Praise the Lord, the Father has delivered us out of the authority of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love, and now we live the church life as the kingdom of the Son of the Father’s love!
The genuine church is the kingdom of God in this age, and we as believers in Christ need to live the kingdom life in the church life.
Through regeneration we have been transferred out of the authority of Satan, out of the authority of darkness, and into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love, and now in the church life we live in this pleasant and delightful kingdom.
The kingdom of God and the church are intimately related, and they cannot be separated. Actually, each time the Lord Jesus spoke of the church, He mentioned it in relation to the kingdom; where the church is today, there the kingdom of God is, and the kingdom of God brings in the church.
When a group of people are under the authority of the kingdom of the heavens, they become the church; as we live in the kingdom of God, under the inward rule of God, we live the church life for the building up of the Body of Christ.
The church in this age is the kingdom of God, and the church is not just about eating and drinking but righteousness (being strict and righteous toward ourselves), peace (being at peace with the others), and joy (being joyful in spirit toward God) in the Holy Spirit.
We believers in Christ are both members of the Body of Christ and of the household of God, and we are also citizens of the kingdom of God, the sphere in which God exercises His authority.
In the church as the kingdom of God, we are under the rule, government, discipline, and exercise; there are many negative things which are automatically ruled out, and any rebellion or darkness is eliminated.
In his epistles to Corinth and to Galatians Paul speaks of certain things which, if are being practiced by some, will disqualify them from inheriting the kingdom of God.
If we today exercise to live in the kingdom of God in the church life, we will be brought under the ruling, government, and exercise of the kingdom, and we will enjoy the lovely, pleasant, and delightful Son of the Father’s love, who is the realm of the kingdom into which we have been brought.
The Father Delivered us out of the Authority of Darkness and Transferred us into the Kingdom of the Son of His Love
According to Col. 1:12-13, the Father has delivered us out of the authority of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love. In these verses we see that the kingdom of God is something delightful and pleasant – it is enjoyable to be in the kingdom of the Son of the Father’s love.
When the Lord Jesus was baptised, the Father declared, This is My Son, the Beloved, in whom I have found My delight (Matt. 3:17). Similarly, when the Lord was transfigured on the mountain, the Father made the same declaration (Matt. 17:5).
The Father delights in the Son, and the kingdom of God today is the kingdom of the Son of the Father’s love, which is a pleasant thing, a matter of delight.
This kingdom comprises only three sections – the section of the church life (in this age), the section of the heavenly part of the kingdom of the heavens in the millennium (in the next age), and the new heaven and the new earth with the New Jerusalem as the consummation of the church and the kingdom.
In each of these three sections the kingdom of the Son of God’s love is a matter of delight. What a mercy and what a grace to be transferred out of darkness into the pleasant part of God’s kingdom!
God the Father loves the delightful part of the kingdom, just as He loves His delightful Son as His own. He has qualified us to be delivered from the authority of darkness, and He transferred us into a realm called the kingdom of the Son of the Father’s love.
Paul wrote this word to the church in Colossae, which was under the invasion of different philosophies, cultures, religions even, and these were trying to mix up the church; so he wrote to them that the Father has transferred them out of all these things into His kingdom where Christ is their allotted portion!
Hallelujah, in the kingdom of the Son of the Father’s love we have been allotted a portion of the all-inclusive Christ as the reality of the good land. He is spacious, all-inclusive, and all-extensive; He is an immense realm for us to explore and enjoy.
So we should drop any philosophy or culture and we should simply focus on Christ, the delightful Son of God, and just enjoy Him.
All believers have been allotted a portion together with all the saints in the light, and in the kingdom of the Son of the Father’s love we need to enjoy Christ as our all and in all.
We were involved in the realm of darkness, culture, traditional things, philosophy, and things of the world, and these things became a realm of darkness, where darkness controlled us.
But through regeneration we were transferred out of this realm of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of the Father’s love. These things of darkness controlled us, deprived us, and distracted us from the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ.
But praise the Lord, we have been brought into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love, the church life today!
Thank You Father for delivering us out of the authority of darkness and transferring us into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love. Hallelujah, we are no longer under the rule and authority of darkness – we are now in the delightful, pleasant, and wonderful realm of the kingdom of the Son of the Father’s love. Lord Jesus, You are the Father’s delight, and You are also our enjoyment and satisfaction. We want to enjoy You and partake of You as our allotted portion with the saints in the light!
