Scripture Reading: Acts 26:18; Col. 1:13; 1 Pet. 2:9; Mark 9:1-9; Rev. 22:4-5
Ⅰ
God has delivered us out of the authority of darkness and transfer-red us into the kingdom of God, which is a realm of light—Col. 1:13; Acts 26:18; 1 Pet. 2:9:
A
The authority of darkness is Satan's kingdom, which belongs to darkness; the authority of God is God's kingdom, which belongs to light—Matt. 12:26; Acts 26:18.
B
There is a sphere and realm of light and a sphere and realm of darkness; these two realms are two kingdoms—a kingdom of darkness and a king-dom of light—1 Pet. 2:9; Acts 26:18.
C
As believers in Christ, we have been transferred out of darkness into light and out of the authority of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of the Father's love—v. 18; Col. 1:13:
１
Darkness is the expression and sphere of Satan in death; light is the expression and sphere of God in life—1 Pet. 2:9; 1 John 1:5-7.
２
God has transferred us out of Satan's death-realm of darkness into His life-realm of light; formerly, we were in darkness under the author-ity of Satan, but we have been transferred out of darkness and the authority of Satan into light and the authority of God—Acts 26:18.
３
To be transferred into the kingdom of the Son of the Father's love is to be transferred into the Son, who is life to us and who rules us in His resurrection life with love and in light—Col. 1:13; 3:4.
D
Light is a ruling power; it rules when it shines—Rev. 22:4-5:
１
Light rules by its enlightening; when the light of life shines and rules, it is a kingdom—John 8:12; 18:36.
２
Where there is the light of God, there is the ruling power, and we are controlled by the power of the divine light—Eph. 5:8-9.
Ⅱ
The kingdom of God is the transfiguration of Jesus—the shining of the reality of the Lord Jesus—Mark 9:1-9; Matt. 16:28—17:2:
A
What is described in Mark 9:1-9 is a picture of the kingdom of God com-ing in power; the center of this picture is the glorified Jesus, and with Him are Moses and Elijah, representing the Old Testament saints, and Peter, James, and John, representing the New Testament saints—vv. 2-4.
B
For the Lord Jesus to be transfigured means that His humanity was satu-rated and permeated with His divinity; this transfiguration, which was His glorification, was equal to His coming in His kingdom—v. 2:
１
The Lord's word about the coming of the kingdom of God in power was fulfilled by His transfiguration on the mountain—vv. 1-3.
２
The transfiguration, the shining, of the Lord Jesus was His coming in His kingdom; where His transfiguration is, there is the coming of the kingdom—Matt. 16:28—17:2; Luke 9:27-31.
３
The transfiguration of the Lord Jesus was the realization of what He is.
４
The kingdom is the shining of the reality of the Lord Jesus; to be under His shining is to be in the kingdom—Rev. 22:4-5.
C
Christ has been sown into our heart as a seed; this seed will grow and develop until it blossoms and is manifested in glory—Mark 4:26-29; Col. 3:3-4:
１
The One whom we have received as the seed of the kingdom of God needs to grow in us until He blossoms from within us; this blossom-ing will be the transfiguration of the Lord in us in a practical, expe-riential way—Mark 4:26-29; Col. 1:27; 3:4.
２
When Christ is transfigured within us, that transfiguration becomes the kingdom of God ruling over everything in our life—1:13.
３
The kingdom of God is the spreading of the Lord Jesus by shining over us—John 1:4-5; 3:3, 5; 8:12.
Ⅲ
"The righteous will shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their Father"—Matt. 13:43:
A
The lover of Christ eventually is transformed into the heavenly bodies; she looks forth like the dawn, she is as beautiful as the moon, and she is as clear as the sun—S. S. 6:10a.
B
The moon signifies the church, the wife of Christ; the church shines in the dark night of this age by reflecting the light of Christ as the Sun— Phil. 2:15; 2 Cor. 3:16, 18.
C
Christ is the Sun of righteousness arising with healing in His wings, healing and reconstituting us with Himself so that we may shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of our Father—Mal. 4:2; Matt. 13:43:
１
To be saved is to be healed; we are saved from the darkness of self-deception, the authority of darkness, by living in the light under the ruling of light—Isa. 50:10-11; Psa. 36:9; Matt. 6:22-23; Col. 1:12-13.
２
We need to experience God as light in the Lamb as the lamp so that we may live under God's inner ruling; this is the reality of the king-dom of God—Rev. 21:23; 22:1, 4-5.