The Church and the Kingdom

Mark tells us in his Gospel,

¹⁴ After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. ¹⁵ “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:14,15)

Later in Jesus’ ministry, as he was nearing his crucifixion, Luke tells us,

¹¹ While they were listening to this, he went on to tell them a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once. ¹² He said: “A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return. ¹³ So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. ‘Put this money to work,’ he said, ‘until I come back.’ (Luke 19:11-13)

The kingdom was near in Jesus himself, but the kingdom wasn’t coming at once. If we consider the kingdom of God as His reign over earth, that has never stopped, but if we think of the kingdom as God’s reign on earth through Messiah, that is yet to come. While Jesus was here on earth, when the king of God’s kingdom was here, the kingdom was at hand or near. With Jesus gone, in heaven, the kingdom is yet to come.

Peter told the Jews to who saw him heal the lame beggar,

¹⁹ Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, ²⁰ and that he may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus. ²¹ Heaven must receive him until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. (Acts 3:19-21)

This suggests that the kingdom could have come when Israel embraced her Messiah and all would have been restored. But Israel did not embrace her Messiah, and still hasn’t, so the kingdom’s coming, that we pray for (“Thy kingdom come…”) is yet to be.

In the meantime, the church has been birthed, the holy assembly of God. It is not the kingdom, but its members are in submission to the king and demonstrating the powers of the kingdom (Hebrews 6:5, “the powers of the age to come”) and living out the laws of the kingdom.

Jesus’ parables of the kingdom tell us that until the kingdom comes unbelievers will be mingled with believers in the “crop field” and the final judgment will reveal who is who, and that this aspect of the kingdom will be growing (Matthew 13).  The church is being built (Matthew 16) and in that sense is a form of the kingdom, but is not that coming kingdom. The Church bears witness to this coming kingdom whose rolls are growing as more people come to faith in Jesus.  The church is rescued from this present evil age (Galatians 1:4) and yet is still a part of this “passing away” age (Titus 2:12; 1 John 2:15-17). We await the coming of Jesus to earth to establish his rule on earth, his kingdom.