kingdomready.org

The word ‘gospel’ is shorthand for God’s good news to man. It is His promise of salvation. He enters into covenant or contract with those who accept it and pledge their allegiance to it. Because of this, the good news is the power of God to save those who believe. To trust in this saving promise is the key to a contract with God assuring favour with him and uncovering the secret of immortality. To be ignorant of the gospel is to be outside God’s covenant. This is as fatal as being afflicted with a deadly disease and not knowing the cure. The whole gospel is twofold. Like a coin with only one side, a one sided gospel is counterfeit.

THE FIRST ELEMENT

The first element is the message of the kingdom. Jesus dedicated his life to proclaiming the good news that, since God is true to his word, he will fulfill the promise made to Abraham and confirmed through his prophets that his people would inherit the earth. They will have the privilege of being part of the divine government for eternity. At that time, the entire creation will undergo regeneration, the curse will be removed, justice will reign and the nations will enjoy universal peace.

This message was all summed up in one majestic phrase the kingdom of God. Jesus saw the announcement of this as the first priority of his Messianic job description.

Luke 4:43 And he said unto them, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I sent.

So the gospel of Jesus is not just a set of facts about who he is and what he did, but also the message he himself preached. Therefore faith in Jesus means both believing the truth about him, and being persuaded by his kingdom preaching.

Matthew 4:23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.

• Jesus not only preached the gospel of the kingdom, he commissioned his disciples to do the same (Matthew 10:7; Luke 9:60).
• He has commanded all who follow him to make seeking God’s kingdom the first priority of their lives (Matthew 6:33).
• He taught us, as often as we pray, to ask for the kingdom to come (Matthew 6:10).
• Before this evil age comes to an end, Jesus foresaw the gospel of the kingdom being preached throughout the entire world (Matthew 24:14).
• See also: Matthew 4:23; 9:35; 25:31; Mark 1:14,15; Luke 22:28-30; 12:32

All in all the gospel of Matthew mentions the kingdom of God 52 times, Mark 19 times, Luke 44 times and John 4 times.  The coming of the kingdom of God was the national hope of the Jewish nation. They were Abrahams seed. Because of this they had been chosen to be the unique custodians of God’s great plan for mankind, which he had made known to their forefather.

Romans 4:13 For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

They had been aware from generation to generation that their God was active in history, revealing his purposes to them by making promises and revealing his faithfulness to his word by keeping them. He showed himself to be a God motivated by Fatherly love, rich in mercy, wise and powerful beyond measure.

So Jesus proclamation of the gospel of the kingdom was no innovation at all. He was just endorsing the promise of God to Abraham and his seed. Though there is some confusion about the term nowadays, those first century Palestinian Jews who originally heard Jesus would have understood him completely.

Romans 15:8 Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision [the Jewish nation] for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers:

Then came the twist. Quite late in Jesus’ ministry he made a shocking disclosure to his apostles. First, Jesus confirmed what they had only dared to hope. He was indeed the Messiah, God’s agent for the restoration of divine government to the earth. He is the man who would one day rule the world from his father David’s throne in Jerusalem (Psalm 2:8; Isaiah 2:1-4; 9:7; Luke 1:32-33). But the moment was bitter-sweet. He went on to reveal that, contrary to their expectations, he would suffer rejection, be killed and raised from the dead first! Today we are so used to seeing the image of Jesus crucified that it is hard for us to appreciate just how unthinkable this must have been to those early followers of his.

To be continued…