We have seen that, in the progressing stage of God’s full salvation, the stage of transformation, the believers experience and enjoy the processed Triune God in His triune dispensing, they experience God’s redemption continuously, and they enjoy the dispensing of the divine Trinity in the divine transformation for the divine conformation. With this message we shall begin to consider the believers’ experiencing the dispensing of the divine Trinity corporately.
In the New Testament the kingdom goes with God’s salvation, and God’s salvation goes with the kingdom. However, we may pay attention to God’s salvation but not to the kingdom, regarding the kingdom as something strictly in the future. But the kingdom is related to our present salvation, for it is a part of God’s salvation. If we have not been saved, we cannot be in the kingdom. Likewise, if we have not entered into the kingdom, we have not been saved.
According to our natural, religious concept, repentance and regeneration are for us to receive salvation. But according to the New Testament, repentance and regeneration are mainly for us to enter into the kingdom of God. John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, preached repentance for the kingdom. He said, “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn near” (Matt. 3:2). At the beginning of His ministry, the Lord Jesus also charged people to repent because the kingdom of the heavens had drawn near (Matt. 4:17). John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus did not say, “Repent, for salvation is here.” Rather, they said, “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn near.” Furthermore, to Nicodemus the Lord Jesus said, “Unless a man is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). If we believe in the Lord, we shall be born again, and by being born again we shall enter into the kingdom of God. In John 3 the kingdom was already present, and every regenerated believer in Christ could enter into it. The New Testament indicates that repentance and regeneration through believing in the Lord are not first for salvation but for the kingdom. Nevertheless, as we have pointed out, God’s salvation and the kingdom are interrelated.
The kingdom is related both to the present and to the future. However, some Bible teachers say that the kingdom is a matter only of the coming age. They teach that Christ came with the kingdom and presented it to the Jewish people. Then these teachers go on to say that because the Jews rejected the kingdom, it has been suspended and postponed. According to these teachers, the present age is not the kingdom age but the church age. They completely separate the kingdom from the church. But the New Testament indicates that where salvation is, there the kingdom is. The New Testament also reveals that where the church is, there the kingdom is also. For instance, Romans 14:17 says, “The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Because the context here deals with the church life in the present age, this verse is a strong proof that the church in this age is the kingdom of God. Furthermore, in Revelation 1:9 John says, “I John, your brother and joint partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and endurance in Jesus.” Here we see that John and the other believers were in the kingdom already for the exercise in tribulation and endurance. From these verses we see that the kingdom is present today. The kingdom is here with God’s salvation and with the church.
Home | First | Prev | Next