What is the Gospel of the Kingdom of God?

What is the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

The term ‘gospel’ in the Bible really means “Good News”.

There is a lot of bad news in the world. Against this blackness, the Good News of Jesus Christ shines out like a bright star in the night.

1 Corinthians 15:1-3 (ERV) translates the Greek word not as gospel but as Good News. And in this passage Paul (the apostle sent out by Jesus some time after Jesus rose from the dead) tells what this message is. He writes:

Now, brothers and sisters, I want you to remember the Good News I told you. You received that Good News message, and you continue to base your life on it. That Good News, the message you heard from me, is God’s way to save you. But you must continue believing it. If you don’t, you believed for nothing.

I gave you the message that I received. I told you the most important truths: that Christ died for our sins, as the Scriptures say; that he was buried and was raised to life on the third day, as the Scriptures say; and that he appeared to Peter and then to the twelve apostles. After that Christ appeared to more than 500 other believers at the same time. Most of them are still living today, but some have died.” (1 Corinthians 15:1-3)

These are the FACTS of the gospel, but what do these facts mean for you and me? It is important to learn more about this.

What is the Gospel of the Kingdom of God?

Before being crucified for our sins, Jesus himself preached the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.

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. (Matthew 4:23, NKJV)

The Easy to Read Version of the Bible, which translates into simple English says:

Jesus went everywhere in the country of Galilee. He taught in the synagogues and told the Good News about God’s kingdom. And he healed all the people’s diseases and sicknesses.(Matthew 4:34, ERV)

The Bible does not give a brief summary description of exactly what is “The Good News about the Kingdom of God”. But we can tell from the writers of the books known as “The Four Gospels” a lot about what this message was and is. It is also helpful to think about the meaning of the words.

This is a good news message that God’s kingdom is near, or “at hand”. God has a Kingdom. It is not a geographical kingdom somewhere on earth. It is a spiritual kingdom. That does not mean it is vague or unsubstantial. The spiritual world is very real. It is deeper and more complex than the physical world we live in, and it operates alongside the physical world we contact with our eyes, ears, nose, mouths and skin.

There are many spiritual beings in the spiritual world. God Himself is a Spirit. We are spirits but we live in a body and our ability to see and hear in the spiritual world is limited. Angels are spirits. There are angels who obey God and also angels who rebelled against God, and became demons. There may be other kinds of evil spirits also, hybrid creatures – but this is another subject. The leader of all rebellious spirits is known by the name of Satan, or the devil.

The problem for people today is that there are many evil spirits in our world today. There are enough evil spirits to personally attack everyone. These spirits are not seen by all people, but many people still understand that they are there. Many people have worshipped these evil spirits through bowing down to idols. Idols represent these fallen angels that want the worship of men. More important fallen angels command many less powerful spirits and these are at work in many ways.

Evil spirits are promoting and causing things like:

selfishness, jealousy, envy, hatred, quarrels, anger, resentment and murder – even in families

sexual sin, which is sexual activity or sexual intentions outside of marriage between a man and a woman

pride, not believing God, witchcraft, idolatry, sorcery, rebellion against God’s law

greed, gluttony, drunkenness.

These things are all examples of what the Bible calls SIN. Sin is very serious in God’s eyes. The Bible says that if we keep on sinning deliberately, we will go to a place of eternal torment called HELL.

Demons also cause or contribute to things like

sickness, mental illness

poverty, ignorance, war

injustice, economic exploitation, bad government and more.

Evil spirits operate by speaking words or thoughts into our minds, directly or indirectly. They speak words into our minds that do harm if we listen to them. Many people are influenced by the thoughts of evil spirits, and they make books and signs, music and videos that promote these evil thoughts.

Now the Good News about the Kingdom of God is that GOD is stepping into human history. He stepped in through His Son Jesus Christ. He continues to step in today through the Holy Spirit and angelic intervention. He steps in through His message when it is communicated. He steps in when we pray.

