«　WEEK 4　DAY 4　»

　　Rev. 11:15 And the seventh angel trumpeted; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever.

　　20:6 Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no authority, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.

　　The kingdom of the world becomes the kingdom of Christ at His coming back after He executes His judgment upon the nations (Dan. 7:13-14; 2:44-45). (Rev. 11:15, footnote 3)

　　The Lord’s reigning forever and ever [v. 15] is the Lord’s reigning in the millennial kingdom and in the new heaven and new earth for eternity (22:5). This indicates that the seventh trumpet includes the new heaven and new earth with the New Jerusalem. (Rev. 11:15, footnote 4)

　　Ephesians 5:5 speaks of the kingdom of Christ and of God. The kingdom of Christ is the millennium (Rev. 20:4, 6; Matt. 16:28); it is also the kingdom of God (Matt. 13:41, 43). The believers have been regenerated into the kingdom of God (John 3:5) and are, in the church life, living in the kingdom of God today (Rom. 14:17). Not all believers will participate in the millennium; only the overcoming ones will. The unclean, defeated ones will have no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God in the coming age.

　　In the aspect of the kingdom as the kingdom of Christ and of God, Christ reigns with God. We may also say that Christ reigns as God. Hence, it is the kingdom of Christ and at the same time also the kingdom of God.

　　Second Peter 1:11 speaks of “the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” The eternal kingdom here refers to the kingdom of God given to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (Dan. 7:13-14), which will be manifested at His coming back (Luke 19:11-12). It will be a reward to His faithful believers, who pursue the growth in His life unto maturity and the development of the virtues of His nature so that they may participate, in the millennium, in His kingship in God’s glory (2 Tim. 2:12; Rev. 20:4, 6). To enter thus into the eternal kingdom of the Lord is related to the entrance into God’s eternal glory, to which He has called us in Christ (1 Pet. 5:10; 1 Thes. 2:12).

　　The kingdom of Christ and of God, the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ—all three are the same one aspect of the kingdom, the aspect which concerns Christ’s relationship with the kingdom of God. Christ has redeemed the church with His blood through His death that it may become the kingdom of God in the church (Rom. 14:17) and the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ in the millennium (Rev. 11:15). This kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ will become the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in which He shall reign forever and ever (Rev. 11:15).

　　The kingdom of Christ and of God, the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ comprise the millennium in the coming age and the new heaven and new earth in eternity; they do not comprise the church age. For this reason, this aspect of the kingdom is not as much a delight to God as the kingdom of the Son of His love, because this aspect of the kingdom refers mainly to God’s authority.

　　The kingdom of Christ and of God... is the kingdom received by Christ from God and brought back by Christ’s coming (Luke 19:12, 15a; Dan. 7:13-14; 2:34-35, 44; Heb. 1:8). (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 2584-2586)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Revelation, msg. 56; The Conclusion of the New Testament, msgs. 159, 186, 228, 244; Truth Lessons—Level Four, vol. 1, lsn. 12