This kingdom—the kingdom of the heavens and the kingdom of God—is not eating and drinking but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14:17). These three matters—righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit—speak of how we should deal with ourselves and with others and of our proper relationship with God under the kingdom’s ruling.
In the kingdom we must be absolutely righteous toward ourselves. We must not allow ourselves to become lax. Rather, we must be strict toward ourselves. We must not participate in anything unrighteous. Some may ask, “What exactly is righteousness?” Righteousness is difficult to comprehend with the human mind or to express in human words. To illustrate, suppose there are eight children in a family. When they eat, they sit around a square table, two on each side, each occupying exactly half of one side. However, a naughty one may occupy two-thirds of one side when he sits down; as a result, when a younger brother comes, he is forced to sit at the corner. The behavior of the naughty child shows that he is not righteous, because he exceeds his rightful limit. He should occupy only half of one side of the table, but he takes up more than half and occupies the space of another. To be beyond our limit is to be unrighteous.
Sometimes when we come to a meeting, we are unrighteous in the way we sit by taking up extra space, thus forcing others to sit uncomfortably. At other times, although we may do it unintentionally, we take home the Bibles and hymnals that are available for public use. If we do not return them promptly, we are unrighteous. Therefore, the meaning of righteousness is staying within one’s limit based on God’s standard.
I once read the following story in a book. The author formerly did not know what it meant to be unrighteous. One day, however, he went to a meeting and saw someone come in with an umbrella. After this person sat down, he stepped on the dress of the lady sitting in front of him, causing some damage to the dress. However, he did not apologize to her. Those around him saw it and said, “This person is very unrighteous. When he came in, he sat down loosely and carelessly stepped on someone’s dress, damaging it, but then he pretended that nothing had happened.” The author of the book was thus enlightened and came to understand what unrighteousness means.
The kingdom of God is absolutely righteousness. To be righteous is to maintain one’s integrity and not let oneself become loose. A righteous person is one who accepts restriction, one who is not without ruling. He is not a person who does whatever he wants when no one is present. If we step on a lady’s dress, dirtying it or damaging it in some way, yet we feel that nothing is wrong because no one is looking, we are unrighteous. To steal something when no one is looking and think that it does not matter, as if we can do whatever we want as long as no one sees us doing it, also is to be unrighteous.
The kingdom of God is not only righteousness but also peace. This means that although we need to be strict with ourselves by being righteous, we need to deal with others in peace. God’s kingdom requires us to have peace toward others. Our dealings and interactions with others must be in peace. If we Christians do not have peace toward others but rather have many problems with others, this shows that we have not allowed God to rule in us. If we allow God to rule, our relationship with others will be peaceful, and there will be no quarrels or arguments with others, nor will there be opinions. We must be ruled by God and have peace toward others.
When some young saints are at home, they do not speak with their younger siblings or their older siblings. Likewise, some saints who coordinate together in the church do not speak much with one another. Two brothers may have morning watch together, but only fifteen minutes later they may quarrel over a small matter and therefore stop speaking to one another. I am afraid that this is our situation. When we live with the brothers and sisters, we may be righteous toward ourselves, not taking advantage of the brothers and sisters, but we may not speak with them because we do not have peace with them. Even when we come to the Lord’s table meeting and break the bread together, we still may not speak, because we have no peace with one another. If this is the case, the kingdom of God does not have much rule and ground in us. If the kingdom of God is ruling us within and has ground in us, we will have peace in our dealings with others.
The kingdom of God is also joy in the Holy Spirit. This refers particularly to our relationship with God. Are you always joyful before God? When I see you, if you wear a sad expression, I will know that you must have come out of the kingdom of God and that God is not ruling in you. If God is ruling in you, since He is joyful, you also will be a joyful person before Him.
Please remember that when you are not strict and righteous toward yourself, have no peace toward others, and have no joy before God, you are not living in God’s kingdom. If you allow God to reign, to be the Lord, to rule, and to have the ground in you, you will be absolutely strict toward yourself; you will not be loose at all but will be altogether righteous.
If you allow God to rule in you, your dealings with others will be peaceful and harmonious, and you will not quarrel with anyone. You will be forbearing and forgiving. No matter how people offend you, you will forgive them. You will always bear with others. As the Lord forgives you, you will forgive others (Eph. 4:32; Col. 3:13). As God does not blame you, you will not blame others. The kingdom of God will be ruling in you, not allowing you to blame, condemn, or be in discord with others. If you allow God to rule in you and have ground in you, you will be joyful in your spirit and in the Holy Spirit.
The first aspect of the significance of the kingdom of God is its sovereignty, authority, ruling, and restriction, all of which are heavenly and spiritual. Every believer is saved not into heaven but into the kingdom, that is, into the sovereignty, authority, ruling, and restriction of the kingdom of God. Our being saved is not like entering a public place casually; rather, our being saved is our entering into the kingdom of God with its restrictions, authority, sovereignty, and laws. In this kingdom we cannot be loose; rather, we must abide by all the laws and regulations of the kingdom. This may be likened to drivers in any country on the earth being required to abide by all the traffic rules.
However, few Christians today truly know what the kingdom of God is. Like the children of Israel in the age of the judges, who had no king among them (Judg. 17:6; 21:25), today’s Christians have no kingdom among them. In other words, there is no authority or restraint among them; each one does things according to his or her own will. They are not righteous toward themselves, they have no peace toward others, and they have no joy before God. They can laugh loudly when they tell jokes, but when it is time for them to pray in the prayer meeting or the Lord’s table meeting, they wear a sad expression and cannot be joyful in spirit. What is the reason for this? The reason is that they have not allowed God to rule and reign in them.
One who is ruled by God and submits to God’s authority can be joyful even in his sufferings and difficult situations. He is able to say, “Although my heart is broken, my spirit still praises God. Although I feel pain, my spirit is still joyful. This is because I allow my God to reign in me, and I submit to His authority. I am a person under God’s restriction and rule because I am saved and have been delivered by God from Satan’s authority and kingdom of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of the Son of His love.”
Today the kingdom of the world is the authority of Satan (1 John 5:19); it is a loose and carefree kingdom. God has delivered us from such a kingdom and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love (Col. 1:13). When the Son of God’s love was on the earth, His living and walk were under the authority of God. He once said, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready” (John 7:6). This was the Lord’s answer to those who wanted Him to go up to Jerusalem for the feast. Essentially, He was saying to them, “You can go up to Jerusalem for the feast anytime you desire, but the time is not right for Me. My time is not in My hands but in My Father’s hands. I am restricted by Him. I submit to His authority and am under His ruling.” When we are saved, we are transferred into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love, in which we are restricted and ruled by Him in the same way that He was restricted and ruled by His Father.
Hence, we must be clear that when we are saved, our sins are forgiven, our spirit is regenerated, and we have God’s love; thus, we can be qualified to live in God’s kingdom, submit to God’s authority, and be ruled by God. In this way we will be able to live a life that is righteous toward ourselves, peaceful with others, and joyful in the Holy Spirit before God.