The Kingdom of God is the Totality of Christ as Life with All His Activities in us

The kingdom of God is the realm of the divine life; the kingdom of God is an organism constituted with God’s life as the realm for His ruling, and the kingdom of God is the totality of Christ as life with all His activities in us. Amen!

This week we start a new morning revival on the topic of, Living in the Reality of the Kingdom of God, based on the 2024 fall ITERO (October 2024 International Training for Elders and Responsible Ones).

This week, the first week of this series, is on the topic of, The Kingdom of God – the Realm of the Divine Life and of the Divine Species. When we speak or think of the kingdom of God, we may not relate it to our daily living.

However, we want to see what is the kingdom of God and how can we practically live in the kingdom of God in our daily living.

Living in the kingdom of God is something experiential; it is not merely an objective teaching, even though everything is based upon the objective teaching.

Every aspect of God’s kingdom needs to be applied to our living so that we may live in the reality of the kingdom of God.

Where we are now in our living, where we live today as believers in Christ, will determine where we will be in the coming kingdom age for a thousand years.

And this is not just something personal, though we want to hear the Lord tell us, Well done, good and faithful slave.

This is something corporate as well as personal.

In a personal way, each one of us needs to live in the reality of the kingdom of God, and together as the church, we need to live in the reality of the kingdom of God.

Each one of us lives to the Lord and before the Lord; each one of us wants to receive a reward from the Lord on that day. Our living today is very important.

We cannot live in a certain way today, and then expect to be rewarded by the Lord when He returns.

We need to live one spirit with the Lord, living in the mingled spirit in all things, so that we cooperate with Him to be in the kingdom of God.

If we live in the reality of the kingdom of God today, He will reward us with the manifestation of the kingdom at His return.

We should not be introspective in this matter, but we need to ask ourselves before the Lord, Where is the reality of the kingdom today? Do we live in the reality of the kingdom of God?

The Lord wants to bring us into this reality, and He allows certain things to happen to us and around us for this unique purpose of living in the reality of the kingdom.

Both personally and corporately as the church, we need to live not in the natural realm or in the realm of the self and the flesh, but in the realm of the kingdom of God.

May we see that the kingdom of God is the totality of Christ as life with all His activities in us!

The Kingdom of God is the Realm of the Divine Life – Christ as Life Sowing Himself as the Seed to Grow in us

What is the kingdom of God? Some think that the kingdom of God is a place where God rules, just as the United Kingdom has a king ruling over the subjects in that kingdom.

But the kingdom of God is much more than that.

When we speak of the animal kingdom, we don’t mean that there’s a big animal ruling over all the animals; rather, it is the realm of the animal life.

The animal kingdom is the realm of the animal life.

The human kingdom is the realm of the human life; there’s no supreme human being ruling over all men, but the kingdom of man is the realm where men live.

In John 3 there was this upper-class, good person called Nicodemus who came to Jesus at night, very respectfully, to ask Him about the kingdom of God.

Nicodemus was a good person, a moral and ethical person, but he did not have the life of God; therefore, he could not be in the kingdom of God.

Only those who are in the realm of the divine life, those who have the life of God, can be part of the kingdom of God.

The kingdom of God is the realm of the divine life; God is the kingdom of God, and those who have God as life in them are part of this kingdom.

A kingdom is a sphere as well as a realm of life; the kingdom of God is the sphere of God’s authority and also the realm of the divine life.

For us to understand and know the kingdom of God, we need to have a particular kind of life: we need to have the divine life.

Similarly, for us to submit to God and be part of the kingdom of God, we need to have the divine life.

This is why the Lord Jesus told Nicodemus that, unless he is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:3, 5, 15-16).

The Lord Jesus came to die for us so that we may believe into Him and receive eternal life and be part of the kingdom of God.

The New Testament regards the life of God as the life, the only life that is truly life and that can be rightly considered as life (Eph. 4:18).

