The kingdom of God is the realm of the divine species, the realm in which are all the divine things; to enter this realm, we need to be born of God, born of water and the Spirit, regenerated with the divine life.
The kingdom of God refers not only to the reign of God over all things but even more to the realm of the divine life, the realm of the divine species. Yes, God rules in His kingdom, but the way He rules is not as a dictator outwardly but as the life of those in God’s kingdom inwardly.
Objectively and outwardly we can say that the kingdom of God is the reign and rule of God over man and over all things; subjectively and inwardly the kingdom of God is the realm of the divine life, and as this realm develops, God rules in us inwardly.
Just as there’s such a thing as the plant kingdom where all the plants have the plant life, not being necessarily ruled over by any super-plant but simply having the plant life to live in the plant kingdom, so there’s the kingdom of God.
Just as there’s the animal kingdom where there are a lot of animals, each according to their kind, each having the animal life, and there may not be a greater one among them to rule them all but they simply live the animal life, so there’s the kingdom of God as the realm of the divine species.
Just as there’s the human kingdom where all men have the human life, the highest created life, and to enter into this kingdom you need to be born as a man, so there’s the kingdom of God as the realm of the divine life.
God’s intention as seen in the Bible is not to rule over man outwardly but to come into man as life, spread and develop in man, and become a realm in which He can rule and reign.
God rules and reigns not by outward authority but by the innate ability of the divine life.
God’s reigning over us is not an outward matter but it is the divine life within that has an ability which, on one hand, saturates us with God’s life and conforms us to the image of Christ, and on the other hand, enthrones God in our being.
May we be those who live in the kingdom of God as the realm of the divine life, the realm of the divine species, and may we allow the Lord to grow in us, spread in us, saturate us, conform us to His image, and rule over us.
We Enter the Kingdom of God by being Born of God to enter the Realm of the Divine Species
The kingdom of God is the realm of the divine species, a realm in which are all the divine things; for us as human beings to enter the kingdom of God, we need to be born of God to enter the realm of the divine species.
Nicodemus, a Pharisee who was seeking to know the truth, came to the Lord at night and inquired of the kingdom of God; the Lord plainly told him that for one to see the kingdom of God he must be born anew, and for one to enter the kingdom of God he must be born of water and the Spirit (John 3:3, 5).
Nicodemus wondered, however, how is it possible for an older person to be born again – can he enter into his mother’s womb a second time and be born again? But the Lord was referring to being born of God, not of man; for man to enter God’s kingdom he must be born of water and the Spirit.
John the Baptist came preaching the baptism of repentance, and the Lord Jesus came to baptise us with the Spirit and give us the Spirit.
“Water” was the central concept of the ministry of John the Baptist, for men to be terminated in the old creation; “Spirit” is the central concept of the ministry of Jesus, to germinate people in the new creation.
Together, these two constitute the concept of regeneration. To be regenerated, to be born again, to be born anew, to be born of water and the Spirit, is to be terminated in the old creation with all our deeds, and to be germinated in the new creation with the divine life.
The way for us as men to enter into the kingdom of God as the realm of the divine species is by being born of God, by being regenerated with the life of God.
To be in the divine realm requires the divine life; we cannot even see the kingdom of God if we don’t have the divine life, much less enter into it.
But praise the Lord, the God who created us in His image and according to His likeness (Gen. 1:26) one day became a man to enter into the human species, and man today can become God in life and nature but not in the Godhead through regeneration to enter into the divine species (Rom. 8:3; 1:3-4; John 1:12-14).
God became man to enter into the human species, and He made a way for man to enter into the divine species through repentance (to be terminated from the old creation) and regeneration (to be reborn with the divine life).
The kingdom of God is the realm of the divine species; it is populated with God-men, those who are men yet God, those who have both the human life and the divine life and who learn to live by the divine life in their human life.
The reason people in the world cannot understand or see the kingdom of God is because this kingdom is in another realm – it is not in the realm of our mind, emotion, will, or the flesh, but the realm of the spirit, even the divine realm.
So there’s the need for another birth, a birth out of God with the divine life; when we are born of God, we start to realise the divine things and we live in the realm of the divine species.
