With Noah and his family after their coming out of the ark we see both a seed of the church life and a shadow of the kingdom. Before Genesis 9, man was under God’s direct rule and under the rule of his conscience. But starting from the time after Noah and his family got out […]
the reality of the church life today is the kingdom of God in this age
Praise the Lord, the church life today has as its reality the kingdom of God, but by simply “being in the genuine church life” we may not necessarily be in the kingdom of God. We are in the kingdom in reality only when we live and walk by the spirit (Gal. 5:25). If we live, walk, behave, and have our being in ourselves as the old creation, we are not in reality in the kingdom of God even though outwardly we may be in the church life. Only when we live, walk, behave, and have our entire being altogether in our spirit are we in the church as the kingdom of God! [continue reading online]
the church as the kingdom of God is the realm of the divine life
When the Lord Jesus came out to preach the gospel, He preached the gospel of the kingdom “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn near” (Matt. 3:2). The intrinsic essence of the gospel is not for us to go to heaven but for God to have a kingdom of which we are part. The Lord Jesus told us to repent to be part of the kingdom of God. By repenting and believing into the Lord, we enter the kingdom of God as a realm of life [continue reading online]