Greg Alston (26
Sep 2021) "The Gospel of the
Kingdom"
The Gospel of the Kingdom
“If indeed you continue
in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away
from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which WAS preached to
every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a
minister.”
-Colossians 1:23
The foregoing scripture clearly reveals that the
gospel has already
gone out to the entire world. Verses 5 and 6 of
Colossians 1 corroborate this, “because of the hope
which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard
before in the word of the truth of the gospel, which has come to you, as it
has also in all the world, and is bringing forth
fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and
knew the grace of God in truth…”
If the gospel had already
gone out to the whole world in Paul’s day, why do so many
churches and individuals today say that Jesus cannot return
until we get the gospel to the whole world?And that He is just
waiting on us to preach the gospel to the whole world before
He can come?
It is because of a faulty interpretation of
Matthew 24:14, “And
this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the entire
world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will
come.”The
key lies in differentiating between the “Gospel of the
Kingdom” and the “Gospel of Salvation.”Colossians 1:6,23
refers to the Gospel of Salvation, which went out to the four
corners of the world in the first century (Romans 10:18).Jesus’ words in
Matthew 24:14 speak not to the Gospel of Salvation, but rather
to the Gospel of the Kingdom which has to do with the nation
of Israel.Much
of the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24 speaks to the Jewish
nation and its promised kingdom during Christ’s Millennial
reign (Psalm 89:3,4, Revelation 21:24).The Wycliffe Bible
Commentary says the “gospel” referred to in Matthew 24:14 is
not the Gospel of Salvation.Rather, it is the Gospel of the Kingdom which will be
heralded first by the 144,000 messianic Jews of Revelation 7
and, afterward, by the two Jewish witnesses of Revelation 11.After the church is
taken in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, God turns His attention back to
His earthly elect
– the nation of Israel.He
takes them through the 70th week of Daniel via the
time of Jacob’s trouble (Jeremiah 30:7) and establishes their
promised Kingdom after seven years of purging them.
The Gospel of the Kingdom does not begin until
Daniel’s 70th week begins.This is not the
Gospel of Salvation which began on Pentecost in AD 32 (Acts
2:1-4).As stated
earlier, MANY mingle the two gospels.The result is the
errant assumption that the Gospel of Salvation is in view in
Matthew 24:14, and worse yet, that it has not gone out to the
entire world.This
is a direct contradiction of what Holy Scripture teaches (1
Thessalonians 1:8).Let
us be good Bereans that rightly divide the Word of Truth (2
Timothy 2:15).
“Now to Him who is able
to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of
Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery
which was kept secret since the world began but now has been
made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures has been made known to
all nations, according to the commandment of the
everlasting God…”