ASPECTS OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE AND CHURCH LIFE SEEN IN THE NEW JERUSALEM Week 2 Day 2 The City and the Bride Morning Nourishment Rom. 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Rev. 1:6 And made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father, to Him be the glory and the might forever and ever. Amen. Because the kingdom is the reality of the church, according to the New Testament revelation, we cannot live the church life apart from the proper kingdom life. This is why we have emphasized the fact that the gospel preached at the beginning of the New Testament concerns not salvation but the kingdom. To enter the kingdom of God is to be regenerated. We may talk about regeneration without realizing that regeneration is for the entry into the kingdom. We are regenerated into the kingdom....When God regenerated us, He regenerated us into His kingdom. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 1741) Today’s Reading Just as the kingdom and the church are interrelated, so the kingdom and God’s salvation also are interrelated. If we do not participate in God’s kingdom, it will be difficult for us to enjoy His salvation. Of course, we cannot realize the kingdom life unless we receive God’s salvation, a salvation that becomes the supply to us for our enjoyment. The enjoyment of this supply is for us to live a kingdom life in the church. We need to be deeply impressed with the fact that the reality of the kingdom of the heavens is the content of the church life. This means that without the reality of the kingdom, the church is empty. It is crucial for us to see that we experience the dispensing of the Divine Trinity corporately by living in the kingdom. As we live corporately in the kingdom life, we spontaneously live the church life. The kingdom life issues in the church life. Without the kingdom as the reality of life, the church cannot be produced or built up. To produce the church and to build up the church, we need the kingdom. The kingdom is the reality of the church. We cannot say, however, that the church is the reality of the kingdom. We can say only that the kingdom is the reality of the church. Where the reality of the kingdom is lacking, there the building of the church will be lacking. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 1741, 1743, 1740) We may know how intimately the kingdom and the church are related. Throughout the New Testament we find these two advancing together in the closest connection. When the Lord said, “Upon this rock I will build My church” [Matt. 16:18], He immediately added, “I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of the heavens” [v. 19]. The keys of the kingdom are given to make the building of the church possible. Where the authority of the kingdom is absent, there the building of the church will be lacking. Anyone who refuses to submit to the authority of the kingdom can at best be a saved person; he will never be built into the structure of the church. The Scriptures present this far more profound aspect—that the church has been secured through the sovereign rule of heaven. Because the kingdom of heaven is able to assert its authority over a company of men, that company of men can be built up into a church. It is necessary at this point to recapitulate. Why was the church brought into being? For the purpose of bringing in the kingdom! How was the church brought into being? By means of the authority of the kingdom! God’s purpose was to bring His heavenly dominion to the earth, and apart from the church, His goal could not be attained. He needed a people who would subject themselves to the dominion of heaven, so that under that dominion they might be built up into the church. That is what Matthew 16 reveals. Do not imagine that by our salvation alone we become the church. We who are saved are in the church, but our salvation alone does not constitute us the church. The church is a Body; therefore, there is need of relatedness and there is the need of building up. (The Kingdom and the Church, pp. 32-33, 36-37) Further Reading: The Kingdom and the Church; The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 159 Enlightenment and inspiration
Posted on: Sun, 10 Aug 2014 16:58:46 +0000