The Gospel Jesus Preached
Over the passing centuries since Jesus lived, traditional Christianity has
unfortunately obscured many of the teachings of Scripture. In some cases, this
veiling of certain truths has been deliberate—for instance, in the doctrines of
justification and of the Sabbath—while others have been allowed to fade from
memory or to be eclipsed by emphasis on other doctrines. The early Roman
Catholic Church bears much of the blame for these significant changes, having
decreed through their councils that Roman Christianity would follow paths contrary
to God's Word.
The gospel that
Jesus taught during His ministry is one such area that has been purposefully
diverted from scriptural reality. Ask any nominal Christian what Jesus' gospel was, and the answer is likely
to be, "He preached a gospel of grace" or perhaps, "a gospel of
salvation." Both of these are correct answers but not strictly accurate
ones. Many Protestants sit in their pews each week and hear a gospel about
Jesus Himself. This, too, is not wrong—certainly, Jesus is central to the
gospel—but it is not exactly what the Bible says it is.
Mark 1:14-15 provides
the inspired answer to our question: "Now after John [the Baptist] was put
in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, ‘The time is
fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel'"
(emphasis ours; see also Matthew
4:23; 9:35; 24:14).
His message, then, was bigger than grace and salvation—as wonderful as they
are—or even bigger than Himself, for that matter. His message was about the
reign, the rule, the dominion, of God the Father, as well as of the Son, the
One who is to be the King of that Kingdom (see John
18:37; Revelation
19:11-16).
The phrases
"Kingdom of God" and "Kingdom of Heaven" are found over a hundred
times in the New Testament, the majority of them in the four gospels.
"Kingdom of Grace" never appears, nor—to the surprise of many—does
"gospel of grace." "Gospel of peace" is found twice,
in Romans
10:15 and Ephesians
6:15, both probably echoing Isaiah
52:7 and Nahum
1:15. In Ephesians
1:13, Paul calls it "the gospel of your
salvation." Yet, by far, the gospel is most often called "the gospel
of Christ," "the gospel of God," or something similar. From the
Bible's own wording, then, we can conclude that the divinely inspired gospel is
about the Kingdom of God.
"The
gospel of the Kingdom of God" encompasses grace, faith, redemption,
justification, sanctification, salvation, glorification, and all the other
doctrines of Christianity because all of these teachings comprise the major
tenets of God's way of life and the process of fulfilling His plan for
humanity. The Kingdom of God is the goal of God's great purpose, and if we
desire to have a part in it with Him, it must be our goal too. Jesus' preaching
of the gospel of the Kingdom of God provides us with our objective, as well as
with all of the component parts needed to reach it.
As many know,
the word "gospel" derives from an Old English word, gödspel,
which literally means "good news" or "good tidings." Thus,
when Christ preached, He proclaimed the good news of the soon-coming Kingdom of
God. But, some may wonder, is this not God's world? Is He not its Creator? Is
He not sovereign of the entire universe? Why, then, did Jesus have to announce
that God's dominion was on its way?
The answer is
simple: This is not God's world! Yes, He created it. Yes, He governs all
things. However, from the time of Adam and Eve's sinin the Garden of Eden,
God and man have effectively been separated from each other. The holy God
cannot abide sin: "But your iniquities have separated you from your God;
and your sins have hidden His face from you," declares Isaiah
59:2. In turn, sin has made humanity hold
God at arm's length for thousands of years, and man's banishment of God from
his life has resulted in his perpetually miserable condition: war, poverty,
disease, deception, distrust, and death.
Taking
advantage of the vacuum, as it were, Satan the Devil has
enthroned himself as "the god of this age" and blinded the minds of
men and women to the truths that would set them free (II
Corinthians 4:4). He has managed to deceive the whole
world (Revelation
12:9), not only about himself, but about God
and His way of salvation. This is why, among the first things He had to do,
Jesus had to endure the Devil's temptations and overcome him and them without
sinning (Matthew
4:1-11; Luke
4:1-13). He had to prove Himself superior to
Satan's devices and worthy of His throne over the whole earth and all
mankind.
Luke in
particular shows the link between Jesus' overcoming of Satan and His preaching
of the gospel of the Kingdom of God. Just three verses after the end of the
temptation narrative, Luke recounts the episode of Jesus' announcement of His
Messiahship in Nazareth's synagogue (Luke
4:16-21). He quotes from Isaiah
49:8-9, which provide His job assignment:
The Spirit of
the LORD is upon Me, because
He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the
blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable
year of the LORD. (Luke
4:18-19)
The gospel of
the Kingdom of God balances these present and future elements of God's purpose.
By His calling, God is selecting a few chosen servants to be the firstfruits of
His Kingdom (John
6:44; Matthew
22:14; James
1:18; Revelation
14:4). These elect, who believe the gospel,
are put through the process of salvation: They hear God's Word, believe, repent
of their sins, are baptized, and receive the gift of God's Holy Spirit. God forgives
and justifies them through His grace, and then they become sanctified both by
the imputation of Christ's holiness as well as
through the lifelong processof overcoming their sins, growth in
righteousness, and bearing fruit of godliness. At Christ's return, they will be
resurrected and changed into spirit, given eternal life, and glorified as God's
sons and daughters. They, as the Bride of Christ forever (Revelation
19:7-9), will reign as kings and priests (Revelation
5:10).
Such is the
gist of Jesus' message of good tidings to mankind. In reality, it is the
message of the entire Bible—God's wonderful plan of salvation and the
establishment of His everlasting Kingdom.
