Now we come to the nature of the kingdom. We shall use six adjectives to describe the kingdom in its nature: divine, heavenly, spiritual, human, pure, and eternal.
In its nature the kingdom of God (Mark 1:15) is divine, having the divine attributes. The word “divine” means being of God, having the nature of God, or being transcendent and distinct from all others. Only God has the nature of God, and only God is transcendent and distinct from everything else. Therefore, only God is divine.
The nature of the kingdom is divine because it is the kingdom of God with the divine attributes. Because the kingdom is the kingdom of God, its nature will be the nature of God. Since God is holy, surely His kingdom also will be holy. Likewise, since God is righteous, His kingdom will be righteous as well. God is divine, and the kingdom, being the kingdom of God, will also be divine.
The kingdom is also heavenly in nature, for it is the kingdom of the heavens (Matt. 3:2), with the transcendency of the heavens. The church today should also be transcendent; there should be a certain transcendency in the church life. As members of the church, we are not low but have the heavenly nature with the transcendency of the heavens.
The kingdom is spiritual in nature because it is of the Holy Spirit in the regenerated human spirit. Romans 14:17 tells us that the kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Matthew 5:3 says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.” From these verses we can see that the kingdom is a matter of the Holy Spirit in our spirit. Therefore, the kingdom in its nature is spiritual.
In Philippians 1:19 Paul speaks of the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. This is the Spirit mentioned by the Lord Jesus in John 7:39. This is not merely the Spirit of God before the Lord’s incarnation but the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit with divinity, after the Lord’s incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection. Such a Spirit has a bountiful supply. Since the Spirit has a bountiful supply, the kingdom, which is of the Spirit in our spirit, is full of the bountiful supply.
In nature the kingdom is also human, for it is the kingdom of the Son of Man. After man was seduced by Satan to follow him, God became a man to undo the works of the Devil (1 John 3:8) and destroy him (Heb. 2:14), so that He might reclaim the earth to be His kingdom. In the coming kingdom, which Christ will bring in (Dan. 7:13-14; Luke 19:12-15), He will be the Son of Man as a sign both of His victory and glory and of Satan’s defeat and shame.
Because the kingdom is human in its nature, having the human virtues, the Lord charged us not to cancel any commandment related to morality (Matt. 5:17-48). On the contrary, we should keep all commandments related to morality in order to have the human virtues to match the divine attributes.
God’s kingdom is pure. It is the salt of the earth (Matt. 5:13), with the killing power of the death of Christ (2 Cor. 4:10a, 12a; Phil. 3:10b). In Matthew 5:13 the Lord Jesus says, “You are the salt of the earth.” By nature, salt is an element that kills the germs of corruption and eliminates them. In the kingdom of God there is a nature which is as pure as the salt of the earth. This nature has the killing power of the death of Christ to kill the germs of corruption.
Finally, in its nature the kingdom is eternal. It is the eternal kingdom (2 Pet. 1:11), with its unlimitedness.