What is the Good News of the Kingdom of God?

Jesus send his disciples two by two to preach the gospel of the Kingdom of God (Mt9:35);  in Luke 4:43 Jesus says: “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also; for I was sent for this purpose."

What is the Good News of the Kingdom of God preached by Jesus?

Imagine that you are living 2000 years ago and you are a disciple of Jesus.

As Mt9:35 says, Jesus is sending you 2 by 2 to speak to the people. You go house to house or you speak to people you meet on the road or maybe you go and speak to your friends.

Please take 5 minutes to think about what would you tell people about the good news of the kingdom? How would you explain to them “the kingdom is at hand”? What is the good news of the Kingdom of God?

Please take some time to think about what the disciples would speak to convince people about the good news of the Kingdom.

Don’t read more stop here.

1 min   Don’t look below …Think about what you would say to the people.

2 min

3 min   What would you say to the people?

4 min  How would you explain about the "Good News"

5 min   Did you do it?

It’s a pity I cannot read or hear what you would say, that would surely be very interesting !

Did you speak that the good news is that Jesus was going to bring salvation through his crucifixion? Did you say that he would die and be be resurrected? Did you say that his kingdom was not of this world? Did you say that he should die and come back a second time? Then, sorry, YOU FAILED !

When Jesus sent his disciples out, it was long before his crucifixion.

At that time, nobody thought the Messiah would die and be resurrected; No Jew on the earth ever thought that the Messiah should be crucified, resurrected and should come back a second time!

There is nothing in the Old Testament saying that Jesus should be crucified, resurrected on the third day and he should come back a second time. There is nothing in the O.T. saying that “his kingdom is not of this world”.

 The facts are that for 2000 years God trained Israel to RECEIVE and WELCOME the Messiah !

Deut 18:18-19:  “I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.”

The Jews understood well it was pointing to the Messiah and they should “hearken unto his words” otherwise they would be punished.

Every good Jew was expecting a very physical and earthly kingdom !!

When Jews heard John-the-Baptist say: (Matthiew 3:2) “Repent, for the Kingdom of Godis at hand” for them it clearly meant: “The Messiah is near and the promised Kingdom of God we have been waiting for is going to appear on the earth, now, in our time.”

When Jesus himself said: (Matthew 4:17) “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.” he meant the same as John-the-Baptist. Jesus spoke of the same physical kingdom as the kingdom announced by the prophets.

God carefully educated the Jews about the kind of Kingdom He was preparing for them.

The prophecies announced an earthly and everlasting Kingdom

Isaiah 9:6 “For us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulder. And he will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Daniel 2:44 "In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever.”

Zechariah 8:23  “This is what the LORD Almighty says: "In those days ten men from all languages and nations will take firm hold of one Jew by the hem of his robe and say, 'Let us go with you, because we have heard that God is with you.

Isaiah 49:6  “I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth."

Isaiah 59: 20  “And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD.”

On the sixth month of her pregnancy, what Gabriel, the Angel of God, told Mary was totally in accord with what God said through the prophets:

 Luke 1:32-33  “He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David. And he shall reign over the house of Jacob (Israel) for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.”

Preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom and healing the sick.

In these next verses we can get a glimpse of what Jesus and the disciples are preaching.

Matthiew 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.”

Luke 10:8-9  "Cure the sick who are there, and say to them 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.”

Luke 4:16-21 “He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:  “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

When Jesus said “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” the Jews understand very well that it means “I am the Messiah”

In fact Jesus read Isaiah 61:1-3. All Jews knew that these verses points to the Messiah. (A simple remark here: Jesus didn’t read Isaiah 53. Why?)

Isn’t interesting that Jesus uses the same verses of Isaiah to answer John-the-Baptist when he sent his disciples ask Jesus: (Matthiew 11: 3-4)   “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?”

Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see:  The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.”

Now it becomes clearer what the disciples said when they preached the good news of the kingdom. 

We can imagine them quoting Isaiah 61:1-3 and then saying that the One fulfilling this prophecy was here: “The Redeemer, Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace is here; the Messiah is here.”

The plan of God was The Kingdom of God NOW.

It was God's plan that the Kingdom of God be established at that time. It start in the middle of them; it starts like a seed of mustard and become a huge tree.

