In Matt. 16:28-17:5 we see a miniature of the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens in the millennium; when we have the realization of the transfiguration of the Lord Jesus, we have the kingdom, for the kingdom is the shining of the reality of the Lord Jesus! Amen!
As believers in Christ, we are not only men: we are God-men, men born of God, those who have the divine life and nature, and those who belong to the kingdom of God.
Through our faith in Christ and our baptism into Him, we have been transferred into the kingdom of the Son of God.
Now we are daily learning to live in another kingdom; we do live in the human kingdom and take care of many things in this physical world around us, but we also live in the kingdom of God.
We are very wonderful persons, for we live not only in the human kingdom with all its complications and implications but also live in the divine kingdom with its wonderful privileges and responsibilities.
How can we live in the kingdom of God simultaneously as we live in the human kingdom?
The secret is our spirit. It is in our spirit that we are one with the Lord, and the kingdom of God is in our spirit.
The kingdom of God doesn’t come with big events here and there; the kingdom is within us, in our spirit.
When we turn to our spirit and contact the Lord in spirit, we enter into another realm: the realm of the divine life, the realm of the kingdom of God.
No matter how smart an unbeliever is and no matter how much he reads the Bible, without having the life of God within him, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Now that we have the kingdom of God within us, we need to learn to live in the kingdom of God by living in the mingled spirit, growing in the divine life, and allowing the Lord to deal with us and perfect us to make us those who reign as kings in life today.
We need to advance with the Lord both personally and corporately; on the personal side we need to grow in the Lord and have the necessary dealings with Him, and on the corporate side, we need to be built up with the saints in the church.
May we be those who live in the reality of the kingdom of God today in the church life.
May we not be only good brothers or sisters but those who live in the mingled spirit, contacting the Lord, and are built up with the saints in the church life in the Body of Christ.
May we aspire to be the overcomers whom the Lord will take at His return so that, together with Him, we may return, regain the earth, and rule over the earth for one thousand years in the millennium.
A Miniature of the Manifestation of the Kingdom of the Heavens in the Millennium
What is described in Matt. 16:28-17:5 is a miniature of the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens in the millennium.
The Lord said in Matt. 16:28 that some standing here will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.
Then, He took three of His disciples on the mountain and was transfigured before them.
Six days after He said concerning some of His disciples seeing the coming of the kingdom, He brought Peter, James, and John with Him on the mountain and was transfigured; this transfiguration on the mountain was a miniature of the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens in the millennium.
The centre of this glorious manifestation was not Moses and Elijah, who were there conversing with the Lord concerning His death, but Christ Himself, the glorified Jesus.
The central figure of the entire Bible is Jesus Christ, for He is the reality of the kingdom of God.
On the mountain with the Lord Jesus, Peter, James, and John had a foretaste of the coming manifestation of the kingdom.
They were looking forward to seeing the kingdom, and here they are with the Lord, and He “unzipped HImself” and shone as the kingdom of God before them.
For the Lord Jesus to be transfigured means that His humanity was saturated and permeated with His divinity; this transfiguration was His glorification (Matt. 17:2).
Moses and Elijah appeared to them and conversed with Him; they represent the Old Testament overcomers who will be in the manifestation of the kingdom.
In this miniature of the manifestation of the kingdom, we have not only the Old Testament overcomers but also the New Testament overcomers, represented by Peter, James, and John.
This miniature assures us that the full manifestation will come. What does it mean for Christ to be transfigured? It is for His humanity to be fully absorbed and saturated with His divinity.
When the Lord Jesus came to be a Man on the earth as the son of a carpenter, the divine glory was concealed within Him.
No one who saw Him could tell that He was the Son of God; they only saw the son of a carpenter from Nazareth.
The very glory of the Father was concealed within Him, and the fullness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell in Him.
It was only on the mountain of transfiguration that, for a short moment, He “unzipped Himself” and showed forth His glory.
