The goal of God’s salvation, provision, and revelation – as seen in the book of Exodus is God’s building, His corporate expression. For God to have the building there’s the need for us as God’s people to be in the kingdom of God and live under the rule of God.
In Exo. 18, right after Israel defeated Amalek, we see a picture of the kingdom of God; this portion was not in chronological order, but Moses, under the divine inspiration, inserted it here to show that, after Amalek is fully dealt with, the kingdom of God comes in. When our flesh is fully dealt with by our unceasing prayer and living by the Spirit, the kingdom of God comes in.
The kingdom of God is a divine sphere and realm for God to work out His plan according to the good pleasure of His will (see Mark. 1:15; Eph. 1:5).
In Exodus 18 we see how Moses, as the one who represented God among His people, was judging and deciding in Israel related to the issues that they had; Jethro, his father-in-law, advised him to not do this by himself but teach them God’s laws and statutes, and appoint able men who would be over the people and decide these matters, and only the hard matters would be brought to Moses to enquire of God.
This is such a clear picture of the church as the kingdom of God, where Christ is the Head, and He has some who Himself has appointed according to their measure to care for and oversee the saints according to God. In the church life today we all need to first deal with the flesh by the Spirit, and then the kingdom of God will come in; we will all submit to Christ as the supreme authority, and there will be some who are appointed by Christ the Head to oversee and care for the saints.
At the same time, when we preach the gospel, we will be prevailing because our flesh is dealt with and we are in the kingdom of God, and people will repent to come into God’s kingdom. May we be those who deal with the flesh by the Spirit and live in the reality of the kingdom of God today so that God may gain His building, His corporate expression among us!
When the Flesh is Dealt with, the Kingdom comes in and the Church is Built Up
In Exodus 18 we see a portrait of the kingdom of God; after Amalek has been thoroughly been dealt with, the kingdom of God can come in so that God can gain a dwelling place, His corporate expression among man. God’s kingdom is the realm where God can exercise His authority to accomplish what He intends (see Matt. 6:10).
God has a will, a good pleasure, a heart’s desire, and an intention, and He wants to carry it out; for this, He requires a realm, which is the earth, and a people, the church who would allow Him to rule and reign within them. If we are still in rebellion and disorder, God cannot accomplish His intention. But when the kingdom of God is here, then we have the ruling, the reigning of God with all its blessing and enjoyment (see Num. 6:23-27; Col. 1:13).
In Exo. 18 we see a type of the kingdom of God in which the tabernacle (the dwelling place of God) was built, and everything was in order. It is important to realize that, even though this is not in chronological order, it is in the order of the record in Exodus under the divine inspiration; this shows us that, whenever the flesh as God’s enemy is dealt with, the kingdom with the kingship immediately comes in (see Gal. 5:17-25), and the church as the Body of Christ is built up (see 1 Kings 1-8).
How can we have the reality of the kingdom in the church life today? We need to utterly repudiate the flesh in both its good and evil aspects so that we may realise the kingdom with the building up of the church (see Phil. 3:3-10).
Because he didn’t utterly destroy Amalek but spared “the best” of what God wanted to be destroyed, Saul lost his kingship (see 1 Sam. 15:9 and footnote 1 in Recovery Version); if we don’t utterly deal with the flesh today by the Spirit, we will not have the reality of the kingdom of God in the church life.
But after we are delivered from Satan (as typified by Pharaoh) and the world (as typified by Egypt), and after we deal with the flesh and subdue it (as typified by Amalek), the kingdom of God comes in so that we may experience God’s full salvation.
After the flesh is defeated and put to death by the Spirit, the kingdom of God becomes the sphere, the environment, for the building up of God’s dwelling place on earth. But if there’s no kingdom, no kingdom life, and no kingdom living in the local churches, there will be no building. The kingdom is the realm in which the building takes place.
When our flesh is dealt with, we can preach the gospel with authority and bring in the kingdom of God, and sinners will repent and come into God’s kingdom in a dynamic way. But when we go out to preach the gospel and we still live in the flesh, there will be no impact. The proper gospel preaching must be and bring in the kingdom, and we need to preach the gospel of the kingdom to the whole inhabited earth (Matt. 24:14).
Hallelujah, when we deal with our flesh by the Spirit, the kingdom of God with the kingship is brought in and the church as the dwelling place of God is built up!
Lord Jesus, may Your kingdom come among us in the church life. May we be those who utterly deal with the flesh by the Spirit so that God may gain a realm, a sphere where He can work out His plan according to the good pleasure of His will. Oh Lord, gain the realm where You can exercise Your authority to accomplish what You intend in all the local churches. May we cooperate with You to utterly deal with the flesh, Your enemy, so that the kingdom with the kingship would come in and the church as the Body of Christ would be built up!
In the Kingdom of God under the Headship of Christ everything is Kept in Order
In Exo. 18:13-26 we see a portrait of the authority and the order of the kingdom of God. Here we have Moses as a type of Christ, the Head of authority, and under the headship of Christ everything is kept in order. Also, here we have Jethro, a priest of Midian, who represents the Gentiles who turn to God and become seekers of God in the kingdom (see Exo. 18:, 5, 10-12; Zech. 8:20-23).
