In this chapter, we will explore some of the laws or principles in the Kingdom of God. We will start by looking at two forms of life in the natural world to give understanding of some of the spiritual laws. We hope to learn spiritual wisdom from familiar types and shadows in the natural world.
Two Forms of Life
Let’s observe the changes that occur with two forms of life:
1. From an apple seed to an apple tree
2. From a seed in the womb to a grown man
Each of the above will have a phase of life in darkness. An apple seed is buried underground, where moisture and warmth will provide the environment needed for it to bud, break the shell, take root and then break out into the open. The same process happens to a human seed after it is sown in the womb. It breaks and transforms into cells and will eventually form various parts of a human body, ultimately to be birthed from the womb into the outside world.
After they each enter their new reality, the life itself has to adapt to a new way of living. For an apple tree, it stops depending on the old substance reserved in the seed for its nourishment. It will turn to chemicals, sunlight and its own ability to feed from where it is planted, until it is mature and bears fruit. A baby, on the other hand, stops depending on the womb to supply its nutrients; it begins to eat and digest milk and food in order to grow.
This process of growth and maturity, as seen in plant and human life, is also ordained for our spiritual life.
The Law of Life
From death comes life. Old life forms have to pass away before new life takes on its course of growth and maturation.
John 12:24-25 [NIV]
24I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
Here, Jesus mentioned His own death as an example of the life those who are His disciples will live. It is the resurrection life, which can only come after death, as mentioned in Hebrews:
Heb 9:27-28 [NIV]
27Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
We can call this the law of life in contrast to the law of death. The eternal life in Jesus Christ can only be lived by the power of the Spirit of Sonship.
Rom 8:1-11 [NIV]
1Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. 3For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, 4in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.
5Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; 7the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
9You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. 10But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.
This post is _Part 1_ in the series Laws in the Kingdom of God. To continue with this series, click on Pt 2. To use this as a growth tool to better understand your own calling, you might start by reading the explanation of this series.
Photo credit: Ben Goode