We partake of the kingdom not only in tribulation but also in endurance. For both tribulation and the kingdom we need endurance. If we lack endurance, we will only be able to withstand persecution for a limited time. However, as we live in Christ, we partake not only of His life and holiness but also of His endurance. When we abide in Christ, we partake of His endurance and acquire the endurance to bear suffering and opposition. The Lord’s word is even called the word of endurance (Rev. 3:10). The word of the Lord’s endurance is the word of the Lord’s suffering. The Lord today is still bearing rejection and persecution through His endurance. We are fellow partakers not only of His kingdom but also of His endurance. Hence, His word to us is the word of endurance. To keep His word of endurance, we must bear His rejection and persecution.
The world opposes and rejects the Lord Jesus, but He does not resist or fight back. He simply endures. As we have fellowship with Him and abide in Him, we partake of His endurance. As His followers, we must follow Him with endurance (Heb. 12:1). In this way we can also endure persecution and opposition. This is strong proof that we are waiting for the Lord’s coming back. We are waiting for His coming back by being fellow partakers in His kingdom, tribulation, and endurance.
If we live in the reality of the kingdom of the heavens and partake of the kingdom, we will inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:9-10; Gal. 5:21; Eph. 5:5). Inheriting the kingdom of God is different from entering into the kingdom of God through regeneration. We have already been regenerated into the kingdom, and now we need to grow and develop in the divine life. The issue of our growth and development will be our inheritance of the kingdom of God. Unless we grow to maturity in the proper development of the divine life, we will have no way to inherit the kingdom.
First Corinthians 6, Galatians 5, and Ephesians 5 all speak of inheriting the kingdom of God. In 1 Corinthians 6:9 Paul asks, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?” To inherit the kingdom of God in the next age is a reward to the saints who seek righteousness (Matt. 5:10, 20; 6:33). The unrighteous believers cannot inherit the kingdom of God. According to the Lord’s word in Matthew, we must be absolutely righteous in order to inherit the coming kingdom as a reward. The Lord even says that our righteousness must surpass that of the Pharisees (5:20). Because God’s kingdom is established upon righteousness, we must be righteous in order to inherit it.
First Corinthians 6:9-10 speaks of various kinds of persons who cannot inherit the kingdom of God. To enter into the kingdom of God, we need only to be regenerated (John 3:3, 5), but to inherit the kingdom of God, we need to live in the reality of the kingdom of the heavens today. No sinful person or unrighteous person has any part in the coming kingdom of God. The word inherit in 1 Corinthians 6:9 implies enjoyment. To inherit something is to enjoy it. Thus, to inherit the coming kingdom means to enjoy the kingdom. The coming kingdom will be a joyful inheritance to the overcomers. Moreover, according to Matthew, the manifestation of the kingdom will be a reward to the overcoming saints as their enjoyment with the Lord. Therefore, to inherit the kingdom is not only to enter the kingdom; it is to receive the kingdom for our enjoyment as a reward. This should be an incentive for us to live an overcoming life, a life that is sinless and righteous. By living a righteous life we shall be qualified to inherit the coming kingdom.
Concerning the works of the flesh, in Galatians 5:21 Paul says, “Those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” The inheritance of the kingdom of God refers to the enjoyment of the coming kingdom as a reward to the overcoming believers. This is not a matter of a believer’s salvation. The believers who practice the works of the flesh listed in Galatians 5:19-21 will not inherit the coming kingdom as a reward.
In Ephesians 5:5 Paul again speaks of those who have “no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” The kingdom of Christ is the millennial kingdom (Rev. 20:4, 6; Matt. 16:28) and also the kingdom of God (13:41, 43). The believers have been regenerated into the kingdom of God (John 3:3, 5), and they are in the church life, living in the kingdom of God today (Rom. 14:17). Only the overcoming ones, not all believers, will participate in the millennial kingdom. In the coming age the unclean, defeated ones will have no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
According to John 3, all the regenerated ones are in the kingdom of God. Romans 14:17 also indicates that the church life is the kingdom of God today. However, the kingdom will be more manifest in the millennium than in the church life today. Only in the millennium does the kingdom of Christ also become the kingdom of God. Therefore, the term the kingdom of Christ and of God does not refer to the kingdom as realized in the church life today but to the manifestation of the kingdom in the coming millennial kingdom. Presently all believers are in the kingdom of God, but not all of them will have an inheritance in the coming millennial kingdom. In the church as the kingdom of God there are both those who are defeated and those who are overcoming. However, only the overcoming ones will inherit the kingdom during the millennium.