Living in the Church Life today as the Kingdom of the Son of the Father’s Love
The stress in Col. 1:13 is the kingdom of the Son of God’s love in this age, which is the reality of the church.
The church life today is the kingdom of the Son of the Father’s love, which is as delightful to the Father as the Son of God is (Col. 4:15-16).
Through regeneration all believers have been transferred into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love (John 3:5); we all have been brought out of the darkness of Satan and into the delightful aspect of the kingdom of God.
Through God’s salvation and regeneration, we all have been transferred into this delightful and pleasant section of God’s kingdom. The church life today is the kingdom of the Son of God’s love.
However, even though positionally we may be in the realm of the kingdom of God, we may still live under the authority of darkness in our daily life.
In our married life we may still exchange words with our wife, we may argue, or we may gossip; when we accuse and blame one another in our arguments, we live under the authority of darkness. Whenever we live, walk, and behave in the self, we are in darkness.
The church life is the kingdom of the Son of the Father’s love, and we have been transferred out of darkness into this pleasant realm, but we need to learn to live in this realm by living in the mingled spirit, by taking Christ as our person and living by Him.
When we live in the self, though we may not outwardly do gross sins, we are in darkness; simply living according to the self puts us in darkness, for it causes us to be separated from Christ. Oh Lord Jesus!
May we learn to live in the church life today as the kingdom of the Son of the Father’s love by daily opening to the Lord, taking Him as our life and our person, and walking and living because of Him!
When we do not take Christ as our person and we do not live by Him, we are in darkness; only Christ is light, and He must saturate and prevail in every aspect of our daily living.
If Christ is not our life and person, and if we do not live Christ, at least certain parts of our daily walk will not be filled with Christ.
May we not close off parts of our life and being from Christ; may we learn to open to Him and allow Him as the light and life to come in and saturate and permeate us.
Only when Christ occupies and saturates every part of us and every aspect of our daily walk can we be wholly in the light, being altogether delivered from the control of the authority of darkness.
In God’s eyes, Christ is the most delightful One, and the church is the kingdom of the Son of His love, so He delights in His kingdom.
May we learn to live the church life as the realm of the delightfulness and pleasantness of God in Christ, and may we take Christ as our life and person to live by Him in the church life.
When we live and walk by the spirit, the church becomes delightful to us; others may find faults and problems in the church, but we have God’s view of the church – the church is pleasant, delightful, wonderful, and excellent!
Hallelujah for the church as the kingdom of the Son of the Father’s love, the realm of the Father’s delight and satisfaction!
Lord Jesus, we want to live the church life as the kingdom of the Son of the Father’s love by enjoying Christ, opening our whole being to Him, and allowing Him to saturate all our inward parts. Dear Lord Jesus, You are the Father’s Beloved and You are also our Beloved; You are the most lovely, pleasant, and wonderful One. We open our being to You, Lord, and we allow You to penetrate, spread, and saturate every part of our being to occupy us with Yourself. Save us from walking in the flesh or living in the self. Keep us turning to You, taking You as our life and person, and living by You and because of You!
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References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. James Lee for this week, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 244 (by Witness Lee), 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 3, The Kingdom and the Church.
- Hymns on this topic:
# What a happy day / When I no more could turn away, / When Jesus took my heart from the black of night / Into the kingdom of His light. / Now my life’s begun, / The “really life” that’s in the Son. / No more am I enthralled by earth’s empty dreams; / Deep in me flows a living stream. (Hymns #1333)
# Oh, what a preeminent Christ! / You have the first place in all things. / Your name is above every name, / Exalted by God, Lord and King. / My portion is Yourself alone, / Allotted by God in the light. / I hold You as my Head today. / Lord, You are my focus, my life. (Song on, Oh, What a Preeminent Christ)
# Splendid church life! His green garden! / He has brought us, praise the Lord, / To experience the Christ Who’s growing here! / He is full of rich enjoyment / To His saints in one accord; / He is new and fresh, available and dear. / I’m so happy in this lovely place, / In the garden growing in His grace! / There is no finer pleasure / Than to eat the living tree / And to get the living water into me. (Hymns #1237)
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