We have seen that the direction of the Lord’s move today is to build up the Body of Christ and to prepare the Bride of Christ.
This morning we were enjoying the third aspect of the direction of the Lord’s move today – to bring in the kingdom of God as the spreading of the divine life for God’s eternal administration.
The Lord doesn’t want JUST to build up His Body and to gain His Bride. What He ultimately desires is to bring in His kingdom on the earth that He may rule and reign, and His economy would be accomplished.
He brings in His kingdom by sowing Himself as the seed of life into His believers and then by growing in them, developing in them, and increasing in them until the kingdom fully comes in!
What is the kingdom of God?
The kingdom of God is not only the realm in which God rules as King, but even more – the kingdom is Christ as the seed of life being sown into us and growing into us to develop into a realm in which God can rule and reign.
The divine life we received at regeneration is daily growing in us, increasing in us, and spreading in us, until our whole being is swallowed up by life and God has a realm in which He can rule.
I love this brief presentation of what the kingdom of God is (via, The Conclusion of the New Testament, page 2640, by Witness Lee):
The kingdom of God is the Lord Jesus as the seed of life sown into His believers, God’s chosen people, and developing into a realm which God may rule as His kingdom in His divine life. Its entrance is regeneration (John 3:5), and its development is the believers’ growth in the divine life (2 Pet. 1:3-11). It is the church today, in which the faithful believers live (Rom. 14:17), and it will develop into the coming kingdom as an inheritance reward (Gal. 5:21; Eph. 5:5) to the overcoming saints in the millennium (Rev. 20:4, 6).
Eventually, it will consummate in the New Jerusalem as the eternal kingdom of God, an eternal realm of the eternal blessing of God’s eternal life for all God’s redeemed to enjoy in the new heaven and new earth for eternity (Rev. 21:1-4; 22:1-5).
Christ needs to grow and increase in us
Can you now honestly tell the Lord, Lord, I am totally subdued and Your kingdom is fully in me – You rule every part of me! We may not be that sure that this is our reality YET.
This is why daily His kingdom needs to increase in us inwardly. Christ sowed Himself into us and now He needs to grow in us, expand in us, and increase in us.
Lord, grow in us. Lord, increase in us. Lord, mature us. May the kingdom seed develop in our being!
This is a matter of growth in life and not a matter of our work. Yes, we have to do a work – we need to announce the gospel, disciple the nations, perfect the saints, etc – but our work will NEVER bring in the kingdom!
We are misguided if we think that by working a lot for the Lord we will close this age and bring in the kingdom! The kingdom is established by our growth in life!
The enemy knows this and he will either keep us BUSY with all kinds of works (while missing the mark) or he will do everything to frustrate our growth in life! If we really see that all the Lord wants is to grow in us – and this fulfills His purpose, we will give ourselves to the Lord and pray,
Lord, grow in us a little more today! May Your kingdom come in us by You growing in our being more!
Regeneration, Growth, and Development
On the one hand we have been regenerated not with corruptible seed but with incorruptible, through the living and abiding word of God (1 Pet. 1:23), and Christ as the Sower sowed Himself as the seed into our being.
On the other hand, we need to grow in life every day to maturity so that we would be richly and bountifully supplied an entrance into the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 1:11).
Yes, we are in the kingdom of God today in the church life, but we need to grow in life so that the kingdom would be established and eventually come on earth as it is in the heavens! This is the direction of the Lord’s move today – to bring in the kingdom of God as the spreading of the divine life!
Lord, grow in us today! As the kingdom seed, develop more in us. May Your kingdom come, Lord, by You increasing in our being more today. Save us from focusing on anything else, Lord. We want to allow Your life to grow in us a little more today – have more room in our being!
References and Further Reading
- Sharing inspired from, Life-study of Matthew (page 438), Elders’ Training, Book 10: The Eldership and the God-ordained Way (2) (pp. 30-31), and brother Ron’s speaking in the message, as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Genuine Oneness of the Body, the Proper One Accord in the Church, and the Direction of the Lord’s Move Today, week 6.
- Hymns on this topic:
# The Lord, the seed of life, / Has sown Himself into our heart.
# The Son of God has come to sow / Himself, the seed of life, in man, / That thru Himself God’s Kingdom grow / And thus fulfill th’ eternal plan.
# As a seed within our spirit / Christ takes root and starts to grow, / Spreading in our inmost being / Till His life we come to know. - Picture source: growing seeds.
Amen. Lord grow into us
Intense and beautiful truth.
Amen,Lord,Grow in us.