The Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, the Kingdom of God, and the Kingdom of the Heavens

Praise the Lord, one day is coming when there will be a great, clear, and high call, The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever (Rev. 11:15)!

We are all anxiously watching and waiting for this proclamation. Today the kingdom of this world is not the Lord’s nor is it Christ’s; rather, it was given to Satan, the devil, for a little while, and he usurps all men and all things in the world.

When the Lord Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, the devil clearly told HIm that, if He were to worship him, he would give Him the glory of the world and all things in it, for it was given to Satan. Oh, Lord!

Satan brought the Lord Jesus to a high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, saying that all these were given to him.

All the kingdoms of the world including all the glamour, the entertainment, the sports, the riches, the prosperity, the success, and the high positions – everything is under Satan.

Companies such as Google, Tesla, Microsoft, Facebook, and TikTok, including YouTube and Instagram, everything is under Satan, who is the ruler of this world.

Many young people today aspire to be one of the influencers on YouTube, on TikTok or on Instagram; however, all these things are part of the kingdoms of this world, and Satan is the ruler, the prince of this world.

Many want to go all the way to the top, to get the highest position, the highest job, and the best pay.

The king of the kingdom of this world is Satan; he is in control, he directs all the commerce and entertainment, and he usurps all men and all things.

His goal is to capture people today, through his deception, lies, corruption, and evil things, so that he would usurp them and distract them from the kingdom of God.

We see all kinds of protests, murders, killings, immoralities, and evil things happening; all these are part of the kingdom of the world.

This kingdom will have to go, for the prince of this kingdom is Satan, and he usurps all things and all persons.

One day there will be a great call, The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever!

As we live in this world today, we believers in Christ who pursue Him and love Him are becoming more and more uncomfortable with what is going on around us.

We are less and less satisfied with what the world has to offer, and we yearn to bring the Lord back, for only His return will put an end to this age and will bring in the kingdom of God on earth.

Yes, we do need to study, work, and earn a living, and we need to take care of so many practical things related to our human existence.

But we refuse to be systematized by the ruler of this world. We refuse to be usurped by the enemy through all these things that seem to be so necessary but can distract us from the kingdom of God.

We do need to make our living, we need to work, earn money, buy things, own things, have possessions, and take care of many practical things, but we need to beware NOT to become part of the kingdom of this world.

We are kingdom people, those who belong to another kingdom and who live in another realm.

The Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, the Eternal Kingdom of our Lord, and the Kingdom of Christ and of God

Rev. 11:15 speaks of a particular aspect of the kingdom of God: the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ.

After Christ executes His judgment upon the nations (Dan. 7:13-14; 2:44-45), the kingdom of the world becomes the kingdom of Christ at His coming back.

And He will reign forever and ever, that is, He will reign in the millennial kingdom and in the new heaven and new earth for eternity (22:5).

Eph. 5:5 speaks of the kingdom of Christ and of God. What is the kingdom of Christ? It is the millennial kingdom (Rev. 20:4, 6; Matt. 16:28); it is also the kingdom of God (Matt. 13:41, 43).

As believers in Christ, we have been regenerated into the kingdom of God (John 3:5-6), and we live in the kingdom of God today in the church life (Rom. 14:17).

If we cooperate with the Lord today to grow in life unto maturity, be transformed, and be perfected and built up in this age, we will be the overcomers who will participate in the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ.

Not all believers will participate in the millennium – only the overcoming ones will.

Many believers will be defeated and unclean, and they will have no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God in the coming age. In this kingdom, in the millennial kingdom in the next age, God reigns and Christ reigns; Christ reigns as God.

2 Pet. 1:11 speaks of the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

What is this eternal kingdom, and what does it refer to?

The eternal kingdom refers to the kingdom of God given to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (Dan. 7:13-14), which will be manifested at His coming back (Luke 19:11-12).

Today we are in the kingdom of God, for by believing into Christ we were regenerated and transferred out of the kingdom of Satan into God’s kingdom.

But the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be manifested at His return, and it will be a reward to His faithful believers who pursue the growth in His life unto maturity, and who pursue the development of the virtues of His nature.

Such ones will participate in the kingship in God’s glory in the millennium (2 Tim. 2:12; Rev. 20:4, 6).

For us to enter into the eternal kingdom of the Lord means that we enter into God’s eternal glory; He called us into His eternal glory, and we will enter into it if we overcome (1 Pet. 5:10; 1 Thes. 2:12).

We should not be confused by the terms the kingdom of God and of Christ, the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, for all three are the same one aspect of the kingdom.

This aspect concerns Christ’s relationship with the kingdom of God. Christ came as God incarnated to redeem the church with His blood through His death so that the church would be the kingdom of God in this age (Rom. 14:17) and the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ in the next age, the millennium (Rev. 11:15).

May we be those who cooperate with the growth and development of the kingdom of God in us today so that we may have a rich entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

This kingdom comprises the millennium (as a reward to the overcoming believers) and the new heaven and new earth in eternity.

In Rev. 11:15 the Lord’s reigning forever and ever is the Lord’s reigning in the millennial kingdom and in the new heaven and new earth for eternity (22:5).

All the overcomers will also reign with Christ for one thousand years in the millennium, and after the millennium, all the saved ones will reign forever and ever in eternity. Hallelujah!

