God’s promises concerning His kingdom are fulfilled by His power. God is willing to promise us the kingdom because He has the power to accomplish this matter. His power can meet all the requirements that His holiness and glory place on us for entering the kingdom of the heavens. The requirements of His holiness and glory are high, but His power to us is also great. All the requirements for entering the kingdom of the heavens, which are placed upon us by His holiness and glory, can be accomplished for us by His power.
1. “Only with difficulty will a rich man enter into the kingdom of the heavens...Who then can be saved?...With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matt. 19:23, 25-26).
In these verses the Lord said not only that entering the kingdom of the heavens is “with difficulty” but also that with men it is “impossible.” Thus, we must see that entering the kingdom of the heavens is impossible with men. From our point of view, entering the kingdom of the heavens is only a difficult matter, but the Lord said that it is impossible. It is not only difficult; it is impossible. If a man attempts to enter the kingdom of the heavens by his own power, he will not accomplish anything. Just as we cannot be saved by our own power, we cannot enter the kingdom of the heavens by our own power.
Many of us hear the word of the kingdom of the heavens and make a strong decision to endeavor and pursue in order to enter the kingdom of the heavens. But the first thing the Lord does for us is to show us that we cannot enter into the kingdom of the heavens by our own power. The Lord allows us to fail again and again until we become discouraged. The Lord must do this to enable us to see that entering the kingdom of the heavens is absolutely impossible for us with our own power; only then will the Lord have the ground to work in us further in order to bring us into the kingdom of the heavens.
Even though the Lord said that entering the kingdom of the heavens is impossible with men, He does not stop there. If this were the case, entering the kingdom of the heavens would be a hopeless matter for us. But thank the Lord, He continued, saying, “But with God all things are possible.” He said that this is impossible with men in order to show us that it is possible with God. We must see that “with men this is impossible” before we can see that “with God all things are possible.” Thus, the Lord must allow us to fail and bring us to our end so that we will see that this is impossible in ourselves and also that it is possible with God. Before we can look to God and rely on His power, we must see that entering the kingdom is impossible with us. Our end is God’s beginning. What is possible with God is manifested in what is impossible with us.
If we look only at our own inability and do not look at God’s ability, we will be disappointed and afraid. Numbers 13 and 14 show that the Israelites were afraid and could not enter the good land of Canaan, because they looked only at their own inability, not God’s ability. Although Caleb and Joshua looked at their own inability, they also looked at God’s ability and believed that He was able. Thus, they were strengthened and emboldened to believe that they were well able to overcome the obstacles in the land, and they went up and obtained the land of Canaan. We should not be disappointed when we see that we are not able, because that is the time for us to look to God and believe that He is able.
Just as salvation is a matter of God’s power, entering the kingdom of the heavens also is a matter of God’s power. Just as salvation is accomplished for us by God, entering the kingdom of the heavens is also accomplished for us by Him. The only difference is that our eternal salvation has already been accomplished for us by God, but our entrance into the kingdom of the heavens is in the process of being accomplished by God for us.
According to Luke 12:32 we know that God desires to give us the kingdom. Now, according to Matthew 19:26, we know that God is able. This truly is the gospel. God is willing to give us the kingdom of the heavens, and He is able to give us the kingdom. Although we are not able to enter into the kingdom of the heavens, God can enable us to obtain it.
2. “Christ...is powerful in you” (2 Cor. 13:3).
The power of God comes into us through Christ. Christ is the power of God. He is in us as the power of God. Thus, He is powerful in us. It is true that we are weak in ourselves, but Christ, who lives in us, is powerful. He died on the cross for us and resolved the problem of our sins; today He is living in us to resolve the problem of our weakness. On the cross He was our Substitute for us to be saved; today He is in us as our power for us to enter into the kingdom of the heavens.
God gives us power by having Christ abide in us as our power. The power that God gives us today is the Christ who indwells us. God gave Christ to us as power. Today we do not need to beseech God for power. God’s power has already been given to us in Christ. God wants to manifest His power in us through Christ’s dwelling in us. It is the indwelling Christ as our power who brings us into the kingdom of the heavens. From within, He wants to bear our weaknesses, meet God’s demands for us, endure the sufferings of this world, overcome Satan’s frustrations, and do everything so that we may enter into the kingdom of the heavens. As long as we experience Galatians 2:20, “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me,” He will live out the living that is required for us to enter the kingdom of the heavens.
