The Presence of the Kingdom and the Nature of the Church
One of the joys of my life is the Junior and Senior High Bible Class at Somonauk Christian School. This semester I am teaching New Testament Survey and I cannot overestimate the benefit of broadly and systematically studying the New Testament. Also, the students are a gift from God because they help me feel the presence of Jesus and his kingdom as we submit to his authority through studying and learning and growing to follow him better.
I have been blessed with several “in-depth” studies of the book of Acts. This time around, however, something previously undetected caught my eye (with the help of N.T. Wright). Notice the way Luke frames his narrative of “all that Jesus began to do and teach.”
To these (the apostles) He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God (Acts 1.5, NASB).
And he (the apostle Paul) stayed two full years in his own rented quarters and was welcoming all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all openness unhindered (Acts 28.30-31, NASB).
With remarkable clarity Luke offers two “bookends” within which we should understand all that is found between. As Luke begins Acts (Vol. 2) (Luke 1.1-4; Acts 1.1), he wants the reader to understand that Acts is about Jesus and his kingdom. Within the span of the first eleven verses, he records that Jesus, over a period of forty days, appeared to his disciples and taught them concerning the kingdom. The questions the disciples asked Jesus regarded the kingdom. The promise Jesus offers the disciples pertains to the kingdom power they will receive through the Spirit to be Jesus’ witnesses to the remotest part of the earth. Jesus then ascends from earth into heaven to assume the King’s throne at the right hand of his Father. As both preachers and writers know, the introduction sets the stage for all that needs to be said, Luke clearly prepares us for the story he wants to tell – a story about what it looks like when “the kingdom of God comes to birth on earth.” So the kingdom of God is not another name for heaven – some place that is essentially far from us. Instead, the kingdom of God has come near; it has come upon us through the life and ministry and Jesus (Luke 11.20), a ministry that continues through the church because she has received the Spirit, the same kingdom power that enlivened Jesus. As we think about the kingdom, the words Jesus gave his disciples to pray are helpful in forming a definition. The kingdom is where the will of the King is gladly obeyed. This is why Jesus taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” So while I don’t believe we should equate the church and the kingdom, I do believe that within the church, God is demonstrating to the watching world what it looks like when the sovereign and saving rule of God is coming on earth as it is in heaven. Therefore, the church is pivotal within God’s kingdom story for the world.
First, while the church is not the kingdom, the church is evidence to the world that the kingdom is already present. This leads us to wander if we understand the church as having cosmic ramifications? Or is it simply some optional weekly event that may or may not improve our “spiritual lives?” Second, the church is God’s advance preview for the world of what life will be like on earth when God’s sovereign and saving rule comes in fullness. Thirdly, we must never forget Luke’s assertion that the church is the continuation of Jesus’ life and ministry. Notice again, the beginning of Acts. Luke describes his gospel as an orderly narrative of all that Jesus began to do and teach. The church, therefore, is the continuation of Jesus’ presence and ministry for the world. Finally, it seems to me (and others), that the story of Acts is Jesus’ “yes” to the apostles’ question, about restoring the kingdom to Israel. Through the gift of the Spirit, Jesus is restoring the kingdom to Israel, but in a way that Israel did not expect. Israel failed to hear from the prophets, that when Yahweh poured his Spirit afresh upon his people (i.e. restoring the Kingdom) nations would become one with God’s people (see Micah 4.1-2; Zech 2.10-11). This seems to be the narrative Luke tells in Acts. Through the Spirit-inspired ministry of the apostles and the early church, the nations are coming to the light God shined over Israel (Isaiah 60.1-6). Additionally, Luke’s sporadic descriptions of the church describe for us how the early church manifested the presence of the kingdom and also embody from Jerusalem to Rome the nature of God’s sovereign and saving rule. So it seems imperative for the church to understand itself as evidence of the kingdom’s presence and a foretaste of the kingdom’s future.
May each of us participate with devotion and transparency within our local congregations empowered by the King’s presence and his promise to come again.
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