![And He said to them, Truly I say to you, there are some of those standing here who shall by no means taste death until they see the kingdom of God having come in power. And after six days Jesus took with [Him] Peter and James and John, and brought them up alone into a high mountain privately. And He was transfigured before them, And His garments became sparkling, exceedingly white, such as no fuller on earth could whiten [them.] And Elijah with Moses appeared to them, and they were conversing with Jesus. Mark 9:1-4](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/And-He-said-to-them-Truly-I-say-to-you-there-are-some-of-those-standing-here-who-shall-by-no-means-taste-death-until-they-see-the-kingdom-of-God-having-come-in-power-683x1024.webp?resize=450%2C675&ssl=1 "And He said to them, Truly I say to you, there are some of those standing here who shall by no means taste death until they see the kingdom of God having come in power. And after six days Jesus took with [Him] Peter and James and John, and brought them up alone into a high mountain privately. And He was transfigured before them, And His garments became sparkling, exceedingly white, such as no fuller on earth could whiten [them.] And Elijah with Moses appeared to them, and they were conversing with Jesus. Mark 9:1-4")
He was no longer just a poor carpenter’s son but the glorified Son of God. That was the reality.
And such a One is the centre of the kingdom of God. The kingdom is about this glorified, transfigured Jesus.
The transfigured Christ is nothing less than the life-giving Spirit as the reality of His resurrection.
On the mountain of transfiguration, the Lord’s humanity was fully saturated and permeated with His divinity; this transfiguration was His glorification.
Wow, even before His death and resurrection, Christ was glorified in this transfiguration!
This was a miniature of the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens in the millennium.
The transfiguration, the shining of the Lord Jesus was His coming in His kingdom; where His transfiguration is, there is the coming of the kingdom (Mark 9:1-4; Luke 9:27-31).
The transfiguration of the Lord Jesus is nothing less than the life-giving Spirit as the Spirit of reality, the reality of all that Jesus is. Hallelujah!
Praise the Lord Jesus, the transfigured Son of God, who Himself is the centre of the kingdom of God! Hallelujah, Jesus Christ went through death and entered into resurrection, and He is now the transfigured Son of God, the very kingdom of God! And this One is in us, indwelling us, growing in us, and spreading in our innermost being! We open to You, dear Lord. Spread in our mind, emotion, and will. Fill us with Yourself as the life-giving Spirit. Saturate and permeate all our inner parts with Your divine life. May Your kingdom come in us by Your spreading out from our spirit into all the parts of our inner being!
The Kingdom is the Shining of the Lord Jesus and to be under His Shining is to be in the Kingdom of God
What is the transfiguration of the Lord Jesus? What does this have to do with the kingdom of God?
And how can we enjoy and experience this in our daily Christian life?
The transfiguration of the Lord Jesus is the realization of what He is.
In 2 Cor. 3:18 we are told that we can behold Him with an unveiled face and we will reflect Him, being transformed into His image, even from glory unto glory. Hallelujah!
For us to have a foretaste of the kingdom every day, we need to come to the Lord with an unveiled face to just behold Him.
We need to let His glory shine on us as we behold Him, and we will also reflect Him.
The kingdom of God is simply the shining of the reality of the Lord Jesus; for us to be in the kingdom of God is for us to be under His shining every day (Rev. 22:4-5).
May we be those who behold the Lord day by day and allow Him to infuse us with Himself; may we remain under the shining of the Lord Jesus so that we may be in reality in the kingdom of God.
As we behold Him, as we are under His shining, we will also reflect Him; the shining forth of Jesus will be in us, and we will be brought to the realization of who Jesus is.
It is only when we touch the spirit of reality that we will know who Jesus is. We need to enjoy the Lord’s shining in a personal way and also in a corporate way.
We need to spend time every day with the Lord in His word to enjoy Him and partake of Him.
