The direction of the Lord’s move is to build up the Body of Christ, to prepare the bride of Christ, and to bring in the kingdom of God as the spreading of the divine life for God’s eternal administration.
Some may say that knowing and practicing the God-ordained way to meet and to serve may be enough for us to live the Christian life and church life, but we need to realize that we need a direction in our living and practice.
For example, for us to get from London to New York, for example, we take the plane (this is our way – the God-ordained way), but if the pilot doesn’t have a clear direction and flight plan, we may have the plane but we may never get to the destination.
We can have the best way – which we do, it is the way ordained by God in the Bible to beget new believers, nourish them, perfect them, and help them be those who build up the church by prophesying, but if we don’t have a direction, we don’t have a goal.
The direction of the Lord’s move today is threefold: it is to build up the Body of Christ as the organism of the processed and dispensing Triune God in His Divine Trinity for His full expression, to prepare the bride as the counterpart for the Bridegroom for the eternal marriage of the redeeming God and His redeemed, and to bring in the kingdom of God as the spreading of the divine life for God’s eternal administration in the fulfillment of God’s eternal economy.
Both God and Christ are aspiring to see the Body of Christ built up, the bride of Christ prepared, and the kingdom of God brought in, and there’s no other way to accomplish this except by the God-ordained way.
We need to practice the God-ordained way faithfully with the view and direction of the Lord’s move. When we talk about the kingdom of God, many believers may think that this kingdom will come at one point, and they equate such a kingdom with some kind of “Christian utopia” in the future for which all believers are waiting…
Some even say that, since the Lord was rejected by the Jews, the kingdom of God is now “suspended” until the Lord returns with His kingdom. There is a prophetic part of the kingdom, that is, a futuristic dimension and external aspect of the kingdom of God, but knowing only this aspect of the kingdom will not fulfill God’s purpose in us.
We need to receive God’s grace and mercy to lay aside all the concepts that are natural, religious, and even pagan, and come back to the pure word of God to find out what the kingdom of God is and what it means to bring in the kingdom.
The kingdom is for here and now in this age; on the one hand we are waiting for the kingdom to come, and, on the other, we are living in its reality today in the church life in the Lord’s recovery.
The Direction of the Lord’s Move is to Bring in the Kingdom of God as the Spreading of the Divine Life for God’s Eternal Administration
The direction of the Lord’s move today is to bring in the kingdom of God as the spreading of the divine life for God’s eternal administration (Luke 17:21; Mark 4:3, 8, 26; John 3:3, 5; Col. 1:13). The kingdom of God, according to Luke 17:21 and Mark 4:3, 8, and 26 is actually Christ Himself sown into His believers in the church age.
The kingdom of God is not merely a nation or domain or government but Christ Himself; the kingdom of God is a living Person, Christ Himself being sown into His believers. The kingdom is invisible, spiritual, in the divine realm, and it is altogether wrapped up with the Lord Jesus, who Himself is the kingdom of God.
He is the Sower, He is the seed, and we are soil in which the kingdom has come to grow and develop. Through the hearing of the gospel we have received the kingdom of God as a seed in our spirit, and this seed gives us meaning and purpose.
By this seed being sown into us, in our heart as the human soil, we now have the kingdom growing in us, blossoming in us, and bearing fruit in us, to make us an organic part of the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is spreading in Christ’s increasing to be the enlarged, upcoming kingdom, which the Lord will bring in at His coming back (John 3:30; Luke 19:12; Rev. 11:15).
The kingdom of God today is the increasing and spreading of Christ in man. On the one hand the kingdom will come in when Christ returns with His kingdom, but on the other hand the kingdom of God is within us, and Christ as the King of Kings has already been appointed.
When we pray, Lord Jesus, increase in me! – we actually pray that the kingdom of God would come and develop in our being.
Eventually, as Daniel 2:34-35 tells us, Christ as a stone cut without hands will come with His overcomers to strike the great human image, the totality of all the human governments from Nimrod to Babylon and the Roman Empire, and the great human image will be crushed and blown in the wind; then, the stone that struck the image will become a great mountain and fill the whole earth.
