Sin reigns unto death, and death reigns through the sinner. For example, when a couple argues, the man becomes the male king and the woman becomes the female king. Not only have they become kings in their voices, eyes, and eyelashes, even every hair on their body becomes a king. The whole family becomes a band of rebellious kings. By the end of the argument, they do not want to live anymore. This is all due to the reigning of sin and death, which cause a sinner to lose all his rights.
We all know that grace is sweet. But grace does not have the authority. Hence, grace reigns through righteousness. God gives us grace, and He also gives us righteousness. Today we have both grace and righteousness. Grace reigns through righteousness, that is, through God Himself. The result is that man obtains eternal life. This eternal life causes the believers to reign through Jesus Christ. Romans 5:21 says, “So also grace might reign through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” In the end, we the believers will reign in this eternal life through Jesus Christ.
When married brothers and sisters are about to clash and argue with each other, they have to declare that they are reigning through Jesus Christ. They have to declare that they will not argue anymore. This will bring in God’s kingship. In a family, when the parents argue all the time, the children will become disobedient, and the whole family will be in a situation of rebellion. This family will lose the grace and right to God’s blessings. What is true with a family is also true with a church. We should not consider arguments as light matters; arguments are rebellion. Arguments with proper reasons are rebellion. Arguments without proper reasons are also rebellion. What then is obedience? Obedience is to not argue and to be silent. Because I submit to the authority of the head, all my hair, tongue, lips, and teeth submit to me. They do not argue anymore, and I reign. This brings in God’s kingship which expands to become the kingdom of God.
The kingship that is brought in as a result of our reigning in life is the expansion of Christ in us. Christ is in us as life. When your companion or your spouse is arguing, and you refrain from doing the same, you are allowing Christ to reign within, and He is expanding within you.
According to Mark 4 and Matthew 13, the kingdom of God is the Lord Jesus as the seed of life sown into the believers. This seed will develop until it becomes a sphere which is the kingdom of God. This kingdom will expand until the end of the age. At the end of the Gentile rule, we will have the condition described in Daniel 2 concerning the great image. The stone cut out without hands is the Lord Jesus (v. 34). He will come down from heaven, smite the image, and break it into pieces (v. 35). The stone will become a great mountain to fill the whole earth (2:31-35). The great mountain is the expansion of the stone.
We all hope that the Lord Jesus will come back soon. But we need to allow Him to expand His kingship in us. The more He expands in the believers, the sooner He will return. Whether He will come back sooner or not depends on whether we allow Him to expand in us. This is the kingdom of God.
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