THE KINGDOM BEING
RIGHTEOUSNESS, PEACE, AND JOY
In Romans 14:17 the Apostle Paul says, "For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." In dealing with ourselves we must be righteous; with others we must have peace; before God we must have joy. If we are lacking any one of these three things, it means that we are wrong. It indicates we are not living in the reality of the kingdom of the heavens. Many years ago I thought that all Christians were wonderful, but now I realize that many Christians are very selfish. They are not under the control of the heavens. They are not strict in dealing with themselves so that they may be righteous; they don’t have the full peace with others; and they don’t have joy before God and with God. If you are under the control of the heavens, you will deal with yourself according to righteousness, you will keep peace with others, and you will be joyful before and with God. This is the heavenly ruling, the heavenly government, and it is the reality of the kingdom of the heavens.
You may be a regenerated member of the church and yet not be under the control of the heavens. Although you are in the church, you are not in the reality of the kingdom of the heavens. If you are a defeated Christian, not living in the reality of the kingdom of the heavens, where will you be when the Lord Jesus comes back? Some have taught in the past that although you are defeated now, when the Lord Jesus comes back you will be treated the same as the overcoming, victorious ones, and you will go into the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens to be a king with the Lord. This is not logical.
THE KINGDOM AS AN INHERITANCE
Consider the case in 1 Corinthians 5. A brother who was in the church at Corinth committed a sin that even the worldly people would condemn. Let us read 1 Corinthians 5:1, 5: "It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife...to deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." When the Lord Jesus comes back, will such a sinful one be lost? No! Verse 5 says, "that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus."
When the Lord Jesus comes back surely the Apostle Paul will be transferred into the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens and rule as a king with the Lord Jesus, because he had already been living in the reality of the kingdom of the heavens. But what about that sinful brother in Corinth? Do you think that he was living in the reality of the kingdom of the heavens? He was in the church at Corinth, but he was not in the reality of the kingdom of the heavens. As such a defeated, sinful believer, surely he will not be transferred into the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens to rule and reign with the Lord.
Let us also read 1 Corinthians 6:6-7: "But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers. Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? Why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?" The Lord’s attitude toward the brother who was in fornication and toward those who were defrauding one another is in verses 9-10: "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God." Chapter five shows that a fornicator is still saved, but chapter six shows that such a person cannot inherit the kingdom of God. The Word does not say he cannot enter the kingdom of God, but that he cannot inherit the kingdom of God. There is a big difference between entering the kingdom of God and inheriting the kingdom of God. To enter the kingdom of God, we simply need a new birth (John 3:3, 5). But to inherit the kingdom of God, we need to live in the reality of the kingdom of the heavens now.
When will the overcomers, the victorious ones, inherit the kingdom of God? Surely that will be at the time when the Lord Jesus comes back. The kingdom today is not an enjoyment but an exercise. Today we are not enjoying or inheriting; today we are exercising. But when the Lord Jesus comes back, the kingdom will be an enjoyment to us. At that time we will enjoy the kingdom, and we will be kings ruling with the Lord Jesus. The kingdom will be an inheritance to us. To be saved into the kingdom is one thing; to inherit the kingdom of God is another thing.
(The Kingdom, Chapter 48, by Witness Lee)