Lord Jesus, we want to cooperate with the growth and development of the kingdom of God in our being today so that we may have a rich entrance into the eternal kingdom of Christ and of God. Amen! We are looking forward to the day that we hear the loud voices in heaven saying, The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ! Amen, Lord, make us those who are qualified to participate in the millennium, in the kingdom of Christ and of God. We praise You for being given a kingdom and for bringing the kingdom of God into us. We want to be the faithful believers who pursue the growth in life unto maturity! Amen, Lord, we pursue the development of the virtues of the divine nature so that we may participate in the kingship in God’s glory in the millennium! Hallelujah, we have been called into God’s eternal glory, and we want to enter into this eternal glory at the Lord’s return with His kingdom!

The Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Christ, and the Kingdom of the Heavens

The truth concerning the kingdom of God needs to be declared, proclaimed, and understood; we need to receive this truth and be constituted with the truth of the kingdom of God.

We are not here merely to have a good Christian life and be a good brother or sister, raise a good family, having a good business or career.

We are here for the kingdom of God, and we need to know what the kingdom of Christ is and what is the kingdom of God.

The kingdom of God is in the thought of God right at the beginning, when He created man, for He gave man to have dominion over all the things on earth so that man would defeat and crush Satan, God’s enemy.

When the Lord Jesus came as the first God-man, He came to preach the gospel of the kingdom.

Even His forerunner, John the Baptist, proclaimed, Repent for the kingdom of the heavens is drawing near!

The earth needs the coming of the kingdom of God, in particular, the kingdom of the heavens.

Christ came to sow Himself as the seed of the kingdom in humanity so that He may produce sons of the kingdom, people of the kingdom of God, who have the life of God, the kingdom life.

This life of God grows in them, lives in them, and develops in them to make them God’s practical kingdom on the earth.

After the Lord Jesus was crucified, buried, and resurrected, and before His physical ascension, He remained forty days with His disciples and spoke to them concerning the kingdom of God.

Then, after His ascension, most likely the disciples prayed with one accord concerning the coming of the kingdom of God, for after the descension of the Spirit as power, they preached the kingdom as the gospel wherever they went!

At the end of the book of Acts, when Paul was kept in custody in Rome in a rented house for two years, he had visitors coming to see him, and he testified to them and proclaimed to them the kingdom of God.

The line of God’s kingdom can be clearly seen in the Bible.

When the apostle John was exiled to the island of Patmos, he declared that he is a partaker of the tribulation and the kingdom of the Lord.

He was outwardly suffering, being persecuted, and in exile, but the kingdom of God was in his heart.

The kingdom of God is something that stretches from eternity to eternity, and within the kingdom of God, there are different dispensations.

First, there’s the dispensation before the law, which is after the creation of man, and then the dispensation of the law (from Moses to the first coming of Christ).

After the coming of Christ, we are now in the dispensation of grace, for He came to sow Himself as the kingdom seed in us, and we are regenerated with His life and filled and clothed with His Spirit to live the church life as the reality of the kingdom of God today.

However, within the church life in general in the kingdom of God, there is a small group of people who are not only Christians in name or church-goers in practice but they live in the reality of the kingdom of God.

They are in the reality of the kingdom as unveiled in the Lord’s word in Matt. 5-7.

Such ones are part of the kingdom of the heavens, which is within the kingdom of God and is the reality of this kingdom today.

In Christianity in general there are many nominal Christians, those who call themselves Christians but are not regenerated; they are the appearance of the kingdom, something that outwardly may be quite great and impressive, but there’s no inner reality of the kingdom of God.

Christendom in general has become such a great thing with a lot of outward great activities, concerts, sermons, great meetings, forms, denominations, businesses, social activities, movements, and so much more.

But within the great realm of the kingdom of God, there are some who are like the tares seen in Matt. 13, and others are only Christians in name.

What God wants to gain is the manifestation of His kingdom in the coming age, which is the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ.

For this He needs some who live in the reality of the kingdom of the heavens today in the church life, being the overcomers who cooperate with the Lord today.

May we be such ones today!

Lord Jesus, make us Your overcomers today. Make us those who live in the reality of the kingdom of the heavens in the church life. Save us from living a Christian life in a general sense; save us from merely being good brothers or sisters. May we set our eyes on Your kingdom and live the kingdom life on earth in the church life today. Enlarge Your kingdom in us. Rule and reign in our being. Amen, Lord, keep us in the middle of the church life, living the kingdom life on earth today. May our daily life be in the reality of the kingdom of the heavens. May we live the kingdom life today so that we may have a rich entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ at His return!

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, The Conclusion of the New Testament, msgs. 159, 228, and 244 (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:
  – Lo, the kingdom of the world is now the kingdom of the Lord! / O what joy to all the saints does His eternal reign afford! / Let us swell the mighty chorus of His praise in one accord— / The victory is won! … By the Lamb’s redeeming blood th’ accuser we have overcome; / By our word of testimony, all declaring, “It is done!” / Unto death, our souls not loving—all the glory to the Son! / The victory is won! (Hymns #1101, stanzas 1 and 4)
  – Going to receive the Kingdom / From His God, the Ancient of Days, / Now He cometh with the Kingdom / And its glorious, ruling rays. / He’s “the Stone” which breaks the nations / Into pieces lowliest, / Which “a mountain great” becometh / As the Kingdom manifest. (Hymns #946, stanza 2)
  – O Lord, give us grace for Thy Kingdom to live, / To be trained that Thou may the reward to us give; / Make the Kingdom’s reality our exercise, / That its manifestation may be our great prize. (Hymns #947, stanza 7)