What is the "Gospel of The Kingdom?'

It is all the same Gospel; the Gospel of the Kingdom = the everlasting Gospel -= Paul's "my Gospel" = THE Gospel.

The same as with the (supposedly) different crowns. It is a Hebraism that is brought right into the Greek of the New Testament.

 

What Tom said:thumbsup:

 

Right...

Mar 1:14 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel [of the kingdom] of God,
Mar 1:15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

 

I'm very short on time at the moment, so I'm typing this off the top of my head without review. Unfortunately, this may generate a lot of hostility from some quarters, so I just want to point out that I may need to revise or clarify some points in later posts because this is not meant to be a treatise, just a quick response to an excellent question:

Like others have said, the “Gospel of the Kingdom” is the good news that Jesus announced was available to all and it was the same good news that Paul preached and taught, namely that God is available to all who want to live life “with Him,” no matter if you were a Gentile or came from a disreputable or undistinguished background.

While Jesus announced the Gospel of the Kingdom, the Kingdom of God did not begin with the ministry of Jesus. The Kingdom of God has been available to all since the beginning. Some of the ancients walked “with God” long before Abraham was born, and when God made His covenant with Abraham, He established Abraham’s physical descendants as a people to whom the world could turn to see what the “with God” life is all about, so that through Abraham’s descendants, all the nations could be blessed.

However, over the years, Abraham’s descendants received ever increasing knowledge of and experience with God, but gradually began to react with contempt toward the pagan peoples around them, especially since they frequently faced attack from the other nations.

Added to that, as reformers tried to take the revealed law and knowledge of God seriously, they converted the principles and spirit of the law kept by faith in God into a religious system built on well-meaning interpretations of the law which did not require faith, but excluded people who did not conform to the system of the reformers.

Therefore, when Jesus came announcing the Gospel of the Kingdom and demonstrating the life “with God” that was available, He ran into great difficulty with the religious establishment who had set up an enormous amount of additional law regarding the keeping of the Sabbath, for instance, whereby the whole point of the Sabbath had been corrupted.

Well, in my opinion, it is different that the gospel presentation normally given in Baptist circles. The Gospel of the Kingdom is the good news that anyone who will give themselves to Christ in discipleship (as a learner/apprentice) can experience life “with God” now and for all eternity.

Usually what is presented in Baptist circles is a presentation of the atonement of Christ, without any strong reference to Christ’s call to discipleship and Paul’s over-arching emphasis on personal and corporate transformation through fellowship with Christ and intense personal effort (“buffeting the body”, “running the race”, “transformed by the renewing of the mind so that we might do the will of God”, etc.). Instead, we are given four spiritual laws, or asked to “accept Jesus as our personal Savior” (a phrase and concept that appears nowhere in scripture) and are essentially told that discipleship to Christ is an optional thing lest people might somehow think that “works” might be involved in the living of the Christian life.

So what we have now are churches full of people who think they possess a “ticket to heaven” but either live like the pagan world or live according to a system of churchy propriety which disallows certain behaviors while embracing things like contempt for those who fall outside the religious system of the various Baptist/Evangelical reformers.

A person who has truly met Christ will genuinely hunger and thirst after righteousness, even if they have never been told how to grow in personal transformational righteousness. Those who have no interest in righteousness after they hear about it yet think they are somehow going to heaven are deceived (1 John).

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So, in short, the “Gospel of the Kingdom” is the good news of all the ages that we can live in harmony, fellowship and cooperation “with God” our Creator and Sustainer. But the “normal” gospel most of us hear each day is actually a small subset of the Gospel of the Kingdom that distorts the fullness of the biblical message and actually encourages passivity and undermines the call of Jesus to discipleship.

 

Some teach or have taught that the "gospel of the kingdom" is what was offered only to Israel from the time of John the baptist until the triumphal entry in mt 21:43...then as most of the nation rejects Jesus as Messiah, there is a different gospel, and a parenthesis in God's program.

I no longer hold this view as the most scripturally accurate, yet some still think this is the only view.

 

Is the kingdom of God always considered as being on the earth?
As in thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Also what is the relationship of the kingdom of God to the new heaven and new earth and to the Holy City coming from heaven to earth?

BTW I have not really looked at this I am just asking.

I think I will add so you know where I stand. I believe we are baptized by one Spirit into the church of God and that we will be born again by that same Spirit through resurrection into the kingdom of God.
It is at the resurrection and the moment thereof from Hades when the statement is true, O death where is thy sting O Hades where is thy victory.
It was from Hades the soul of Christ was raised with the flesh incorruptible.
It is Hades and the gates to Hades (Death) that shall not prevail against the church that Christ built.

