The Church:
God’s Kingdom and His Covenant People.
The question, “What is the Church?” is as pertinent today as it has been since Pentecost. Inherent in the church is its mission on earth. In the ‘Back to the Basics series’, we revisit our understanding of concepts, principles, and the context of terms in today’s Christian lexicon against increasingly perverted and distorted versions of their meaning.
Today, church is the umbrella word under which all manner of religious/spiritual manipulation and exploitation of the unwary/gullible masses of the people are done.
The Greek word used in the Bible for a church is “ecclesia”, which means “called out ones”. It relates to the Old Testament Hebrew word “quail”, which means a gathering in response to the call of God. Thus the church is a people relating to God, not merely a building or an organization (1 Peter 2: 9). In çharacter, the church is universal: the community of all true believers for all time (Ephesians 5:25; Galatians 1:13), and local: particular congregations in particular places (Acts 8:1; 1 Corinthians1:2; Romans 16:5; Revelation 1:11,20; 2:1).
All Christians are a part of the universal church and need to belong to a specific local expression of that church. Biblical Christians must keep an equal balance between the universal and the local.
The kingdom of God is the dynamic kingly rule of God - the sphere in which God’s rule is experienced. The citizens of the kingdom are people who enter it, live under it, and are governed by it. The church is the community of God’s people on earth. Jesus signaled the arrival of the kingdom; the disciples preached the good news of the kingdom (Acts 8:12, 19:8).
The Church essentially is an extension of the kingdom. As humans are touched by the church, they are saved and added to the church. In other words, the church was created by the kingdom, and for the kingdom. The Holy Spirit at work manifests the power of God’s kingdom through Christ’s disciples to bring healing and deliverance. Signs and miracles are proofs of the presence of the kingdom (Matthew 10:7-8).
A People Set Apart
As noted above, the Hebrew word translated as church is ‘quail’, ‘ecclesia’ in Greek, meaning a gathering responding to the call of God. People who are set apart.
God had set out in search of a people to work through and accomplish the purpose of restoring humanity to the relationship He had with them before the Fall. He came knocking on Abram’s door, calling him out from among his people, and changed his name to Abraham.
God entered into a covenant relationship with Abraham and promised to bless him and make him a blessing to the world. Abraham’s descendants, the Israelites, were later brought out of slavery in Egypt under the leadership of Moses. At Sinai, Moses led the Israelites as a people, into a covenant relationship with God.
“Then Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt and how I carried you on eagle’s wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19: 3-5).
Treasured Possession, Kingdom of Priests, and Holy nation are the terms used by God to characterize the people of Israel if they obey Him fully and keep His covenant.
As treasured possessions, they will be God’s special people; collectively as a nation, they will be priests in God’s kingdom. The job of a priest is to represent the people before God - atoning for their sins by offering the blood of animals as a substitute for their blood. God chose Aaron and the Levites to serve in the Temple. They were set aside to perform the sacred duty of standing in the gap.
In other words, His holy nation will serve as a bridge between Him and the rest of humanity. Israel will stand out distinctly as a people - called out of the world.
God did not leave His chosen people without an all-time message. At Sinai, God instructed Moses - who doubled as God’s ‘mouthpiece’ and Israel’s representative, on His specific message for Israel. Moses tarried in God’s presence for 40 days and nights to receive the Ten Commandments - the Covenant Code.
After the death of Moses, God repeated the message to Joshua, his successor. He said to him:
“Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the laws my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Keep this Book of the Law on your lips, meditating on it day and night so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful” (Joshua 1:7-8).
In the same vein, the generation of young Israelites who had the good fortune of getting to the brink of the promised Land had the words of the Covenant read out to them and reminded of the blessings for obedience and the consequences of following other gods.
New Covenant People
The church is essentially the living community of those who have responded to the call of God. God’s dwelling place is no longer the temple in Jerusalem but believers in Christ. The priesthood is no longer Aaron’s descendants but all believers who now have direct access to God. Jesus is the High Priest through whom believers access God. He is before God, the Father interceding for all believers.
Believers are now God’s holy nation - no longer Israel. Both Jews and Gentile Christians — members of the church — are now the people of God and not the people of modern Israel.
Most titles used to identify God’s people in the Old Testament are given credence in the Church of the New Testament. The Church is the fulfillment and custodian of Old Testament promises made to Israel.
To reinforce the reality of its new role, Jesus said to Peter, representing the Church,
“I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:18, 19).
Jesus appeared to his disciples after his resurrection and said to them,
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, and TEACHING them to obey everything I have commanded you” (capitals mine), (Matthew 28:16–20).
The mandate is to teach EVERYTHING — all, not just one isolated subject of his teaching and commands.
With the keys of the kingdom of heaven given to it, the Church, not an individual, is the custodian of God’s kingdom on earth. The authority given to the Church is meant to be exercised for governance in the kingdom - to enforce God’s will and purpose on earth.
It is no authority to bind Satan nor decree material blessings indiscriminately to unbelievers and nominal Christians.
The Church of Christ in all its local expressions around the globe marches on - fulfilling its mandate of making disciples of all nations, and the gates of Hades continue to fall before it.
It’s up to discerñing individual believers and local assemblies to join the victorious army of the kingdom in its conquest - preparing for the return of Jesus, the Head of the Church.