Jethro is the father of Zipporah, the Gentile wife of Moses secured by him during his period of rejection by Israel (Exo. 2:13-22). Zipporah typifies the Gentile church gained by Christ as His wife during the time of His rejection by the children of Israel (see Rom. 11:11-25; cf. Gen. 41:45 and footnote 2 in Recovery Version Bible). When the kingdom comes, the overcomers in the church will participate in the kingdom as the ruling authority in the kingdom of God (see Rev. 2:26-27; 20:4, 6).
Under Moses and the ones appointed by him to judge and oversee the children of Israel everything was kept in the proper order. In the church life, whenever the leading brothers are one under Christ as the Head, there’s a proper order in the church, and this is a blessing to all the saints; the saints can sense when the brothers are under Christ as the Head, and they are at pace, enjoying the divine life flowing and going on in the Lord.
But when there’s no proper order, especially among the brothers taking the lead, the saints will increasingly suffer, cry out to God, and eventually seek fellowship.
If we read carefully the portion in Exo. 18:13-26 we will realize that, even though it might appear that there’s an organisation or hierarchy there, yet there’s none: there’s no hierarchy or chain of command in the church as God’s people.
Moses typifies Christ as the Head of authority, and He wants to establish His kingdom with its rule among His people; so Christ selects certain men who fear God, know the truth, and want nothing for themselves, and He appoints them according to their measure: some care for 10 people, others over 50, others over 100, etc. In this way, there’s order, the Head exercises His authority, and the people are at peace.
None of these leaders are elected; there’s no voting, opinion polls, or elections – it is the Head, Christ who appoints them. The leadership in the churches is something appointed by God and not elected by men. And there are different measures, according to capacity, measure of faith, and the supply of grace, and everyone accepts the arrangement, being at peace.
In Acts we see that the overseers are manifested by the Holy Spirit (see Acts 20), and at the same time the apostles appoint elders in every church (Acts 14:23). It is therefore a serious matter for a brother in the church to “make himself” a leading one, thinking of himself more than he ought to think, and just assume that he’s the leader and the church is “his castle”.
The Lord is determined to build up His dwelling place, and for this He must establish a kingdom in the church organically. Because the Lord today is moving to establish His kingdom in the churches for the building up of His dwelling place, there’s a relentless organic move in the Body of Christ to touch everything that is out-of-order.
We all need to contact the Lord directly concerning our function and our measure in the church, honoring the unique headship of Christ in the church and at the same time honoring the proper representation of His authority in the church so that the Lord would have a way to establish His kingdom in the local churches.
Lord Jesus, bring all the saints in all the local churches under Christ as the unique Head of the Body. Oh Lord, may there be no hierarchy or self-appointed leaders in the church life today. Establish Your kingdom in all the local churches for the building up of Your dwelling place. Lord, move in Your Body to deal with and touch everything that is out-of-order. Lord Jesus, we are here for You in the church. We honor You as the Head and we honor the ones You have appointed as overseers among us to care for us according to God. Praise the Lord for the church life!
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, Life-study of Exodus, msg. 49, 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.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Living out His resurrection, / Dying to the flesh and soul-life. / Living by the mingled spirit, / Natural man we will deny. / Now we’re living in the Body, / Every day we’re overcoming, / Striving for the peak of Zion, / Watching for our Lord’s appearing. (Song on Dealing with the Flesh)
# Keep the order in the Body, / There to function in Thy will, / Ever serving, helping others, / All Thy purpose to fulfill. (Hymns #840)
# 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)
We may apply the picture of Exodus 18 to our situation as Christians today. We know from our experience that when our flesh is defeated, the unbelievers will turn to us. It is good that all the churches are actively preaching the gospel. However, if we live in the flesh and fail to defeat Amalek, we may labor a great deal in preaching the gospel, but not many unbelievers will turn. But if we first defeat and subdue our flesh and then go forth to contact people and preach the gospel to them, Jethro will come to us. This means that the unbelievers will turn this way. When we preach the gospel by the living Spirit through the operating cross, killing the flesh, people will turn to us wherever we go. Furthermore, the church, signified by Zipporah, will become prevailing. Thus, the proper gospel preaching must be the kingdom. In the words of Matthew 24:14, the gospel of the kingdom must be preached to the whole inhabited earth. (Witness Lee, Life-study of Exodus, pp. 574-575)
We are not submitting to a person when we submit to authority. We are submitting to God. In order to take care of the sense of the spirit within us, we submit to deputy authority. We are submitting to God. In order to take care of the sense of the spirit within us, we submit to deputy authority. Those who know authority will submit to authority wherever they find it. A brother who listens to only one man is not useful because he is submitting only to man; he has not seen God’s authority. Once a man touches God’s authority, he can submit to any authority.” (“God’s Authority in the Church,” Miscellaneous Records of the Kuling Training [1]; Collected Works of Watchman Nee, Set Three, Volume 59)