“The apostles have preached the gospel to us from the Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ from God. Christ therefore was sent forth by God, and the apostles by Christ…They went forth proclaiming that the kingdom of God was at hand” (Clement of Rome, AD 97, Letter to the Corinthians, ch. 42)
“Since Christ said at the very outset of the preaching of the Gospel: ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand’ (Matt. 4:17), it is most absurd to say that the Gospel of Christ is not the Gospel of the kingdom” (Thomas Aquinas, 1274, Summa Theologiae, Quest. 106, Art. 4).
According to my deeply sincere “dispensational” background (for decades), the “kingdom/king” vocabulary of the four gospels was outdated doctrine, purely for ancient Israelites, but it had nothing to do with Christians. How terribly wrong I was!
“The lord said [to Saul of Tarsus], ‘I am Jesus, whom
you are persecuting. But get up on your feet. I have
appeared to you for this purpose: to appoint you a servant
and a witness, both of the things which you have seen
and of the things which I will reveal to you. I will rescue
you from your own people and from the Gentiles to
whom I am sending you, to open their eyes so that they
may turn from darkness to light, and from the domain of
Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins
and an inheritance among those who are made holy by
faith in me’”
(Acts 26:15b-18, OGF).
Among other realities (“the things which I will reveal to you”) which Jesus himself communicated to Saul (or Paul) must have been the one authentic Gospel of the Kingdom of God. As Paul wrote, “the Gospel I preached is not from people. I did not receive it from people, nor was it taught to me, but it came through a revelation of Jesus Messiah” (Gal. 1:11b-12).
Modern theologians tend to separate “the Gospel of the grace of God” from “the Gospel of the Kingdom,” but Paul strongly united such phrases as mutually reflective of the one true Gospel in Acts 20:24-25! The genuine Gospel is one, and forceful curses are pronounced on those who would distort or pervert “the Gospel as the Messiah preached it” (Gal. 1:6-9).
There is no Scriptural doubt whatsoever that Paul avidly preached the same Gospel of the Kingdom of God (Acts 14:22; 19:8; 20:24-25; 28:23, 31) which his lord Jesus, the Anointed One, had been the forerunner in proclaiming (Heb. 2:3; Mark 1:1, 14-15). Far from being a dusty relic from a previous “dispensation,” the Gospel of the Kingdom of God was extremely vital and pertinent (something about which to be urgently persuasive: Acts 19:8) for the thirty years or so which span the book of Acts. It is still the vital standard for true preaching!
Furthermore, it is this very Gospel which must be
preached until the end of this current age:
“This Gospel
of the Kingdom will be preached around the whole world
as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will
come”
(Matt. 24:14). The “end” of course means “the
end of the age” as in the context (v. 3, 6). If dubious,
defective theologies have currently permeated all corners
of the world, it is time to replace them with the Gospel!
Even though it is popular nowadays to sharply distinguish traditional interpretations of Pauline theology from Jesus’ own teachings, Paul himself never contrasted his understanding of the Gospel with the sound, wholesome words of our lord Jesus Messiah: “If anyone teaches other doctrines and does not agree with the health-giving words, namely the teaching of our lord Jesus Messiah, and thus with the teaching which promotes godliness, he is conceited, understanding nothing” (1 Tim. 6:3-4a).
The word “anointed” or “Messiah” (in Hebrew Mashiach; in Greek Christos) is used in the Old Testament of consecrated priests and also of anointed kings (like Saul and David). Only three times is it used prophetically of a special “Messiah” to come, or an “Anointed One” to come!
After Hannah wrestled in anguished prayers (and finally got pregnant) and began raising Samuel, her firstborn son, whom she dedicated to the service of YHWH, she poured out a heartfelt prayer of thanksgiving in 1 Samuel 2:1-10. A dynamic, prophetic picture emerges at the end of her powerful prayer! “He raises up the poor from the dust [cp. Dan. 12:2]; he lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor. For the pillars of the earth are the YHWH’S, and on them he has set the world. He will guard the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness, for not by might does one prevail. YHWH! His adversaries shall be shattered; the Most High will thunder in heaven. YHWH will judge the ends of the earth; he will give strength to his king, and exalt the power of his anointed” (1 Sam. 2:8-10, NRSV).