Christ with His overcomers, that is, Christ with those who have allowed Him to grow in them as the kingdom, will come to strike the great human image and become a great mountain, the reality of Zion, the kingdom of God.
This enlarged, upcoming kingdom of God will be God’s universal government in the new heaven and new earth for God’s eternal administration in the fulfillment of God’s eternal economy in Christ, as God’s ultimately consummated household administration in eternity (see Rev. 21:2-3, 9-23; 22:1-3).
Today we can cooperate with the Lord by allowing Him to grow and develop in us as the kingdom, and we can tell Him,
Lord Jesus, increase in us for the coming of the kingdom of God. Grow in us a little more today so that Your kingdom would increase on earth. May the kingdom seed sown into our heart grow every day until it becomes a realm in which God can rule and reign. We want to provide all the nutrients necessary for the kingdom seed to grow, develop, and increase into the kingdom of God. Lord, we enthrone You in our being. Make us part of Your enlargement and Your increase as the kingdom of God in humanity!
The Kingdom of God is Christ, the Seed of Life, Sown into us to Grow and Develop in us as a Realm over which God can Rule
The kingdom of God is not something outward but it is Christ the Savior Himself (Luke 17:21), who as the Sower came to sown Himself as the seed into our heart to grow and develop in us into a realm over which God can rule as His kingdom in His divine life (see Mark 4:3, 8, 26).
Christ is the Emmanuel, God with us, and He promised He will be with us until the end; this Christ who is Emmanuel is the kingdom of God, and having His presence is having His kingdom in us.
The kingdom of God is with the Savior, and He brought it to His disciples and to us; it is the Savior Himself as the seed of life sown into God’s chosen people (us) and developing into a realm over which God can rule as His kingdom in His divine life.
The seed of the kingdom with all the things pertaining to it has within it all things related to life and godliness, that is, everything we need for the kingdom to grow and become a reality.
The only way we can enter into the kingdom of God is through regeneration; the kingdom is sown into us as a seed through the word of the gospel to regenerate us, enliven us, put God’s life into us, and with this life we have the throne of God.
When God’s life regenerates us, His throne is set up within our heart and spirit, and from that point forward our pathway and journey is growth and development in the divine life. As we allow the divine life to grow in us, we are brought under God’s rule, and any insubordination and rebellion is removed and exterminated.
God rules in us by the sense of life, through the fellowship of life, and through the leading of the Spirit. it is by this life in spirit that God rules in us in a very real way – not only in big things but in small matters in our daily life.
As we grow in life and develop the divine virtues in the divine life, we are building our own entrance into the eternal kingdom of God.
The entrance into the kingdom of God when the Lord returns will not “magically appear” but will be supplied to those who in this age developed the divine virtues that are the expression of the divine attributes, through our partaking of His divine nature by means of all things related to life and godliness given to us, and the great and precious promises granted to us.
All we need is in this seed: we just need to let the Lord grow in us as the kingdom of God! Since His resurrection, Christ has been within us, His believers; now we in the church life have the kingdom of God among us (John 14:20; Rom. 8:10; 14:17).
The seed of the kingdom is in all the saints and together in the church; today Christ is in the church, and the church is the kingdom of God. The kingdom is the chuch life in which the faithful believers live, and it will develop into the coming kingdom as a reward to be inherited by the overcoming saints in the millennium (Gal. 5:21; Eph. 5:5; Rev. 20:4, 6).
However, those who do not live in the reality of the kingdom today will not be rewarded with the kingdom when the Lord return; if we are not subject to the kingdom’s exercise and discipline today, we will not receive the reward in that day.
Eventually, the kingdom of God will consummate in the New Jerusalem as the eternal kingdom of God, an eternal realm of the eternal blessing of God’s eternal life, which all of God’s redeemed will enjoy in the new heaven and new earth for eternity (Rev. 21:1-4; 22:1-5, 14).
As the development of the kingdom seed takes place in us, a realm begins to be formed – an unseen realm which is real and solid; this realm is the kingdom, and in that realm God rules in the church life.
