by Dave Brown
Ye often hear it said ...
"Jesus will soon come to set up his kingdom."
but Paul stated (Col. 1:12) that God had already ...
"... delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son ..."
Paul went on to state that in Christ "we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins ..." Being in Christ is synonymous with being in the "body of Christ," which is the church (Col. 1:18). The terms of entrance for the church, the kingdom, and the body of Christ are the same: "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life" (Rom. 6:3-4).
Death to the old life and being raised to "walk in newness of life" are synonymous with repentance (Acts 2:38) and being "born of the water and the Spirit" (Jn. 3:5). The terms of entry, the time that they were established (Acts 2), and the membership/citizenship are all the same for the church and the kingdom. Why look for another kingdom when we are more than conquerors" now (Rom. 8:37)?
Anticipating that teachers of a 1000-year worldly reign will cite Rev. 20, we refer you to "Myth 6" of Seven Myths of Denominationalism:
http://www.thinkonthesethings.org/myth6.pdf