The church receives its authority from heaven to bind things on earth (16:19). The disciples are promised whenever two of them agree upon the earth (ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς) it shall be done for them by their Father in heaven (ἐν οὐρανοῖς). In short, Matthew, by choosing “kingdom of heaven,” is communicating that God’s reign logically necessitates a spatial territory and people over which he reigns. Hence, to understand the kingdom as primarily the rule/reign of God does not fit with Matthew’s language he chooses