In this booklet we will consider the relationship between the kingdom of God and the church, but let us first ask a question which is vitally related to our subject: What is the object of the gospel? In our preaching we generally tell the gospel story from the human standpoint, seldom from the divine. For one thing, we preachers lack a lofty enough concept of the gospel; for another, it is easier to preach from the human angle, for then we can make a more personal appeal to our audience. If we preach the gospel from God's standpoint, our hearers are apt to consider it too remote, and because they feel it is of no immediate interest, it is difficult for us to touch their emotions; so we make salvation from sin the object, and offer our audience joy and peace. Occasionally, we raise the standard a little and present life as the goal. Our starting point is man's sin, man's unrest, man's misery, and man's dead condition. Our goal is pardon, peace, joy, and life. Because we stress man's need when we preach the gospel, our converts stress their gain when they accept the gospel. They will say, "I believed on the Lord Jesus, and I obtained forgiveness of sins; I obtained peace and joy and life."
But if we look carefully through the Bible, setting aside our own concepts, we see that the scriptural presentation is quite different from ours. It is this: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." It presents the kingdom as the object of the gospel. We should repent not merely to obtain pardon, not merely to obtain peace, not merely to obtain life, but because there is a heavenly kingdom that requires our repentance. We must repent in order to become partakers in this kingdom. We may be satisfied to have obtained pardon, peace, and life, but God is not satisfied with that.
It was not only John the Baptist who began his gospel preaching with the words, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." These same words were also spoken by the Lord Jesus when He began His ministry. In this New Testament dispensation, when presenting the gospel to man, God presents the kingdom as its one transcendent object. When in the New Testament He substitutes grace for law, He does it for the kingdom's sake, because the law was impotent to lead men into the kingdom. Once we see the kingdom, we realize how inadequate was our former apprehension of the gospel.
What a familiar topic the new birth is! How many have preached on the subject from the third chapter of John! But how many have seen the purpose of the new birth? Our Lord said, "Except a man be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3). The object He presented was the kingdom! The purpose of the new birth is to enable us to enter the kingdom!
I fear that not many have this concept of the new birth—that thereby God has given us His life so that we may be able to partake of His kingdom. If I am to live in the kingdom of God, I need to possess a life other than the life I have by nature. I must be born again. I must receive the life of God, for unless I possess His life, I cannot live in His kingdom.
What we have said makes it sufficiently clear that the gospel always has the kingdom of God in view; it is therefore called "the gospel of the kingdom." Matthew 24:14 says, "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world." But what is the kingdom?
The Christianity of today has made the matter of the kingdom largely a matter of prophecy, a matter related to the future. Many think "to enter the kingdom" is equivalent to "going to heaven." When I was a child I heard very much preaching of this kind—setting forth "the kingdom of heaven" or "the kingdom of God" as a place of eternal happiness reserved for the future. This presentation is contrary to the Scriptures. The Scriptures show that the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven relates to our life in this present time. We acknowledge there is an aspect of the kingdom that is future, but the scriptural emphasis is on the present rather than the future. The kingdom touches our actual, everyday life.