We have seen that in the progressing stage of God’s full salvation, the stage of glorification, the believers will be glorified, redeemed in their body, raptured, and judged at the judgment seat of Christ. Furthermore, the overcoming believers will be invited to the marriage feast of the Lamb and will be the heavenly armies following the Lord to fight against Antichrist. In this message we shall see that, as the last aspect of the believers’ future in the completing of God’s salvation, the overcoming believers will participate in the coming kingdom.
After Christ and His heavenly armies fight against Antichrist, the false prophet, and their armies, the kingdom will be brought in. Then the overcomers will participate in the coming kingdom, which will be the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens during the millennium.
With the kingdom of the heavens there are three aspects: the reality, the appearance, and the manifestation. The reality of the kingdom of the heavens is the inward contents of the kingdom of the heavens in its heavenly and spiritual nature, as revealed in Matthew 5-7. The appearance of the kingdom of the heavens is the outward state of the kingdom of the heavens in name, as revealed in Matthew 13. The manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens will be the practical coming of the kingdom of the heavens in power, as revealed by the Lord Jesus in Matthew 24 and 25. Both the reality and the appearance of the kingdom of the heavens are with the church today. The manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens will begin with the coming back of the Lord Jesus. When the Lord comes back, the kingdom of the heavens will be manifested. Whereas the appearance of the kingdom of the heavens includes all of the false believers, only the victorious, overcoming believers are in the reality of the kingdom of the heavens. After the Lord Jesus comes back, these overcoming believers will participate in the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens.
The millennium will have an earthly part and a heavenly part. The earthly part will be the kingdom of the Messiah (2 Sam. 7:13), the tabernacle of David (Acts 15:16), the kingdom of the Son of Man (Matt. 13:41; Rev. 11:15). The heavenly part of the millennium will be the kingdom of the Father. This is the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens as a reward to the overcomers. In the millennium the overcomers in the heavenly part of the kingdom will reign with Christ over the earthly part, which will be the restored kingdom of David, where Christ as the Son of Man, David’s royal descendant, will be the King over the children of Israel.
Matthew 13:43a says, “Then the righteous shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” Today the believers shine as lamps, but in the coming age the overcomers will shine as the sun.
Those who will shine as the sun are the sons of the kingdom (Matt. 13:38) as the righteous. According to Matthew 5:20, these sons of the kingdom will have the surpassing righteousness. They will be righteous to such an extent that their entire being will shine. This righteousness is the indwelling Christ lived out of us that we may live in the reality of the kingdom today and enter into its manifestation in the future.
The overcomers as the righteous, the sons of the kingdom, will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father, the heavenly part of the millennium. We are sons of God the Father, and God is light (1 John 1:5; 1 Tim. 6:16). The divine light, which is God Himself, is, of course, much greater than the light of the sun. When in the millennium the overcoming believers enjoy the Father as light, they will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.
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