The Genuine Church is the Kingdom of God in this Age, where we live the Kingdom Life

Concerning the kingdom of God, we need to realize that the church is brought into being through the authority of the kingdom, and the kingdom of God in this age is the genuine church, with the faithful believers living the kingdom life in the church.

In Rom. 14:17 we are told that the kingdom of God (the church life today, as proven by the context of this chapter) is not eating and drinking but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

What is the kingdom of God? On the one hand, the kingdom of God is the realm where God rules and reigns, and on the other hand, the kingdom of God is Christ Himself sowing Himself as the seed of life into all His believers so that He may grow and develop in them as a realm in which God can rule and reign in His divine life.

The gospel is being preached for the bringing in of the kingdom, and we are saved to be citizens of the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is the realm of the divine life for this life to move, work, rule, and govern so that it may accomplish its purpose.

The kingdom of God is the reality of the church; the church today is the kingdom of God, and for us to live in the church life is to live in the kingdom of God. We have been transferred out of the kingdom of darkness (Satan’s kingdom of darkness and death) into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love, where we can enjoy all that God is to us and we are under God’s rule and reign.

Therefore, in the church life today we need to live in the reality of the kingdom; if we don’t live in the kingdom of God today, the church is empty. The Lord spoke the constitution of the kingdom of the heavens in Matt. 5-7, where He elaborated on how we as kingdom people should live, handle wealth, relate to each other, live by faith, and what our influence should be; the Lord’s speaking in these chapters should be our living today in the church life.

Since the kingdom of God issues in the church life, as we live corporately in the kingdom life, we spontaneously live the church life. If we live the kingdom life in the church life in this age, we will be rewarded with the manifestation of the kingdom in the next age, when we will rule and reign with Christ for a thousand years.

The Church is Brought into Being through the Authority of the Kingdom

We are born in the human kingdom to be the highest species living on earth; however, since birth we are under the control of sin and death, and we spontaneously by default live in sin and are under death.

God created us in His image and according to His likeness to have His life and express Him and represent Him, but Satan has injected himself into us and has deadened all the three parts of our being: spirit, soul, and body; furthermore, due to the fall of man all human beings are in rebellion toward God.

When the Lord Jesus came He preached the gospel of the kingdom (Matt. 3:1-2; 4:17, 23; 10:7; 24:14) – He preached to bring in another kingdom, the kingdom of God. By believing into the Lord, we are regenerated into the kingdom (John 3:5) and we are transferred into the kingdom (Col. 1:13) to be in the church life.

The church is brought into being through the authority of the kingdom; it is only by being delivered out of the authority of darkness by the Lord and transferred into the kingdom of God that we can be in the church and live the church life.

The Lord gave Peter the keys of the kingdom (Matt. 16:18), which he exercised on the day of Pentecost and in the house of Cornelius to open the gates of the kingdom – and as a result, the church was formed and produced.

The keys of the kingdom are given to us to make the building up of the church possible so that God would have a kingdom on earth.

When the kingdom of heaven is able to assert its authority over a group of men, that group can be built up into a church. The church was brought into being to bring in the kingdom of God on earth, and the way the church was brought into being was through the authority of the heavens.

The church was not brought into being by the Lord’s disciples when they got together to “remember the Lord” after He was ascended; rather, all authority was given to the Lord by God the Father, and He has poured out the Spirit upon His believers to form them into the church, the kingdom of God on earth.

Today we need to realize that the church is for the purpose of bringing God’s dominion on earth, and apart from the church in this age, God’s purpose cannot be realized.

When we submit to the authority of God and take Jesus as our Lord, we live as citizens in the kingdom of God in the church life, and God has a way to advance His kingdom on earth. But if a believer refuses to submit to the authority of the kingdom, he is at best a saved person, but he is not built into the structure of the church.

Thank You Lord for delivering us out of the authority of darkness where were slaves in sin under death, and transferring us into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love where we can enjoy God as life and be under God’s rule. Lord Jesus, we enthrone You in our being. May Your kingdom come in our being, in our family, in the church life, and on the whole earth. We are here for the purpose of bringing the kingdom of God with His authority on earth. Lord, deliver us and deliver many out of the authority of Satan and transfer us into Your kingdom!

The Genuine Church is the Kingdom of God in this Age, where we live the Kingdom Life

When the Lord spoke of the church – both in its universal aspect and in its local aspect – He mentioned it in relation to the kingdom; this indicates how intimately the kingdom and the church are related (see Matt. 16:18-19; 18:17-18).

In its universal aspect, Christ is building up His church, and the gates of Hades cannot prevail against it; we are being given the keys of the kingdom so that we may lock the gates of Hades and open the door of the kingdom of God on earth.

