“[Jesus’ parables of the kingdom] depict a future celebration by those who will spend eternity with God in a setting which cannot easily be equated with the church as it now exists or with what the church could hope to create apart from God’s supernatural intervention at the return of Christ…The kingdom is therefore neither just God’s rule in the lives of Christians today nor simply his coming millenial reign on earth, but his dynamic activity in history, powerfully displayed in the ministry of Jesus, then present in the church which he founded, and ultimately climaxed by Christ’s coming earthly kingship.
This climactic manifestation of the kingdom will bring together those who have truly served God in every epoch of human history, not merely to worship him and to experience unending bliss, but to do so in the context of the intimate fellowship of all believers one with another. To the extent that the church today creates meaningful spiritual unity among its members, it experiences the reality of the already-present kingdom and foreshadows that coming perfect community which is the goal of history…It is arguable that the creation of such visible (though not necessarily institutional) unity among Christians is the single most important task of the church in any age.” (Craig Blomberg, Interpreting the Parables, 1st ed., p. 304)