So at a time of future judgment when YHWH’s enemies “will be shattered,” “He will give strength to His king and exalt the power of His anointed.” This vivid picture, including the shattering of Yahweh’s adversaries, is later developed in much greater depth in the first Messianic Psalm, Psalm 2, which paints a wonderful portrait of who the Messiah would be:
“Why have nations crowded together, and people murmur about something empty? Earth’s kings take a stand, leaders make plans together, against Yahweh and against his anointed — ‘We’ll break off their means of discipline, throw off their ropes from us.’ The one who sits in the heavens makes fun; the Lord ridicules them. Then he speaks to them in his anger, terrifies them with his rage. ‘But I myself installed my king on Tsiyyon [Zion], my sacred mountain!’ I shall recount Yahweh’s decree: he said to me, ‘You’re my son; today I myself have fathered you. Ask of me and I’ll make nations your domain, earth’s ends your holding. You’ll smash them with an iron club, shatter them like an object made by a potter.’ So now, show some insight, you kings; accept discipline, you people who exercise authority in the earth. Serve Yahweh with awe, rejoice with trembling, surrender sincerely, so that he doesn’t get angry and you perish as regards the way, because his anger will soon burn up; the blessings of all who take shelter with him!” (Ps. 2:1-12, The First Testament).
One can notice easily in Psalm 2 that Yahweh’s anointed is also His designated king on Zion, parallel to Yahweh’s king being His exalted anointed in 1 Samuel 2:10. In addition, Psalm 2 clarifies that this king/anointed one would be Yahweh’s Son — “fathered” by Yahweh “today.”
The third (and last) passage in which the prophesied anointed or the Messiah (who is also called “the Prince” here) is specifically designated as such is Daniel 9:24-27. The prophecy here includes the timing factor of seventy “sevens” (490 years), with past events involving the first 69 of those “weeks” or “sevens” (483 years). After seven “sevens” plus sixty-two “sevens” the Messiah would be “cut off” — the starting point being the restoring and rebuilding of Jerusalem (after its destruction by the ancient Babylonians). Anyway, with proper historical data, one can determine Messiah as having been “cut off” in the first century AD.
Of course, many other Old Testament prophetic passages correspond to this same Messianic picture (like Isaiah chapter 11) without the specific vocabulary of “anointed” or “Messiah” (or Christos [Christ] in the Greek Septuagint).
A brief note on vocabulary emphasis might be in order. The word “Christ” itself has become too commonplace in modern speech, so to mentally translate it as the Christ, Messiah, or the Anointed One is quite appropriate! Since it prophetically refers to an upcoming anointed king, one could even translate the term as “King” (as sometimes done in The Kingdom New Testament). Also, the term “fathered” or “begotten” used in Psalm 2:7 must be carefully understood. It means being engendered or produced biologically. One should not give in to the nonsensical jargon that Jesus was “begotten, not made”! To be begotten is to be made! It is to be brought into existence! In the case of Jesus being “fathered,” it was through God’s miraculous intervention, not natural, sexual activity.
When Jesus himself spoke frequently of the “Kingdom of God” (or “Kingdom of Heaven” at times, only in Matthew), to what was he referring? He stipulated that it was a Kingdom to come, in which God’s will would be done perfectly on earth (as it is currently done in heaven, Matt. 6:10). He clearly pointed to a time when the meek (or gentle) will inherit the earth (Matt. 5:5, a quote from Psalm 37:9, 11, 22, 29, 34). He even spoke directly to his murderous accusers about “the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven” (Matt. 26:64, citing Psalm 110:1 and Dan. 7:13, 18, 22, 27). The powerful, futuristic emphasis on God’s coming Kingdom and the glorious return of the “Son of Man” boldly permeates Jesus’ Kingdom focus in the records of the gospels (Matt. 25:31; Luke 18:8, etc.). It is most probable that Jesus’ very phrase “Kingdom of God” is a direct allusion to Daniel 2:44 (cp. Obad. 21; Mic. 4:7-8):
“In the days of those kings [the statue’s feet], the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, and this kingdom will not be left to another people. It will crush all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, but will itself endure forever. You saw a stone break off from the mountain without a hand touching it, and it crushed the iron, bronze, fired clay, silver and gold. The great God has told the king [Nebuchadnezzar] what will happen in the future. The dream is true and its interpretation certain” (Daniel 2:44-45, HCSB).
