Finally, living the kingdom life in the church requires that we live joyfully to God in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a Spirit of joy. If we are not joyful, this indicates that we are defeated and are not in the Holy Spirit. If we are truly living the kingdom life, we shall be joyful with God, praising Him.
If we lack joy in the Holy Spirit, something has gone wrong with us. This is a sign that we have cast off the divine restraint. As a result, our spirit is weighed down so that we cannot rejoice. However, if we live righteously toward ourselves and peacefully toward others, we shall live joyfully to God in the Holy Spirit. Then the kingdom will be manifested in our daily living in the church life.
In Colossians 4:11 the Apostle Paul, in his fellowship with the Colossian believers, told them that his fellow workers are the workers for the kingdom of God, indicating that what they were doing in the gospel work for the establishing and building up of the churches was for the kingdom of God today. This means the kingdom of God is actually the reality of the church today established and built by the apostle with his fellow workers.
Revelation 1:9 says, “I John, your brother and joint partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and endurance in Jesus.” This verse indicates clearly that we are partakers of the kingdom today. John knew that he was in the kingdom. To him, the kingdom was not merely a future dispensation but also a present reality. Therefore, he could say that he was a joint partaker in the kingdom.
The kingdom into which we are reborn in John 3:5 is the kingdom mentioned by John in Revelation 1:9. If we had not been born into the kingdom of God, we could not be joint partakers in the kingdom. Having been reborn into the kingdom, we should now remain in it and partake of it.
The kingdom of God is the heavenly rule in the divine nature. We have been regenerated with the divine life. In this life there is the divine nature, and with the divine nature there is a ruling, a governing, that is both divine and heavenly. As regenerated ones, we are under this reign today. The divine life has brought us into the divine kingdom, and we are partakers of this kingdom.
Although Revelation 1:9 speaks of the kingdom, in the first few chapters of this book the lampstands, the churches, are revealed. This indicates that, in a practical way, the churches are the kingdom. The practical church life is the reality of the kingdom. For this reason, John did not say that he was one of the members of the Body of Christ, but that he was our brother and joint partaker in the tribulation, kingdom, and endurance in Jesus. Tribulation is needed for the kingdom, and endurance is needed for tribulation. To bear the suffering that is required for the kingdom, we need the endurance in Jesus.
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