Outline

«　WEEK 4　DAY 4　»

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

　　Matt. 6:33 But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

　　In dealing with ourselves we must be righteous; with others we must have peace; before God we must have joy [Rom. 14:17]. If we are lacking any one of these three things, it means that we are wrong. It indicates that we are not living in the reality of the kingdom of the heavens. Many years ago I thought that all Christians were wonderful, but now I realize that many Christians are very selfish. They are not under the control of the heavens. They are not strict in dealing with themselves so that they may be righteous, they do not have the full peace with others, and they do not have joy before God and with God. If you are under the control of the heavens, you will deal with yourself according to righteousness, you will keep peace with others, and you will be joyful before and with God. This is the heavenly ruling, the heavenly government, and it is the reality of the kingdom of the heavens. (CWWL, 1972, vol. 2, “The Kingdom,” p. 462)

　　The Lord Jesus told us to pray, “Your kingdom come” (Matt. 6:10). But the kingdom will not come in the way many Christians think. In a sense, the kingdom has come already. In another sense, however, the kingdom is coming… From the day He sowed Himself into the human earth, the Christ kingdom began to come. The growth process will continue until the time of the full harvest, at which time there will be the full manifestation of the Christ kingdom.

　　What is the kingdom? The kingdom is simply Christ sown into us, growing in us, maturing in us, and reaching the time of harvest. The kingdom is not merely a dispensation or a sphere. It is the totality of Christ being life to us in all His activities.

　　The animal kingdom is the totality of all animal life with all its activities. Birds are flying, monkeys are climbing, and turtles are swimming in the water…Likewise, the kingdom of Christ is the totality of Christ being life to us with all His activities. We all have Christ within us as life, and we have many activities in Christ. This is the kingdom of Christ. Recently, I was watching, observing, and enjoying so many activities of the members in the meeting. You may say that was a church meeting. I agree, but that was also the kingdom of Christ with His life and activities.

　　God was incarnated as a man. God’s desire is to come into man. When we call on the name of the Lord Jesus, He comes into us as life. From that point on, God grows within us. God’s growth in us means that He is spreading within us. The more God grows, the more He spreads, and the more ground He occupies within us. The more ground He occupies, the more He reigns. The kingdom is God’s divine reign in us through the inward growth of life. The kingdom of God is God being life to us, spreading in us, occupying the ground in us, and reigning over our whole being.

　　Satan takes the human body as his dwelling place, but the Lord Jesus takes the human spirit as His dwelling place. God in His sovereignty has preserved the human spirit for Himself. Although the human spirit has been influenced by the evil body and the corrupt mentality to the point that it has been deadened, we can find no hint in the Bible that Satan has ever entered into the human spirit. When we repent and believe in the Lord Jesus, He immediately comes into our spirit. The enemy tries his best to hide this matter of the human spirit from Christians. The Bible tells us clearly that the Lord Jesus Christ is with our spirit (2 Tim. 4:22). From our spirit He is growing and spreading within us, taking possession of more ground in our being. By occupying more ground within us, He actually reigns within us. This is the inward reigning of the Lord Jesus. (CWWL, 1972, vol. 2, “The Kingdom,” pp. 25-26, 67-69)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1972, vol. 2, “The Kingdom,” chs. 47—48