Scripture Reading: Col. 1:9, 13, 18; 2:19; 3:10-11, 15-17
Ⅰ
God has transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love—Col. 1:13:
A
The kingdom of the Son is the authority of Christ—Rev. 11:15; 12:10.
B
The Son of God is the embodiment and expression of the divine life; there-fore, the kingdom of the Son is a realm of life—1 John 5:11-12:
１
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—Col. 3:4.
２
The Son in resurrection is now the life-giving Spirit, and He rules us in His resurrection life with His love—1 Pet. 1:3; Rom. 6:3-4; 1 Cor. 15:45b.
３
When we live by the Son as our life in resurrection, we are living in His kingdom, enjoying Him in the Father's love—John 6:57.
C
The fact that we have been transferred into the kingdom of the Son of God's love indicates that this realm of life is in love, not in fear—Col. 1:13:
１
The kingdom in which we find ourselves today is a realm full of life, light, and love—1 John 1:1-2, 5, 7; 4:8, 16.
２
The Son as the object of the divine love becomes to us the embodiment of the divine life in the divine love with the authority of resurrection; this is the kingdom of the Son of God's love.
３
The Father has transferred us into a realm where we are ruled in love with life:
ａ
Here, under the heavenly ruling and restriction, we have genuine freedom in love, with life, and under light—Matt. 7:13-14.
ｂ
Here in this kingdom we enjoy Christ and have the church life— Col. 1:12; 4:15-16.
Ⅱ
The kingdom of the Son of God's love is the reality of the church:
A
In the church as the kingdom of the Son of God's love, the will of God is carried out—1:9; 4:12:
１
God is a God of purpose, having a will of His own pleasure, and He created all things for His will that He might accomplish and fulfill His purpose—Rev. 4:11; Eph. 3:9-11.
２
The Father's eternal will is to build up the church upon Christ the Son as the rock—Matt. 16:18; Eph. 2:21-22; 4:16.
３
The will of God is to obtain a Body for Christ to be His fullness, His expression—Rom. 12:2, 5; Eph. 1:5, 9, 11, 22-23.
４
The kingdom is absolutely a matter of God's will and completely ful-fills His will; in fact, the kingdom is God's will—Matt. 6:10.
５
As the kingdom people, those who are living in the kingdom of the Son of God's love, we are here on earth to do the Father's will—7:21; 12:50.
B
In the church as the kingdom of the Son of God's love, we experience and enjoy Christ in His all-inclusiveness—Col. 1:12, 27; 2:9, 16-17; 3:1, 4, 11:
１
In the kingdom of the Son of God's love, Christ has the first place, the preeminence, in all things—1:18.
２
Christ is the embodiment of the Triune God, the One in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily—2:9.
３
Christ is our allotted portion, our good land—the divine inheritance for our enjoyment—1:12.
４
Christ is the reality of every positive thing in the universe—2:16-17.
５
Christ is the One sitting at the right hand of God—3:1.
６
Christ dwells in us as our hope of glory—1:27.
７
Christ is our life—3:4.
８
Christ is the constituent of the one new man—vv. 10-11.
C
In the church as the kingdom of the Son of God's love, we live a Christian life in union with Christ—v. 12—4:6:
１
To live in union with Christ means that in our living we are not apart from Christ; rather, in our living we are identified with Him and are one with Him—John 15:4-5.
２
We need to be one with the Lord Jesus just as He is one with the Father—14:10:
ａ
The Father and the Son have one life and one living—6:57a.
ｂ
Today we and Christ have one life and one living—14:19b; Gal. 2:20; Col. 3:4; Phil. 1:21a:
⑴
The Son's life becomes our life, and our living becomes His living; this is a life in union with Christ—John 15:4a.
⑵
In a very practical sense, in such a union Christ becomes us, and we become Christ; this is the normal Christian living.
３
If we live in union with Christ, we will let the peace of Christ arbitrate in our hearts, and we will let the word of Christ dwell in us richly— Col. 3:15-16.
４
If we live in union with Christ, we will do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, and we will express Christ in our human life—v. 17— 4:1.
D
In the church as the kingdom of the Son of God's love, we practice the church life and have the reality and practicality of the organic Body of Christ and of the universal one new man—1:18; 2:19; 3:10-11; 4:15-16.