THE CHURCH IS THE KINGDOM

Victor M. Eskew

 

          There are many religious groups that tell us that the church is one institution and the kingdom is a different institution.  Some tell us that Jesus was supposed to have established the kingdom when He came the first time, but because of the Jews’ rejection of Him, He did not.  It was at that time, we are told, that the church was established as a temporary element in God’s plan.  When Jesus comes the second time, He will set up His kingdom on the earth and rule for a thousand years, they would have us to believe.

          It is the purpose of this article to prove that the church and the kingdom are the same institution.  We will examine three proofs of this affirmation.  First, let’s go back to the beginning when God created the heaven and the earth.  On the third day of the Creation Week, God created plants. “And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth:  and it was so” (Gen. 1:11).  The Lord instilled seeds into each fruit when He created the first plants.  If this seed were planted into the earth, it would yield fruit “after its kind.”  Apple seeds produce apples. Tomato seeds produce tomatoes.  Watermelon seeds produce watermelons.   Everyone understands this process of nature.

          What does the previous discussion have to do with the kingdom?  Let’s look a little deeper.  What did Jesus command the apostles to preach to the lost when He gave them the Great Commission?  The answer is the gospel or the word of God.  “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15).  In a parable that Jesus taught, He described the word in two unique ways.  First, he called the word of God seed.  “Now the parable is this:  The seed is the word of God” (Luke 8:11).  Second, in Matthew 13:19, Jesus referred to the word as “the word of the kingdom.”  If the Word God of God is seed, and if the word is the word of the kingdom, the word is also the seed of the kingdom.  Remember, seed produces after its own kind.  When the seed of the kingdom is planted into good ground, that is, good and honest hearts, it will bring forth citizens of the kingdom of God.  Dear readers, as long as God’s Word has been proclaimed since the day of Pentecost, the kingdom has been on the earth.

          Second, while Jesus was on the earth, He spake to the multitudes in parables.  Seven of His parables in Matthew 13 are referred to as “Kingdom Parables”:  The Parable of the Sower (Matt. 13:3-9, 18-23), The Parable of the Wheat and Tares (Matt. 13:24-30, 36-43), The Parable of the Mustard Seed (Matt. 13:31-32), The Parable of Leaven (Matt. 13:33), The Parable of the Hidden Treasure (Matt. 13:44), The Parable of the Pearl of Great Price (Matt. 13:45-46), and The Parable of the Dragnet (Matt. 13:47-50).  ChatGPT summarizes these parables as follows:  “Jesus used these seven parables to teach different aspects of the kingdom, including its growth, value, influence, membership, and ultimate judgment.” 

As a person studies these different aspects of the kingdom, he finds that they must be referring to a kingdom that is presently in existence.  None of them can be referring to the Premillennial Kingdom that so many believe is coming in the future.  Take for instance, The Parable of the Hidden Treasure.  Right now, there are men and women who are ignorant of the kingdom of Christ.  However, some of them stumble upon the kingdom either by reading the Word of God or by someone explaining the kingdom to them.  These individuals are willing to give up all to partake of this “hidden treasure.”  This can’t apply to a millennial kingdom.  That kingdom will be known to all.  When properly understood, the only kingdom to which these parables point is the church, the kingdom of Christ. 

          Thirdly, we want to look at the teaching of four passages of Scripture.  We begin with Mark 9:1 which contains the words of Jesus.  “And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.”  Two points that Jesus makes are important.  One, the kingdom was going to come with power.  Two, the kingdom would come with power before some in Jesus’ audience at that time died.  Dear readers, unless we have some people on earth who are around two thousand years old, the kingdom must be in existence.  Why?  Because Jesus said it would be.

          On the Mount of Olives, Jesus mentioned the power that was to come.  He told the eleven:  “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you…” (Acts 1:8).  Keep Jesus’ teaching in mind.  When the Holy Spirit came, the power came.  And, when the power came, the kingdom came. 

          The Holy Spirit came on the Day of Pentecost.  Acts 2:1-4 is the third relative passage in this discussion.  “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.   And suddenly, there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.  And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.  And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”  Did power come with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit?  Yes!  Those apostles were able to speak with tongues or languages that they had never been taught.  The Holy Spirit came, and the power came.  It was at that time that the kingdom also came.  It was on that day that some three thousand obeyed the gospel (Acts 2:41).  “…And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved” (Acts 2:47). 

          If any doubt that the church about which we read in Acts is the kingdom, we turn to our fourth passage, Colossians 1:13.  Paul wrote to the Colossians saints regarding their conversion.  He told them that that God “…hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.”  When the Colossians became Christians, they left the corruption of the world and were spiritually moved into the kingdom of Jesus Christ.  NOTE:  If that kingdom did not exist, the Colossians could not have been translated into it.

          The fact that the Word of God is the “word of the kingdom” proves the kingdom is here.  The precious Kingdom Parables prove that the kingdom is presently in existence.  Too, the Holy Spirt came on the day of Pentecost and gave the apostles great power.  When that power came, the kingdom came as well.  Dear readers the kingdom is here.  The kingdom is the church.  It simply represents another picture of that institution for which Jesus shed His blood (Acts 20:28).  Jesus will continue to reign over this kingdom until “he hath put all enemies under his feet.  The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death:” (1 Cor. 15:25-26).  When the dead are raised, Jesus will not establish a kingdom.  Paul tells us that is when Jesus will deliver “up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule, and all authority, and power” (1 Cor. 15:24).