The Gospel Brings forth the Church, and the Kingdom is the Reality of the Church

In Exodus 18 we see a portrait of life in the kingdom of God; today, in the age of grace, when the gospel of the kingdom is preached, the kingdom of God is brought in and the church is brought forth.

In the New Testament what we see first is the kingdom of God: the Lord Jesus came to preach the gospel of the kingdom, and He announced that the kingdom is near (see Matt. 4:23; 16:18-19). Whoever listens to the preaching of the gospel and accepts the government of heaven comes into the kingdom of God and is part of the church; the presence of the kingdom produces the church, and the reality of the church today is the kingdom of God.

Actually, the kingdom of God is the life of God, just as the animal kingdom is the totality of the animal life and the plant kingdom is the totality of the plant life. The preaching of the gospel of the kingdom brings in the kingdom of God, and whoever believes into the Lord Jesus receives the divine life and comes under the authority of God in the kingdom of God.

Today in the church life we need to live in the reality of the kingdom of the heavens (see Matt. 5-7), otherwise our church life will be empty. We need to allow the Lord to rule in us and assert His authority over us so that we may be built up as the church.

Simply being in the church life and meeting with the saints is not enough; we need to be built up with the saints under Christ as the Head so that we may be part of the structure of the church and live in reality the kingdom life. This means that we need to live, act, and do everything not in our natural life but in and by the divine life, constantly exercising our spirit to touch the Lord and let Him live in us and through us.

Then we will live a corporate life in the kingdom life and the church life will be the expression of God as the kingdom of God. May we be those who allow the kingdom of God to assert its authority over us so that we may be built up into the church, the Body of Christ, and live in the reality of the church, the kingdom of God!

The Gospel Brings forth the Church and the Kingdom is the Reality of the Church

There’s no such thing in the New Testament as “the gospel of the church”, but there is the gospel of the kingdom (Matt. 4:23; 9:35; 24:14), the gospel of peace (Eph. 2:17), the gospel of salvation, the gospel of God, and the gospel of grace.

According to the gospel of the kingdom, God requires all people everywhere to repent and be brought under the rule of God. The gospel of the kingdom brings in the kingdom of God; whenever the gospel is preached, man is saved and brought into the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God as a realm of life and authority is enlarged by the preaching of the gospel, and the gospel brings in the kingdom.

On the other hand, the gospel brings forth the church; the church is the issue of the preaching of the gospel, since all the believers in Christ who are in the kingdom of God are part of the church in this age.

The Bible tells us to preach the gospel of the kingdom, but there’s no such thing as the gospel of the church; the gospel of the kingdom and the gospel of peace bring forth the church, and the reality of the church is the kingdom of God.

The kingdom of God is the life of God just as the animal kingdom is the animal life, the human kingdom is the human life, and the plant kingdom is the plant life; the church is the issue of the divine life being sown and growing in men (Matt. 4:23; Acts 8:12).

The church is an entity in life and of life; the kingdom of God is the totality of the divine life, and this kingdom brings forth the church as the issue of this life. The reality of the church is the kingdom of God; apart from the kingdom life, we cannot live the church life (see Matt. 5:3; 16:18-19; Rev. 1:5-6, 9). In the church life we need to have the reality of the kingdom, otherwise the church is empty.

To think more highly of yourself than one ought to think brings disorder in the church; when we are under Christ’s headship, acknowledge His authority, and allow the divine life to rule in us, we are sober, we are subdued, and we are brought in a proper order under Christ as the Head. We need the kingdom life to be a reality in our being, and we will have a sense of our measure, our portion, and our function in the church life.

The content of the church life is defined by the Lord Jesus in Matt. 5-7; the reality of the kingdom of the heavens with its decrees is the content of the church life, and without this reality, the church is empty.

As revealed in Revelation 1, Christ as the Son of Man is walking among the local churches on the earth today, and He knows the situation in each church; without the kingdom life in the church life, the church is empty. But when we live the kingdom life, we are willing to serve the saints, shepherd others, announce the gospel to the unbelievers, and care for the saints according to God.

Lord Jesus, may our living in the church life today be in the reality of the kingdom of the heavens as revealed in Matt. 5-7. Thank You for coming into us as the kingdom of God, the divine life. Lord, we acknowledge Your authority, we hold You as the Head, and we want to practice the kingdom life in the church life by paying attention to the inner sense of life. Save us from thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought to think. Lord, we want to live corporately in the kingdom life so that we may spontaneously live the church life today!

Without the Kingdom as the Reality of the Church, the Church cannot be Built Up

Immediately after the Lord said that He will build His church, He mentioned the keys of the kingdom of the heavens and the closing of the gates of Hades (see Matt. 16:18-19); this indicates that the presence of the kingdom produces the church, and without the kingdom as the reality of life, the church could never be built up.

If we don’t live in the reality of the kingdom today, we cannot build up the church; if we don’t exercise the keys of the kingdom of the heavens to deny the self, lock the gates of Hades, deal with our opinions, lose our soul-life, and take up our cross to follow the Lord, we have no way to build up the church.

The more we go on with the Lord in the church life, the more we should live in the reality of the kingdom and be built up with the saints in the Body of Christ. The church is brought into being through the authority of the kingdom; when the Lord is able to assert His authority through the kingdom over a company of believers, those believers can be built up into the church (see Col. 1:13; 2:19; Eph. 4:15-16).

We need to ask ourselves, Do we live corporately under the authority of the kingdom? Is the Lord able to assert His authority over us? Are we being built up as the church under Christ as the Head of the Body?

God’s authority is in the flowing of the divine life in us, in the shining of the Lord Jesus on us and in us, and in the sense of life within us. When we allow the Lord to shine and His life to flow in us, we have God’s authority, and we are in the kingdom of the Son of God’s love, being ruled in life and light and love.

If we are willing to allow the kingdom to assert its authority over us, we will be built up as the church. But if we who don’t live in the reality of the kingdom, we cannot be built into the structure of the church (see Eph. 2:22).

Anyone who refuses to submit to the authority of the kingdom of God can be at best a saved person, but he will never be built into the structure of the church. May the Lord have mercy on us and may we use the keys of the kingdom so that we may build up the church as we live in the reality of the kingdom today.

When we’re built up into the structure of the church, we are part of an unshakable kingdom; all things will be shaken, but we will not be shaken because the kingdom is unshakable. We all should have the sense that the church where we are is solid, unshakable in the resurrection life, and we have been built into the structure of the church, the brothers are headed up in Christ in order, and we live in the safest place on earth.

Lord, grant us the grace that we would be built into the structure of the church by living in the reality of the kingdom today. Save us from refusing to allow You to exercise Your authority in life over us. Lord, we choose to lock the gates of Hades by denying our self, losing our soul life, dealing with our opinions, and taking up our cross to follow You and live in the reality of the kingdom in the church life today. Oh Lord, may You gain the reality of the kingdom being lived out in all the local churches today!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Ron Kangas’ sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Elders’ Training, Book 2: The Vision of the Lord’s Recovery, ch. 4 (by bro. Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Exodus (1),  week 11 / msg 11, A Portrait of the Kingdom of God (you can buy this morning revival book here via LSM and here via Amazon).
• Hymns to strengthen the burden in this article:
  # Lord Jesus, how blest to be those / Who bring in Thy kingdom to earth, / Affording Thee rule over all / And showing to all Thy great worth! (Hymns #1303)
  # Today we must learn to submit to His throne, / How to have a strict life and His government own; / His authority then we’ll be able to share, / o’er the nations to rule with God’s Son as the heir. (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. (Hymns #944)