One should read Daniel 2:27-45 to grasp and appreciate the whole context of the details of the dream and its prophetic interpretation. The statue’s head of gold represents the kingdom of Babylonia, the chest and arms of silver represent the later kingdom of Media and Persia, and stomach and thighs of bronze represent the even later kingdom of Greece (at the time of Alexander the Great). The legs of iron represent a further undesignated kingdom in the Middle East (not Europe). Perhaps the Ottoman Empire fits the picture. The feet and toes (which would mean 10 toes; see Ps. 83), partly of iron and partly of fired clay, give a picture of the future situation right before the kingdoms of this world are crushed and the Kingdom of God arrives. It is interesting that there are ten hostile people groups of the Middle East (including Assyria) listed in Psalm 83:6-8 who are bent on wiping out Israel (Psalm 83:4). It is also interesting that in the outline of future events in the book of Revelation, there are ten horns (ten kings), seeming to correspond to the ten toes of the dreamed statue (Dan. 2:33-34, 41-43), who are to make a solid but temporary alliance with the beast (i.e. the future antichrist: Rev. 17:12-13).
To close our cursory overview of “the Gospel of the Kingdom of God,” we will observe the prophetic words of the angel Gabriel in chapter one of Luke. Without really exaggerating at all, one could say that Gabriel preached to Mary the Gospel of the Kingdom of God!
“And listen: you [Mary] will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be very great, and he will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David, and he will be king over the house of Jacob forever; his Kingdom will never come to an end… holy spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you [two ways of referring to God’s miraculous, creative action]. For that reason precisely the holy child to be fathered will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:31-33, 35).
The “today” of the fathering (begetting) of the Son of God (in Ps. 2:7) is thus precisely designated as being on the day of God’s miraculous fathering activity in Mary!
Sufferings and Glory (from a Kingdom Perspective)
“For I am convinced that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the coming glory which is going to be revealed in us” (Rom. 8:18).
“But we have this treasure [the light of the knowledge of the glory and Kingdom of God] in clay jars, so that the supreme greatness of the power will be from God and not from ourselves. We are afflicted from every side, but not crushed. We are perplexed, but not in despair. We are persecuted, but not forsaken. We are struck down, but not destroyed. In our bodies we always carry the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our bodies. For we who are living are constantly being delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be revealed in our mortal bodies…So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer selves are decaying, our inner selves are being renewed day by day. These light afflictions last for a little while, but they are producing for us an incomparable weight of glory for the age to come. We do not look at the things which are seen now but at the things which are not seen, because the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen belong to the age to come” (2 Cor. 4:7-11, 16-18).
Quite clearly, to the degree to which we embrace the
Kingdom hope of glory which will be revealed in us in
the age to come, we are preparing to mature now in our
attitude towards present sufferings:
“It is through many
trials that we enter the Kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22).
“My goal is to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, in the hope of attaining to the advance resurrection from among the dead persons” (Phil. 3:10; see Lk. 14:14; Dan. 12:2).
Our identity with the Messiah Jesus involves suffering with him temporarily in the present while waiting patiently for the glorious, everlasting hope of the age to come!
“For it is better that you suffer for doing what is right, if it is God’s will, than for doing what is wrong” (1 Pet. 3:17).
One can slowly peruse all of 1 Peter to see how suffering for doing what is right (like Jesus) is a major theme throughout the whole letter. Jesus’ supreme model is magnificently highlighted, for he suffered greatly without an ounce of threats or retaliation ever coming out of his mouth!
“In fact, all who desire to live in a godly way in Messiah Jesus are bound to suffer persecution” (2 Tim. 3:12).
In a way, this entire issue of unjust suffering boils down to cleaving to Jesus’ early instructions in the Sermon on the Mount. It might be tempting at times to react to personal attacks with an edge of defensive pride, but if we are God-fearing toward Jesus’ teaching and example, we suffer with dignity and forgiveness (without bitter, sarcastic comments, etc.) while placing our sights squarely on his glorious return and the future resurrection of the age to come!
“Blessed are those who make peace, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who have been persecuted for what is right, because the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and tell all kinds of evil lies against you because of me. Be happy and full of joy, because your reward in heaven is great, because they persecuted the prophets who came before you in the same way” (Matt. 5:9-12). [1]
[1] For further reading on this topic, periodically reread three of Anthony Buzzard’s books:
- The Amazing Aims and Claims of Jesus;
- The Coming Kingdom of the Messiah;
- Our Fathers Who Aren’t in Heaven.
- Also The Gospel of the Kingdom by Wiley Jones (available free in electronic form);
- The Kingdom of God by John Bright;
- Forgotten Gospel: The Original Message of a Conquering King by Matthew Bryan (making many valuable points despite some theological inaccuracies).
The above article was taken from
The Gospel of the Kingdom of God
