VII

HOW THE KINGDOM AND THE CHURCH

DIFFER

I

N chapter three we considered "God's Covenant with David, or The Coming Kingdom," in

this age setting up His Kingdom, but doing something else, namely, building up His Church, which is called the Body of Christ. The time will come, it was added, when this Body will be completed and the Church caught up to "meet the Lord in the air" (1 Thess. 4:16-18). Afterwards, Christ will return to the earth and in Him God will set up His Kingdom which is the Kingdom promised to David and now in abeyance.

The last chapter bore the title, "The Place of the Church in the Plan of Redemption," where it was shown that the Church did not come into being until after the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ, i. e., on the day of Pentecost. It was also shown that the Church has a particular and a limited work to do on the earth, i. e., the building up of itself until, as a spiritual organism, it is complete or perfected, when the translation above referred to takes place.

In this chapter, however, the Kingdom and the Church are brought together in one view, in such a way that it may be seen more clearly how they differ.

II

To speak first of the Kingdom. The word is a translation of the Greek "basileia," and is never translated any other way. There are two phrases descriptive of it in the New Testament, "the Kingdom of God" and "the Kingdom of Heaven," which in the popular mind are identical and interchangeable, but this is an error. The first is the broader and more comprehensive term, universal in fact, "including all moral intelligences who are willingly subject to God." These are the good angels, the saints of all past and future dispensations, and the true Church of the present dispensation. (See Luke 13:28, 29; Heb. 12: 22, 23.)

On the other hand, the Kingdom of Heaven, as distinguished from the Kingdom of God, is a limited designation, and takes its rise in the divine promise to David in 2 Samuel 7:10-17. The story is something like this: At the creation of man God gave into his hands the dominion over all the earth, which man lost to Satan at the fall, the latter then becoming the "prince of this world" (cf. Gen. 1:26-28 with Matt. 4:8-10, and John 14:30). Immediately, however, God revealed His remedial purpose in Jesus Christ, the seed of the woman, who should bruise the serpent's head (Gen. 3:15). This purpose was to restore the dominion to man, and through man, again to bring it back to Himself.

Two thousand years later this purpose further revealed itself in the divine call of Abraham to become the father of the nation of Israel (Gen. 12:1-7). This nation was to be instrumental in the execution and fulfillment of the original purpose.

Again, one thousand years after the call of Abraham, and when the nation which had come out of his loins was established in its land, and David his descendant was reigning over it, that purpose still further revealed itself in the promise to David that the Lord would set up his seed after him and establish his kingdom forever (2 Sam. 7:10–17). This is the beginning of the Kingdom of Heaven.

It is called "the Kingdom of Heaven," not because it is to be realized or manifested in heaven, but because the thought of it originated there, in God's purpose of love and grace towards His creatures, and because it is heavenly in its principles and in its authority. In other words, to quote Daniel 2:44, it is "the Kingdom of Heaven" because "the God of heaven" shall set it up, but it will be set up on earth, nevertheless, and will have Jerusalem as its capital (Isa. 24:23; Joel 3:16, 17). At first it will be established over Israel when she shall have been regathered to Palestine and converted to Jesus Christ as her Saviour and Messiah; but ultimately it will be established over the whole earth (Ps. 2:8; Isa. 2:1-4; Ezek. 37: 21-25; Zech. 9:10).

Furthermore, the thought that God is to set up the Kingdom of Heaven should be dissociated in our minds from any idea that man will set it up. That is, it will not be brought to pass by any legislation of

men, nor by any international treaties. Neither will it come by "persuasion," through the preaching of the Gospel and the progress of Christianity for example, but rather by the exercise of divine power and through purifying judgments on the world powers in connection with the second advent of Christ. (See Ps. 2; Isa. 9:7; Dan. 2:35, 44, 45; Zech. 14:1-9; Rev. 19:11-16.)

As the Scofield Bible says, "it is impossible to conceive to what heights of spiritual, intellectual and physical perfection humanity will attain in the coming Kingdom," but we know it will mark an age of peace and righteousness. The meek will inherit the earth in those days; longevity will be increased; beast ferocity will be removed; justice and equity will be the rule; and the great majority of earth's inhabitants will be saved by the grace of God, for the knowledge of Him will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. Especially should it be noted that Satan will then be removed from the scene and from active participation in human affairs (Rev. 20:1-5).

And finally, as showing more clearly the relation of the Kingdom of Heaven to the Kingdom of God, let it be repeated that the Kingdom of Heaven has for its great object the ultimate establishment of the Kingdom of God in the earth. That is to say, the "Kingdom of Heaven merges into the Kingdom of God," when Christ, having "put all enemies (of the Kingdom of Heaven) under his feet," "shall have delivered up the Kingdom (of Heaven) to God, even the Father" (1 Cor. 15:24-28).

III

Coming to the thought of the Church, it is the translation of the Greek word "ecclesia," which means the called-out ones, as when a number of people are called out from their private concerns to a public meeting, and assembly of some kind.

In the New Testament it is used (1) to designate a local church, as when Paul speaks of "the church which is at Cenchrea" (Rom. 16:1); (2) a group of churches, as when he speaks of "all the churches of the Gentiles" (Rom. 16:4); (3) the visible body of professed believers, "all the churches of Christ" (Rom. 16:16); and especially (4) the body of the truly redeemed in this dispensation, no matter of what locality, or to what class they belong, "the Lord added to the Church daily" (Acts 2:47), "the Church which is his body" (Eph. 1:22, 23), "the Church of the first-born" (Heb. 12:23).

These are the called-out ones in the sense that God, by His Holy Spirit, has called them out of the world unto Himself through the exercise of their faith in Christ. They have been "delivered out of the power of darkness, and translated into the kingdom of the Son" (Col. 1:13).

Thus we see that the Church is not revealed in the plan of God till we reach the New Testament. Then it is that Christ appears on the earth, He who is the Seed of the woman promised in Eden, the Seed of Abraham and the Seed of David, the Son who should proceed out of Him and in whom His Kingdom (i. e., the Kingdom of Heaven) should be established forever (2 Sam. 7: 12, 13).