May such a realm exist in all the local churches today, and may the church life take place in the realm of the kingdom of God. Such a kingdom – the kingdom of God – is what the Lord Jesus announced as the gospel, the good news, to those who were alienated from the life of God (Luke 4:43; Eph. 4:18).
Today we need to preach the gospel of the kingdom – alongside with the gospel of grace, so that we may bring people not just into judicial redemption to be reconciled to God and justified, but into the divine life to be regenerated to be in the kingdom realm.
Lord Jesus, thank You for coming into us as the kingdom of God to bring us into the realm of the divine life, love, and rule. Thank You for transferring us out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love. Lord, may the seed of life within us grow until it develops into a realm in which God can rule and reign in the divine life. Your kingdom come, and Your will be done. Rule and reign in us, Lord, by the sense of life, the fellowship of life, and the leading of the Spirit.
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by brother Minoru C. for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1972, vol. 2, “The Kingdom,” chs. 3-6, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Direction of the Lord’s Move (2016 Thanksgiving Conference), msg. 5 (week 5), To Bring In the Kingdom of God (1) – The Kingdom of God as the Spreading of the Divine Life for God’s Eternal Administration.
- 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)
# Lord, You’re the seed of life; / You’ve sown Yourself into our heart, / And now You have a start; / So day by day more life to us impart— / Lord Jesus, grow in us. (Hymns #1132)
# Every time I say “Amen” to His Spirit / And walk by my spirit, / The kingdom seed grows and develops / Deep inside of me. / On the outside, it may seem that there’s / No change in me— / But I’m not the same, / ’Cause as the seed grows in me, / Inside I’m becoming God! (Song on the seed of life)
About aGodMan
The direction of the Lord’s move today is…to bring in the kingdom of God as the spreading of the divine life, which is Christ. The kingdom of God is actually Christ Himself as the seed of life sown into His believers in the church age (Luke 17:21; Mark 4:3, 8, 26) and spreading in His increasing (John 3:30) to be the enlarged, upcoming kingdom of God, which He will bring in at His coming back (Luke 19:12, 15a; Rev. 11:15). This is signified by the stone (Christ) that became a great mountain (the kingdom in the millennium), as revealed in Daniel 2:34-35. This upcoming, enlarged kingdom of God will be God’s universal government in the new heaven and new earth for God’s eternal administration in the fulfillment of God’s eternal economy in Christ as God’s ultimately consummated household administration in eternity. (Elders’ Training, Book 10: The Eldership and the God-ordained Way (2), pp. 30-31, by W. Lee)
Amen. Jesus Christ will gain His kingdom in spite of Satan and his plan. He’s gaining something real and solid by growing in the hearts of men. It’s nothing like religion teaches ( you have to wait until you die). For the kingdom Christ is building is here on earth before our eyes. Hallelujah.
Amin! !! Slavă Domnului .
Amen, jesus is lord
Amen Lord Jesus continue growing into us, do it Lord Jesus.
“What is a successful day? The concept of many people is: finishing all your work, finding the balance between spending time with family/friends and other obligations, completing all your errands, or being productive in everything you do that day. This was my thought for a long time. However I realized what a truly successful day is. It is remaining in spirit, walking in newness of life, contacting the Lord, and letting him grow and gain more ground in your heart. Ultimately the question of a successful day boils down to this. What is our main purpose in life and how much process have we made towards the goal today? The meaning of life is that God created man in His own image, according to His likeness and He let them have dominion. The purpose of life is to fulfill what we were created for. Our progress towards reaching this goal depends on our daily experiencing, enjoying, and expressing Christ! Lord, may each day of my life be a “successful” day!
O’ LORD JESUS
Yes Lord, keep spreading in our hearts. Transform us to your image in emotion, mind and will. Saturate us with your Spirit. All our being wholly fill. Amen Lord.
God grow in us more each day.
Lord, we give You the way, the authority to rule n reign in the div life, AMEN
Lord cause the kingdom seed to grow little more today