Christ abides in us as the Spirit to be our power (Rom. 8:9-10). This Spirit is the Spirit of life (v. 2), who imparts the power of life into us so that we may do the things that are pleasing to God (Ezek. 36:27). When we set our mind on Him and follow Him, He can supply us inwardly with the righteousness required for our entrance into the kingdom of the heavens (Rom. 8:4-5).
3. “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9).
The power of Christ is manifested in our weaknesses and perfected in them. We should not be saddened or discouraged by our weaknesses. Our weaknesses are the means through which Christ expresses His power. We should be like Paul and boast in our weaknesses so that the power of Christ might tabernacle over us. The weaker we are and the more we boast in our weaknesses, the more the power of Christ will tabernacle over us and be manifested and perfected in our weakness. The power of Christ cannot be manifested in our strength; it can be manifested only in our weakness. Our strength is a problem for Christ. It is only our weakness that enables Christ to manifest Himself and His power in us.
The power of Christ that is perfected in our weakness is our all-sufficient grace. This powerful grace is sufficient to meet all the needs we encounter in pursuing the kingdom of the heavens. This powerful grace is the resurrection life of Christ, His resurrection power, which is just the resurrected Christ living in us and who alone is sufficient to accomplish all the conditions for our entrance into the kingdom of the heavens.
4. “I am able to do all things in Him who empowers me” (Phil. 4:13).
Although we are weak and powerless and cannot enter into the kingdom of the heavens on our own, Paul says that we can do all things in Christ who empowers us. The word empowers in the original Greek does not have the sense of the Lord giving power to us from outside of us; rather, it is the Lord making us strong from within us. This is not Christ objectively giving us power but Christ subjectively making us strong. He is not like a crutch that upholds us outwardly; rather, He is like food that strengthens us from within. The apostle relied on such a One—the strong Christ—within him as his power to enable him to do all things.
One Bible version translates the phrase in Him as “by Him.” This suggests that Christ is beside us and that we should lean on Him for strength, but this is not the meaning, because we are already in Him. We do not need to stay close to Him and use our strength to lean on Him; rather, we are already joined to Him, and He is the strength that we need. First Corinthians 1:30 tells us that God put us into Christ, but we still need the Lord to open our eyes to see this glorious fact. When we receive revelation from God to see that we are in Christ, we see that we are strong in Christ. Because we are in Christ, His strength is our strength. If, under God’s light, we truly see that God has joined us to Christ, we will be able to say with the apostle that we can do all things in Him who empowers us. We will also see that the conditions for entering the kingdom of the heavens are not difficult. It is easy to live out the conditions for entering the kingdom of the heavens because we are empowered in Christ. We are able to do all things because we live in Christ and take Him as our power. Apart from Him we can do nothing (John 15:5), but in Him we can do all things.
5. “In all these things we more than conquer through Him who loved us” (Rom. 8:37).
One Bible version translates the phrase through Him as “by Him.” Again this suggests that we conquer by leaning on the Lord, but since we are in Him, everything in our experience of conquering must come through Him. It is useless for us to lean on Him with our strength; instead, our conquering comes through His conquering in us. When our experiences are through Him, we will conquer in all things, and we not merely conquer but more than conquer. In ourselves we have no way to meet the conditions for entering into the kingdom of the heavens, and we have no way to attain to God’s high standard, but through Him we more than conquer in all things.
All the requirements contained in the law in the Old Testament were given to prove that man is not able; all the requirements in the New Testament reveal that God is able. All the requirements in the law in the Old Testament were given for man to fulfill; all the requirements in the New Testament cannot be fulfilled by man but by God in man and for man. Hence, all the requirements, the conditions, for entering the kingdom of the heavens truly speak of God’s ability and of what we can do in Him. We need God to open our eyes to see that He has placed requirements upon us so that He can fulfill them in us through His strength. Although God makes requirements of us, He wants to fulfill these requirements in us by Himself. On the one hand, He is outside of us making requirements of us, but on the other hand, He is in us fulfilling these requirements for us. Outside of us there are many commandments, but inside of us He is keeping these commandments for us. Thus, He is the One requiring, and He is the One fulfilling; He is the One commanding, and He is the One keeping the commandments. This is the New Testament; this is salvation. This is the highest definition of grace. Grace means that God has not only satisfied His righteous requirements for us on the cross but also that He is also within us satisfying the high, great requirements of the holy commandments in the New Testament. If He were not in us in this way, no one would be able to fulfill the requirements of the New Testament or keep His commandments in the New Testament. Who can turn his left cheek after being slapped on the right? Who can love his enemies and pray for those who persecute him? Who can be perfect as the heavenly Father is perfect? Who can be holy as God is holy? Who can always rejoice and give thanks in everything? Who can daily deny himself, take up the cross, lose his soul-life, and leave everything to follow the Lord? No one can do these things through his own strength. But, praise the Lord, through Him we can do all these things and more than conquer because He is in us fulfilling all that He requires of us on our behalf. As long as we are willing to give ourselves to Him and to go through Him, He will fulfill His requirements from within, living out what He requires and spontaneously producing a living that qualifies us and makes us worthy to enter the kingdom of the heavens.
