第十二週■週五

w12d05-ch

晨興餧養

徒一3『祂受害之後，用許多確據，將自己活活的顯給使徒看，四十天之久向他們顯現，講說神國的事。』

路十七20 ～ 21『…耶穌回答說，神的國來到，不是觀察得到的；…因爲看哪，神的國就在你們中間。』

雖然使徒行傳沒有告訴我們，關於國度主說了甚麼，但我們可以藉着主其他部分的話，推論祂所說的。在福音書裏，主耶穌教導門徒許多關於國度的事。…在福音書，當主說到國度時，門徒不能領會主，就是他們的『教授』，所教導他們的。因此，我信主耶穌在復活與升天之間的四十天裏，重複祂的教訓。

當主耶穌在死而復活以前對門徒講說國度的時候，祂還不在他們裏面，因爲祂仍然在肉體裏。因着那時主不在門徒裏面，他們就沒有屬靈的見識來領會神的國。（使徒行傳生命讀經，二九至三○頁。）

信息選讀

認識神的國需要屬靈的領悟，屬靈的見識。…在約翰二十章，〔門徒們〕將復活基督奇妙的人位，就是賜生命的靈，接受到他們裏面。結果，在行傳一章他們就非常不同了。一面他們還是同樣的人；另一面他們不同了，因爲基督，就是賜生命的靈，現今在他們裏面作他們的生命和人位。因着他們裏面有賜生命的靈，所以他們能彀領會主關於神國的講論。

神的國是甚麼？神的國不是人眼所能見物質的國；神的國乃是神聖生命的國。神的國是基督作生命擴展到祂的信徒裏，形成神在祂生命裏管治的範圍。行傳一章三節題到國度，這事實指明，國度乃是使徒在五旬節後的使命中，所要傳講的主題。（八12，十四22，十九8，二十25，二八23，31。）

神的國就是神的管治、掌權，連同其一切福分和享受。神的國乃是神的福音和耶穌基督福音的目標。人要進這國，就需要爲罪悔改，相信福音，（可一15，）使他們的罪得赦免，並由神重生，得着符合這國神聖性質的神聖生命。（約三3，5。）

所有在基督裏的信徒，在召會時代都能有分於這國，在神的公義、和平、並聖靈中的喜樂裏享受神。（羅十四17。）這國在要來的國度時代，要成爲基督和神的國，給得勝的信徒承受並享受，（林前六9 ～ 10，加五21，弗五5，）好叫他們與基督同王一千年。（啓二十4，6。）然後，因這國是永遠的國，所以將是神永遠生命的永遠福分，在新天新地裏給神所有的贖民享受，直到永遠。（二一1 ～ 4，二二1 ～ 5，14，17。）

神的國乃是召會的實際，藉着福音，由基督復活的生命所產生；（林前四15；）重生是其入門，（約三5，）而信徒裏面神聖生命的長大是其發展。（彼後一3 ～ 11。）

神的國乃是救主自己（路十七21）作生命的種子，撒到祂的信徒，就是神的選民裏面，（可四3，26，）並發展爲一個範圍，就是神的國，使神在祂神聖的生命裏在其中掌權。（使徒行傳生命讀經，三○至三二頁。）

參讀：約珥書生命讀經，第十三至十五篇；一個在神計畫中的青年人，第四章。

WEEK 12 — DAY 5

Morning Nourishment

Acts 1:3 …He presented Himself alive after His suffering by many irrefutable proofs, appearing to them through a period of forty days and speaking the things concerning the kingdom of God.

Luke 17:20-21 …He answered them and said, The kingdom of God does not come with observation;…For behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.

Although we are not told in Acts what the Lord spoke concerning the kingdom, we may infer what He said by considering other portions of the Word. In the Gospels the Lord Jesus taught the disciples a lot concerning the kingdom…When the Lord spoke regarding the kingdom in the Gospels, the disciples were not able to understand what the Lord as their “Professor” was teaching them. Therefore, I believe that the Lord Jesus repeated His teaching in the forty days between His resurrection and His ascension.

When the Lord Jesus spoke to His disciples about the kingdom before His death and resurrection, He was not yet in them, for He was still in the flesh. Because the Lord was not in the disciples at that time, they did not have the spiritual insight to understand the kingdom of God. (Life-study of Acts, 2nd ed., pp. 25-26)

Today’s Reading

Knowing the kingdom of God requires spiritual perception, spiritual insight… In John 20 they [the disciples] received the wonderful person of the resurrected Christ into them as the life-giving Spirit. As a result, in Acts 1 they were very different. On the one hand, they were the same people; on the other hand, they were different because Christ, the life-giving Spirit, was now within them as their life and person. Because they had the life-giving Spirit within them, they were able to understand the Lord’s speaking concerning the kingdom of God.

What is the kingdom of God? The kingdom of God is not a material kingdom visible to human sight; the kingdom of God is a kingdom of the divine life. The kingdom of God is the spreading of Christ as life into His believers to form a realm in which God rules in His life. The fact that the kingdom is mentioned in 1:3 indicates that it would be the main subject of the apostles’ preaching in their commission that was to come after Pentecost (8:12; 14:22; 19:8; 20:25; 28:23, 31).

The kingdom of God is the ruling, the reigning, of God with all its blessing and enjoyment. It is the goal of the gospel of God and of Jesus Christ. To enter into this kingdom, people need to repent of their sins and believe in the gospel (Mark 1:15) so that their sins may be forgiven, and they may be regenerated by God to have the divine life, which matches the divine nature of this kingdom (John 3:3, 5).

All the believers in Christ can share the kingdom in the church age for their enjoyment of God in His righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14:17). It will become the kingdom of Christ and of God for the overcoming believers to inherit and enjoy in the coming kingdom age (1 Cor. 6:9-10; Gal. 5:21; Eph. 5:5) that they may reign with Christ one thousand years (Rev. 20:4, 6). Then, as the eternal kingdom, it will be an eternal blessing of God’s eternal life for all of God’s redeemed to enjoy in the new heaven and new earth for eternity (21:1-4; 22:1-5, 14, 17).

The kingdom of God is the reality of the church brought forth by the resurrection life of Christ through the gospel (1 Cor. 4:15). Regeneration is its entrance (John 3:5), and the growth of the divine life within the believers is its development (2 Pet. 1:3-11).

 The kingdom of God is the Savior Himself (Luke 17:21) as the seed of life sown into His believers, God’s chosen people (Mark 4:3, 26), and developing into a realm over which God can rule as His kingdom in His divine life. (Life-study of Acts, 2nd ed., pp. 26-27)

Further Reading: Life-study of Joel, msgs. 13—15; CWWL, 1964, vol. 1, “A Young Man in God’s Plan,” ch. 4