The church as the Kingdom of God

The Word of God teaches that the church is the reality and essence of the Kingdom of God. The Westminster Confession of Faith—that wonderful and time-honored Puritan theological document—concurs with God, and His Scripture (with its “ecclesiocentricity”), when it says this, in WCF, Chapter 25, Article 2:

“The visible Church, which is also catholic or universal under the Gospel (not confined to one nation, as before under the law), consists of all those throughout the world that profess the true religion; and of their children: AND IS THE KINGDOM OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, the house and family of God, out of which there is no ordinary possibility of salvation.” [emphasis mine]

Nothing exists on earth, or in heaven, that has anything of the reality of God, or the redemption of Christ, that is not directly (or indirectly) related to Christ’s church. (The reason for this, is that Jesus Himself cannot be properly conceived of, in terms of His work, apart from His body [His church].)

So, if the family is to have any part in the Kingdom of God, it will need to come under the covenant and the blessings of the church, (initially through baptism). If the state is to have any part in the Kingdom of God, it will need to accord itself with the teachings of the ministers of the church, who bring the Word of God to bear, with regard to it (the state). And, if anything else in the world is to have any of the benefits of the Kingdom of God, it will also need, in whatever appropriate way, to align itself with the church—so that the Word of God benefits it, too.

True Christians, corporately (as the church), and individually (as citizens of the Kingdom of heaven), have the wonderful privilege of representing the King (Jesus), and spreading His gospel of grace all around the world, wherever the extent of their influence reaches.