Scripture Reading: Luke 17:20-21; Mark 4:3, 26-29; Dan. 2:34-35, 44; Rev. 1:9; 11:15, 18
Ⅰ
The kingdom of God, the reign of God, is the totality of Christ being life to us with all His activities:
A
A kingdom is the totality of a certain life; the plant life is the plant kingdom, the animal life is the animal kingdom, and the human life is the human kingdom; in the same way the divine life (God's life—Christ Himself—John 14:6a; 3:5-6) is the divine kingdom, God's kingdom.
B
The kingdom in its reality is the Lord Jesus as the Spirit—2 Cor. 3:17; Matt. 12:28.
C
Just as the plant kingdom is a realm of the plant species, and the animal kingdom is a realm of the animal species, so the kingdom of God is a realm of the divine species:
１
God became flesh to enter into the human species, and man becomes God in life and nature, but not in His divine Godhead, to enter into the divine species.
２
In order to enter into the divine realm, the realm of the divine species, we need to be born of God to have the divine nature and the divine life—John 3:3-8; 2 Pet. 1:4.
３
By regeneration we have become God in the divine species, that is, in the king-dom of God.
Ⅱ
The kingdom of God is Christ Himself as the seed of life sown into His believers, God's chosen people, and developing into a realm over which God can rule as His kingdom in His divine life—Luke 17:20-21; John 14:6a; Mark 4:3, 26:
A
The entrance into the kingdom is regeneration (John 3:5-6), and the development of the kingdom is the believers' growth in the divine life (2 Pet. 1:3-11).
B
The kingdom is the church life today, in which the faithful believers live (Rom. 14:17), and it will develop into the coming kingdom as a reward to be inherited (Gal. 5:21; Eph. 5:5) by the overcoming saints in the millennium (Rev. 20:4, 6).
C
Eventually, the kingdom will consummate in the New Jerusalem as the eternal kingdom of God, an eternal realm of the eternal blessing of God's eternal life, which all God's redeemed will enjoy in the new heaven and new earth for eternity—21:1-4; 22:1-5, 14.
Ⅲ
"He said, So is the kingdom of God: as if a man cast seed on the earth"—Mark 4:26:
A
This seed is the seed of the divine life (1 John 3:9; 1 Pet. 1:23) sown into the believers, indicating that the kingdom of God, which is the issue and goal of the Lord's gospel, and the church in this age (Rom. 14:17) are a matter of life, the life of God, which sprouts, grows, bears fruit, and produces a harvest (1 Cor. 3:6-9; Rev. 14:4, 15-16).
B
The Triune God in humanity (Col. 2:9) is the seed, "the gene," of the kingdom of God to be sown into God's chosen people that He might grow in them, live in them, and be expressed from within them to develop into God's ruling realm (Mark 4:26-29; 1 Cor. 3:9):
１
The intrinsic element of the entire teaching of the New Testament is that the Triune God has been incarnated in order to be sown into His chosen people and develop within them into a kingdom.
２
God's goal is the full development of the kingdom of God:
ａ
In the Gospels we have the sowing of the seed, the gene, of the kingdom—Mark 4:3, 14; Matt. 9:35.
ｂ
In the Acts we have the propagation and spreading of this sowing by thousands of sowers who had received the seed, the gene, of the kingdom—6:7; 12:24; 19:20.
ｃ
In the Epistles we see the growing of the seed, the gene, of the kingdom—1 Cor. 3:6, 9b; 2 Pet. 1:3, 11.
ｄ
The harvest of this seed is found in the book of Revelation with the reaping of the firstfruits and the harvest—14:4, 15-16; Mark 4:29; Matt. 13:39.
ｅ
The millennial kingdom will be the uttermost development of the seed, the gene, of the kingdom with the Son as the King and all the overcomers as His co-kings, the "kingdom-gene people"—Rev. 20:6.
ｆ
The New Jerusalem, God's eternal kingdom, is the fullest development of the king-dom seed, the gene, sown by Jesus the Nazarene in the four Gospels—Rev. 21:2; 22:1, 3, 5b.
C
As the stone cut out without hands, Christ will come as the smiting stone with His over-coming bride to smash and crush the entire human government of mankind, and the corporate Christ (Christ with His overcomers) will become a great mountain (a great king-dom—the eternal kingdom of God) to fill the whole earth forever and ever—Dan. 2:34-35, 44; 4:26; Rev. 19:11, 14:
１
In Mark 4:26 Christ was sown as a seed to be the kingdom of God, but He grows in His increase to become a stone, the increased kingdom of God; He will increase further and further until He becomes a great mountain, the eternal kingdom of God for His increase in administration—Rev. 11:15.
