The Kingdom of God is God Himself, and now we have the Innate Ability of the Divine Life

This week we start a new topic in the morning revival, which touches the matter of the kingdom of God; the kingdom of God is God Himself, and the kingdom is not merely an outward matter but a matter of the innate ability of the divine life.

The general subject of the recent 2019 spring ITERO was, The Development of the Kingdom of God in the Church Life and the Christian Life, and the topic for this week is, The Development of the Kingdom of God into a Realm over which God Rules in His Divine Life.

We need to see what the kingdom of God is, and realise that the inward reality of the kingdom needs to be developing; we need to have a life hidden with God, so that the kingdom life would deepen in us.

Then, we need to see different aspects of the kingdom and the church, the relationships in the kingdom, the seriousness of living a forgiving life so that we may receive the kingdom reward, the exercise of the keys of the kingdom, the responsibility of the church to engage in the spiritual warfare in the kingdom, and the responsibility of the church to bring the kingdom of God to earth in its glory and manifestation.

Finally, we need to receive a burden of proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom throughout the entire inhabited earth and disciple the nations, so that the Lord may return. Amen!

The Lord Jesus as the Sower sowed the seed of the kingdom into our being, into the soil of our heart; this kingdom seed – which is Christ Himself – needs to grow and develop in our inner being to become a realm.

Our heart, our soul, our spirit, and all our inward parts need to increasingly become a realm over which God can rule and reign in the divine life.

However, part of the enemy’s tactic is to distract us, hinder us, and deceive us, doing whatever he can so that the kingdom seed remains a seed; only the Lord knows how many of the millions of the believers on earth who are born of God have an undeveloped kingdom seed in them.

Before there can be the manifestation of the kingdom at the Lord’s coming, there must be the reality of the kingdom inwardly, and the practicality of the kingdom today is the church life.

It is of greatest importance that we have a spiritual understanding of the development of the kingdom seed into a realm inside our being.

There must be a development of the kingdom year by year and even month by month, and we should have the sense that there’s more ground in our being given to the Lord as the realm of the kingdom of God to grow.

As the seed of the kingdom grows in us, we are being recovered under the direct rule of God; the kingdom becomes a realm, and over this realm God in Christ as the Spirit rules directly.

The Kingdom of God is God Himself: God is Everything as the Content of His Kingdom

When we speak of the kingdom of God there are two main aspects: the outward (objective) aspect and the inward (subjective) aspect.

The outward aspect of the kingdom of God is that it is a realm populated with human beings and other living things, a realm over which God rules. The kingdom of God is objectively the entire universe, for everything and everyone in it is the kingdom of God.

However, the kingdom of God is not just something outwardly but something inward, the realm of life; the kingdom of God is God Himself with His life, and He is everything as the content of His kingdom.

For example, there’s the plant kingdom, where all the plants have the plant life and live; this doesn’t mean that to be in the plant kingdom you have to be subject to a particular super-plant who acts as king.

Similarly, to be in the animal kingdom you need to have the animal life, for the animal kingdom is the totality of the animal life. To live in the human kingdom you need to have the human life.

Similarly, the kingdom of God is God Himself (see Mark 1:15; Matt. 6:33; John 3:3), and His heart is that what constitutes His being would be opened to man for man to be born of God, enter into the kingdom of God, live in the kingdom of God, and actually become parts of the kingdom of God.

If God leaves His kingdom, there’s no more kingdom of God left; God’s kingdom is God Himself, and God is the content of the kingdom of God.

The kingdom of God is Jesus Christ, who is God incarnated to be a man and who is God Himself as the reality of the kingdom of God. To enter into the kingdom of God, man must repent and receive the life of God. John the Baptist came preaching the kingdom of God, telling people to repent, for the kingdom of God has drawn near.

When Jesus came, He was the kingdom of God; He not only preached that the kingdom will come but that the kingdom is among people, so people need to repent and receive the kingdom by receiving Jesus.

Christ came as God embodied to bring in the kingdom of God; God is everything as the content of His kingdom.

When we have God as our life, we are in the kingdom of God; but if we don’t receive God as life, we are not part of the kingdom of God. Only that which is God in us is the kingdom of God, and that which is not God, is not part of the kingdom of God.

God is life, having the nature, ability, and shape of the divine life, which forms the realm of God’ ruling (Eph. 4:18; John 3:15). We cannot enter the kingdom of God by understanding the kingdom, neither can we see the kingdom by thinking about it or agreeing with it.

We can enter into the kingdom of God only by receiving God as life, for only the divine life has the nature, the ability, and the shape of the divine life, and the divine life growing in us and living in us forms the realm of God’s ruling.