The Kingdom of God is the place where Jesus is King. It grows as people voluntarily submit to the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Kingdom of God is a kingdom of love. That is why people are given a chance to come into the Kingdom WITHOUT being forced.

One day soon, God will step into history in an unmistakeable way. This will happen when Jesus Christ returns physically. Then, it will be too late to voluntarily submit. At that time there will be no more forgiveness from God. Everyone who is evil and rebellious against God will be destroyed.

If Jesus did not come to save us all of us would have been destroyed as enemies of God.

So the Good News is that you do not have to be destroyed! You have an option. There is a path of escape. Through Jesus Christ you can escape the evil power in this world.

The Good News of the Kingdom of God – Some Applications

When the Kingdom of God comes to your body, sickness will leave.

When the Kingdom of God comes to your soul – demons will leave.

When the Kingdom of God comes to your family, there will be love, peace and harmony.

When the Kingdom of God comes to your financial affairs, you will deal correctly and justly, allow others around you to benefit, be generous and the financial favor of God will come upon your situation over time.

When the Kingdom of God comes to your spirit, guilt and condemnation will leave. You will have a brand new life and a restored identity! You will enjoy righteousness, peace and joy.

When the Kingdom of God comes to your community, peace and prosperity and justice will prevail more and more.

The Kingdom of God comes when sins are cleansed and people turn back to God in their HEARTS.

Jesus proved that the Kingdom of God was real by casting out demons and healing the sick. That is why it says in Matthew 4:23:

Jesus went everywhere in the country of Galilee. He taught in the synagogues and told the Good News about God’s kingdom. And he healed all the people’s diseases and sicknesses.”

The healing of disease supernaturally by God’s power in Jesus’ name is a proof of these things:

1. Jesus Christ is alive, not dead.

2. Jesus Christ is king. Jesus Christ is victorious over the works of the devil.

3. God loves you.

4. God’s Kingdom is coming.

The same can be said about the casting out of demons. Jesus said,

But I use the power of God’s Spirit to force out demons, and this shows that God’s kingdom has come to you.” (Matthew 12:28)

Jesus is King

The message of the Good News says that Jesus is King and Jesus is alive.

Jesus said and his followers also said, that He was and is the Son of God. Anyone can die, and everyone dies eventually. Jesus died also. But because Jesus rose from the dead physically, everyone should believe that He really is the Son of God. Jesus also said that He is going to be the Judge of all mean. If this is true, then you also will be judged one day by Jesus.

If you truly believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and is alive, then you are confronted with a very serious choice. Either you continue to live in a way that disregards Jesus, or you give Jesus the proper place in your life – as YOUR King. There are no other options.

How Does Jesus Rule Today?

Jesus rules openly in a place called Heaven where the throne of God is. However, on the earth, the Kingdom of God is still a secret Kingdom. God works here is a way that is not so obvious. He works definitely, but not so openly that people are FORCED to believe against their will. This is because God wants to know who are the people who will have faith in Him, and love Him from a free choice. He is not writing his message on the sky or doing other things that remove all possible doubt and virtually force people who do not want to love or trust Him to submit anyway. He does not threaten people in a blatant and undeniable way. He WARNS people very severely, using words, and sometimes a few circumstances. We should not mistake God’s subtle actions for weakness. God made the entire world just by speaking. He can easily speak a word and destroy all his enemies any time. But that is NOT what He is doing right now.

So Jesus rules through his Word. When He speaks by His Spirit, many things happen.

How do you know if you are in the Kingdom of God? The main way to know is by the spiritual presence of the King in your life. This is a test which those who have truly called out to Jesus can apply to their lives. A second way is to ask yourself: am I doing what God says to me in His Word – the Bible?

We need to keep learning the Word of God, and especially follow the teaching and example of Jesus. We need to keep learning because we so easily forget, or get distracted, or stop doing it.

