Today we are going to look at the Church and the Kingdom. Is the Church the Kingdom, and is the Kingdom the Church?
The Church and the Kingdom are not the same. A quick test that you can do is to replace the word Kingdom with Church or visa versa. Replacing or substituting these words will quickly show that the Kingdom and the Church are different entities.
Matt 6:33 Seek first the Kindom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.
What if we replace the word Kingdom with Church?
Seek first the Church of God…….
John 3:3 Unless you are born again, you can not enter the Kingdom of God.
How does this sound?
Unless you are born again, you can not enter the Church of God.
The Kingdom is the domain and the realm of God. Jesus came to bring the realm of God to earth. In His prayer, he tells us to pray: “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
While the Kingdom represents God’s realm, the Church is the instrument God chooses to bring the Kingdom to earth.
Jesus only mentions the Church two times. In Matt 16:18 and Matt 18:17.
Matt. 16:18 And I also say unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock, I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Not only that, but he uses a word that is not Hebraic in its essence. He uses the word “Ekklesia.” He uses a Greek word that was customarily used in a secular way, speaking of local people’s assembly to discuss strategic issues and create laws that will benefit all citizens. The word means the called-out ones.
The meaning of this word, ekklesia, goes beyond being called out for something or a purpose. The prefix “Ek,” when used in Greek, also donates origin. So the Church is not just called out for a purpose, but they are also called from or out of God. God is the originator or the beginning of His Church.
The Kingdom is His realm, and the Church is His instrument to bring that Kingdom to earth.
Jesus said that He would build His Church. Let me say that denominations are not the Church but only a flavor of the Church. Jesus does not start denominations, and in every stream of belief, some people are fully submitted to Him and following Him with all their hearts. How will Jesus build His Church?
Peter had a revelation. ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus builds His Church on only one admission. He is the Christ, the Messiah, and the one that God has sent to make way for us to come to the Father. Our purpose, like the ones that are called out for God, and from God, is to be the instruments that will bring His Kingdom to every situation on earth.
1Pet. 2:9-10 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
