(This is part 4 of the Lost Gospel of Jesus series, part one is here, part two here part three here.)
The Gospel that Jesus preached.
Matthew 9:35 And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.
The Gospel that Jesus preached was called, The Gospel of the Kingdom of God. We’ll get to what the phrase, "Kingdom of God" means in a bit, but first let me show you that it was the main theme of Jesus ministry.
Matthew 4:23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.
Mark 1:14 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
Luke 8:1 And it came to pass afterward, that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and shewing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve were with him,
Luke 9:11 And the people, when they knew it, followed him: and he received them, and spake unto them of the kingdom of God, and healed them that had need of healing.
Jesus ministry is focused on announcing the presence of the Kingdom of God and teaching his disciples how to enter it and participate in its expansion. The Kingdom of God is the purpose, the core, the point of Jesus’ ministry.
- He said it was the purpose for which he was sent
Luke 4:43 And he said unto them, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I sent.
- It was the point of most of his teaching parables, e.g.:
Matthew 13:44 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.
- The subject of many of his most famous sayings, e.g.:
Matthew 5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
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.
- The topic of his most famous prayer:
Matthew 6:9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
- The last thing he spoke to his disciples about after he had risen from the dead but before he returned to the right hand of God.
Acts 1: 3 To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:
(The Gospel of Matthew often uses Kingdom of Heaven instead of Kingdom of God but they mean the same thing. Using "Heaven" in place of "God" is a pious jewish circumlocution, i.e. a way of avoiding the use of the word “God.” Jews of Jesus day, and even to this day, considered it disrespectful to use the word "God." You can tell this is what Matthew is doing because often the same saying that uses heaven in Matthew will have God in the Gospels of Mark and Luke e.g.:
Matthew 19:23 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Mark 10:23 And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!
Luke 18:24 And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!)
So, the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, at least as far as the Bible is concerned, was the core, the center, the point of Jesus’ ministry.
What Jesus taught his disciples to preach.
Since it was the central theme of his ministry, it’s natural that the message of the Kingdom of God was also what Jesus taught his disciples to preach.
Luke 9:1 Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases. 2 And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick.
Skip down a few verses to see what happened when the disciples left on their preaching tour.
Luke 9:6 And they departed, and went through the towns, preaching the gospel, and healing every where.
Jesus told them to preach the kingdom of God but instead they preached "the gospel." Now, either the disciples ignored Jesus' command or "the Gospel" is synonymous with, or understood as referring to, "the Kingdom of God." I am convinced, that when we read the phrase “the Gospel” in the Bible, the reference is to the message of the Kingdom of God, and I believe we'll get a better understanding of the Biblical message if we try alternating "Kingdom of God" for "Gospel." For example:
Romans 1:15 So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel (The Kingdom of God) to you that are at Rome also.
The correctness of this substitution is confirmed by what we saw earlier; that when Paul finally made it to Rome he preached the Kingdom of God. Here are a couple more examples:
Mark 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel (the kingdom of God) to every creature.
Acts 14:7 And there they preached the gospel (The Kingdom of God).
Luke 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel (the kingdom of God) to the poor…
Let me give you a couple more scriptures to establish that Jesus taught his disciples to preach the gospel of the Kingdom of God.
Luke 9:59 And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. 60 Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.
Matthew 10:5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: 6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Here’s a verse I’ve often heard quoted in abbreviated form, with “of the kingdom” often omitted, in exhortations to evangelize the world.
Matthew 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
Here's my paraphrase:
Which gospel is to be preached in all the world, unto all nations? “This Gospel.” “Which Gospel is that Jesus?”
“This gospel that I have been preaching, this gospel I sent you to preach, this Gospel of the Kingdom.”
After Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection the disciples continued to preach the gospel of the Kingdom of God.
Acts 8:5 Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them. 6 And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. 7 For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them: and many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed.
Notice that preaching the gospel causes God’s power for salvation, for healing, for miracles, for deliverance from demons to come on the scene.
“Wait a second…wait just a second, Greg. It doesn’t say Philip preached the gospel, much less the gospel of the kingdom. It says he preached Christ unto them.”
Let’s keep reading. The next few verses are a flashback of sorts to tell the story of Simon the sorcerer and the sway he had over the people before Philip’s arrival. The author returns to the main story in verse twelve, but before continuing with the story of Simon the sorcerer recaps the story of Philip's arrival:
Acts 8:12 But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 13 Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done.
The message Phillip preached, was the same message Jesus preached, the same message he taught his disciples to preach and the same message the Apostle Paul preached, the good news of the Kingdom of God.
We’ve seen that the focus of Jesus ministry was the Gospel of the Kingdom of God; that this was also what he taught his disciples to preach, the message he told them they were to preach in all the world; and, amazingly enough, this was the same Gospel that the Apostle Paul preached. But what did they say when they preached the Gospel of the Kingdom of God? What words did they use? What was the content of the Gospel message?
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