Jesus had already the power to forgive sins, he didn’t need to go to the cross for that. By his life of obedience to God, he was already qualified to forgive the sins of the world.

 Matthew 9:6 “But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins.”

The only things that Jesus required was faith. FAITH! that was all. If Jews had come to Jesus with faith then Jesus  could have saved and redeemed each one of them from their sins. If each Jew had come to Jesus, he could have forgiven the whole nation. 

Jerusalem would have become the holy city announced in the Old Testament. The possibility of establishing the Kingdom of God at that time was there. If the Kingdom had been established on the earth at that time, by following and becoming Christ-like, every Jew could have become a good person, forming a good family and a good nation. When someone lives in the Kingdom of God on earth, he is also going in the Kingdom of God in Heaven when he dies.
 Mat23:13 
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!YOU SHUT THE DOOR OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN in people's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to". It means the Kingdom was open but faithless people are shutting it.
Mat 20:43
"Therefore I tell you that the KINGDOM OF GOD will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit". Here again, it means the Kingdom of God was clearly to be established in Israel, but there was no faith in Israel.
Unfortunately Jesus had to say: " My Kingdom is not of this world" contradicting his first words "Repent the Kingdom of God is at hand"

Only a few months before the crucifixion did Jesus start speaking of his death

Matthiew 17:22-23 “When they came together in Galilee, he said to them, "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men.

They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life." And the disciples were filled with grief.”

Mark 8:32   and Luke 9:45 says “But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it”

If the disciples didn't understand what Jesus was saying , we can be sure the disciples didn't speak of Jesus crucifixion and resurrection when they went out.

Two periods in Jesus’ life

It was God expectation that Jesus would be received and His kingdom would be established on Earth and in Heaven.

Unfortunately Jesus didn’t find faith in Israel; Jesus was rejected. Because of their rejection they closed the door of the kingdom of Heaven on earth.

Matthiew 23:13  “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.”  The door of the kingdom of Heaven on earth was open, but by rejecting Jesus, Scribes and Pharisees are closing it.

God most desired plan was that Israel would accept, receive and emulate Jesus.

Unfortunately, tragically, because there was no more hope to be accepted, Jesus started to announce that he had to die.

    Initially Jesus said “The Kingdom of God is at hand”; then a few month before the crucifixion he would say the contrary: “My Kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36).

Initially Jesus clearly said that the will of God is that Jews should accept him not kill him:

     John 5:39-40 “You Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me yet you refuse to come to me to have life. Andye will not come to me, that ye might have life.” It means the Scripture testify that Jesus was sent by God and so they should welcome him ( not kill him).

     John 5:45- 47 “Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust.  For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?”

     John 8:37-40  “I know that ye are Abraham's seed  …  but now ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.” …40 ”But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham”

     John 5:38 nor does his (the Father’s) word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent.

After the cross, Jesus had to say

     Luke 24: 25- Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?” (see also Luke 18:31)

The living Jesus had the power to save each Jew, the whole nation of Israel and the world. The death and suffering of Jesus was not necessary for our salvation had the Jews accepted Jesus. 

If Israel had received Jesus, she would have fulfilled her mission and become the beacon of salvation for the whole world. She would have been the "head". But because she failed to receive Jesus she became the "tail" and was destroyed.

This is why Jesus had to pay with his life for the terrible sin of rejecting him. It was a ransom for the sin of rejecting him. We should feel so sorry to Jesus.

Please view this short video on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_4UbpYw7hY

Bibliography

- The Master Plan of God, Rev. Kevin McCarthy

http://www.truemasterplan.com/bookstore.html

http://www.truemasterplan.com/christology.html

-The Purpose of the Messiah “The Mission of Jesus” http://www.reverendsunmyungmoon.org/principle/Messiah1_video.html


- Jesus as the 2nd Adam, came to build the Kingdom of God that the first Adam failed to do.
To study more about the Kingdom of God that the first Adam was supposed to build.
 Watch these short videos of Mr Michael Callahan  http://vimeo.com/9705513 ; http://vimeo.com/9814543

 Good news of the Kingdom of God.(more readings)

Mt 3:2; Mc 1:14-15; Mt 4:23; Mt 9:35; Luke 3:15-18; Luke 8:1; Luke 16:16-17; Luke 10:8-9; Luke 11:20; Mt 10:7-8; Luke 9:1; Luke 10:1.