Is it possible, that God knew Jesus would die, but that He did not plan that the church would be purchased as a result?
Many claim that the church of Christ was an afterthought, or an accident.
Premillennialists teach that “the kingdom of Matt. 3:2 was prophesied, but the Jews rejected Christ and the kingdom, and in its place Christ established the church. The kingdom was postponed until His second coming. This means that the Old Testament did not prophesy the church of the New Testament. To put it another way, the gospel age, which is the church age since the church was created by the gospel (Acts 20:28), was not prophesied” (James Bales, Prophesy And Premillennialism. p. 92).
“Premillennialism” literally means pre “before” and millennium “the thousand years.” A general definition given by a premillennialist is that: Christ’s second coming precedes His establishment of a glorious kingdom of peace and righteousness on earth. He shall personally reign from Jerusalem with His saints (Ludwigson, A Survey of Bible Prophecy, p. 115) (“Dispensational Premillennialism” Therefore Stand, Vol. 14, No. 3, p. 17).
Notice some of the identifying marks of the false doctrine of Premillennialism regarding the church and the kingdom: 1. One who teaches the failure of the Old Testament prophecies concerning Christ coming to earth to establish the Messianic kingdom. 2. One who makes a distinction between the kingdom the prophets saw and the church that Christ established on Pentecost. 3. One who draws lines between the church of Christ and the kingdom of God by stating the former is now here, but the latter is yet future.
Premillennialism plainly denies the biblical fact that Jesus fulfilled God’s will. Bales has correctly reasoned, “This author is convinced, however, that Jesus did what He came to do. He came to fulfill the law and the prophets, and He did (Matt. 5:17-18). If the kingdom was prophesied, but not established, and if the church was not prophesied, but was established, Christ did not do what He came to do, i.e. to fulfill the law and the prophets” ( p. 17). As God planned the death of Christ for the redemption of men, so He planned the church which is the number of the redeemed.
The trouble with too many is that they do not understand the meaning of the term “kingdom” and the term “church.” Kingdom describes the government; church, the people called out. God called out his people; this called out group is the church. This is what the word “church” means; a called out people to serve God; called out, of course, by the gospel. Now this “called out group” was not left without a government, hence the government that rules them is this “kingdom of Christ on David’s throne.” They are the same people, at the same time and both were included in the promises and prophecies of the Old Testament” (E.R. Harper. Living Issues. P 64).
The church/kingdom of Jesus Christ was deliberately purposed in the mind of God before time began (Ephesians 3:3-11; 1 Peter 1:18-20; Acts 20:28). The church of Christ and the Kingdom of God are one and the same institution.
SM
