For this reason, in the beginning of his ministry John preached the kingdom of God, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn near” (Matt. 3:2). What he meant was that everyone had to be prepared because the kingdom of the heavens, the kingdom of God, was drawing near. What is the kingdom of God? We must understand that the kingdom of God is God Himself. The Chinese often use world instead of kingdom in such terms as animal world and vegetable world. In fact, in both Greek and English, these things are called the animal kingdom and the vegetable kingdom. In the animal world are animals, and in the vegetable world are vegetables. Likewise, in the human world, the human kingdom, are human beings. The human world ceases to exist when human beings are removed from it. In the same principle, the kingdom of God is God Himself, and it is God Himself who becomes everything as the content of the kingdom of God. If God leaves, the kingdom of God will have nothing left in it. Let us take the lions in the zoo as an example. The place where the lions are kept may be called the lion world or the lion kingdom, but if the lions were taken away, the lion kingdom would cease to exist. [351]

ENTERING INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD, 
NOT THROUGH TEACHING 
BUT THROUGH REGENERATION

If we desire to serve the Lord and walk on His way for our whole life, we must have a pure knowledge of the Word according to God’s revelation. We must see that the drawing near of God’s kingdom is the drawing near of God Himself. We must also see that man’s becoming a part of God’s world is man’s entering into God’s kingdom. As soon as man becomes a part of God’s world, man has entered into the kingdom of God. Nicodemus was concerned mainly with morality when he came to see the Lord and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher” (John 3:2). He thought that the Lord had come from God to teach ethics. But the Lord immediately interrupted him and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (v. 3). The Lord Jesus was patient and refined. He was not like us; we are always so rude. What He meant in actuality was, “Do not speak nonsense. Have you not seen what John the Baptist did? Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless a person is born anew, he can by no means enter into the kingdom of God, and he cannot even see it.” Nicodemus was anxious when he heard this word, so he asked, “How can a man be born when he is old?” The Lord Jesus answered, “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (vv. 4-5). What He meant was, “You have to remember what John the Baptist said and go into the water first, and then I will baptize you into the Holy Spirit. Unless you are born of water and the Spirit, you cannot have a share in God’s world; that is, you cannot participate in God’s kingdom.”

In order for a dog or a cow to enter into and participate in the human world, the human kingdom, it has to receive the human life by being born again. A dog or a cow can be in the human kingdom only by birth. I was born a man with man’s life, so naturally I entered into the human world, the human kingdom. When I am in the human world, I am in the human kingdom. Today we all are descendants of Adam born in the human world; we entered the human kingdom by being born of our parents. If we want to obtain the citizenship of a certain country or join a certain club in society, we need to meet certain requirements or pay a fee. To be in the human kingdom, however, the only requirement is to be born. In fact, we had [352] already entered into the human kingdom even while we were still in our mother’s womb. This is why the Chinese count the age of a person from the time he is conceived in the mother’s womb.

Today God desires that we would enter into God’s world, God’s kingdom. According to our natural understanding, we would say, “This is wonderful! Lord, please teach me how to enter into the kingdom of God.” But His answer would be, “How can I teach you? Even if I would teach you until you became an old man, you would still be a man. It is impossible for Me to make you God by teaching you. You cannot become God unless you are born anew of Me.” For example, teaching is absolutely necessary when you are trying to get a monkey to act like a human. However, regardless of how much the monkey has been taught and how much the monkey is able to mimic human behavior, the monkey is still a monkey. The monkey cannot become a human unless it is born again of man. Thirty years ago when I first came to Taiwan, I went to the zoo and watched a show in which a monkey ate a meal with a knife and fork. When the monkey came out onto the stage, the trainer would hit it with a whip, and the monkey would stand up right away, put on a small cap, and pick up a knife and a fork. Then when the trainer would hit the monkey again, the monkey would start eating the meal like a Westerner. That kind of performance was an attempt to teach a monkey to enter into the human kingdom. However, no amount of teaching could enable the monkey to enter into the human kingdom. The monkey had the monkey’s life and did not want to enter into the human kingdom. In fact, it was quite a suffering for the monkey to try to be in the human kingdom. The monkey was forced to learn obediently because of the whip that was flying at him. But once the performance was over, the monkey immediately climbed down from the table, exposing its real condition. Today all religions, including Christianity, are just like trainers teaching monkeys to enter into the human kingdom. In the end, however, man’s true nature is completely exposed. A monkey having only the monkey life can enter only into the monkey kingdom; a monkey cannot enter into the human kingdom through education. In order to enter into the human kingdom, a monkey has to possess the human life.

To Repent Being to Have a Change of Concept

When the Lord Jesus told Nicodemus, “Unless one is born anew, [353] he cannot see the kingdom of God,” He seemed to be saying, “Nicodemus, you are wrong. I did not come to be a teacher. You have already had Moses as your teacher. He was quite old and lived to be one hundred twenty years of age. You have already received a great amount of teaching from him. I did not come to be such a teacher. For such a long time Moses taught you how to conduct yourselves as humans, yet regardless of how much you Pharisees and Sadducees have tried, you do not look like humans; rather, you look like vipers. You have to give up! No matter how much you are taught, you cannot get into the kingdom of God. The only way to enter into the kingdom of God is to receive God as life and to gain God Himself. This is regeneration. Therefore, to repent is to have a change in your concept. You have to change your concepts about Moses, your concepts about the law, and even your worldly, natural concepts about serving God. All these concepts need to be changed. Therefore, you must repent!”

In our study of the Bible we need to pay attention to the background. John the Baptist came out and said, “Repent!” In actuality, this word may be translated as “have a change of concept,” which means to have a change in our thinking and in our philosophy. In Greek, the basic definition of this word is to have a change of mind issuing in regret and thereby to have a turn in purpose; hence, the sense it conveys is stronger and more serious than the common understanding of the word repent. At that time the Jews, particularly the Pharisees, were filled in their mind with Moses’ teachings and laws. They thought about and discussed Moses and the law all day long. This is why John told people to change their concept.