (v. 38). Both the tares and the wheat grow in the field; that is, the false believers and the true ones live in the world. The kingdom of the heavens was established with the sons of the kingdom, the wheat, but the sons of the evil one, the tares, grew up to alter the situation. Hence, a difference has arisen between the kingdom of the heavens and its outward appearance. Whereas the sons of the kingdom constitute the kingdom, the sons of the evil one have formed the outward appearance of the kingdom, which today is called Christendom. In 13:31 and 32 we have a parable telling of the abnormal development of the outward appearance of the kingdom…The church, which is the embodiment of the kingdom, should be like an herb to produce food, but it became a tree, a lodge for birds, having its nature and function changed…This happened when Constantine the Great mixed the church with the world in the first part of the fourth century. He brought thousands of false believers into Christianity, making it Christendom, no longer the church.

　　The outward appearance of the kingdom of the heavens exists along with the church in the church age, but it does not exist within the church. As a principle, we do not allow tares in the church life, and we do not allow the big tree with its abnormal growth or the leaven with its corruption to be in the church.

　　

　　During the present age, the reality of the kingdom and the appearance of the kingdom progress simultaneously. However, when the Lord Jesus comes back, the reality of the kingdom will be transferred into the manifestation of the kingdom, and the appearance of the kingdom will be burned away. The Lord's angels will bind the tares into bundles and cast them into the fire (Matt. 13:40-42) because the tares have done much damage to the Lord's kingdom. Therefore, at His coming back, the Lord will deal first with the appearance of the kingdom, and then He will transfer the reality of the kingdom into the next age to become the manifestation of the kingdom.

　　The manifestation of the kingdom will be the kingdom of the Father, the heavenly part of the millennium. The millennium will have an earthly part and a heavenly part…The heavenly part of the millennium will be the kingdom of the Father (Matt. 13:43). This will be the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens as a reward to the overcomers. In the millennium the overcomers in the heavenly part of the kingdom will reign with Christ over the earthly part, which will be the restored kingdom of David, where Christ as the Son of Man, David's royal descendant, will be the King over the children of Israel.

　　The manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens will be a reward to the overcoming saints. Paul says, “The Lord will deliver me from every evil work, and will save me unto His heavenly kingdom” (2 Tim. 4:18). The heavenly kingdom is the kingdom of our Father (Matt. 13:43), the kingdom of the Father (Matt. 26:29), the kingdom of Christ and of God (Eph. 5:5), and the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 1:11), which will be a reward to the overcoming saints. The heavenly kingdom in 2 Timothy 4:18 equals the crown of righteousness in 4:8, and it is an incentive to the believers to run the heavenly course (The Conclusion of the New Testament).