The believers of Jesus have been born into the kingdom. John 3:5 proves this. In this verse, Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a man is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” We were regenerated into the kingdom. How could we have entered into the kingdom by regeneration if the kingdom had been suspended? Into what, then, were we born again? As John 3 states clearly, we have been reborn into the kingdom.
In Matthew 16:18 and 19 the Lord said to Peter, “On this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of the heavens.” This shows that, in a proper sense, the church is the kingdom. Romans 14:17 also indicates that we in the church are in the kingdom. The proper church life is the kingdom life.
What is the kingdom? It is the heavenly rule in the divine nature. We all have been regenerated with the divine life. In this life there is the divine nature, and with this divine nature there is a ruling, a reigning, a governing. This governing is both divine and heavenly. We, the regenerated ones, are under this reign today; we are under this government and control. We need to exercise this rule over ourselves. If you still need someone else to rule over you, it means that you are fallen. We must be under the heavenly rule in everything we do. In a previous message we spoke about being the fighting army of Christ. But if you are not under the ruling of the divine life, you will never be selected to be in His army. Being chosen to be in this army depends upon obeying the heavenly rule in the divine nature. The divine life brings us into the divine kingdom. The kingdom into which we are reborn in John 3:5 is the very kingdom mentioned by John in Revelation 1:9. How could we ever be joint partakers in the kingdom if we had not been reborn into it? After we have been reborn into the kingdom, we should remain in it. If you still argue with your wife or husband, it means that you are an escapee from the kingdom. If you remain in the kingdom and live in it, you will never fight with your husband, your wife, or anyone else. Although the enemy may tempt you to fight, the ruling of the heavenly kingdom will restrain you.
To be in the kingdom in Jesus today is not a glory. When the kingdom in Jesus becomes the kingdom in Christ, that will be the time for glory. Today, the kingdom in Jesus is a kingdom of suffering. In Matthew 5:10-12 the Lord said that His believers suffer persecution for the sake of the kingdom. If we are suffering for righteousness’ sake, then we are in the kingdom. There are certain things which we cannot do because they are unrighteous. All of humanity today is unrighteous. If we agree with this unrighteousness, people will welcome us. But if we stand for righteousness, people will oppose and persecute us. Suffering persecution for the kingdom proves that we are in the kingdom of God today. Do not think that it is a glory to be in the kingdom today. No, to be in the kingdom now is to bear shame and to suffer persecution. The more we are in the kingdom, the more we shall suffer and be persecuted. But praise the Lord this suffering is a strong sign that we are in the kingdom.
Being in the kingdom today is a matter of being in the suffering in Jesus. Although we are joint partakers in the kingdom in Jesus, we are not yet the co-kings in Christ. When He comes back, we shall be His co-kings in the kingdom in Christ. At that time, we shall no longer suffer. Do not say to others, “You must honor me. I am a partner in the heavenly kingdom, and one day I’ll be a co-king with Christ in the kingdom.” The more you say this, the more you will be persecuted. Today is not a reigning day but a suffering day. Now we are not in the reigning kingdom but in the suffering kingdom. This is the reason that Paul said that we must enter into the kingdom of God through much tribulation (Acts 14:22). The way to enter into the ruling kingdom is through suffering. The tribulation Paul referred to in Acts 14:22 was mainly the persecution at the hands of the Jewish religion. All believers in Christ undergo this kind of persecution. Paul seemed to be saying, “You Christians, the believers of Jesus, must suffer persecution from the Jewish religion.” In principle, it is the same today. If there were no religion in the world today, we would not suffer as much persecution. As we have already pointed out, most of the troubles, persecutions, rumors, and oppositions can be traced to one source—religion. While we are suffering today, we are in the kingdom where we are being exercised, trained, prepared, and qualified to be Christ’s army and to reign in His kingdom as His co-kings.
In 1:9, John also said that he was a joint partaker in the endurance in Jesus. For both the tribulation and the kingdom we need endurance. Many saints, even among us in the Lord’s recovery, lack endurance. Some have suffered persecution from their relatives, friends, and neighbors, but eventually they exhausted their supply of endurance. While they were able to withstand the persecution for a certain time, they lacked the endurance to bear it for a longer time. When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He endured persecution (Heb. 12:2-3), and He is still enduring men’s opposition and reproach today. Consider how much, even today, people oppose and mock the Lord Jesus. On the one hand, He is sitting in the heavens; on the other hand, He is still being mocked, opposed, and persecuted. Many of us might expect the Lord Jesus to say to His mockers, “Repent or I will send a great earthquake to destroy you.” The Lord Jesus has been mocked for nearly twenty centuries, but He has not fought back. Rather, He has continuously suffered all these attacks. Some may say, “Jesus, I hate You,” but there is no response from Him. This is the endurance of Jesus.
Not many of us have heard of the endurance of Jesus. We have heard of the power of Jesus, the love of Jesus, the holiness of Jesus, the righteousness of Jesus, but not of the endurance of Jesus. Nevertheless, as we live in Christ, we not only partake of His life and holiness, but also of His endurance. When we abide in Christ, we partake of His endurance and have the endurance to bear suffering and opposition. The Lord’s word is even called the word of endurance (3:10). Today the whole world is opposing and rejecting Him, but He does not fight back. He simply endures it all. Now as we have fellowship with Him and abide in Him, we partake of His endurance. As His followers, we must follow Him on the same pathway with endurance (Heb. 12:1). In this way we also can endure persecution, rumors, rejection, and opposition. This is a strong proof that we are those who are waiting for the Lord’s coming back. As we wait for His coming back by being a joint partaker in His tribulation, kingdom, and endurance, we are being disciplined, trained, prepared, and qualified to be His fighting army. Are you waiting for the Lord Jesus to come back? If you are, then you also must be a joint partaker in His tribulation, kingdom, and endurance.