In the Gospel of Matthew, the Lord’s teaching on the mount in chapters five through seven, His parables by the seashore in chapter thirteen, and His prophecy on the Mount of Olives in chapters twenty-four and twenty-five, when added together, unveil to us the entire situation of the kingdom. His teaching in Matthew 5 through 7 shows us the reality of the kingdom of the heavens, His parables in Matthew 13 show us the appearance of the kingdom of the heavens, and His prophecy in Matthew 24 and 25 shows us the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens.
First, this kingdom has its reality and this reality is the living of the divine life. Matthew 5 through 7 is not a matter of morality or a high standard of ethics but the living of the divine life by the believers. The living of the divine life is the expression and the practicality of the divine life, so it is the kingdom in reality. We must be impressed that Matthew 5 through 7 is not a sermon on a high standard of ethics. It is the unveiling of the living of the divine life which we possess. This living is the expression, the practicality of the divine life, which is the divine life’s kingdom, the reality of the kingdom.
In Matthew 13:24-42 the appearance of the kingdom of the heavens is revealed in the parable of the tares, of the mustard seed, and of the leaven. In Matthew 13 the evil one is portrayed as the birds in the air (vv. 4, 19). Chapter thirteen also tells us clearly that this enemy is the Devil (v. 39). While this kingdom is going on on the earth, Satan endeavors to do everything to frustrate the growth and development of this kingdom.
First, Satan sowed the tares among the wheat to frustrate the life of the wheat from growing. This is the appearance of the kingdom of the heavens which is full of tares, full of nominal, false Christians. These false Christians many times are very hard to discern. It is not possible to discern tares from the wheat until the fruit is produced. The sprout and leaves of the tares look the same as those of the wheat. When the fruit is produced, though, the wheat bears golden colored grain, but the fruit of the tares is black. When the fruit is produced you can discern what is real and what is false. Sometimes even among us things may be like this. Before the fruit is produced we all look alike, but one day some will become golden and some will become black and there will be no need to discern. By that time the growth of life with the wheat will have been greatly frustrated by the tares. Wheat signifies all the believers of the divine life and with the divine life. The tares were sown by the enemy to frustrate the proper growth of this divine life in the believers. Nevertheless, the wheat still grows with the divine life and produces the grain to be ground into powder. This is the fine flour (13:33) to make a loaf (1 Cor. 10:16-17) for an offering to God, which means to make the church as a total offering to God for His enjoyment and satisfaction.
The church, as the practical kingdom of the heavens, with Christ—the unleavened fine flour—as its content, must be the unleavened bread (1 Cor. 5:7-8). Then the enemy endeavored to put leaven into this fine flour until the fine flour was altogether leavened (13:33). Once the flour is leavened there is no way to purge it, no way to purify it. We all must realize that we are still under a certain kind or a certain extent of leavening. All the truths we have heard and received in the past have been leavened by the enemy. If this were not the case it would not be so hard for us to minister the Word. Even the seeking Christians today do not realize how much their mentality has been preoccupied already by the leavened truth. Even before people get saved they have already become leavened by the practices, by the atmosphere, by the color, and by the flavor of Christianity. After they were saved, many of these leavened truths still remained in their mentality.
The parable of the mustard seed (13:31-32) shows us that Satan is very subtle. He not only sows the tares among the wheat and puts the leaven into the fine flour, but he also is even able to change the principle of life to make the mustard seed grow not according to its kind. According to the law of God’s creation, every plant must be after its kind (Gen. 1:11-12). Satan, however, made the mustard seed to grow not after its own kind. It should be an herb to produce the proper food for people, but Satan made it a tree to become a lodging for so many birds. Now this tree lodges many evil persons and things. The nature of the mustard seed has been changed. It is no more an herb to feed people but a tree to lodge so many birds. This great tree is today’s Christendom.
This is all the appearance of the kingdom of the heavens: many tares, a great tree as a lodging for evil persons and evil things, and much leaven. In today’s Christendom we can see tares, leaven, and a great tree. We do not see much fine flour.
Then when the Lord Jesus comes the kingdom will be manifested. This is the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens. Those who will enjoy the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens are those who are now living in the reality of the kingdom. If we live the kingdom today, the kingdom will be our inheritance as a realm for us to enter in and enjoy the eternal life for a thousand years as the reward with its joy and kingship (Matt. 24:45-47; 25:19-23).
This kingdom in the next age will be the heavenly part of the millennium, and the earthly part will be the restored tabernacle of David (Acts 15:16), the restored kingdom of Israel (Acts 1:6). The saved remnant of the Jews in the restored Davidic kingdom will be the priests teaching the nations to worship God (Zech. 8:20-23). The kings, the overcoming believers, are not in the restored Davidic kingdom, but they are in the manifestation of the kingdom in the heavenly part of the millennium (Rev. 20:4, 6).
We should not forget that a number of God’s chosen and redeemed people in the time of the patriarchs, the dispensation before the law, were not perfected. Also, a great number of God’s chosen ones in the dispensation of law and a greater number of God’s chosen ones in the dispensation of grace were not mature before the millennium, the fourth dispensation, the dispensation of the kingdom. As a result, all these immature ones will be perfected in the fourth dispensation, and the perfection will not be so pleasant. That perfection will be a kind of discipline or punishment to force you to “make up your lesson” to grow into maturity.
Then all these will be mature and God’s work to perfect His chosen and redeemed ones will be completed. This will be the end of the old creation, and the new heaven and the new earth will come in. At that time all of the believers who needed perfecting in the millennium, the overcoming believers in the heavenly part of the millennium, and the Jews who were the priests to teach the nations will be completely perfected and matured. They will be the complete kingdom of God for eternity because all of them will be full of life, and this life is the consummation of the kingdom of God, which will be the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem will be the eternal kingdom of God for eternity.