BIBLE STUDY:
THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM
When reading the New Testament, we will meet the word "gospel" in Matthew 4:23. "And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people" (NKJ). Gospel is Strong's # 2098, "euaggelion;" from the same as 2097, a good message i.e. the gospel: gospel. The word gospel then is a good message, a good news. What is that good news or gospel?
We find the answer in Luke 4:43, "I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent." These are words from our Savior Himself, telling us that God the Father sent Him to preach the good news of the kingdom of God.
Do we today hear this gospel of the kingdom being preached? Or do we hear other gospels being preached? The apostle Paul warned of a coming apostasy, "For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted - you may well put up with it" (2Corinthians 11:4).
To the question of whether we hear the gospel of the kingdom of God being preached today, we say, turn on your T.V. sets on a Sunday morning. One can hear many televangelist preach various topics but none of them is speaking the good news about the kingdom.
When growing up in a Baptist family, and every year, the sectarian university sent out a team composed of young theology students to conduct evangelistic meetings in our town. Their team was called the gospel team. They were sent as part of their training to spread the good news about Jesus Christ. To them the good news or gospel is that Jesus Christ came to save humanity. It was from this team that I learned the slogan, "Life is short, death is sure, sin the cause, Christ the cure." I had been a Baptist for 27 years and had been teaching Sunday school in our church for many years, yet it never occurred to my mind that the kingdom of God is a literal kingdom! We were taught that the kingdom is only in our hearts. This is supported by the verses in Luke 17:20-21, which says that the kingdom is "within you". To us the kingdom was an ethereal thing.
Such an assumption I found out later to be incorrect for several reason:. The Greek word "entos," translated "within," is better translated "in the midst of" (Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, "Within"). Several translations including the Revised Standard Version, Jerusalem Bible and New English Bible, make this clear. Jesus Christ could have not been telling the Pharisees that God's Kingdom was something that existed within their hearts or minds - after all, they wanted to destroy Him (Matthew 12:14, Mark 3:6).
Instead, in this passage, Christ was pointing out the paradox that the Pharisees did not have the spiritual discernment to recognize that the message of the Kingdom of God was at hand or being offered to them. "But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor! Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?" (Matt. 23:13,15-17).
To punctuate this point, Jesus, referring to Himself, said "the kingdom of God is among you" or "in your midst." The spiritually blind Pharisees did not recognize Jesus as the divine Representative of that Kingdom.
Rather than telling the Pharisees that the Kingdom of God was something in their hearts, Jesus Christ warned them that they were so spiritually blind they couldn't recognize the very personification of that Kingdom in Him! There is no basis in this passage for believing the Kingdom of God resides in one's heart.
The real gospel is that almost 2,000 years ago, Jesus Christ, the very Son of God, came to earth prophesying a wonderful future for humanity after an intense period of earthshaking calamities. His message is the gospel or good news this world so desperately needs.
We will see that the good news Jesus Christ brought is not just a message about His life and death leading to our salvation; His message also concerns the meaning of salvation and how He intends to save the human race from its present problems. The gospel reveals the glorious destiny of mankind!
Sadly, humankind has reduced the gospel to a story about the person of Jesus Christ, while neglecting and overlooking the deeper and vastly more encompassing message He brought. He most certainly brought good news that this tired and troubled world needs to hear!
Another confusing topic that people discuss, is found in Colossians 1:13, where it describes physical saints as already in the kingdom. Back in 1998 two of our brethren in the Philippines went to Baguio up north in Luzon, where most splintered groups of the churches of God prefer to hold the Feast of Tabernacles because of the cool temperature there. The Worldwide Church of God was also there. They both met for services in the same big building, each in a different meeting room. Our former minister here in Iloilo was also there and he invited the two to join him for a service which they politely obliged. The topic was "Celebration of Life," the sermon minister for that day was our former minister. He spoke about how we are now in the kingdom of God. He dealt mainly on Colossians 1:13. As such, he made it appear that Christians are now in the kingdom of God.
However, this clearly isn't the case, since 1 Corinthians 15:50 tells us that "flesh and blood [physical bodies] cannot inherit the kingdom of God."
Part of the confusion here comes from the meaning of the word "kingdom." In addition to meaning a literal kingdom, the Greek word "basileia," translated "kingdom," denotes sovereignty and royal power (Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, "kingdom").
This passage in Colossians shows that God's sovereignty and power begins in the life of the Christian at conversion. The New International Version Study Bible explains that in this verse the word kingdom "does not here refer to a territory but to the authority, rule or sovereign power of a king. Here it means that the Christian is no longer under the dominion of evil but under the benevolent rule of God's Son."
