"With the coming of the Spirit, the church has a foretaste of the salvation of the kingdom: the kingdom "banquet" has been prepared by the work of Christ, but it waits for a future time, when all the guests have been assembled (Luke 14:15-24). Yet those who follow Christ have already begun to taste the power of salvation that will accomplish there renewal of all things. As the church enjoys this foretaste of the banquet to come, it becomes the prime exhibit of what the future kingdom will look like. Think here of a film preview, a few minutes of actual footage from a film not yet released. This trailer is shown so that the potential audience can catch a glimpse of what the whole film will look like once it is ready to be shown in its entirety. One important function of the church is thus to be a picture, a brief representation, a sample of what the future in God's kingdom will be."- Craig G. Bartholomew and Michael W. Goheen, The Drama of Scripture, p. 200.
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