 

I like Alfred Edersheim (Messianic Jewish theologian) on this:

“Concerning this 'Kingdom of Heaven,' which was the great message of John, and the great work of Christ Himself, [1 Keim beautifully designates it: Das Lieblingswort Jesu.] we may here say, that it is the whole Old Testament sublimated, and the whole New Testament realised. The idea of it did not lie hidden in the Old, to be opened up in the New Testament, as did the mystery of its realisation. [a Rom. xvi 25, 26; Eph. i. 9; Col. i. 26, 27.] But this rule of heaven and Kingship of Jehovah was the very substance of the Old Testament; the object of the calling and mission of Israel; the meaning of all its ordinances, whether civil or religious; [2 If, indeed, in the preliminary dispensation these two can be well separated.] the underlying idea of all its institutions. [3 I confess myself utterly unable to understand, how anyone writing a History of the Jewish Church can apparently eliminate from it what even Keim designates as the 'treibenden Gedanken des Alten Testaments', those of the Kingdom and the King. A Kingdom of God without a King; a Theocracy without the rule of God; a perpetual Davidic Kingdom without a 'Son of David', these are antinomies (to borrow the term of Kant) of which neither the Old Testament, the Apocrypha, the Pseudepigraphic writings, nor Rabbinism were guility.] It explained alike the history of the people, the dealings of God with them, and the prospects opened up by the prophets. Without it the Old Testament could not be understood; it gave perpetuity to its teaching, and dignity to its representations. This constituted alike the real contrast between Israel and the nations of antiquity, and Israel's real title to distinction. Thus the whole Old Testament was the preparatory presentation of the rule of heaven and of the Kingship of its Lord.”

 

The contrast between the glorious hope of this reign of Jehovah and the despair that the Jewish and Gentile world had fallen into is also provided by Edersheim. The preaching of the gospel of the kingdom of heaven was indeed a light shining in the darkness:

“But among these sad signs of the times three must be specially mentioned: the treatment of slaves; the bearing towards the poor; and public amusements. The slave was entirely unprotected; males and females were exposed to nameless cruelties, compared to which death by being thrown to the wild beasts, or fighting in the arena, might seem absolute relief. Sick or old slaves were cast out to perish from want. But what the influence of the slaves must have been on the free population, and especially upon the young, whose tutors they generally were, may readily be imagined. The heartlessness towards the poor who crowded the city is another well-known feature of ancient Roman society. Of course, there was neither hospitals, nor provision for the poor; charity and brotherly love in their every manifestation are purely Old and New Testament ideas. But even bestowal of the smallest alms on the needy was regarded as very questionable; best, not to afford them the means of protracting a useless existence. Lastly, the account which Seneca has to give of what occupied and amused the idle multitude, for all manual labour, except agriculture, was looked upon with utmost contempt horrified even himself. And so the only escape which remained for the philosopher, the satiated, or the miserable, seemed the power of self-destruction! What is worse, the noblest spirits of the time of self-destruction! What is worse, the noblest spirits of the time felt, that the state of things was utterly hopeless. Society could not reform itself; philosophy and religion had nothing to offer: they had been tried and found wanting. Seneca longed for some hand from without to lift up from the mire of despair; Cicero pictured the enthusiasm which would greet the embodiment of true virtue, should it ever appear on earth; Tacitus declared human life one great farce, and expressed his conviction that the Roman world lay under some terrible curse.
All around, despair, conscious need, and unconscious longing. Can greater contrast be imagined, than the proclamation of a coming Kingdom of God amid such a world; or clearer evidence be afforded of the reality of this Divine message, than that it came to seek and to save that which was thus lost? One synchronism, as remarkable as that of the Star in the East and the Birth of the Messiah, here claims the reverent attention of the student of history. On the 19th of December A.D. 69, the Roman Capitol, with its ancient sanctuaries, was set on fire. Eight months later, on the 9th of Ab A. D. 70, the Temple of Jerusalem was given to the flames. It is not a coincidence but a conjunction, for upon the ruins of heathenism and of apostate Judaism was the Church of Christ to be reared.”

 

More good info from Edersheim concerning 'the kingdom':

“......an analysis of 119 passages in the New Testament where the expression 'Kingdom' occurs, shows that:

.........it means the rule of God; [1 In this view the expression occurs thirty-four times, viz: St. Matt. vi. 33; xii. 28; xiii. 38; xix. 24; xxi. 31; St. Mark i. 14; x. 15, 23, 24, 25; xii. 34; St. Luke i. 33; iv. 43; ix. 11; x. 9, 11; xi. 20; xii. 31; xvii. 20, 21; xviii. 17, 24, 25, 29; St. John iii. 3; Acts i. 3; viii. 12; xx. 25; xxviii. 31; Rom. xiv. 17; 1 Cor. iv. 20; Col. iv. 11; 1 Thess. ii. 12; Rev.i.9

......which was manifested in and through Christ; [2 As in the following seventeen passages, viz.: St. Matt. iii. 2; iv. 17, 23; v. 3, 10; ix. 35; x. 7; St. Mark i. 15; xi. 10; St. Luke viii. 1; ix. 2; xvi. 16; xix. 12, 15; Acts i. 3; xxviii. 23; Rev. i. 9.]