Virtually all other occurrences of basileia, when referring to the kingdom of God, point to the literal dominion that Christ will establish at His return (Matthew 6:33; Revelation 11:15). As "heirs of God" in training to inherit the future kingdom (Romans 8:15-17; Matthew 25:34; Revelation 20:4, 6), Christians are thus already subject to the sovereignty and authority of that kingdom, although not yet residents of it.
Jesus Christ, ruler of the coming kingdom, is the Lord and Master of the set apart called ones! (Philippians 2:9-11). God rules the lives of the converted called - those who voluntarily obey Him and His laws. They submit themselves to God's basileia - His sovereignty and power. They individually are part of the Church, the Body of Christ, which God also rules. But the Church collectively look to God's coming world rule when the basileia would be fully established.
The context leading up to Colossians 1:13 also helps clarify the meaning. Verse 9 begins a description of points Paul and Timothy regularly included in their prayers. One of the blessings they were thankful for was that God qualified them and the other members to receive the inheritance of the saints (verse 12).
However, that inheritance, eternal life, does not come until Christ returns (1 Corinthians 15:50-52; Romans 8:17). This is why the Bible refers to the saints as heirs of the kingdom (James 2:5). Verse 13 of Colossians 1, continues this theme, adding that those qualified as heirs, those whose status had changed from non-heirs to heirs, were "translated," or transferred, from the power of evil to the kingdom of God.
We, as modern-day saints, also exchange systems of government when we are converted. We now give our allegiance and obedience to the Kingdom of God, even though that kingdom has not fully come.
In 2 Corinthians 5:20, Paul uses a different comparison to help us understand this, calling us "ambassadors." An ambassador is one who represents a kingdom or another government, but resides in a different land. When being Christ like, we are thus ambassadors for God's kingdom, representing His way of life in our current earthly situation and age in which we reside. We are not yet in the Kingdom of God.
Satan, our number one enemy, is very active now that he knows that he has but a short time to rule over his kingdom. He knows that when Christ returns, this world which was once given to him will be turned over to its rightful owner, Jesus Christ, as King of kings and Lord of lords! "That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: Which in His times He shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords" (1 Tim 6:14-15).
Just recently Satan came with another ploy. The "gospel of Judas" came into modern headlines. This could be Satan's last attempt to retain his kingdom. People were afraid that the appearance of the gospel of Judas may dampen the faith of some. The world already has the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and with this other one, which may run counter to the four, it could lead to confusion. What the world does not know is that they already have lost the true gospel! They do not believe in the true gospel, yet they are afraid of losing it!
One way Christians can enhance their vision of the coming Kingdom of God is by understanding the meaning of God's seven annual Holy Days. Although some people think of them as only Jewish observances, God made it clear that they are, in reality, His festivals and Holy Days (Leviticus 23:2,4). God gave these special observances to help us understand Christ's part in our salvation and how the Kingdom of God will be established on earth.
In Colossians 2:16, Paul referred to these festivals as "a shadow of things to come." Paul and the early Church kept them as reminders of the coming Kingdom of God. Even though others criticized the Colossians for the way they observed these days, Paul and the saints at Colosse grasped the connection between the purpose of these days and the gospel.
Understanding the meaning of these annual sacred assemblies can help us understand the wonderful message Jesus Christ taught - God's plan for His coming Kingdom and eternal life.
The apostles kept these festivals in their correct appointed times. In these last days however, the Jews, who would not even believe in Jesus Christ as the Messiah, postponed God's festivals for their convenience. They do not want to be inconvenienced by a back to back Sabbath, so they devised postponement rules which are not even mentioned in the Bible!
God revealed His wonderful truth to those He is calling now (John 6:44). Jesus Christ said His message would be preached at the end time before His second coming. "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come" (Matthew 24:14).
The Church of God, In Truth is committed to proclaim this message and invites you to follow Jesus Christ's admonition to believe and respond to it. To help any who are genuinely seeking the coming kingdom of God, we offer a free magazine, The "Prove All Things," and as the name implies, we want you to prove all things, just like the noble Bereans. It contain articles of importance for edification and truth towards entrance into the Kingdom of God.
The message Jesus brought is called, appropriately, "the good news - the gospel" - of the Kingdom of God. And it really is a good news! It is the most wonderful news imaginable to mankind. Jesus Christ is asking you to believe and "seek first the kingdom of God" (Matthew 6:33). If you do, It would be God's pleasure to give you the Kingdom (Luke 12:32). This is the true gospel
Sotero Sonza
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