What is the gospel?: the kingdom of God part 1

Matthew 6:33 - But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Matthew 5:3 - Blessed [are] the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Romans 14:17 - For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

Matthew 7:21 - Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

Luke 17:20-21 - And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: neither shall they say lo here or lo there for behold the kingdom of God is within you.

Mark 1:15 - And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

Matthew 6:10 - Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as [it is] in heaven.

John 3:3 - Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Matthew 5:10 - Blessed [are] they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 10:7 - And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Mark 10:15 - Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.

Luke 11:20 - But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you

 

I grew up in a small farm town but we did not own a farm. My father rotated between working as a farm hand and working in town at a scrap yard.

The house I was raised in had no running water, no A/C, electric was not available when it was built but had been run around the outside, and in winter it was heated by one woodstove.

Breakfast and lunch were optional depending on what was available.

 Summers where spent for the most part shoeless and shirtless, but when school began we would get three outfits and a pair of shoes from the Salvation Army store in town; yet I never realized we were poor until I became a teenager.

In a similar way most men walk through this world but do not realize their spiritual condition; when Jesus said blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, He was not saying that being poor in spirit was a blessing but instead that only those who realize their condition are willing to take hold of something better and receive blessings.

If one where to ask most Christians “what is the gospel?” they would probably receive the quick answer the good news. If pressed for what that good news is something along the lines of Jesus died for our sins so we could live for God.

What did Jesus himself say about this word? He taught that the good news was that the kingdom of Heaven was come by His manifestation.

Matthew 3:2 repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand

Matthew 24:14 and this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world…

Mark 1:14-15 …Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God and saying the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand repent ye and believe the gospel.

The word in Greek that has been translated as kingdom in English does not simply speak of a section of land or a people ruled over (these are included but not primary) but of the presence of the ruler himself in and overall. This has led some to believe that maybe the word sovereignty or reign would have been a better translation.

I am not in any way a translator myself and I am not trying to second guess those that are. The usage of this word does fit when we see a kingdom as including all a king has influence and rule over; and I am sure that to one raised and living in a true monarchy this seems obvious, but in our modern mind we tend to think of land boundaries alone.

This is the difficulty of translation of ancient text; not only must one know the definition of a word to find its best equivalent but also the vernacular usage in the time the original was written. Also over time even if you have expressed it correctly the expression you have used is subject to change in its usage there by giving future readers a misunderstanding of what you have expressed.

Have you ever been speaking to someone and the word you used to express something was correct but did not fully express all of what you meant; so you might have said “what I’m saying is…” or something similar. Yeshua has done this same thing with the phrase kingdom of Heaven.

Both He and John the Baptist announce it is now present at the manifestation of Messiah, Yeshua tells us it is not an outward kingdom but within us, Yeshua commands His followers to seek and preach of it, we are told that a day comes when we will either live in it or be cast out, and of course as we have said it is the gospel.

To be expected with such an important teaching Yashua also spent a good deal of His ministry explaining to us what is meant by the phrase. So let us give consideration to the parables He has used that we may understand the gospel of the Kingdom in its fullness.

The natural place to start such consideration to me is Matthew 13 and the parable of the sower. In this parable we are told of the four different ways in which a man hears the message of the kingdom.

1)      Those who are the wayside are on the broad path to destruction which is to say they are following the self. This is the religious man who believes Yeshua came so he doesn’t have to face hell, that He came to teach us how and what it means to be a good person, they see the congregation of believers as a way to find or change a spouse, business contacts, political contacts or social status. They try to do what they believe is good, and feel God is either angry or pleased based on that performance. The word is sown upon them but they determine with their own determination what is said leaving no place for the Spirit to enter them and teach them.

2)      Those who are the rocky ground on the surface seem ready to have God’s reign in their life but in their heart they are still seeking for themselves. They include those who desire God for his blessings but not for who He is. The word seems to grow in them but the roots are only on the surface so when hard times arise the word withers and dies.

3)      Those who are the soil grown up in thorns and thistles are those who fully understand they need God to change and move in their life and are determined to have it; but they try to bring this about by the cursed flesh inherited from Adam. These are those who have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof by will worship, ever learning but never coming to a knowledge of God.

4)      Those who are the good soil have no faith in themselves but instead they trust Messiah has carried their self to His cross and baptized them into His death where they remain hidden in Him. The life in them now is not their own but the Spirit of YHWH in them both willing and doing the works He has set for them. They have no live but the life of YHWH shared in them by the Spirit through the Messiah Yeshua.

These are those who fight the true fight of faith to trust YHWH living in them and never again trust in the self they received from Adam that they may be one as Yeshua is one and have life; which Yeshua has declared is to know the Father.

This is the first parable to teach us of the reign of YHWH in our heart.