"Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of woman there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he" (Matthew 11:11). Jesus was showing the exalted privilege of being in the kingdom. Even the least in the kingdom would be greater than John.
Jesus used the terms church and kingdom interchangeably in Matt. 16:18- 19. After telling Peter that he would build his church, he said "and I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven." Did our Lord promise to build one institution the church, and give Peter the keys to another institution, the kingdom On the day of Pentecost, Peter used the "keys" to open the door of the church, figuratively speaking, for the Jews (Acts 2:34-38, 40-41). He also used the keys to show the Gentiles that "...God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him" (Acts 10:34-35).
In the Colossian letter, Paul shows that the kingdom of God is the church. He writes to "the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse" (Colossians 1:2). Could anyone doubt that these "saints and faithful brethren" constituted the church in that city? Paul then speaks of himself and the Colossian Christians whom God had "delivered from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear son" (1:13). There simply cannot be any doubt that at the time of Paul's writing to the Colossians, the kingdom was in existence.
The terms of admission are the same for the church and the kingdom.
"Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (John 3:5). The rebirth by water and Spirit is baptism through the guidance of the Spirit (through the word). Faith and baptism make one a member of the church; submission to the same makes one a member of the kingdom of God.
They have the same members. The church at Colosse was in the kingdom (Col. 1:13).
They have the same memorial. Jesus told the disciples at the Last Supper that he would not eat the bread and drink the fruit of the vine again until he ate and drank with them in his Father's kingdom (Matt. 26:29). This same memorial is next found in the church (I Corinthians 11:18-34).
Today, no one can be in God's kingdom without being in the church. The church is the kingdom. All of the saved are in the church (Acts 2:47).
"If any man speak let him speak as the oracles of God" (I Peter 4:11).
Don H. Noblin
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