Chapter twelve of Matthew reveals some further principles concerning the kingdom. Have you ever noticed the first few words of chapter twelve? It begins with the words, "At that time." The same phrase is used in 11:25, which begins by saying, "At that time Jesus answered..." What is the time referred to in Matthew 12:1? The phrase, "At that time," means the time when the Lord Jesus revealed the way to enter the rest. In the original manuscripts of the Bible, there were no chapters, verses, paragraphs, or punctuation. Thus, chapters eleven and twelve were not divided. "At that time" the Lord Jesus answered and prayed to the Father, and "at that time" He brought His disciples into the grain fields. The words, "At that time," may be small words, but they indicate something very important. At that time the Lord Jesus revealed to His disciples the way to find rest and to enjoy Him as rest in the kingdom. In chapter nine we have the way to enjoy the Lord as our feast; in chapters eleven and twelve we have the way to enjoy Him as our rest.
Some may consider that the matter of enjoying the Lord should be found in John, the book of life, and not in Matthew, the book of the kingdom. But the kingdom is also a matter of enjoyment, and this enjoyment is just the Lord Jesus Himself. Do not think that the Lord Jesus as the kingdom is only a matter of authority and kingship. No—the Lord Jesus as the kingdom is also a matter of enjoyment. If you have not experienced Him as your enjoyment, you cannot be in the kingdom to the fullest extent. We will have the full enjoyment of the Lord Jesus by realizing that we have Him as the kingdom life. The more we realize Him as our kingdom life, the more we will enjoy Him as the feast. If we have little enjoyment of Christ, we will have little experience of the kingdom.
In the same way, if we have no rest, neither will we have much experience of the kingdom. Suppose there were no government, rule, or law in the United States. Do you think it would be possible to rest in this country? There would be no rest; instead, there would be constant turmoil. Likewise, true rest comes out of experiencing the Lord Jesus as our kingdom life. When we honor, realize, and partake of Him as our kingdom life, we enjoy Him as rest. He is not only our feast, but also our rest. Both the feast and the rest are found in the kingdom. Although we may think that the feast and rest are only related to life, they are also found in the kingdom.
Many of us can testify that we have found such enjoyment in the church life. We have enjoyed so many feasts. Also, when we came into the church life, we realized that we had come home. What is home? It is the place of rest. Many Christians who were seeking the Lord very much were simply wandering aimlessly before they came into the church life. However, once they came into the church life, they had the feeling that they were home. I can never forget that during the years of 1969 and 1970, the testimonies in nearly every meeting were about this matter of finding a home in the church life. In those years one of the favorite songs had these words: "We are home! We are home! We are home!" In the local church we have the feast and we have the rest because the local church is the reality of the kingdom. The Lord is here not only as life, but also as the kingdom life.