a) The Church and the Kingdom.
The Church (which is the mystery) and the Kingdom in mystery are
now contemporary. The Kingdom will be fully manifested at the
coming of Christ. The Church is within the Kingdom; probably the
regenerate are "the children of the kingdom." The Kingdom is comprised
of both good and bad (Matt. 13); the Church, of real saints only.
The Jews rejected the Kingdom under Christ and the apostles. That
Kingdom, now rejected, will be set up again when the Messiah comes.
This conception will help us to understand the parables of Matthew
13, as well as the Sermon on the Mount. The tares are sown not in
the Church, but in the field, which is the world. The Church may
be looked upon as part of the Kingdom of God, just as Illinois is
part of the United States. The Kingdom is present, in a sense,
just as the King is present in the hearts of his own people. There
is a difference between the Church and Christendom, just as there
is a difference between possessing and professing Christians.
Baptized Christendom is one thing, and the Church of Christ is
another.
b) The Church Visible and Invisible: Actual and Ideal.
The Church _Visible_ is composed of all those whose names are
enrolled upon its roster; _Invisible,_ of those whose names
are written in the Lamb's book of life; _Actual,_ people
imperfect, yet aiming after perfection, alive here on the earth;
_Ideal,_ departed saints who are now triumphant in heaven (Heb.
12:23). There is a Church in heaven just as there is one upon the
earth; indeed, it is but a part of the one Church; called the Church
_militant_ while upon the earth, and the Church _triumphant_
in heaven.
c) The Church Local and Universal.
By the first is meant the Church in any particular place, such
as "the church at Corinth"; by the latter, the Church as found in
every place (1 Cor. 1:2).