Daily Friendship with God #15 The Gospel of the Kingdom

To understand the good news or Gospel of the Kingdom, the first thing to consider is in every Kingdom there must be a King. In Revelation 19:16 speaking of Jesus it states that He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. This is the first statement Jesus the King made concerning the Kingdom of Heaven in the book of Matthew.  

From that time Jesus began to preach and to say. Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. (Matthew 4:17)

“At hand” means “to bring near or to join one thing to another”. Jesus is saying as King I am here to join my Kingdom to you and to do so you have to repent (which means to change the way you think). His audience was primarily Jews who believed in God and wanted to live their life to please God. The question is, if they wanted to live for God why would they need to change the way they were thinking? The reason is because at the time there were religious leaders who were misleading the people in the way they should think about God. Sadly, this is still the case with some religious leaders today. Jesus came to change all that. Jesus was saying to take your first step into the Kingdom of God you must change the way you think about God.  As a result of thinking differently, then you will be able to live your life the way that is normal for a member of His Kingdom. That way of thinking is very different and it produces a very different way of living. For instance, Jesus said to those who had accepted His way of thinking: 

And as you go, preach, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. (Matthew 10:7-8)

I don’t know about you but that way of thinking and living is very different than what I was taught about the way God wanted me to think and live from the religious teaching I learned when I was growing up. This goes to show if you want to know the absolute truth about anything you need to go to the original source not others. In this case the original source is God’s words, known as the bible. If you want to know about the Gospel of the Kingdom, and how to be a citizen of it, then read your bible and formulate your understanding according to what it states. The bottom line is to become a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven you have to think differently. From thinking differently the natural result will be that you live differently.

Jesus said "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' (john 3:5-7)

So how can a person see or enter into the Kingdom of God? According to Jesus you must be born again (John 3:3-8). So how does a person get born again? By repenting (changing the way a person thinks) and believing in the Gospel of salvation. By putting faith in the gospel a person enters into a personal relationship with the King Jesus based on Jesus death, burial and resurrection on their behalf (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). With this comes the understanding that they cannot earn their way into the Kingdom of God/heaven. Based on that they will also change their minds and understand that they can only be born into the Kingdom of God. In addition they will understand that the good news of the Kingdom is that it is a spiritual Kingdom that co-exist on earth now as it is in heaven. Also His Kingdom is lived in by those that are born again(from above). This is what Jesus meant when He said 

For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”(Luke 17:21)

A major portion of Jesus teaching was about the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven. In fact, He spoke about those two topics over two hundred times in the scriptures. To understand what the Gospel of the Kingdom is we need to know what is the Kingdom of God?


The Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. (Romans 14:17)

Romans 14 shows us that the Kingdom of God is not about the natural things of this world like eating and drinking. The word for kingdom in the Greek is “basileia” which means royal power, kingship, dominion, rule not to be confused with an actual kingdom but rather the right or authority to rule over a kingdom. One thing to consider is, in the garden of Eden God said that humanity was to have dominion over every living thing. 

So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:27-28) 

The dominion that was given to humanity by God was delivered to the devil according to what we read in the following verses. 

Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; “for this has been delivered to me”, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.” (Luke 4:5-7)

Note the words of the devil “for this has been delivered to me”. The question here is if mankind was told to have dominion of the earth, how did and all of the kingdoms of this world get delivered to the devil? When humanity ate of the fruit that God told them would kill them, they shunned Gods wisdom and leadership and in the process humanity delivered their dominion and rulership to the serpent of old who is the devil according to Revelation 20:2. This would have been tragic if God did not have a plan to outwit the devil and return the dominion of His kingdom rule back to humanity. God’s plan was accomplished when God in Man, that is Jesus, submitted himself to God by going to the cross and dying for the sins of the world. In doing so Jesus, God in human form, delivered back the dominion of the kingdom of God to humanity. God’s kingdom is now within humanity (Luke 17:21) Jesus even said concerning His Kingdom.

“My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.” (John 18:36)

All this means that the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom is done when individuals deliver the message that people can enter into the Kingdom of God by coming into relationship with the King through a change of mind about Who God is and what He has done for them. This happens through the Gospel of salvation, which is the understanding that Jesus died for our sins, was buried and rose from the dead on our behalf to set us free from sin and its penalty of death. When a person changes the way they thing about Jesus and desires to come into a relationship with Jesus based on the love He demonstrated for us then they have entrance in to the gospel of the Kingdom where Jesus is King.  

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

By believing and receiving the Good news of what Jesus has done for them they are born again (from above), and become a citizen of God’s heavenly Kingdom as noted in Philippians 3:20. Jesus talked about How He came from above.  

“He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. (John 3:31)

The new eternal life that comes from above, comes by knowing King Jesus personally.  As a result of knowing Jesus a person’s life will display what it is like to live in God’s heavenly kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. Read Matthew 6:10. Jesus said the following concerning the preaching of the Kingdom of the God. 

Then He(Jesus) called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases. He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. (Luke 9:2) 

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)

The original meaning of the word preach means to proclaim (announce) after the manner of  an official messenger bringing news always with the suggestion of formality, gravity and an authority which must be listened to and obeyed. This means that the Gospel of the Kingdom that Jesus and the disciples announced was done so publicly. Jesus had and gave power and authority to back up the words that He and His disciples publicly announced. Displaying the works of the kingdom without giving the message is not preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom. The Gospel is the power of God unto Salvation. 

Jesus also said the following concerning preaching the gospel that leads to salvation. 

“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. (Mark 16:15-16)

Jesus put the gospel of salvation as His primary emphasis. At the same time it is important to look at the context of Jesus telling His disciples to preach the Gospel. 

And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” (Mark 16:17-18)

Mark 16:17-18  shows us that were the Gospel of the Kingdom is announced signs that point to its validity will accompany the powerful message of salvation. In the verse below please note the relational aspect of preaching and signs. Also note most importantly “the Lord working with them… confirming the word”. This all points to the need to be in relationship with the Lord and how He backs the preaching of the words of the Gospel of the salvation with the powerful signs of the Kingdom.  

And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.(Mark 16-20) 

The Gospel train rides on two tracks. One is the Gospel of Salvation and the other is the Gospel of the Kingdom. For the Gospel train to move forward effectively, it needs both tracks to run in a parallel path. When they do it makes it easy for people to get on board in a relationship with God.