Thank You Lord for regenerating us with Your life to bring us into the realm of the divine species, the kingdom of God. Hallelujah, through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ we entered into another realm – the realm of the divine life, where God is everything to us. Lord, we exercise our spirit to apprehend the divine things, and we exercise to be one spirit with You so that all the divine things would be made real to us. Thank You Lord for the privilege of being born not of the flesh or of the will of man but of God!
The Believers are Born of God to be God-men in the Divine Species, the Kingdom of God
John 1:12-13 utter a very powerful statement that leaves no shadow of doubt concerning our regeneration: when we receive the Lord Jesus, Christ, by believing into Him, we are born of God.
When we are regenerated we are born not of the will of man (the ones who preached the gospel to us or even our own will) nor of the will of the flesh, but of God. The believers in Christ are born of God.
When a man begets someone, that someone is a man; when a goat begets something, that something is a goat. When God begets something, that something must be god, having His divine life and nature.
In regeneration God begets gods; but for the sake of not having theological misunderstandings and not to be too much, it’s better to say that the believers in Christ are born of God to be God-men in the divine species, the kingdom of God.
The Bible clearly shows us that God became man to enter into the human species, and man becomes God in life and nature but not in the Godhead to enter into the divine species (see Rom. 8:3; 1:3-4; John 1:12-14).
The first one to be regenerated was the Lord Jesus Himself who, as a man in the flesh, was transfigured to be the Son of God according to the Spirit of holiness out of the resurrection from the dead.
Then, all those who believe into the Lord Jesus are born of the water and the Spirit (repentance and regeneration) and are part of the realm of the divine species, the kingdom of God.
From the very beginning of the Bible we see that this was God’s intention all along; God created all things according to their kind, but He did not create man according to man’s kind but according to the image and likeness of God.
God created man in His image and according to His likeness and placed man in front of the tree of life so that He as life would enter into man and regenerate man to make man a God-man part of the realm of the divine species.
We believers in Christ today, those who are born of God to be His children in His life and nature but not in His Godhead, are more in God’s kind than Adam was.
Adam had only the outward appearance of God without the inward reality – the divine life, but we as believers in Christ have both the outward appearance of God and the divine life within to be our reality.
The reality of the divine life within us will transform us and conform us to the image of the Lord in our entire being, spirit, soul, and body. As children of God, we believers are born of God to be God-men in the divine species, the kingdom of God. Hallelujah!
Hallelujah, all the genuine believers in Christ are born of God to be God-men in the divine species, the kingdom of God! Thank You Lord for the privilege of being born of God with His life and nature so that we may be God-men living in the realm of the divine species. May we see this, may we live a God-man life, and may we speak this high truth to others for many others to repent, believe into the Lord, and enter into the realm of the divine species, the kingdom of God.
Read this article in Romanian / puteți citi acest articol și în limba română la urmatorul link, Intrăm în împărăția lui Dumnezeu ca domeniul speciei divine când suntem născuți din Dumnezeu.
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Ron Kangas for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1994-1997, vol. 4, “Crystallization-study of the Gospel of John,” ch. 12, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Development of the Kingdom of God in the Church Life and the Christian Life (2019 spring ITERO), week 1, The Development of the Kingdom of God into a Realm over Which God Rules in His Divine Life.
- Hymns on this topic:
# We must repent for the kingdom’s at hand; / All that we do, think, or feel, or have planned / Must be abandoned and changed in our mind; / Leave all the world and self-seeking behind. (Hymns #1301)
# By divine regeneration / We the sons of God became, / But we must mature to fullness, / Thus the birthright to obtain. / Born and fully grown to manhood, / God’s adoption we may share; / By the measure of full stature, / We God’s sonship will declare. (Hymns #741)
# Flesh He became, the first God-man, / His pleasure that I God may be: / In life and nature I’m God’s kind, / Though Godhead’s His exclusively. / His attributes my virtues are; / His glorious image shines through me. / His attributes my virtues are; / His glorious image shines through me. (Song on, What miracle! What mystery!)
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