“Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven…”
Christ, in the Gospels, as well as Paul, in Galatians, both use royal language to describe salvation. They were not creating a system to be saved, but rather they are pointing to the kingdom of Christ. Christ’s death and resurrection is the pinnacle of our salvation; and it is from this that the kingdom is established. It is through this kingdom that we are saved. What does this kingdom look like? It looks like what Christ calls “the Church.”
Christ said that the enemy would never overcome His established eternal people, the Church (Matthew 16:18). Isaiah 9 speaks of God’s eternal people as His kingdom when he says, “Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever…” The kingdom of God is comprised of God’s people and the organization of them to rule the earth through spiritual dominion. The establishment of the clergy is the ‘existential’ foundation of this “church militant,” and the call to preach the Gospel and “make disciples of all nations” is the commission.
In Ephesians 4: 10-13 we see that St. Paul the Apostle declares that a primary reason for the establishment of the clergy is for the eventual unity of the Church. In verses 12 and 13 he says that the ministry is given for the “equipping of the saints…till we all come to the unity of the faith…” The Gospel kingdom of Christ will be victorious on earth and Christ’s desire for unity (John 17:21) will one day begin to take its final form. This is the kingdom!
In Matthew 13 we see the parable of the Wheat and the Tares. This shows how Christ’s kingdom (the Church being the core of this kingdom) consists of both the true believers and false believers (wheat and tares). The passage continues to explain that the kingdom will one day reach its fullest potential and the tares will be brought out and burned, thus entering a new age in the heavenly Jerusalem.
The task and mission of the Church is to bring this unity to fruition; to draw God’s people into His fold for eternity. But this is not only done through the ministers of the Church, it is done through the entire body of Christ ministering through their ethics: healing the sick, feeding the poor, raising godly families, taking care of the orphans, etc. This is the law of God in action, convicting the nonbelievers of their bad (sinful) ethics, pouring shame and conviction on them just as the Proverbs and St. Paul speak of (Romans 12:20). The kingdom of God is a tangible reality in which we find the Church in its core, ruled by the spiritual forces of the Trinity, enabling good works for the expansion of Christ’s rule.