Update: I have found an incredible book that I will direct my readers to. It took the words right out of my mouth, but in a much superior way. It will be linked at the bottom of this post! (It’s FREE)
If we’re going to be preaching the gospel, it’s pretty important to know what it is.
My family came from a background of Catholicism, so as a Christian when I recently started really digging into and learning what the Bible truly had to say about the Kingdom of God, I was blown away how little I actually understood about it.
Matthew chapter 4 records Jesus beginning his ministry. Jesus left Nazareth when John the Baptist was killed, and settled in Capernaum (Matt. 4:13).
It says in Matthew 4:17,
From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Matthew 4:17 NASB
Jesus BEGAN His ministry preaching the kingdom.
In the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 24, the central theme is regarding the second coming of Jesus Christ.
Look at verse 14:
‘This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.’
Matthew 24:14
I’ve read past this detail many times without realizing something about the Kingdom. I used to see it as a general statement about God’s dominion. I used to think the gospel was only referring to Jesus dying for our sins and that one day he would come to take us away to heaven. In this shallow understanding, I had separated the gospel, the kingdom, and Jesus being the Christ without realizing they were all inseparably united.
Throughout Jesus’ entire ministry, and even after his death, resurrection, and ascension to heaven, the gospel of the kingdom was being preached. I’m here to tell you the gospel of the Kingdom is SO MUCH MORE than what many Christians believe. God has been declaring it throughout the entire Bible and somehow I had missed it. A truly Biblical understanding of the Kingdom of God, will affect the entire foundation of the Christian faith– and that’s not a bad thing.
The gospel is not just preaching that Jesus died for our sins and was resurrected so we can go to heaven. I’d even say that we miss the central point of Jesus’ ministry and message if we don’t understand the Kingdom of God.
The Bible as a whole paints a pretty clear picture of the Kingdom– but when we isolate passages and read them with our own presuppositions instead of relying on OTHER scriptures to help us interpret what we’re reading, we end up with an unclear understanding of what the Kingdom is.
My goal is to see what picture we get of the Kingdom of God if we stop trying to make everything that doesn’t fit our doctrine an allegory. Let’s allow scripture to provide its own interpretation. When we read passages in their context, and understand the Biblical narrative by using the historical and prophetic context it has been setting since the Creation in Genesis, things become much more clear. The Bible provides revelation about what the Kingdom is throughout the entire Bible like puzzle pieces. We need to fit them together properly if that picture is to become clear.
Edit:
The book is called “When a Jew Rules the World” by Joel Richardson, click the title to download the PDF.
This is not any paid advertisement for Joel, I just absolutely can’t tell you how important it is for Christians to read this. ESPECIALLY American Christians (I’m one of them). I believe the perspective it provides is crucial if we want to be useful in the days ahead.