As believers, we have been regenerated into the kingdom of God (John 3:3, 5). This means that our regeneration was the entrance into God’s kingdom. To be regenerated, therefore, is to enter into the kingdom of God. We have repented, we have believed in the Lord Jesus, and we have been regenerated into the kingdom. All believers in Christ have entered the kingdom of God by being regenerated into it.
In John 3:3 the Lord Jesus says, “Unless a man is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” In verse 5 He goes on to say, “Unless a man is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” These words are a clear revelation that regeneration is the unique entrance into the kingdom of God. In order to enter into the kingdom of God, we need to be born again. There is no other way for us to enter into the kingdom of God.
The kingdom of God is the reign of God. It is a divine realm to be entered into, a realm which requires the divine life. Only the divine life can realize the divine things. Hence, for us to see or enter the kingdom of God requires regeneration with the divine life.
A kingdom is always related to life. The vegetable kingdom is related to the vegetable life, and the animal kingdom is related to the animal life. In order to share in a certain kingdom, we first need the life of that kingdom. If we did not have human life, we could not enter the human kingdom. Only human beings can participate in the human kingdom because only they have a human life. Likewise, if we did not have the divine life, the life of God, we could not enter the kingdom of God. Without the life of God we cannot share the kingdom of God. If we are to enter the divine kingdom, we must have the divine life. Because through regeneration we receive the divine life, the life of God, regeneration is the entrance into the kingdom.
The kingdom of God is not only the reign of God but also the divine realm or sphere. In order to participate in the reign of God and to be in the divine realm, we need the divine life. Only those who have the divine life can be in the divine realm and share the divine kingdom. Thus, we need to be regenerated that we may have the divine life, the life which enables us to enter into the divine realm and participate in the divine kingdom. No matter how good, clean, and pure our human life may be, it is not able to realize the things of the divine realm, and it is not qualified to enter into the divine kingdom. Only the divine life is qualified to be in the divine realm.
We were all born into the human kingdom. No one has ever been naturalized into the kingdom of man. The principle is the same with the kingdom of God. The divine life brings us into the kingdom of God. This is the reason the Lord Jesus says that we must be born into the kingdom of God. We cannot enter into the kingdom of God by learning or by being naturalized. We enter the kingdom of God only by regeneration.
When we were regenerated, we were transferred into the kingdom of God. Colossians 1:13 tells us that God has “delivered us out of the authority of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.” We were transferred into God’s kingdom by being regenerated, and now we are in the kingdom of God. When we believed in the Lord Jesus and called on His name, the divine Spirit came into us, regenerated us, and caused us to be born into the kingdom of God.
After we have entered into the kingdom of God through regeneration, we need to go on to have a rich entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 1:5-11). On the one hand, we have entered the kingdom; on the other hand, we still need a rich entrance. We may use the birth of a child into a family as an illustration. By birth a child enters his family. Nevertheless, the child needs to grow and develop unto maturity in order to enter into the family in a full way. Birth is the initial entry into the family, but growth, development, and maturity produces a rich entry. The principle is the same with entering into the kingdom of God. The initial entry into the kingdom is regeneration, but the rich entrance is by our experiencing the full development of the divine life, a development revealed in 2 Peter 1:5-11.
Second Peter 1:11 says, “For so shall be richly and bountifully supplied to you the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” The bountiful supply we enjoy in the development of the divine life and nature will bountifully supply us a rich entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord. It will enable and qualify us to enter into the coming kingdom with all the riches of the divine life and nature as our excellent virtues unto the splendid glory of God.
The eternal kingdom in 2 Peter 1:11 refers to the kingdom of God given to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (Dan. 7:13-14), which will be manifested at His coming back (Luke 19:11-12). It will be a reward to His faithful believers, who pursue the growth in His life unto maturity and the development of the virtues of His nature, so that they may participate, in the millennium, in His kingship in God’s glory (2 Tim. 2:12; Rev. 20:4, 6). To enter thus into the eternal kingdom of the Lord is related to the entrance into God’s eternal glory, to which He has called us in Christ.
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