In Matthew 25 the Lord Jesus twice says, “Enter into the joy of your lord” (vv. 21b, 23b). “The joy of your lord” signifies the enjoyment of the Lord in the coming kingdom. When the Lord Jesus comes back, that will be the time for Him to enjoy the earth. Satan will be bound, Christ will recover the earth, and the entire earth will be under His reign. By repossessing the earth, the Lord will have His enjoyment. Then He will invite His followers, His partners, to participate in this enjoyment, to enter into His joy.
The overcomers will be crowned, sit with Christ on His throne, have authority over the nations and shepherd them, and also participate in the joy of the Lord. On the one hand, they will be seated with Christ on His throne to have authority over the nations; on the other hand, they will enter into the joy of the Lord. Entering into the Lord’s joy is greater than being crowned and having authority over the nations. The joy of the Lord will be the greatest thing in the millennium.
In Ephesians 5:5b Paul speaks of a believer’s “inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” The kingdom of Christ is the millennium (Rev. 20:4, 6; Matt. 16:28); it is also the kingdom of God (Matt. 13:41, 43). The believers have been regenerated into the kingdom of God (John 3:5) and in the church life they are living in the kingdom of God today (Rom. 14:17). However, not all believers will participate in the millennium; only the overcoming believers will. The defeated believers will have no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God in the coming age.
The term “the kingdom of Christ and of God” refers not to the kingdom today in the church life but to the manifestation of the kingdom in the coming millennium. The millennium will be a kingdom in a way that is more practical than what we are experiencing in the church today. Only in the millennium will the kingdom of Christ also become the kingdom of God. Today all believers are in the kingdom of God but not all of them will have an inheritance in the coming millennial kingdom. Both the defeated ones and the overcoming ones may be in the church as the kingdom of God, but only the overcomers will inherit the kingdom during the millennium.
In 1 Corinthians 6:10b Paul speaks of inheriting the kingdom of God. The word “inherit” here implies enjoyment. To inherit a certain thing is to enjoy that thing. Hence, to inherit the coming kingdom means to enjoy the kingdom. The coming kingdom will be a joyful inheritance to the overcomers. According to Matthew, the manifestation of the kingdom will be a reward to the overcoming saints as their enjoyment with the Lord. To inherit the kingdom is not just to enter the kingdom; it is to receive the kingdom as a reward for our enjoyment. This should be an incentive for us to live an overcoming life. By living an overcoming life today we shall be qualified to inherit the coming kingdom as a reward.
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