The fourth chapter of the Gospel of Mark reveals that Christ is the seed of the kingdom of God sown into the believers to develop into God’s kingdom. Verse 3 says, “Behold, the sower went out to sow.” The sower here signifies the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, who came to sow Himself as the seed of life in His word (v. 14) into men’s hearts that He might grow and live in them and be expressed from within them.
Verse 26 says, “So is the kingdom of God: as if a man cast seed on the earth.” The “man” here is the Lord Jesus as the “sower” mentioned in verse 3. The “seed” is Christ as the seed of the divine life (1 John 3:9; 1 Pet. 1:23) sown into the believers. This seed of the kingdom is not a matter of power or authority but of the divine life embodied in Christ. This seed of the kingdom, this seed of life, is Christ Himself as the basic element of the kingdom. The kingdom of God, therefore, is actually the God-man, Jesus Christ, sown as the seed of life into His believers. After this seed has been sown into them, it will grow in them and eventually develop into a kingdom.
Jesus Christ is the seed of the kingdom of God, and this seed has been sown into us, the believers. Now this seed is growing and developing within us. Eventually, this growth and development will have an issue, and this issue will be the kingdom.
As long as we have been saved and regenerated (John 3:3, 5), we are a part of the kingdom of God. We are a part of the kingdom not according to our old creation, which has nothing to do with the kingdom of God, but according to our new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). Now when we exercise the life of the new creation, the divine life received through our regeneration, we are exercising the kingdom of God. When we exercise that part of us which is the old creation, we are, in a practical way, living in the kingdom of Satan. But when we exercise that part of us which is the new creation-Christ Himself as the element of the kingdom of God-we are living in the kingdom of God.
Such a kingdom is within the believers in the church. “The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14:17). This verse is a strong proof that the church in the present age is the kingdom of God, because the context deals with the church life in the present age.
The kingdom of God is the sphere in which God exercises His authority so that He may express His glory for the fulfillment of His purpose. In such a kingdom, what matters is not eating and drinking but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. The kingdom within the believers in the church is thus a triangular life, a life of righteousness, peace, and joy. Righteousness denotes that which is right and proper. Those who live in the kingdom of God should be right and proper toward others, toward things, and toward God. This requires that they be strict in dealing with themselves. Peace, the fruit of righteousness (Heb. 12:11), characterizes the relationship that those who live in the kingdom of God should have with others and with God. If we are righteous toward others, toward things, and toward God, we will have a peaceful relationship with others and with God. As a result, we will have joy in the Holy Spirit and, in particular, before God. In this way we will be filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit (Acts 13:52) and will live out righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. The more we live righteously, peacefully, and joyfully in the Holy Spirit, the more the kingdom of God will be manifested in our daily living in the church life.
The last aspect of the experience and enjoyment of Christ in the Gospel of Luke concerns His being the One prophesied in the Old Testament. Luke 24:27 says, “Beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, He explained to them clearly in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” According to verse 44 the Lord Jesus said, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all the things written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and Psalms concerning Me must be fulfilled.” The Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms are the three sections of the Old Testament, that is, “all the Scriptures” (v. 27). The Savior’s word here unveils that the entire Old Testament is a revelation of Him and that He is its center and content.
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