«　WEEK 6　DAY 2　»

　　Matt. 6:10 Your kingdom come; Your will be done, as in heaven, so also on earth.

　　7:21 Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom of the heavens, but he who does the will of My Father who is in the heavens.

　　12:50 For whoever does the will of My Father who is in the heavens, he is My brother and sister and mother.

　　[Matthew 7:21] does not refer to the reality of the kingdom of the heavens today, but to the coming manifestation of the kingdom in the future. To enter into the kingdom of the heavens we need to do two things: 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. Since entering into the kingdom of the heavens also 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. (Life-study of Matthew, p. 302)

　　In [Matthew 7:21] the Lord does not say “your Father,” but “My Father.” Here the Lord seems to be saying, “I, the Son of Man and the Son of God, have been doing the will of My Father. You also are sons of God and My brothers. Therefore, you must be My companions and take the same way that I take. Now you are not to do the will of your Father, but the will of My Father. You are My brothers, My companions, and My partners. You and I are walking the same way and doing the same will. You are living with Me according to the will of My Father.” In this last section of the constitution, it is no longer a negative matter of dealing with our temper, lust, self, flesh, and anxiety. It is absolutely a positive matter of doing the will of the Father who is in heaven. The kingdom people are not for anything other than doing the will of the Father. We are not here merely to overcome our temper, our lusts, our self, and our flesh, and to be kind and sympathetic to others. We are here for the accomplishment of the will of the heavenly Father. In order to do the will of the Father, we need to walk in the constricted way. In the teachings of the worldly philosophers, there is neither the divine life and divine nature nor the divine way. But here the ultimate issue of the constitution of the kingdom of the heavens is the will of the heavenly Father. This means that we have a heavenly Father and that we are the Father’s sons. However, in the last section of the constitution it is not only a matter of life, but also a matter of the will of the Father. Our Father has a will to accomplish, but we can accomplish it only by His life. We need to live in the life of the heavenly Father and also by that life. This kind of living is for the doing of the Father’s will.

　　In the constitution of the kingdom of the heavens we cannot see what the will of the Father actually is. However, it is clearly revealed in chapter sixteen. The Father’s will is to build the church upon the Son as the rock. This is fully developed in the Acts, the Epistles, and the book of Revelation. The New Testament reveals that God’s divine, eternal will is to build up the church.

　　We can know [the Father’s will] by the Father’s life and nature within us. The Father’s nature will always tell us “yes” or “no.” If you are running according to the divine nature and within the constricted lines, the divine nature will indicate, “Yes, you are right; go on.” But if you are not running according to the divine nature or if you step outside the lines, the divine nature will say, “Don’t go this way.” There is no need for anyone to tell you what to do, for the regulating, constricting, divine nature is within you. This nature tells you where you are. (Life-study of Matthew, pp. 303, 306)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Matthew, msg. 24; CWWL, 1957, vol. 2, “What the Kingdom Is to the Believers,” chs. 2-4