２
The stone refers to Christ as the centrality, and the mountain refers to Him as the universality.
Ⅳ
In order to be the proper people to receive Christ as the seed of the kingdom, we need to have the living vision and the living guidance from Him as the heavenly star—Matt. 2:1-12; Num. 24:17; cf. Micah 5:2:
A
Even if we have the knowledge of the Scriptures, we still need the instant, up-to-date, living star with the living guidance to lead us to the very place where Jesus is—John 5:39-40.
B
If we want such indispensable, living guidance, we must have an intimate relationship with the Lord; we must be one with Him—2 Cor. 2:10-14.
C
After they worshipped Jesus in the house, the magi were divinely instructed in a dream not to return to Herod, so they departed "by another way" to their country; after we have seen the living Christ, we never take the same way but always take another way—Matt. 2:12.
D
The Scripture is God's holy writings, but we still need God's holy presence; we need to be in the presence of God all the time; the New Testament way to find and follow the Lord is to continually keep and stay in His hidden presence—2 Cor. 2:10; 1 John 2:27; cf. Isa. 45:15; Exo. 33:11, 14.
E
Christ's faithful followers and messengers become living and shining stars (Rev. 1:20; Dan. 12:3; cf. Jude 13) by the shining prophetic word of the Scriptures (2 Pet. 1:19) and by the sevenfold intensified Spirit (Rev. 1:4; 3:1; 4:5; 5:6).
Ⅴ
We need to live the kingdom life for the growth of the seed, the gene, of the king-dom within us—Luke 8:11, 15:
A
In order to be in the reality of the kingdom, we must be joint partakers in the tribula-tion, kingdom, and endurance in Jesus—Rev. 1:9:
１
We are joint partakers in the tribulation in Jesus:
ａ
In Jesus means that we are suffering and being persecuted as we follow Jesus the Nazarene by the indwelling Spirit of Jesus, the Spirit of a Man with abundant strength for suffering—Acts 16:6-7.
ｂ
As we are suffering today, the Lord Jesus is suffering in us and with us—9:4-5; Heb. 13:13.
ｃ
We enter into the kingdom through many tribulations—Acts 14:22.
ｄ
By the power of His resurrection, we are enabled to participate in His sufferings and live a crucified life in conformity to His death—Phil. 3:10; Col. 1:24; S. S. 2:8-9, 14.
ｅ
We should not love our soul-life even unto death and should lay down our soul-life on behalf of the brothers—Rev. 12:11; 1 John 3:16.
２
We are joint partakers in the kingdom in Jesus:
ａ
The kingdom is the church life, in which the faithful believers live for their growth in life and transformation in life—Matt. 16:18-19; Rom. 14:17; 1 Cor. 3:7; 2 Cor. 3:18.
ｂ
To practice the kingdom life, we need to pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart—2 Tim. 2:22.
ｃ
To practice the kingdom life, we need to care for the sinning brothers in order to recover them—Matt. 18:15-22.
３
We are joint partakers in the endurance in Jesus:
ａ
We must resist the wearing-out tactics of Satan—Dan. 7:25; cf. Mark 6:45-52.
ｂ
When we abide in Christ, we keep the word of His endurance and have the endur-ance to bear suffering and opposition—Rev. 3:10.
ｃ
We can endure with the endurance of Christ that we have enjoyed and experi-enced—2 Thes. 3:5.
B
In order to be rewarded by the Lord to reign with Him in His thousand-year kingdom (Rev. 11:18), we need to be saved from the degradation of the church to be His overcomers:
１
We are maintained constantly in God's organic salvation by the continuous and cons-tant cleansing and accusation-answering blood of Jesus—1 John 1:7, 9; Rev. 12:11.
２
We are saved from degradation by the speaking of the unlimited, life-releasing, seven-fold intensified pneumatic Christ—cf. 2:1, 7.
３
We are saved from degradation by living in our spirit to reign in life—1:10; 4:2; 17:3; 21:10; Rom. 5:17, 21.
Ⅵ
We need to follow the Lamb wherever He may go (Rev. 14:4) to preach the gospel of the kingdom to the whole inhabited earth for the propagation and develop-ment of the seed, the gene, of the kingdom to consummate this age (Matt. 24:14; Mark 4:26).