What is the Kingdom of God and How Can You Be in It?

What is the “kingdom of God?”

If you’ve read through the New Testament, “the kingdom of God” is one of those terms that come up again and again.

For example, at the beginning of the gospel of Mark the Lord Jesus said,

“The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has drawn near. Repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15)

But what is “the kingdom of God” that had “drawn near” when Jesus came?

The following footnote from  the Recovery Version gives a summary of what the kingdom of God is that had drawn near with the coming of Jesus. Part of this footnote says,

“The kingdom of God is the Savior…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. The entrance into the kingdom is regeneration (John 3:5), and the development of the kingdom is the believers’ growth in the divine life (2 Pet. 1:3-11). The kingdom is the church life today, in which the faithful believers live (Rom. 14:17), and it will develop into the coming kingdom as a reward to be inherited (Gal. 5:21; Eph. 5:5) by the overcoming saints in the millennium (Rev. 20:4, 6). Eventually, it will consummate in the New Jerusalem as the eternal kingdom of God, an eternal realm of the eternal blessing of God’s eternal life, which all God’s redeemed will enjoy in the new heaven and new earth for eternity — Rev. 21:1-4; 22:1-5, 14 …” (Luke 4:43, note 2)

From this note, I’ll consider four points concerning what the kingdom of God is, with particular focus on how we can live in God’s kingdom today.

What the kingdom of God is 

First, the kingdom of God is the Savior as the seed of life sown into His believers.

In Mark 4:26, the Lord Jesus said,

“So is the kingdom of God: as if a man cast seed on the earth.”

In the Lord’s view, the kingdom of God was a small seed, something of life, not merely God’s outward ruling.  It’s a kingdom in the sense of life–like the plant kingdom or the animal kingdom.

To be in any living kingdom you need to possess the life of that kingdom. It’s also that way with God’s kingdom.

But how can we say from the Bible that the kingdom seed is the Lord Jesus Himself?  In Luke 17:21 the Lord said,

“Nor will they say, Behold, here it is! or, There! For behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”

When the Lord Jesus stood in the midst of the Pharisees, the kingdom of God was standing in their midst. Where Jesus is, there the kingdom of God is.

Footnote 1 on Luke 17:21 makes this point clear by saying,

Verses 22-24 prove that the kingdom of God is the Savior Himself, who was among the Pharisees when He was questioned by them. Wherever the Savior is, there the kingdom of God is. The kingdom of God is with Him, and He brings it to His disciples (v. 22). He is the seed of the kingdom of God to be sown into God’s chosen people to develop into God’s ruling realm…

Second, the entrance into the kingdom of God is regeneration–John 3:3. 

The only way to enter the kingdom of God is to be born into it!  

The Bible calls this divine birth, regeneration.  John 3:3 says,

 “Jesus answered and said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

 To be born into God’s kingdom you have to receive the Lord Jesus as the seed of the kingdom.

If you haven’t yet received the Lord Jesus as this kingdom seed, please take a moment to pray,

Lord Jesus, thank you for showing me that the kingdom of God is You. Lord I open my heart to You. Come into me right now as the seed of the kingdom. Make me a part of the kingdom of the God. Amen.”

Then you might ask, but how does the kingdom of God develop into “God’s ruling realm?”

Third, the development of God’s kingdom is the believers’ growth in the divine life–2 Pet. 1:3-11.

It’s just like the development of any living seed. Whatever is in the seed develops by the growth of that life.  In the same way, the development of God’s kingdom is by the believers’ growth in His divine life. In 2 Peter 1:3-11, you can see this thought of growth:

First, the divine power has granted us all things that relate to life and godliness (v. 3). (The life-power is in the seed!)

Second, we become partakers of the divine nature through God’s precious and exceedingly great promises (v. 4). (So feed on the precious promises in God’s word! Here are 12 tips to help you.)

Third, we need to be diligent to cooperate with the enabling of this divine nature–adding in our faith, virtue and in virtue, knowledge, and in knowledge, self control and so on, until we’re full of the divine love, at the stage of maturity (vv. 5-8).

Finally, in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior will be richly supplied to us (v. 11).

So if we’ve received the Lord Jesus, we already possess the kingdom seed. Now we need to daily cooperate with this kingdom seed so it can grow and develop into “a realm over which God can rule as His kingdom in His divine life.” This hymn summarizes these points.

(For more on how to grow in the divine life, you may want to read 4 simple ways to grow in Christ.)

 Fourth, the kingdom is the church life today, in which the faithful believers live–Rom. 14:17.

In speaking of receiving believers in the church, not with a view to passing judgement on their eating, Paul said,

“For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” –Rom. 14:17

This verse gives strong proof that the church in this age is the kingdom of God. To live in the proper church life is to live in the kingdom of God. Such a church is God’s farm, God’s cultivated land, in which the believers grow in God’s life (1 Cor. 3:9).

(For more appreciation for how the Church is the kingdom of God today, you may want to read this excerpt from The Kingdom by Witness Lee.)

 Then what about the kingdom of God in the future?

To complete the picture, the footnote says that the kingdom “will develop into the coming kingdom as a reward to be inherited (Gal. 5:21; Eph. 5:5) by the overcoming saints in the millennium (Rev. 20:4, 6). Eventually, it will consummate in the New Jerusalem as the eternal kingdom of God, an eternal realm of the eternal blessing of God’s eternal life, which all God’s redeemed will enjoy in the new heaven and new earth for eternity (Rev. 21:1-4; 22:1-5, 14).

Since these truths are far beyond what we can adequately cover in a single post, I’ll have to leave these points for another post or for your personal study. Here is an awesome tool to help you into a topical study of these truths. Check out the section of the Topical Directory on the Kingdom of God and the New Jerusalem.

A summary

I hope you’ll …

1. See that the kingdom of God is the Lord Jesus Himself as the seed of the kingdom.
2. Receive the Lord Jesus as the kingdom seed to be born into the kingdom of God.
3. Cooperate with the divine life in you so that the kingdom seed can grow in you to maturity.
4. Live in the proper church life, as God’s farm, where there is the proper environment for growth.

References an Further Reading:

• This post was based on footnote 2, on Luke 4:43 in the Recovery Version, published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. You can get a free copy of the New Testament Recovery Version in the USA from Bibles for America or read it online.
• For a fuller appreciation of the kingdom of God, you may enjoy reading The Kingdom by Witness Lee, especially chapters 3-6 about the seed of the kingdom and it’s growth. You can read it for free online at ministrybooks.org.
• Here is a related post by Don Martin at New Jerusalem–A Biblical View that you might enjoy reading:
• The Kingdom Planted into Us.
• Here is a hymn to strengthen the point of this post: Jesus the kingdom has come into us.