Human life is here but gone tomorrow, but the divine life, the life of God, is the life that is really life.

Just as only human beings can participate in the human kingdom, the realm of the human life, so those regenerated with God’s life can participate in the kingdom of God, the realm of the divine life.

The Lord Jesus came so that we may have life; for this, He laid down His soul life in order to release the divine life within Him, and in His resurrection, He imparted His life into us to make us part of the kingdom of God (Matt. 16:24-26; Luke 9:24-25). Amen!

Thank and praise the Lord for coming not only to redeem us but even more to impart His life into us so that we may be regenerated with the divine life and enter into the kingdom of God!

Now we as believers in Christ can participate in the kingdom of God because we are born of God, regenerated with the divine life, in order to live in the realm of the divine life. Amen!

In Mark 4:26-29 the Lord spoke the parable of the sower sowing the seed in order to illustrate the kingdom of God.

The kingdom of God is like a sower sowing the seed, which grows and develops until full harvest.

Christ is the seed of the kingdom of God sowing Himself into the soil of our being, and He grows in us into a realm, the realm of the divine life, in which God can rule and reign.

First, He comes into our spirit as the seed of the kingdom, then He grows with the nutrients of our soul to develop and expand until there’s a realm in us, the kingdom of God, where God can rule and reign.

Consider a seed and how it grows: first, the grain falls into the ground and dies, then it germinates and starts growing, first a tender sprout, then a stem, and then it brings forth flowers and then fruit.

The full manifestation of a seed is the fruit or flower it bears.

We believers in Christ are told by the Lord Jesus to pray, Your kingdom come (Matt. 6:10).

When we pray in this way, the Lord Jesus as the seed of the kingdom grows in us.

In a sense, the kingdom comes when the Lord comes with His kingdom, at His second coming.

But in a practical sense, the kingdom comes as the Lord grows in us to develop in us into a realm, an ever-expanding realm, the kingdom of God.

Today we are in the process of growing in life; Christ has come into the soil of our heart, and He is now growing, developing, and spreading, until one day there will be a realm of God’s kingdom in us.

Lord Jesus, thank You for bringing us into the kingdom of God through regeneration. Hallelujah, we believers in Christ have been born of God to enter the kingdom of God and know the kingdom of God! Praise the Lord, all genuine believers in Christ are part of the kingdom of God today! Amen, Lord, grow in us! May the seed of the kingdom grow in us until it develops into a realm where God can rule in His divine life. May You expand in our being. May You grow a little more in us today. Gain more ground in us. Amen, Lord, Your kingdom come! Your kingdom come in us! Gain the kingdom of God in us today. May we grow in life with the growth of Christ in us. Lord Jesus, grow in us. Lord Jesus, expand and spread in us. Spread in our mind, emotion, and will. Make Your home in all our heart. May the kingdom of God grow in us and come in us! May the kingdom of God grow in us until there’s a full manifestation of the kingdom of God in us and through us! Amen, Lord, may Your kingdom come!

The Kingdom of God is an Organism Constituted with God’s Life and the Totality of Christ as Life with all His Activities in us

We need to see what the kingdom of God is; the kingdom of God is the totality of Christ as life with all His activities in us.

When we look at the matter of the kingdom of God from the viewpoint of life, we will realize that the kingdom of God is not merely an outward sphere or domain where God rules but even more, an organism.

The kingdom of God is an organism constituted with God’s life as the realm for His ruling (John 3:5; 15:1-8, 26).

The kingdom of God is an organism that is filled with the divine life to be the realm where God can rule and reign. In this realm, God reigns by His life and expresses Himself as the Divine Trinity in the divine life. Amen!

Wow, what a thought, that the kingdom of God is an organism constituted with God’s life!

What God is after is not a piece of land where He can rule; what He is after is an organic building, an organism, where He rules and reigns by means of His life.

Just as human life reigns and rules in the human kingdom, so the divine life rules and reigns in the kingdom of God.

