‹‹  WEEK 12 — DAY 6  ›› 

Morning Nourishment

Matt. 4:17 "From that time Jesus began to proclaim and to say, Repent, for the kingdom
of the heavens has drawn near."

Rev. 22:5 "And night will be no more; and they have no need of the light of a lamp and of the
light of the sun, for the Lord God will shine upon them; and they will reign forever and ever."

    The intrinsic essence of the gospel is the kingdom. The gospel is preached for the kingdom, and the kingdom is a divine sphere for God to work out His plan, a realm where God can exercise His authority to accomplish what He intends. The only way for God to reach His goal is through the kingdom.

     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.

     Not being able to fulfill His purpose through the first Adam and his descendants, God came through incarnation as the last Adam. As God incarnate, the Lord Jesus came to establish the kingdom of God, to establish a realm in which God can carry out His purpose through the exercise of His authority. (Life-study of Mark, pp. 120, 48, 119)

Today's Reading

     The whole New Testament is on the kingdom....The kingdom is preached in the opening chapters of the Gospels. The New Testament preaches the gospel in the way of the kingdom....The gospel is proclaimed that people might be saved, qualified, and equipped to enter into the kingdom....The gospel of the kingdom brings the rebellious sinners into the church. (Life-study of Genesis, p. 471)

     The kingdom of God is the Lord Jesus as the seed of life sown into His believers, God's chosen people, and developing into a realm which God may rule as His kingdom in His divine life. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 2640)

     The kingdom is the shining of the reality of the Lord Jesus. Whenever He is shining over you and you are under that shining, you are in the kingdom....The kingdom is not merely a dispensation, a sphere, or a realm. It is the realization of the reality of the Lord Jesus. Whenever He is spreading by shining over you, you are in the kingdom, and the kingdom has come in power. (CWWL, 1972, vol. 2, “The Kingdom,” pp. 18-19)

     The kingdom of God is the reign of God. This divine reign is a realm, not only of the divine dominion but also of the divine species, in which are all the divine things. (Crystallization-study of the Gospel of John, p. 123)

     “The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” [Rom. 14:17]. This verse is a strong proof that the church in the church age is the kingdom of God, because the context here is dealing with the church life in the present age....To practice the church life is to practice the kingdom. Therefore, the church life in the Lord's recovery is the practice of the kingdom of God. (Life-study of Mark, p. 122)

     Those who always put God's kingdom before them—that which touches God's will and His enemy—are the most useful workers in the hands of God. (CWWN, vol. 8, p. 20)

     The kingdom produces the church, the church brings in the kingdom, and the ultimate issue is
the kingdom and the church....How does the church become an actuality? It is through the exercise of kingdom authority. When the church has ceded to the kingdom the right to rule and has submitted to its sway, the church then brings the dominion of heaven to the earth. All the way through the New Testament we see the church blending with the kingdom and the kingdom blending with the church, until eventually this blending issues in the New Jerusalem. In the New Jerusalem, where you can detect the nature of the church and the conditions of the kingdom, God is able to express His sovereignty fully and can therefore execute His will and display His glory. (The Kingdom and the Church, pp. 34-35)

Further Reading: Life-study of Mark, msg. 13; The Conclusion of the New Testament, msgs. 251-253; The Kingdom and the Church, chs. 1-3