The kingdom of God is revealed in chapter four of the Gospel of Mark as a seed—a matter of life (vv. 1-20, 26-29). The kingdom of God is not produced by activity or organization. We need to have an organic view of the kingdom of God. It is God Himself as a seed (or gene) sown into human beings and developing in them into a realm of the divine life. Just as the plant kingdom consists of all living plants, the animal kingdom is the totality of all animals, and the human kingdom consists of all mankind, so the kingdom of God is essentially Christ Himself as the divine life developed and enlarged into a kingdom. The kingdom of God is the Savior, the Lord Jesus, as the seed of life sown into His believers and developing into a realm which God may rule as His kingdom in the divine life. Therefore, the kingdom is the full growth and development of a wonderful person—Jesus Christ the King.

The kingdom of God is not an outward matter of teaching, activity, or organization. On the contrary, it is the Triune God in His incarnation sown into His chosen people to grow and develop in them into a kingdom. In this brief definition of the kingdom revealed in the Gospel of Mark, we have a statement of the intrinsic element of the entire teaching of the New Testament. The New Testament teaches us that the Triune God has been incarnated in order to be sown into His chosen ones and then develop within them into a kingdom.

If we read the New Testament in this light, we will see that after the Triune God became a man—Jesus Christ—He began to preach the gospel and teach the truth and thereby sow Himself into those who heard Him (v. 14). While He was preaching and teaching, He was sowing His word into His hearers. His word conveyed Himself into them (cf. John 6:63). Hence, through His word He as the God-man, the Triune God in humanity, was sown into His chosen people. Preaching and teaching were His way of sowing Himself as the seed of the kingdom, the gene of the kingdom. When people heard the word of this God-man and received it, they were actually receiving a wonderful person, the One who is both the Triune God and a real man. This is what is recorded in the four Gospels.

The Gospels record the sowing of Christ as the seed of the kingdom. In the Acts we have the propagation and further spreading of this sowing. In the Gospels we see the initial spreading, first from one Sower to twelve sowers and then to seventy other sowers (Luke 10:1). In Acts thousands more sowers were raised up. These sowers were those who had received the seed, the gene. By receiving the seed they became ones who could then sow it into others. In this way the sowing of the seed was propagated. The Epistles reveal the growing of the seed, the gene of the kingdom. We see this growth, in particular, in 1 Corinthians 3. In verse 9 Paul says, “You are God’s farm.” In verse 6 he says, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God made to grow.” This is the growth, the development, of the kingdom seed. Further development of the kingdom gene is seen in 2 Peter 1. According to verse 3, God’s “divine power has granted to us all things which relate to life and godliness.” All things pertaining to the divine life have been given to us for the purpose of development. Verses 5 through 7 describe this development: “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 have the steps of the development of the seed unto maturity. Peter indicates that if we have this development, “so shall be richly and bountifully supplied to you the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (v. 11). Hence, the Epistles clearly show the development of the seed of the kingdom.

The harvest of the kingdom seed is found in the last book of the New Testament—Revelation. According to chapter 14, there will first be the firstfruit and then the harvest. Verse 4 speaks of those who “were purchased from among men as firstfruit to God and to the Lamb.” Then verse 15 says, “The harvest of the earth is ripe.” Those who are the firstfruit spoken of in Revelation 14 will be among the co-kings with Christ in the millennium. The thousand years of the millennium will be the full development of the gene of the kingdom. During the millennium many of those who have received the kingdom gene will be co-kings with Christ. At that time our Father might boast to His enemy, “Little Satan, You are in the abyss. Look at all those who are now co-kings with Christ. Many who have believed in My Son and received the gene of the kingdom have become co-kings with Him. My Son is the King, and all the overcoming believers are His co-kings. Satan, look at the King and the co-kings. What a wonderful kingdom this is!”

In order to enter into this kingdom, we must first open to receive the gospel of the kingdom by believing in our heart and confessing with our mouth the name of the Lord Jesus (Rom. 10:9-13). Then we must give this kingdom seed a way to grow in us by allowing the Lord to gradually and continually make our heart the “good earth” (Mark 4:5-8)—giving Him permission to dig away every rock (hidden sins, personal desires, and self-seeking) and remove every thorn (the anxiety of the age and the deceitfulness of riches) which may choke the seed and prevent it from growing.  We may cooperate in this through confession to the Lord (1 John 1:9) and opening to Him to give Him every inch of our heart (Eph. 3:17), thus receiving the word and allowing it to grow and bear fruit—even a hundredfold! As this seed grows in our hearts, it begins to blossom fully into God’s full expression.  Accordingly, Jesus Christ will get His kingdom not by our religious effort but by growth in a normal way. It is not an instant transformation but by growth that goes on from day to day. The seed of life is all-inclusive—it has everything we will ever need to live the kingdom life.  May we see that God’s kingdom and His eternal purpose are within this precious seed!

 “Gleanings from the Bible” is a series of articles contributed by a local Christian home meeting group that loves the Lord Jesus, believes that the Bible is God’s Word, and cares for the oneness of the Body of Christ. For more information please visit our website at www.fromhouse2house.org or email us at info@fromhouse2house.org. This article is based in part on footnotes from the Holy Bible Recovery Version and Hymns published by Living Stream Ministry.