Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.

Mark 1:14-15

From the beginning of His ministry, Jesus came preaching the Gospel of God, that the Kingdom of God is at hand.

This was His message, that the good news, the long awaited Kingdom from heaven was now within arm’s reach, and that it was to be believed in.  The command for every call to the Kingdom has always been ‘Repent and believe!”.

It wasn’t until later in His ministry that Jesus began to talk about His church.

I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.

Matthew 16:18

It wasn’t until Peter heard from Heaven that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah, that He began to talk about his called out ruling body, His Ekklesia, His Church.

You see, it makes no sense, Biblically, to have a church without the Kingdom.

If Ekklesia means called out ruling body, which it does, then what are they ruling in if not the Kingdom.  And, if they Ekklesia called church is ruling the Kingdom, then what is the nature of this Kingdom?  This was the subject of the majority of His teaching, but as one prominent Biblical teacher put it, there was one defining mark of the Kingdom that was not present in any previous Biblical accounts.

But if I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

Luke 11:20

Deliverance, as well as signs, wonders, and miracles, are the evidences of the Kingdom, and it’s manifestation upon the Earth.  The presence of these is never proof of the Kingdom, as there can be lying signs and wonders, but they will always accompany the true expression of the Kingdom.  It can also be said that they themselves are not the Kingdom, but only an Earthly demonstration of a heavenly reality.  Just as when a high pressure center pushes out a lower pressure center and creates a storm front, where we see rain, lightning, and hear the thunder, it cannot be said that the storm itself IS the high pressure center, but it exists at the clash of realities.  Where once the darkness oppressed, the light sets free.  Where once the demon bound, the Kingdom restores.  The restoration is not, in itself, the Eternal Kingdom, nor are demons being subject to us in His name the Kingdom itself, but rather its visible effect.  When we are in subjection to His Eternal Kingdom, all of creation responds and obeys.  And, as the storm is seen, felt, and heard, so is the manifesation of the unseen, unperceivable, invisible realm of God.  It is the unseen, the invisible that matters, not any work of the flesh.  But, when that seed planted grows and bears fruit, the fruit of God, that invisible thing, that tree of life within, is what causes a change in the natural.

You see, it makes no sense to have a Church without the Kingdom.  If we are called out, what are we called out to?  His Kingdom!  If we are ruling, in what realm of authority do we govern?  If we do not acknowledge that we, here and now, are in the operation and possession of His rule, reign, and authority, we deny the very under-pinning of our own position, and this is in fact exactly what many schools of thought do.

Rather, the very Kingdom that Jesus came to proclaim, demonstrate, and confer is the very same Kingdom in which we stand with our confidence.  Forgiven by the blood of Jesus, standing by His Spirit within us, we see Him alone who is seated in the Heavens.  We rule by His rod of iron.  We decree and see the rulers of this world shaken.

And, while the smallest believer in Jesus is a part of His Kingdom, unless it is believed, it is often unseen.  Though we possess the right and authority to operate in the fullness that Jesus Himself did, with greater results simply because He is with the Father, we fail to see it operate simply due to our own unbelief.

But, the very same Kingdom which Jesus brought, the very same realm and dominion and authority, is here for us to walk in.  And, so much as we are the called out, ruling body, we must rule and reign upon the Earth as He did, from that place.  In His majesty and authority, He never lorded it over or exercised it over another.  In His place as sovereign, He ruled from the place of meekness like a Lamb.  In His greatness, He stooped to the lowest, to the place of obedience, even to the washing of His own disciples’ feet and to the cross.

The Kingdom must come before the church.  A church built upon anything else must always be or become a social structure controlled by the mind of man, simply because it has left its albeit invisible foundation.

When a church is built upon the Kingdom, God is pleased in it to dwell.  So far as it strays from the invisible Kingdom of Jesus through the Holy Ghost, it to that degree ceases to be a governing body of that Kingdom, and becomes the institution of man.  It becomes carnal, earthly, and blind.  It may be corrected at some point, even as Laodicea was by the Lord in the book of Revelation, but without the purpose and focus of the Kingdom, as per Matthew 6:33, it cannot fulfill its true mandate and mission to be the body of Christ upon the Earth.  As He was, so should the church.  Not everyone needs to be operating in gifts of healing, but if the body lacks it completely, it is missing an arm!.

Without the Kingdom, the church is nothing, for it is neither called out to anything, nor can it rule without any governmental charter. Therefore the Kingdom must come before the Church, even as it did in Jesus’ ministry.