.......is apparent in 'the Church; [3 As in the following eleven passages: St. Matt. xi. 11; xiii. 41; xvi. 19; xviii. 1; xxi. 43; xxiii. 13; St. Luke vii. 28; St.John iii. 5; Acts i. 3; Col. i. 13; Rev. i. 9.]

........gradually develops amidst hindrances; [4 As in the following twenty-four passages: St. Matt. xi. 12; xiii. 11, 19, 24, 31, 33, 44, 45, 47, 52; xviii. 23; xx. 1; xxii. 2; xxv. 1, 14; St. Mark iv. 11, 26, 30; St. Luke viii. 10; ix. 62; xiii. 18, 20; Acts i. 3; Rev. i. 9.]

.........is triumphant at the second coming of Christ ('the end') [5 As in the following twelve passages: St. Matthew xvi. 28; St. Mark ix. 1; St. Mark xvi. 28; St. Mark ix. 1; xv. 43; St. Luke ix. 27; xix. 11; xxi. 31; xxii. 16, 18; Acts i. 3; 2 Tim. iv. 1; Heb. xii. 28; Rev. i. 9.] ;

.........and, finally, perfected in the world to come. [6 As in the following thirty-one passages: St. Matt. v. 19, 20; vii. 21; viii. 11; xiii. 43; xviii. 3; xxv. 34; xxvi. 29; St. Mark ix. 47; x. 14; xiv. 25; St. Luke vi. 20; xii. 32; xiii. 28, 29; xiv. 15; xviii. 16; xxii. 29; Acts i. 3; xiv. 22; 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10; xv. 24, 50; Gal. v. 21; Eph. v. 5; 2 Thess. i. 5; St. James ii. 5; 2
Peter i. 11; Rev. i. 9; xii. 10.]”

Note Edersheim's reference to Mt 16:28 as 'the second coming':

Verily I say unto you, there are some of them that stand here, who shall in no wise taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom. Mt 16:28

Edersheim's comments on Mt 16:28:

“But why speak of the future and distant? 'A sign', a terrible sign of it 'from heaven,' a vindication of Christ's 'rejected' claims, a vindication of the Christ, Whom they had slain, invoking His Blood on their City and Nation, a vindication, such as alone these men could understand, of the relity of His Resurrection and Ascension, was in the near future. The flames of the City and Temple would be the light in that nation's darkness, by which to read the inscription on the Cross. All this not afar off. Some of those who stood there would not 'taste death,' [1 This is an exact translation of the phrase, which is of such very frequenct occurrence in Rabbinic writings. See our remarks on St. John viii. 52 in Book IV. ch. viii.] till in those judgments they would see that the Son of Man had come in His Kingdom. [a St. Matt. xvi. 28.]”

From the scripture references he gives for 'the world to come', it's plain that he believes the kingdom is 'now', and that it is a spiritual one.

Edersheim again:

"We have the glowing descriptions by all the prophets, but especially in the Book of Isaiah, of the time of the new covenant, with its blessings to Israel and to mankind. That these bear reference to a spiritual world-wide dispensation in the Messianic days needs scarcely argument, any more than that all the conditions of it have been fulfilled in that dispensation which was introduced under the New Testament."

"All that had been national, preparatory, symbolic, typical, would merge into the spiritual reality of fulfillment."

 

No its no different.

 

Partial preterist amil would probably describe me. I believe I've heard the term 'preteristic idealist' to describe one like me.

I do hold to some futuristic expectations though. Revelations is not completely fulfilled yet, IMO.

I believe mainstream Christianity has erred in recognizing only TWO 'comings of Christ'. I believe in 'another' coming of Christ. Christ came the second time in judgment upon apostate Judaism AD66-70.

28 so Christ also, having been once offered to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time, apart from sin, to them that wait for him, unto salvation. Heb 9
37 For yet a very little while, He that cometh shall come, and shall not tarry. Heb 10

The 'salvation' of v 28 is in reference to deliverance from persecution for those Jewish Christians when the wrath would come upon their Jewish persecutors.

 

Good posts....
Good study material

 

Being Paul preached the kingdom of God everywhere he went; Acts 20:25 And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more. Do you think the Thessalonians were concerned about their friends who were asleep in Jesus, lets call them Larry, Curly and Mo, as to how they were going to be in the kingdom of God being they had died?