6. “So great a salvation” (Heb. 2:3).
The “so great a salvation” spoken of in this verse is the Lord’s full salvation. In the book of Hebrews the Holy Spirit shows the Lord’s full salvation. He shows that the Lord not only died for us to redeem us from our sins but also resurrected and ascended to the highest heaven where He dwells today and from where, by the power of His indestructible life, He supports us and leads us in the way of faith to pursue a holy living and to run the race with endurance until He brings us into the coming rest of the coming kingdom. Thus, all who trust in Him can be saved to the uttermost. The Holy Spirit shows that Christ is a Savior who is always living, and that the salvation He gives is so great that human words cannot express it. Therefore, in this passage Paul speaks of this inexpressibly great salvation as “so great a salvation.” How great is it? We cannot say; we can only say, “So great.”
This “so great a salvation” includes not only being saved but also overcoming and entering the kingdom of the heavens. In the Old Testament the Lord’s salvation for the Israelites included not only saving them out of Egypt but also bringing them through the wilderness into Canaan. Thus, in the Old Testament if an Israelite came out of Egypt but did not enter Canaan, he received part of God’s great salvation but did not experience God’s full salvation. Similarly, God’s salvation today not only redeems us but also takes us through the way of the cross and brings us into the kingdom. If we are merely saved from our sins but do not walk on the way of the cross and enter the kingdom, we will enjoy only a portion of the salvation that is available to us.
The way of the cross brings us into the coming kingdom. We must not think that we can take the way of the cross by our own power in order to enter the kingdom. No! Rather, we are constantly saved by the Lord in His salvation to take the way of the cross and to enter the kingdom of the heavens. The Lord in His great salvation constantly brings us along in the way of the cross until He brings us into the kingdom of the heavens. Therefore, we must not neglect His great salvation but instead daily enter the Holy of Holies through Him to come to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace for timely help so that we can run the race set before us and enter the coming rest (Heb. 4:16; 12:1), which is the coming kingdom.
We cannot enter the kingdom of the heavens through our own effort. God does not want us to pursue the kingdom of the heavens by our own strength. With us this is impossible. It is God who makes it possible for us to enter the kingdom of the heavens. He puts Christ in us to be our power. Then Christ’s power is perfected in our weakness to be our sufficient grace. In Christ we are strengthened to do the things that are pleasing to God. When we go through Him, we are able to more than conquer and fulfill the conditions for entering the kingdom of the heavens. When we daily live in His great salvation, we allow the power of His indestructible life to save us, support us, and bring us through the narrow way of the cross until we are qualified to enter into the coming glorious kingdom. There are, however, two things we must emphasize.
First, we must emphasize consecration. We must consecrate ourselves to the Lord in order for Him to manifest His power in us. The Lord is well pleased to give us the kingdom and to manifest His power in us by bringing us into the kingdom, but if we are not willing to give ourselves to Him through consecration, He cannot do anything. Consecrating ourselves to the Lord does not mean that we decide to do something for Him; rather, it means that we allow the Lord to manifest His power in us and work in us. We do not consecrate ourselves in order to do something for the Lord; we consecrate ourselves because we cannot do anything, so we give ourselves to the Lord to allow Him to do what is needed in us and for us.
Second, we must emphasize faith. We must not only consecrate ourselves to the Lord, give ourselves to Him, and allow Him to do things in us and for us, but we must also have faith that the Lord will do these things according to His promises. His accomplishments for us are not based on our feelings but on the Lord’s Word. It is not something that is possible only when we feel the Lord’s power but rather when we have no sense of His power at all. It is not something that occurs only on peaceful, tranquil days full of sunshine but rather on days of trial and difficulty, days filled with dark clouds. When we believe that the Lord will manifest His power in our weakness according to His Word, we are able to more than conquer in these things. If this is our experience, the Lord in His faithfulness will manifest His power in us, do everything for us, and cause us to enjoy His full salvation to bring us into His glorious kingdom.