The Kingdom of God enters an individual when he is born again and will continue to grow throughout eternity until the person has attained the destiny appointed to him or her by the Lord.

The Scripture asserts that some will be greatest and some will be least in the Kingdom of God (Matthew 5:19). Some will reap thirtyfold, some sixtyfold, and some a hundredfold. One star differs from another star in glory. However, he who is least in the Kingdom of God is greater than any of the prophets because the prophets were the natural man anointed by the Spirit of God.

The Kingdom of God is the Seed—Christ—that will grow until Christ is All in all, and God is All in all in Him:

And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all. (I Corinthians 15:28)

That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: (Ephesians 1:10)

The growth of the Kingdom of God began when the Lord Jesus Christ ascended to the Father, will continue throughout the thousand-year Kingdom Age known as the Millennium, and then proceed throughout eternity. The Father promised Abraham that his Seed (Christ) would be as the stars of the heaven and as the sand on the shore.

Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, . . . . (Isaiah 9:7)

Christ Is the Kingdom of God. Christ will continue to be formed in people throughout eternity, as we understand it, making them the second man, the life-giving spirit. All those who are saved will continue to eat of the tree of life (as they turn away from sin and self-will) and will continue to grow in the image of the Lord.

One cannot jump instantly from the first man to the second man. The transition is made slowly, "one city at a time."

And the Lord thy God will put out those nations before thee by little and little: thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee. (Deuteronomy 7:22)

Let us consider the program of orderly transition.

"Those nations" represent the evil in the world and in our first man. The Lord does not permit us to consume the evil "at once," while we are making the transition to the second man.

If God were to remove the first man at once, our personality would collapse. If God had slain all the Philistines before Israel had occupied their farms, the beasts of the field would have multiplied until Israel would not have been able to keep them under control.

So it is that our first personality, with its doubts, fears, dreads, sense of duty, arrogance, pride, courage, loyalty, and all its other traits, some detestable and some admirable, serves to keep our personality intact until Christ has grown to sufficient stature in us to insure our integrity and stability in God.

To be continued.