THE SECOND PART: A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
The Gospel according to Matthew
Message Three—The Reality of the Kingdom of the Heavens
Scripture Reading: Matt. 21:5; 25:34; 13:3; Mark 4:26-29; Luke 17:20-21; Matt. 5:3
I. Like the church and the New Jerusalem, the kingdom is a corporate person—the enlargement and expansion of Christ the King; the reality of the kingdom of the heavens is Christ Himself—Luke 17:20-21; Isa. 9:6-7; Dan. 2:34-35, 44-45: (2000 WT, msg. 5)
A. The kingdom of the heavens is the person of the King—Matt. 2:2; 21:5; Rev. 19:16. (2000 WT, msg. 5)
B. We need spiritual eyes to see that the kingdom is actually the wonderful Christ—Luke 17:21b: (2000 WT, msg. 5)
1. Where Christ is, there the kingdom of the heavens is also—Matt. 16:16, 18-19. (2000 WT, msg. 5)
2. The kingdom of the heavens is actually the Lord Himself as the kingship within us—Isa. 32:1a. (2000 WT, msg. 5)
C. The kingdom of God is the reality of the Spirit of God, which is the reality of Christ—Matt. 12:28: (2000 WT, msg. 5)
1. The Spirit is the reality of the Lord Jesus, for the Spirit is His person, and His person is His reality—1 Cor. 6:11b. (2000 WT, msg. 5)
2. To have the kingdom in reality is to have a spiritual realization of the Lord Jesus—Isa. 6:5; John 12:41; Isa. 33:17; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17a. (2000 WT, msg. 5)
II. The reality of the kingdom of the heavens is the all-inclusive Christ sowing Himself into His believers as the seed of the kingdom and growing within them—Matt. 13:3; Mark 4:26-29: (2000 WT, msg. 5)
A. The King came as a Sower to sow Himself as the seed of the kingdom into our being; the King, the kingdom, and the seed of the kingdom are all Christ. (2000 WT, msg. 5)
B. The Triune God in humanity is the seed of the kingdom sown into God’s chosen people that He might grow in them, live in them, and be expressed from within them to develop into God’s ruling realm—Col. 2:9; Mark 4:26-29. (2000 WT, msg. 5)
C. The basic element of the reality of the kingdom is Christ Himself as the seed of life—Matt. 13:24, 37: (2000 WT, msg. 5)
1. The kingdom is wholly a matter of life—Christ Himself as the seed of life, the seed of the kingdom, sown into our being—Luke 8:8a, 15. (2000 WT, msg. 5)
2. The reality of the kingdom of the heavens is the enlargement of Christ, the multiplication of Christ, as the seed sown into us—Mark 4:26-29. (2000 WT, msg. 5)
D. The establishment of the kingdom is absolutely a matter of growth in life; to establish the kingdom is to grow the kingdom—v. 27; 1 Cor. 3:6-7, 9b. (2000 WT, msg. 5)
E. Christ establishes the kingdom not by fighting or by teaching but by sowing Himself as the seed of life into believing people so that the kingdom of the heavens may grow up—Matt. 13:3-4a: (2000 WT, msg. 5)
1. The growth of Christ as the seed of life within us is the process of the kingdom—Mark 4:26-29. (2000 WT, msg. 5)
2. The kingdom is not established by our outward working but by the inward growing of Christ as the seed of life—1 Pet. 1:23; 2 Pet. 1:5-11. (2000 WT, msg. 5)
III. The reality of the kingdom of the heavens is Christ as the life-giving Spirit ruling within us—1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17a; 1 Cor. 6:17; Matt. 5:3: (2000 WT, msg. 5)
A. The Lord Jesus came as a King not to rule over us in an outward way but to enter into us in order to impart Himself into us that He might discharge our rebellious element and replace it with Himself—John 6:15; 1:12-13. (2000 WT, msg. 5)
B. The basic thought of the Gospel of Matthew is that we must repent of not being in the kingdom and of not being under the kingship and authority of Christ—Matt. 3:2; 4:17. (2000 WT, msg. 5)
C. The Christ who enters into our spirit is the King with the kingdom, and now we are under a rule that is with the heavenly nature—2 Tim. 4:22a; Matt. 5:3: (2000 WT, msg. 5)
1. Because the kingdom is within us, we are subdued, controlled, and ruled by the indwelling King—Rom. 8:9-10. (2000 WT, msg. 5)
2. The heavenly rule in our spirit is Christ, the living One, consummated as the life-giving Spirit—2 Cor. 13:5b; 1 Cor. 15:45b. (2000 WT, msg. 5)
3. The life-giving Spirit dwelling in us is the heavenly rule within us, and this heavenly rule is actually the kingdom of the heavens. (2000 WT, msg. 5)
IV. The way for us to become the reality of the kingdom of the heavens is to eat Christ as our bread—Matt. 15:26-27, 32-37: (2000 WT, msg. 5)
A. God’s economy is not a matter of outward things but of Christ coming into us inwardly; for this, we need to take Christ in by eating Him—Eph. 3:17a. (2000 WT, msg. 5)
B. As the heavenly King, Christ rules over us by feeding us with Himself as bread—John 6:15, 32-35: (2000 WT, msg. 5)
1. We can be the reality of the kingdom of the heavens only by being nourished with Christ as our food—Matt. 15:26-27, 32-37. (2000 WT, msg. 5)
2. The Lord Jesus is the kingdom of obedience; we need to take Him in by eating Him as our bread so that He may be wrought into us—Phil. 2:8. (2000 WT, msg. 5)
3. The more we eat Christ as our bread, the more the royal ingredients in this bread are constituted into us to become the ruling element within us. (2000 WT, msg. 5)