Learn the Words of Jesus and the Apostles

If you mean business with God, learn the words of Jesus. The recorded words of Jesus can fit on a few pages of paper. As well as this, learn the teachings of the apostles. Believe these more than anything a preacher tells you. The preacher may not be giving you the whole story. If you have a New Testament you can find out for yourself. And God expects you to do that.

How Did Jesus Save Us from Satan’s Kingdom?

There are two spiritual kingdoms – the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Satan. Everyone who is old enough to be responsible for their actions and yet follows the way of sin is in Satan’s Kingdom. Doing bad things against God made every one of us guilty before God. There was no simple way to escape this guilt. In fact there is only One Way. It was not a cheap way. That way was for the perfect Son of God, Jesus Christ, to become a sacrifice for our sins.

The Cross – What Does it Mean?

The Bible says:

Christ himself suffered when he died for you,

and with that one death he paid for your sins.

He was not guilty,

but he died for people who are guilty.

He did this to bring all of you to God.

In his physical form he was killed,

but he was made alive by the Spirit.” (1 Peter 3:18, ERV)

It is a fact of history that Jesus of Nazareth was put to death on a cross. This fact was seen by many people. And the disciples of Jesus told everyone about Jesus’ death on the cross soon afterwards. This fact cannot be REASONABLY doubted.

What many people do not realise is the reason Jesus died on the cross. The reason He died was to take away the sins of the world – and the consequences of sin for those who believe. The reason Jesus died was to pay the price of our sins. The reason He died was to bear the guilt and the curse that comes upon those who break the Law of God.

The book of Isaiah chapter 53, written hundreds of years before the Advent of Christ, revealed more about the meaning of the death of Jesus Christ that was to come.

The fact is, it was our suffering [literally sicknesses] he took on himself; he bore our pain. But we thought that God was punishing him, that God was beating him for something he did. But he was being punished for what we did. He was crushed because of our guilt. He took the punishment we deserved, and this brought us peace. We were healed because of his pain.” (Isaiah 53:4,5)

These verses reveal that Jesus died that he might take away our sins AND our diseases and pains.

It also reveals that Jesus was punished for what we did.

Jesus’ death brings us the true peace and harmony God always intended for His obedient children.

We are potentially healed by the pains Jesus bore. But to actually receive healing, we often need to allow God the Holy Spirit to work certain things in us. We might also need to pursue the healing by pursuing Jesus as healer and by believing and obeying the Word of God with the help of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes, people receive healing very easily through an evangelist or a believer operating in faith. Results and methods vary.

In the Amplified Bible, it goes on to say:

All of us like sheep have gone astray,
We have turned, each one, to his own way;
But the Lord has caused the wickedness of us all [our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing]
To fall on Him [instead of us].

Jesus was rejected by the Father at the cross that we might be accepted by God the Father.

Jesus was made poor at the cross so that we might be rich.

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich. “ (2 Corinthians 8:9 NKJV)

When you belong to Jesus you are adopted into God’s family. This makes you very rich – very blessed. You will be spiritually blessed. You will also be materially blessed ultimately. It will certainly happen in eternity. It may well happen in part on the earth, if you meet God’s conditions and follow His plan. But sometimes, other factors come into play. In this life, you might also be persecuted and lose material security. But there is still provision from God in this life, and in eternity – there is certainly abundance forever. All this comes because Jesus paid the price for it at the cross. Jesus gave up heaven’s riches for some time, so you and I could enjoy them.

The cross deals not only with the guilt of our wrong actions. It also deals with the wrongness of our own hearts. Through trusting God, we can be changed in our nature. We can change from being selfish and rebellious. Through the cross we can be filled with the love and goodness of God within.

These things always do need to be studied and pondered more deeply to be fully appreciated and believed.

For now, we just need to realise that because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for us, we have access to a wonderful new life back in fellowship and relationship with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit! And that life will be very blessed in so many ways. Praise be to God!

I invite you to build a faith community together with me. Join my social media channels and let’s connect, especially if you want freedom or fullness in Christ.

My Telegram has a ministry channel. On Tiktok I have many videos and new ones regularly.

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