The Gospel of the Kingdom of God
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Jesus proclaimed, “The kingdom of God has come near” at the start of his ministry. This was not only Jesus’s opening statement, but the scripture says that Jesus continued to preach the good news of the kingdom throughout his ministry. But we preach the gospel of personal salvation. The forgiveness of sins is vital because without it no one can enter the kingdom of God, but it is not the good news. The good news is that after receiving forgiveness, we can participate in God’s kingdom right here on this earth. The first century church was an example of this.
Jesus went around throughout Israel proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, healing the sick and feeding the hungry to demonstrate the power and beauty of God’s kingdom. The Jews rejected Jesus’s offer of the kingdom and killed him. But the power of God raised him, and Jesus become the means of salvation for the whole world. Initially, a small band of Jews believed in him and formed the first church at Jerusalem. This was the fulfilment of Jesus’s declaration about the arrival of the kingdom of God. He came to invite people into God’s kingdom and said that first they should receive forgiveness from their sins. He explained the reason for this to Nicodemus and said, that flesh and blood can't inherit the kingdom of God, therefore he must be born of the Spirit. Our new birth prepares us for the kingdom of God, but if we do not enter his kingdom then our new birth has little meaning.
The kingdom Jesus came to establish was quite different from the kingdom of this world. It was a place where God rules and where divine love permeates every facet of life. it was based on love, sacrifice, and humility. Jesus started talking about a mystery kingdom to his disciples when the Pharisees rejected him and said that he was casting out evil spirits by the help of the prince of demons. The purpose of God’s mission for the whole world hinges on how the mystery kingdom is understood. Jesus disclosed the secrets of his kingdom through a series of parables in which he told his disciples how the kingdom of God would be established after his resurrection.
The human view of a kingdom is shaped by the display of military power, material riches and the appeal of the charismatic leaders. The Sermon on the Mount dispels these notions, and the mystery kingdom gives the kingdom of God a visible form. Most of Jesus’s teaching is centred around the kingdom of God and all the parables talk about the kingdom. The apostle Matthew captures its essence in the sermon on the mount (Matt. 5-7). God’s kingdom is given to the poor, the meek and those despised and persecuted by the world. Those who seek righteousness, peace and are merciful will find it. In God’s kingdom material riches have very little value, instead love, justice, peace, humility, and generosity are highly valued. The values of the kingdom the early church followed were a stark contrast to the values of this world.
The early church history and the writings of the church fathers reveal that during the second century the ethnic and cultural superiority, the human piety, money, and power corrupted the church. Jesus had expressed the truth in a simple way that could be easily understood by ordinary people, but when the Greeks tried to express the simple truth of the gospel in philosophical terms, they only managed to conceal the main point of the gospel message. The focus shifted from the essential to the nonessential matters in the second century and by the fourth century when Christianity became a state religion, the gospel of the kingdom of God was abridged to the gospel of personal salvation. This had catastrophic impact on the life of the church which got heavily embroiled with the riches and power of this world.
Things never recovered and even today we live in the kingdom of this world and follow its values, despite Jesus's warning to the contrary. Jesus left his glory in heaven and lived a very basic life and died so that we may have eternal life, but we hesitate to even leave the material riches of this world that are temporary and will be left behind anyway. If we are not a part of God’s kingdom here on this earth, then we may not have any part in his kingdom to come.
We have tried to make everything out of Jesus’s death and resurrection, except to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness. We have developed a grand church institution that has usurped the authority of God. We have developed different theologies that sometimes do away with sin and repentance, and still promises salvation. Those who claim to believe in Jesus do not obey his commandments. We are committing the same mistake that Israelites made when they started living like the Gentiles and followed their gods.
The half-hearted attempts to belong to the kingdom of God will not only fail, but they will bring great dishonour to God and cause heartache to people. Jesus went all the way to the cross for us and therefore we must go all the way to belong to his kingdom. The forgiveness of sins has no meaning if we remain in the kingdom of this world and insist on following its values. The choice is ours, whether we continue to live in this world where Mammon rules or leave the world and enter the kingdom of God and follow the values that Jesus described in the Sermon on the Mount. It can happen today, if we wait upon God and pray with one mind for the anointing of the Holy Spirit. This will empower us to live a life that reflects the beauty of God’s kingdom here on this earth.
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About the Book
Jesus preached the gospel of the kingdom of God and taught about its values throughout his ministry. All four gospels endorse this fact. The disciples continued to preach the gospel of the kingdom for two generations but during the second century things began to change and by the fourth century when Christianity became a state religion, the gospel of the kingdom of God was changed to the gospel of personal salvation. This error had a catastrophic effect on the life of the church. The early church followed the values of the kingdom Jesus outlined in the Sermon on the Mount. Whereas today, we are mainly concerned with the salvation of the soul and the importance of God’s kingdom, and its values are lost. The church must reclaim the gospel of the kingdom and follow its values, to demonstrate the beauty of the kingdom that the world may believe in Jesus.
About the Author
Austin Robinson Dayal lives in Adelaide, Australia. He is married and has two grownup children. Austin has been associated with the ministries of Operation Mobilisation and Student’s Evangelical Union in Australia and overseas. He is passionate about seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness as outlined in the Sermon on the Mount. Austin has published two books through Elm Hill Books and GS Books. He currently worships at the Corner Uniting Church, Adelaide. He has a Ph. D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Sydney and has worked for CSIRO as a research scientist.