约三5　耶稣回答说，我实实在在地告诉你，人若不是从水和灵生的，就不能进神的国。

　　徒八12　及至他们信了腓利所传神的国和耶稣基督之名的福音，连男带女就受了浸。

　　主耶稣四十天之久向祂的门徒显现。在圣经里，四十天是试炼和试验的时期（申九9、18，王上十九8）。主耶稣被那灵引到旷野，受魔鬼的试诱，那时祂禁食四十昼四十夜（太四1~2）。以色列人也在旷野被神试验并教育了四十年。……在行传一章，主耶稣四十天之久时隐时现，为要试验并训练祂的门徒（新约总论第九册，二五七页）。

　　John 3:5 ...Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

　　Acts 8:12 But when they believed Philip, who announced the gospel of the kingdom of God and of the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.

　　The Lord Jesus appeared to the disciples for a period of forty days [Acts 1:3]. In the Bible forty days are a period of trial and testing (Deut. 9:9, 18; 1 Kings 19:8). When the Lord Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, He fasted forty days and forty nights (Matt. 4:1-2). Also, the children of Israel were tested, educated, by God in the wilderness for forty years....In Acts 1 the Lord appeared and disappeared during a period of forty days in order to test and train His disciples. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 2974)

　　在这四十天期间，基督这在复活里的一位也对门徒讲说神国的事。虽然使徒行传没有告诉我们，关于国度主说了什么，但我们可以借着主其他部分的话，推论祂所说的。在福音书里，主耶稣教导门徒许多关于国度的事。主在祂复活以后的四十天期间，不太可能再对门徒讲说关于国度的新事。反之，祂可能重复祂在福音书里所教导门徒的。在福音书里，当主说到国度时，门徒不能领会主所教导他们的。他们还没有属灵的内在眼光来领会神的国，因为主还不在他们里面。但在约翰二十章，他们将复活的基督奇妙的人位，就是赐生命的灵，接受到他们里面。结果，在行传一章，他们就非常不同了，因为基督这赐生命的灵现今在他们里面，作他们的生命和人位。因着他们有赐生命的灵在里面，所以他们能领会主关于神国的讲论。

　　在行传一章三节，主耶稣这在复活里的一位，必定帮助门徒对神的国有这样正确的领悟。门徒必定开始看见，神的国就是基督作生命在信徒里面扩展，也是基督作生命在信徒里面繁殖，形成神在祂生命里管治的范围。门徒必然已经领会，他们现今是基督繁殖、扩展的一部分，因此是神国的一部分（新约总论第九册，二五七至二五九页）。

　　在马可四章二十六至二十九节，主耶稣说到国度种子的比喻。“神的国是这样，如同人把种子撒在地上，黑夜睡觉，白日起来，这种子就发芽渐长，怎么会这样，他并不知道。地生五谷，是出于自然的：先发苗，后长穗，再后穗上结成饱满的子粒。”（26~28）这里的人就是主耶稣作撒种者。种子是基督自己作生命的种子撒在我们里面。这比喻启示神的国是生命的事，是神生命的事，这生命发芽、长大、结果、成熟并产生收成。国度不是人的智慧和能力所产生无生命的组织。国度的实际是基督作生命的种子撒在我们里面，并在我们里面长大，以至于成熟。

　　国度的实际也见于基督的扩展，作为祂的扩大。基督的扩展乃是祂在我们里面的长大，并且祂的扩展就是祂的扩大。

　　启示录一章六节告诉我们，我们成了神的国。基督用祂自己的血，把我们从我们的罪中释放了（5）；又使我们成为国度。基督的血所救赎的信徒，不仅由神所生，进入神的国（约三5），更为着神的经纶成为国度，就是召会（太十六18~19）。启示录的作者约翰，是在这国度里（一9）；所有蒙救赎得重生的信徒，也都是这国度的一部分（罗十四17）。

　　我们是神的国，因为我们是基督的扩展，就是祂的扩大（新约总论第八册，九九至一○○页）。

　　参读：新约总论，第二百五十篇。

　　During these forty days, Christ as the One in resurrection also spoke to the disciples the things concerning the kingdom of God. Although we are not told in Acts what the Lord spoke concerning the kingdom, we may infer what He said by considering other portions of the Word. In the Gospels the Lord Jesus taught the disciples much concerning the kingdom. It is not likely that during the forty days after His resurrection, He gave the disciples something new concerning the kingdom. Rather, He may have repeated what He taught them in the Gospels. When the Lord spoke regarding the kingdom in the Gospels, the disciples were not able to understand what He was teaching them. They did not have the spiritual insight to understand the kingdom of God, because the Lord was not yet in them. But in John 20 they received the wonderful person of the resurrected Christ into them as the life-giving Spirit. As a result, in Acts 1 they were very different, for Christ, the life-giving Spirit, was now within them as their life and person. Because they had the life-giving Spirit within them, they were able to understand the Lord's speaking concerning the kingdom of God.

　　In Acts 1:3 the Lord Jesus as the One in resurrection must have helped the disciples to have such a proper realization concerning the kingdom of God. The disciples must have begun to see that the kingdom of God is the spreading of Christ as life to His believers, that it is the propagation of Christ as life to His believers to form a realm in which God rules in His life. The disciples certainly must have understood that they were now part of the propagation, the spreading, of Christ, and thereby were part of the kingdom of God.

　　In Mark 4:26-29 the Lord Jesus told the parable of the kingdom seed. "So is the kingdom of God: as if a man cast seed on the earth, and sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and lengthens—how, he does not know. The earth bears fruit by itself: first a blade, then an ear, then full grain in the ear" (vv. 26-28). The man is the Lord Jesus as the sower. The seed is Christ Himself as the seed of life sown into us. This parable reveals that the kingdom of God is a matter of life, the life of God, which sprouts, grows, bears fruit, matures, and produces a harvest. The kingdom is not a matter of lifeless organization through man's wisdom and ability. The kingdom in its reality is a matter of Christ as the seed of life sown into us and growing in us unto maturity.

　　The kingdom's reality is also seen in Christ's expansion as the enlargement. Christ's expansion is His growth within us, and His expansion is His enlargement.

　　Revelation 1:6 tells us that we have been made the kingdom of God. Christ released us from our sins by His blood (v. 5) and made us a kingdom. The believers redeemed by the blood of Christ have not only been born of God into His kingdom (John 3:5) but have also been made a kingdom for God's economy, which is the church (Matt. 16:18-19). John, the writer of the book of Revelation, was in the kingdom (Rev. 1:9), and all redeemed and reborn believers are also part of this kingdom (Rom. 14:17).

　　We are God's kingdom because we are the expansion of Christ, His enlargement. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 2974-2975, 2638-2639)

　　Further Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 250