Lord Jesus, cause us to see that the kingdom of God is not just the outward ruling of God over all things but the realm of the divine life! Hallelujah, God Himself is the kingdom of God, and the content of God’s kingdom is God! Thank You Lord for coming into us as the kingdom of God; now we have the kingdom of God within us, and there’s a realm growing, expanding, and developing in us to be the kingdom of God. Thank You Lord for imparting Your life into us, and this life has the nature, ability, and shape of the divine life to conform us to the image of Christ and make us the kingdom of God!

The Kingdom of God is not an Outward Matter but the Innate Ability of the Divine Life

The life of God is the kingdom of God; the life of God is also our entrance into the kingdom of God (John 3:3, 5, 15).

Nicodemus came to the Lord Jesus to understand more about the kingdom of God, but the Lord blasted all his concepts concerning the kingdom when He told him that he needs to be born again, born anew, into the kingdom of God.

We can’t see the kingdom of God with our physical eyes, neither do we enter into the kingdom of God merely by understanding with it or agreeing that God is the King.

However, many believers and unbelievers alike still believe that the kingdom of God is a realm where God rules like a King, and when you do something bad, He will chastise you.

Some think that in God’s kingdom God is the King who wants to control everyone, so if you are about to lose your temper He won’t allow that, if you’re furious and are about to speak angry words He wants to stop you, and if you’re about to do a bad thing or say a bad word He warns you and if you still don’t listen He will chastise you.

This kind of understanding and realisation about the kingdom of God is too narrow, and it is greatly used by the enemy to keep people in the dark and away from God.

Many believers are not clear concerning the kingdom of God being the realm of the divine life, and because of this, they don’t cooperate with the Lord for the kingdom to grow and manifest in them.

God’s reigning, His kingdom, is not an outward matter but a matter of life. We have been regenerated by God, and there’s the innate ability of the divine life (Rom. 8:2) which spontaneously and automatically works in us.

This ability shapes us to be conformed to the image of Christ, the firstborn Son of God; it imparts the divine life into us and causes this life to spread into the inner parts of our being; and it rules within us in the way of life.

Humanly speaking, as we grow in the human life we are ruled and regulated from within to not do certain things, not go certain places, and not say certain words.

Spiritually speaking, it is not that we are afraid of the Almighty God who rules and reigns that we don’t do certain things or say certain words or go certain places, but it is the innate ability of the divine life that operates in us.

The Christ whom we have received lives in us; He grows in us, He flows in us, He spreads in us, and this life has an innate ability, an intrinsic ability to rule.

Life rules. It is God’s desire that His divine life would be imparted into man to bring the kingdom of God in man, and that this life would grow and develop, so that the innate ability of the divine life would cause man to be made the same as God in life and nature to express God corporately and rule for God by being under God’s rule inwardly.

When we are inwardly ruled by the divine life, we spontaneously know our measure and, as soon as we edge beyond it, something in us restricts us. Our Christian life and our church life should increasingly be directed by the innate ability of the divine life, which is God Himself growing within us.

As we learn by doing mistakes, may we by the Lord’s mercy learn the lessons that we need to allow the innate ability of the divine life to shape us in the image of Christ and rule in us.

Lord Jesus, may our Christian life and our church life be increasingly directed by the innate ability of the divine life, which is nothing else but God Himself growing within us. Amen, Lord, we want to cooperate with the kingdom life in us, allowing You to grow in us, spread in us, expand in us, be enlarged in us, and rule and reign in us. May Your divine life rule in our being, bringing any rebellion down and imparting the divine element into every part of our being. Oh Lord, we want to cooperate with the innate ability of the divine life in our spirit!

Read this article in Romanian / puteți citi acest articol și în limba română la urmatorul link, Împărăția lui Dumnezeu este Dumnezeu Însuși, iar acum avem capacitatea înnăscută a vieții divine.

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Ron Kangas for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1986, vol. 2, “The Economy of God and the Mystery of the Transmission of the Divine Trinity,” ch. 3, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Development of the Kingdom of God in the Church Life and the Christian Life (2019 spring ITERO), week 1, The Development of the Kingdom of God into a Realm over Which God Rules in His Divine Life.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Jesus the kingdom has come into us, / Reigning and shining He’s all glorious, / Christ as the seed is the King who has come, / Into our spirit His kingdom He’s sown. / O let Him grow, O let Him grow; / His kingdom life be all we know. / Jesus, the kingdom is sown into us; / Jesus, the kingdom, O how glorious! (Hymns #1301)
  # Eternal life, the highest and the best, / Possesses full divine capacity, / That by this life God’s knowledge we may have / More than by knowledge given outwardly. (Hymns #739)
  # The Kingdom is the reign of God; / To match His nature is required; / ’Tis only by the life of God / The Kingdom’s entry is acquired. (Hymns #943)