When the Lord Jesus turned the kingdom of the heavens to the church, He brought a group of people out of the world to be under the heavenly control. Through regeneration all the Christians have been brought into the kingdom of the heavens. This means that all Christians by their regeneration have been brought under the control of the heavens. This is a marvelous beginning, but after such a good beginning through regeneration, not many are willing to be controlled by the heavens. Therefore, they are regenerated and saved by the Lord, yet they are defeated. They had a good beginning, but they did not have a good continuation. They were brought into the kingdom by their new birth, but they did not continue practically in the kingdom by being willing to be controlled by the heavenly rule. Within the church the true believers have been regenerated and brought into the kingdom of God. But among these true believers many are defeated. Only a small number are victorious and overcoming. The overcomers are the ones who are willing to be under the control of the kingdom of the heavens. They are willing to live and walk and do things according to the teachings of the Lord concerning the reality of the kingdom in Matthew 5—7. They are sanctified, they are victorious over sin, self, the flesh, and the world, and they are in the process of being transformed.

Let me cite some examples to help you understand the meaning of being under the rule of the heavens. In a university there are many students who are unsaved; there are other students who are regenerated, saved Christians, but who are not victorious and overcoming. Rather they are defeated. Only a small number of the Christians are victorious and overcoming. Because most of the students may be naughty, they need to be controlled by the administration of the school. If, however, you are a Christian under the rule of the kingdom of the heavens, you should not need the control of the administration of the school. If the rules say that the lights must be off by 10:30, you should not need someone to come by and enforce this rule. The unbelievers and the defeated Christians may even cover the light and continue to study until two o'clock in the morning. If you did such a thing and you were under the rule of the kingdom of the heavens, you would surely repent and go to the school administration, apologizing and offering to pay for the electricity. If you are under the rule of the kingdom of the heavens, there is no need for anyone to control you. If we need policemen to control us, it means we are defeated Christians. We must be those heavenly people who are under a heavenly ruling, a heavenly control, and a heavenly government. We should have no need of any other kind of control.

Even cultured, educated ladies and gentlemen will sometimes steal something when they have an opportunity. This means they are simply under the control of this earth; they are not under the control of the heavens. If the police were removed from any major city, what confusion and chaos would result! This is because people today are under the control of the earth and the earthly government and not under the control of the kingdom of the heavens.

As the heavenly people, we must be under the heavenly control, under the kingdom of the heavens. This is the reality of the kingdom of the heavens. God's intention in regenerating us is to bring us under His heavenly control. But many of us, after being regenerated, are not willing to be controlled by the heavenly ruling; we are in the church, but we are not in the reality of the kingdom of the heavens.

The kingdom of the heavens belongs to those who are poor in spirit, pure in heart, who are meek, whose righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees, and who do the will of God. Whoever lives in such a way is in the kingdom of the heavens, and the kingdom of the heavens is theirs. The Word does not say shall be yours but is yours. When we are pure in heart and poor in spirit, the kingdom is ours. This means we are in the kingdom now, and we are under the ruling of the kingdom of the heavens now.