The incident concerning the rich man in Mark 10 is an illustration of our need to be free from being occupied by anything except God Himself. After the rich man went away sorrowing, the Lord said to His disciples, “With what difficulty shall those who hold on to riches enter into the kingdom of God!” (10:23). Some who read this may say, “God isn’t fair. Why can a poor man enter the kingdom of God, but not a rich man?”
We need to see why the rich man in Mark 10 could not enter into the kingdom of God. He could not enter because his being was occupied by things other than God. There was no room in him for Christ to grow into a kingdom. Once again we need to see that the kingdom of God is not a material realm. The kingdom of God is the Lord Jesus growing and developing within us.
When some read about the rich man in Mark 10, they may rejoice over the fact that they are poor and not at all like the rich man. However, you may be quite rich in things other than material wealth. Even the young ones among us may be rich in the ten matters that are replacements for Christ, rich in culture, religion, ethics, morality, philosophy, improvement of character, and the effort to be spiritual, scriptural, holy, and victorious.
Do you know what it means to be rich? To be rich means to be occupied by something other than the Triune God. In my years of serving the Lord, I have met hundreds of Christians who were rich in things other than the Triune God. They were rich in such things as Bible knowledge, traditional theology, and the effort to be spiritual. Because they were rich in this way, there was no room for the Lord Jesus to grow within them.
I am not giving a word in this message that I have not first applied to myself. Before giving this message, I asked myself, “Are you occupied by anything other than Christ? Perhaps you are occupied by some concept you have concerning the Bible.” I am deeply concerned that I may still be occupied by certain good things that are not Christ Himself.
We all need to be emptied of anything other than Christ that occupies us. Our being needs to be unloaded for the Lord Jesus. We need to empty ourselves. According to the Bible, to humble ourselves is to empty ourselves. We need to empty ourselves so that all of the space within us will be available for the growth of the Lord Jesus in us.
To empty ourselves and give the Lord Jesus all the room within us is to enter into the kingdom of God. We should not regard the kingdom as a material realm that we shall enter one day after certain terms have been fulfilled. That is a traditional concept of the kingdom of God, not the teaching concerning the kingdom in the New Testament.
We need to be impressed with the fact that to enter into the kingdom of God is to empty ourselves, to unload ourselves of everything other than Christ so that our entire being may be available for Him to grow in us in full. I have the full assurance that this is the proper understanding of what it means to enter into the kingdom of God. If you do not agree with this understanding today, eventually you will agree that it is according to the New Testament revelation.
To enter the kingdom of God is not a matter of entering a material realm outside of us. Rather, to enter the kingdom of God is to grow Christ inwardly. The developing of the kingdom within us is our entering into the kingdom.
How can the kingdom develop within us? If we would have the kingdom develop in us, we need to humble ourselves, empty ourselves, unload ourselves. We should not be occupied with culture, religion, ethics, morality, philosophy, improvement of character, or the effort to be spiritual, scriptural, holy, and victorious. We should care only for Christ and for the growth of Christ within us. All the ground within us should be made available for Him to grow in us.
I would encourage you to take this understanding of the kingdom and read Matthew 13 and Mark 4 in light of it. In these chapters we see the Lord Jesus as the Sower coming to sow Himself into us as the soil. He expects that we shall empty ourselves, unload ourselves, and give Him the ground to grow in us.
The growing of Christ within us is our entering into the kingdom. The reason the growth of Christ in us is our entrance into the kingdom is that this growing is the developing of the kingdom. Furthermore, as we develop the kingdom, we enter into it. Therefore, the kingdom is not a material realm. On the contrary, the kingdom is a matter of Christ growing in our being.
God has chosen us in Christ, and He has provided Christ as the universal replacement. Now we need to cooperate with the Lord by unloading ourselves so that He may grow freely in our being. If we do this, we shall be in the kingdom. We shall be in the manifestation of the kingdom in the coming age, and we shall be in the reality of the kingdom today. This is a life that lives according to God’s New Testament economy.
May we all see such a view of the New Testament economy of God. If we see the vision of a life fully according to and for God’s New Testament economy, our entire Christian life will be revolutionized.
In 2 Peter 1:3-11 we have a further indication that the development of the kingdom within us is actually our entrance into the kingdom. In verses 3 and 4 Peter speaks of the divine power granting to us all things which relate to life and godliness and of becoming partakers of the divine nature. Then in verses 5 through 11 we have the development through growth in life unto the rich entrance into the eternal kingdom.
In verses 5 through 7 Peter says, “And for this very reason also, adding all diligence, supply bountifully in your faith virtue, and in virtue knowledge, and in knowledge self-control, and in self-control endurance, and in endurance godliness, and in godliness brotherly love, and in brotherly love love.” Here we see the development of the divine life in us through a number of steps. Then in verse 11 Peter concludes, “For so shall be richly and bountifully supplied to you the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” This verse is a strong confirmation of what we have been saying concerning entering into the kingdom of God.
The entrance into the kingdom is a matter of the development of the divine life within us. If we have a rich development of this life, this development will become our rich entrance into God’s kingdom. In 2 Peter 1:3-11 we see how an entrance into the kingdom is supplied to us richly and bountifully. We would emphasize the fact that this entrance is supplied through the development of the divine life within us. Apparently it is we who enter into the kingdom of God. Actually the entrance into the kingdom is supplied to us by the Lord through our growth in His life and through the development of this life within us.
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