Then, when we come together, we should not just chat or catch up on things but continue to behold the Lord together, remaining under the shining of the Lord Jesus in our gatherings.
If a few brothers live together in a brothers’ house and are under the shining of the Lord Jesus, you will sense the Lord’s shining in them and through them when you visit them.
They don’t even need to tell you anything, and you don’t need to ask them anything, you just sense the shining of the Lord Jesus through them.
Vice-versa, if a husband has an argument with his wife and the saints visit this family, they will sense that there’s no shining there.
The kingdom of God is not merely something like a dispensation, a sphere, or a realm; it is the realization of the Lord Jesus, being under the shining of the Lord Jesus.
When we contact the Lord and He is spreading by shining over us, we are in the kingdom, and the kingdom has come in power.
In the millennium, the overcoming believers will be with Christ in the bright glory of the kingdom, and the righteous will shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their Father (Matt. 13:43). Hallelujah!
On one hand, we are expecting the kingdom and are preparing ourselves for the upcoming kingdom of God in the millennium.
We are waiting for the declaration and proclamation that the kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ.
On the other hand, we come forward to the Lord every day to be under the shining of the Lord Jesus.
We come forward to Him by faith and in faith, and we come to Him with an unveiled face so that we may have His shining.
As we exercise our spirit in our time with the Lord, the Spirit of reality as the shining of the Lord Jesus, is spreading in our inner being and is saturating us with Himself.
The transfigured Jesus as the Spirit is making Himself real to us, saturating us until we can be brought to the point that there’s less of us and more of Him.
Day by day His kingdom is increasing in us and we are decreasing.
And as we meet with the saints who also experience and enjoy this wonderful Christ as the kingdom of God, we have a foretaste of the reality of the kingdom in the millennium. Praise the Lord, we can have such a foretaste!
Lord Jesus, we come to You with an unveiled face to behold Your shining face. We want to be under the shining of the Lord Jesus to be infused with You. Amen, Lord, saturate and permeate us with Your glorious element. We allow You to shine in us and on us. Make Yourself real to us. Bring us daily on with You until it is less of us and more of You. May Your kingdom increase in us as we remain daily under the shining of the Lord Jesus. Amen, Lord, keep us contacting You in spirit and keep us in fellowship with the saints who also enjoy the shining of the Lord Jesus! Keep us in this sweet foretaste of the kingdom of God in the millennium in the church life today!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother James Lee in the message, and portions from, Life-study of Matthew, msg. 49 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of 1 and 2 Kings (2022 summer training), week 4, entitled, Solomon’s Splendid Kingdom Typifying Christ’s Kingdom in the Millennium.
- Hymns on this topic:
– We’re in the local church, / God’s chosen ground; / Here we have Christ as life / And blessings all abound. / “In spirit, on the ground” / Our battle cry; / And we will overcome the enemy / To bring the kingdom nigh. (Hymns #1260)
– Within God’s sovereign kingdom / His Christ is magnified; / When Christ in life is reigning, / The Father’s glorified. / When God is in dominion, / All things are truly blessed; / When Christ for God is reigning. / God’s glory is expressed. (Hymns #941, stanza 5)
– 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, stanza 1 and chorus)
About aGodMan
Matthew 17:3 says, “And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, conversing with Him.” Moses and Elijah represent the Old Testament overcomers who will be in the manifestation of the kingdom. They both appeared in the coming of the kingdom, that is, they were present in the manifestation of the kingdom. In this miniature of the manifestation of the kingdom we have not only the Old Testament overcomers, but also New Testament overcomers, represented by Peter, James, and John. We see in Christ’s transfiguration a miniature of the coming manifestation of the kingdom. The miniature assures us that the full manifestation will come. Life-study of Matthew, pp. 592-593, by Witness Lee
Amen, … as we meet with the saints who also experience and enjoy this wonderful Christ as the kingdom of God, we have a foretaste of the reality of the kingdom in the millennium. Praise the Lord, we can have such a foretaste