First Corinthians 6:9-10, Galatians 5:19-21, and Ephesians 5:5 all mention that the evil or unrighteous ones cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Those who practice evil things such as fornication, uncleanness, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, angers, faction, divisions, parties, envyings, drunkenness, carousings, and things like these shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Moreover, such ones must be separated from the church fellowship (1 Cor. 5:11), just as Paul in his spirit judged the brother who committed fornication in the church in Corinth and charged the church there to separate the evil man from among themselves (1 Cor. 5:1-5, 13) in order to keep the purity and unleavened nature of the church life.
Second Peter 1:11 says, “For so shall be richly and bountifully supplied to you the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” This kingdom is the millennial kingdom within the kingdom of God in the coming age and the new heaven and new earth in eternity. In this eternal kingdom we shall not be subjects; we shall be kings. But in order to be kings, we need maturity in life. According to the word in the preceding verses, 2 Peter 1:1-10, if we want to grow to maturity, we need to stay in the church life and allow the wonderful like precious faith allotted to us (v. 1) to be developed gradually. This faith is an all-inclusive seed, containing all the riches of the divine life. We must be diligent to develop in our faith virtue; in virtue, knowledge; in knowledge, self-control; in self-control, endurance; in endurance, godliness; in godliness, brotherly love; and in brotherly love, God’s noble love. By developing these virtues we grow, and eventually we shall reach maturity. As a result, we shall be full of Christ, that is, we shall arrive at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Eph. 4:13). Thus, we shall be richly and bountifully supplied with the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, which will be the millennial kingdom within the kingdom of God in the coming age and the new heaven and new earth in eternity.
According to the Gospel of Matthew, the kingdom of the heavens within the kingdom of God has three aspects: the reality, the appearance, and the manifestation. Whereas the reality and the appearance are in this age, the manifestation is in the coming age. The reality of the kingdom of the heavens within the kingdom of God is the inward contents of the kingdom of the heavens in its heavenly and spiritual nature, as revealed by the Lord on the mountain in Matthew 5, 6, and 7. According to Romans 14:17, the reality of the kingdom of the heavens is the proper church life today. Therefore, the spiritual living in the church is the reality of the kingdom of the heavens. Matthew 5, 6, and 7 disclose the reality of the kingdom of the heavens, which is the spiritual living and heavenly principles of the kingdom of the heavens. It is composed of seven sections: the nature of the kingdom people (5:1-12), the influence of the kingdom people upon the world (5:13-16), the law of the kingdom people (5:17-48), the righteous deeds of the kingdom people (6:1-18), the dealing of the kingdom people with riches (6:19-34), the principles of the kingdom people in dealing with others (7:1-12), and the ground of the kingdom people’s living and work (7:13-29).
In these seven sections we see that the nature of the kingdom people, which is the very nature of the kingdom of the heavens, exercises an influence upon the world. The kingdom people also have a law, which is the new law of the kingdom of the heavens, not the law in the Old Testament. They are those who perform righteous deeds and who have the proper attitude concerning material riches. While they are still living in human society, they deal with others according to the principles of the kingdom of the heavens. Finally, we see the ground of the daily life and work of the kingdom people. All these aspects of the kingdom people not only depict their behavior or outward living; they also constitute the reality of the kingdom of the heavens. The spiritual living of the church today is the living out of the reality of the kingdom of the heavens.