In its local aspect, we need to be built up together with the saints and, if there’s any problem in the church, we need to be joined in harmony to bind what has been bound in heavens and release what has been released in heavens, so that the kingdom of God may come on earth.

The genuine church is the kingdom of God in this age; today the believers live the kingdom life in the church (see Rom. 14:17; 1 Cor. 4:20; Eph. 2:19; Col. 4:11; Rev. 1:4-6).

There’s no safety anywhere, no matter what country or locality you are; the only safe place is the kingdom of God, which is an unshakable kingdom, and this kingdom is in the genuine church today (Heb. 12:28).

In the kingdom of God in the church life we need to live in righteousness; we need to be right and proper toward others, toward things, and toward God; with us there should be nothing erroneous, improper, crooked, slanted, or biased.

For us to live the kingdom life in the church life we need to be strict in dealing with ourselves. When we live in righteousness, the result will be peace: we will have peace toward God and toward others, and the issue will be joy in the Holy Spirit before God (Rom. 14:17 and footnote 2 in Recovery Version Bible; Acts 13:52).

In the church as the kingdom of God, we have rights and responsibilities, and we live under the kingdom’s rule, government, discipline, and exercise (see 1 Cor. 6:9-10; Gal. 5:19-21; Eph. 5:5).

When the Lord Jesus comes back, He will subdue the whole world, and the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord. At that time the kingdom of the heavens will be manifested in an open way (Rev. 11:15). The kingdom of the heavens will become the ruling power and will govern in a manifested, open way, not in a mysterious and hidden way. Now the kingdom of the heavens rules within the church in a hidden, mysterious way, but at that time the kingdom of the heavens will be fully manifested. The kingdom of the heavens simply means the heavenly rule and government. If you are in the reality of the kingdom of the heavens, you are under the rule of the heavens. (Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1963, vol. 3, “A Brief Definition of the Kingdom of the Heavens,” pp. 439-440)

Today the kingdom of God is hidden: it is inside of us, not visible outwardly, but when the Lord will return, He will reward those who live in the reality of the kingdom today with the manifestation of the kingdom in the millennium.

The kingdom in its reality – the reality of the kingdom – is an exercise and a discipline to us today (Matt. 5-7) in the church life, and the kingdom in its manifestation – the manifestation of the kingdom – will be a reward and an enjoyment to us in the millennial kingdom in the coming age (Matt. 16:27; 25:21, 23).

Today we must take the Spirit’s exercise and accept God’s discipline in the reality of the kingdom in the church life, and we will be rewarded with the manifestation of the kingdom in the coming age.

Otherwise, we will miss the coming kingdom, we will not be rewarded with the manifestation of the kingdom at the Lord’s coming back, we will not have the right to enter into the glory of the kingdom to participate in Christ’s reign in the millennial kingdom, and we will lose our birthright to inherit the earth in the coming age as co-kings with Christ (see Heb. 12:28 and footnote 1 in Recovery Version Bible).

God’s intention is to recover the earth for Himself to be His kingdom; for this, He regenerated us and brought us into the genuine church life so that we may live in the kingdom of God.

May we be those who live the kingdom life today in the church life so that we may further the kingdom of God and be rewarded with the manifestation of the kingdom in the coming age.

Lord Jesus, thank You for bringing us into the genuine church, the kingdom of God in this age. We want to be the faithful believers who live the kingdom life in the church life for the furtherance of Your kingdom on earth. Hallelujah, we have received an unshakable kingdom, and we are in the kingdom of God today – the proper church life in the Lord’s recovery! Lord, may our living today be in righteousness and peace with the joy of the Holy Spirit. May our living be strict in dealing with ourselves, right toward God and others, in peace with everyone, and with much joy in the Lord!

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, The Basic Revelation in the Holy Scriptures, chs. 6-7 (by Witness Lee), 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:
  # God’s Kingdom today is a real exercise, / But when Christ comes to reign it will be a great prize; / It is wisdom divine that we now may be trained / That His plan be fulfilled and His justice maintained. (Hymns #947)
  # The essence of the Kingdom is / A life that’s under heaven’s rule, / A life whose nature is divine / With Christ experienced in full…./ ’Tis strict with self, with others kind, / And always dealing with the Lord; / It ever does the Father’s will / And acts according to His word. (Hymns #944)
  # ’Tis by His ruling from within / His fulness vast is testified; / ’Tis when His inner kingdom rules / His Body’s blessed and edified. / ’Tis by His heav’nly rule within / As heav’nly citizens we live; / ’Tis by submission to His rule / Expression of His reign we give. (Hymns #942)