The church is the representative of the Kingdom. And yet, as there are wheat and tares in the field, not everything done by the “church” visible is of the Kingdom, but it must be discerned, soul from Spirit.
The church is the called out assembly, God’s only institution in the Earth. It is the temple of God, and the institution He has built. It is the established authority point of the Kingdom, and the Kingdom’s proper operation primarily from within the body of the church. God may always choose to move as He will, but He has chosen to invest His authority and offices in the lives of men, such that there are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, but these serve to build up the body, and not to themselves.
The church, then, is the established order of the Kingdom, even while it is full of men who may or may not walk perfectly. The hearts cry of the Kingdom is always that the church would be pure, and, in one sense, she is, but on the other hand, when the light within her eye is really darkness, how great that darkness really is.
Contrary to some dispensationalist thought, the Kingdom is the context of the church. If there were no Kingdom, there would be no assembly of the Kingdom, and no authority of the body. The authority of the church is the authority of the Kingdom, and there is no basis for the church outside of that authority.
If we look at the epistles, it very clearly through the church age shows that the message of the Gospel is the Gospel of the Kingdom. Here are just a few examples.
- Acts 28:31, Paul says this was his message.
- Colossians 1:13 says we are transferred out of the dominion of darkness into the Kingdom.
- Romans 14:17 says the Kingdom is righteousness, peace, and joy, so if we are to have those, we better have the Kingdom.
- 1 Corinthians 4:20 says the Kingdom is not talk but power. This stands in defense of those who hold that the Kingdom of God is a realm of heaven.
- 1 Corinthians 15:50 says flesh and blood cannot inherit it.
- Hebrews 12:28 says we are ongoing receiving a Kingdom.
- Acts 8:12 says it was then, too, that the Good News of the Kingdom was preached, and the name of Jesus Christ.
Clearly, the Kingdom did not cease at any time. There was no shift to a church age in suspension of the Kingdom. There is no viable cause for anything other than the plain interpretation that, as it was in Jesus’ day, “The Kingdom of God is at hand”.