In Romans 14:17 the apostle Paul tells us that the kingdom of God is “righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Righteousness refers to your relationship with others. As to yourself you must be righteous. With others you must be peaceful. With God you must be joyful. If you are not joyful before God and with God, that means you are wrong. Our daily living must match Romans 14:17.
In our meeting place in Taiwan we used to have benches, not chairs. Sometimes when we expected that not many people would come to the meetings, we announced that every bench would be for four persons. When more people were expected to come to the meetings, we announced that each bench would be for five persons. Some of the brothers and sisters would not be righteous to share their seat with another brother or sister. If you are a Christian under the rule of the heavens, in the reality of the kingdom of the heavens, you surely would not occupy another person’s seat. You would sacrifice a little part of your seat for others. To fail in this matter shows that you are a greedy person. Do not believe that all Christians are wonderful people. Many Christians are selfish. They are not under the ruling of the heavens. They are not righteous as to themselves, so they do not have the full peace with others, and they do not have joy before God and with God. If you are wrong with God, you will not be happy. If you are under the ruling of the heavens, you will be righteous as to yourself, you will have peace with others, and you will be joyful with God. This is the heavenly ruling, the heavenly government. This is what it means to be in the reality of the kingdom of the heavens.
You may be a regenerated member of the church and yet not be under the rule of the heavens. Although you are in the church, you are not in the reality of the kingdom of the heavens. If you are a defeated Christian, not living in the reality of the kingdom of the heavens, where will you be when the Lord Jesus comes back? Some have taught in the past that although you are defeated now, when the Lord Jesus comes back, you will be treated the same as the overcoming, victorious one, and you will go into the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens to be a king with the Lord. This is not logical.
Consider the case of 1 Corinthians 5. A brother who was in the church at Corinth committed a sin that even the worldly people would condemn. Let us read 1 Corinthians 5:1 and 5: “It is actually reported that there is fornication among you, and such fornication that does not even occur among the Gentiles, that someone has his stepmother...To deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.” When the Lord Jesus comes back, will such a sinful one be lost? No! Verse 5 says, “That his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.”
When the Lord Jesus comes back, surely the apostle Paul will be transferred into the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens and rule as a king with the Lord Jesus, because he already lived in the reality of the kingdom of the heavens. But what about that sinful brother in Corinth? Do you think that he was living in the reality of the kingdom of the heavens? He was in the church at Corinth, but he was not in the reality of the kingdom of the heavens. Surely a defeated, sinful believer who is living in fornication will not be transferred into the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens to rule and reign with the Lord.
Let us also read 1 Corinthians 6:6 and 7: “But brother goes to court with brother, and this before unbelievers. Already then it is altogether a defeat to you that you have lawsuits with one another. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded?” The Lord’s attitude toward the brother who was in fornication and toward those who were defrauding one another is in verses 9 and 10: “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be led astray; neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor effeminate nor homosexuals nor thieves nor the covetous, not drunkards, not revilers, not the rapacious will inherit the kingdom of God.” Chapter 5 shows that a fornicator is still saved, but chapter 6 shows that such a person cannot inherit the kingdom of God. The Word does not say that he cannot enter the kingdom of God, but that he cannot inherit the kingdom of God. There is a big difference between entering the kingdom of God and inheriting the kingdom of God. To enter the kingdom of God, we simply need a new birth (John 3:3, 5). But to inherit the kingdom of God, we need to live in the reality of the kingdom of the heavens now.
When will the overcomers, the victorious ones, inherit the kingdom of God? Surely that will be at the time when the Lord Jesus comes back. The kingdom today is not an enjoyment but an exercise. Today we are not enjoying or inheriting; today we are being exercised in the reality of the kingdom of the heavens. But when the Lord Jesus comes back, the kingdom will be an enjoyment to us. At that time we will enjoy the kingdom, and we will be kings ruling with the Lord Jesus. The kingdom will be an inheritance to us. To be saved into the kingdom is one thing; to inherit the kingdom of God is another thing.