As we grow in life and allow the Lord to rule and reign in us, we cannot talk to our spouse in a particular way, we cannot do certain things, we cannot go certain places, and we just can’t utter certain words.

Rather, we love our spouse, we submit in love one to another, and we seek to minister life to those around us – not because we have to, but because we’re under the ruling of the divine life in us.

The kingdom of God is the totality of Christ as life with all its activities in us (John 11:25; 10:10; 14:6).

The animal kingdom is the totality of all animal life with all its activities.

If we look at the bird life, we see that they fly and do many things that birds do.

If we look at the monkey life, they climb trees, eat certain things, and do certain things; the monkey life is the totality of the monkey life with all its activities.

Similarly, the kingdom of God is the totality of Christ as life to us with all His activities.

Every believer in Christ has Christ living in them; every believer in Christ can and should live in the kingdom of God by living one spirit with the Lord so that Christ may live in them and do many things in them.

Christ is our life; when we enjoy Christ and live by His life, we live in the kingdom of God, and all the activities Christ does in us are part of the kingdom of God.

However, we may be in the realm of the kingdom of God and not have Christ living in us; if we do not actively contact the Lord and live in the organic union with Him, we do not live in the kingdom of God. Oh, Lord!

When we come to the meetings of the church, whether we share in the meeting or not, we can observe the activities of Christ as life in the saints.

When we meet with the saints, we can notice how Christ lives in the saints, moves in the saints, speaks in the saints, and does many things in the saints. This is the kingdom of God.

May we daily learn to enjoy Christ, partake of His riches, and abide in Him, so that whatever we do and say, Christ may do and say things in us, and we would live in the reality of the kingdom of God.

May we let the Lord Jesus as the seed of the kingdom grow in us in the way we speak, the activities we’re involved in, our attitude toward others, and in all things, big or small, so that we may live in the kingdom of God.

Amen, may we see and realize that the kingdom of God is the totality of Christ as life in us with all His activities in our being!

Lord Jesus, we want to live in the realm of the kingdom of God today by exercising our spirit and living one spirit with You! Amen, Lord Jesus, keep us in our spirit today. We do not want to live in our natural man or according to the desires of our flesh but in our spirit, where the reality of the kingdom of God is. Amen, Lord, may we live in the organism constituted with God’s life as the realm for His ruling! May You have a full way to rule and reign by Your life in us! Amen, Lord, may You have a way to express Yourself as the Divine Trinity in the divine life in us and through us! We love You, Lord, and we give You the preeminence in us. We give You the first place in all things. May we see that the kingdom of God is the totality of Christ as life with all its activities! Grow in us, dear Lord Jesus! Expand in us as the kingdom of God! May Your kingdom come in us! Do Your will in us. Accomplish what is in Your heart in our being. Amen, Lord, we love You!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ron Kangas in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1972, vol. 2, “The Kingdom,” ch. 6, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Living in the Reality of the Kingdom of God (2024 October ITERO), week 1, The Kingdom of God – the Realm of the Divine Life and of the Divine Species.
• Similar articles on this topic:
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  – The Kind of Person the Lord Can Use to Turn the Age, via, Shepherding Words
  – The growth process of the kingdom, a portion from, The Kingdom, Chapter 3, by Witness Lee.
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• 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 stanza 1 and chorus)
  – Yes, Lord, impress our heart / That we must take You in each day / The seed will have its way; / Your growing brings the kingdom here to stay— / Lord Jesus, grow in us. / Amen!—The growth in life! / There’s nothing that Your life can’t do; / Our every part renew. / We’ll make it, we’ll make it just by You. / Lord Jesus, grow in us. (Hymns #1132 stanzas 7-8)
  – 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. / He was the only grain of wheat / Whence many grains have been produced / To be the Kingdom’s children meet, / Thru whom God’s reign is introduced. (Hymns #945 stanzas 1-2)