And this Gospel of the Kingdom

And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness to all nations; and then shall the end come.

– Matthew 24:14

…And…

In the discourse at mount olives, Jesus reveals to his disciples eschatological events that shall be before His second coming and the end of the age. The picture He paints is that of gloom and doom! It is destruction, natural disasters, deception, apostasy, wars, darkness and chaos. Then the ‘And’- a ray of hope in the midst of the darkness – this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached… Glory to God, He will not leave Himself without a witness, in the gloom and darkness there will be light and hope!

…this gospel of the kingdom

It is this gospel of the kingdom, not another, not the gospel of prosperity, not the gospel of ‘bread and butter’. Today, unfortunately, there is a lot of preaching but sadly it is not the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom. We hear preaching on success, prosperity, breakthrough, self-advancement etc. But these have no power to give new life. What the world needs is the preaching of the full gospel to lead men back to God. what Jesus says shall be preached is the gospel of the kingdom.

And what is the gospel of the kingdom?

It is the good news of how God sent His only begotten son from His throne in heaven and …saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel: .. It is about Jesus Christ the seed of David who was raised from the dead.. It is about the Son of God who was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory – John 3:16, 2 Tim 1:9-10, 2 Tim 2:8, 1 Tim 3:16.

This gospel is not about money or success. It is not about ‘making it’ in life, it is not about any Spiritual leader or Prophet. It is about the King of kings and His kingdom which is, and is yet to be fully revealed. We need to rediscover the simple and true gospel and join the army of believers that God will use to proclaim it to all the world. It is only the true gospel that can save a man or woman and give him or her an inheritance among them that are sanctified. It is gratifying to know that the devil cannot stop the true preaching of the gospel of the kingdom.

Shall be preached in all the world

What a powerful proclamation from Jesus! He was announcing an immutable fact which will definitely come to pass. It is not a wish, it is not a conditional statement; it is an inevitable word of prophecy that shall never fail. It is something that will definitely happen and there is nothing Satan can do about it. The armies of hell put together cannot stand in the way of the fulfilment of this word. It was spoken by the King of kings, the one who speaks and it comes to pass. The one who knows the end from the beginning and performs all His counsel. Today we see more than half of the world population in gross darkness in the Middle-east, Russia, India and China. Hell seems to have put up bars of iron to prevent the billions in these nations from seeing the light of the glorious gospel. But the counsel of the Lord shall prevail. The gospel message shall be preached to all, not some part of the world! The mandate of the preaching of the gospel is unstoppable. Hallelujah!

…for a witness to all nations…

Jesus told the early disciples to be His witnesses unto all the earth...”both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Their task was to simply give testimony of the gospel as a witness does in the court of law. And the verdict is simple –“he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned” (Mark 16:16).

We owe the world a duty and obligation to declare the gospel to them for a witness. Our work is not to convert them, it is to testify, to preach. They may not all believe, but they should all hear. Since Christ came into the world, no man should be able to say “I have never heard of Him.” Every man, woman, boy or girl must hear the gospel as a witness.

“But… how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent?” –  Rom 10:14b-15a.

Jesus sent his disciples and even today He is still saying “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”

May you say, “Here am I Lord, send me!” May you receive the commission afresh!  May you be endued with fresh power to proclaim this gospel as a witness to all the world.

..and then shall the end come…

Until the gospel of the kingdom is preached in the entire world, as a witness to all nations and all the things foretold by Jesus in Matthew 24:3-30 happen, the end will not come. These words are certain; heaven and earth will pass away but the words of prophecy in the scriptures will not pass away until they are fulfilled.

We are in the end time already for we see these things happening today. Only God knows when the cup will be full, the day and hour when these events including the preaching of the gospel to all nations will be accomplished.

In view of this, Jesus calls us to;

• Focus on preparation – to watch and stay ready Matthew 24: 42-44
• Serve faithfully in discharging the duty He has called you to accomplish – including the task of preaching the gospel to the entire world. Mathew 24:44-51.

The Apostle Peter in 1 Peter 4:7-11and 2 Peter 3:10-18 exhorts us further in view of the end and the coming of our lord Jesus to;

• Be alert and of sober mind so that you may be prayerful. 
• Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins…
• Serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms with the gifts we’ve received.
• Live holy and godly lives. To make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with Him.
• Be forewarned and be on our guard so that we are not carried away by the error of the lawless.
• Finally, grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

May God strengthen us and use us to preach this gospel of the kingdom in all the earth. And when He comes, may He find us faithful and true.

Amen!