Through the gospel of the kingdom, God brings people under the ruling of the heavenly authority so that they may become His kingdom, those who enjoy all the riches of the divine life as they are being ruled by His authority.
The fundamental problem in this universe is rebellion against the authority of God. Man is not just sinful; man doesn’t just make mistakes from time to time, but rather, man is rebellious, for man joined Satan in his rebellion against God.
Our God is living and active, and He wants to do a lot of things, but Satan, His enemy, always opposes God and tries to hinder His plan and the accomplishing of His economy.
Satan wanted to be like God, even to sit on God’s throne and be like the Most High, but by doing this he rebelled against God, and became God’s enemy. Due to the fact that man was lured into rebellion against God by Satan, now man also is one with Satan in rebellion.
What Satan wants is to usurp God’s authority and overthrow His throne, and he desires to violate God’s sovereignty and establish his own kingdom. So when man fell, he rebelled against God and denied God’s authority, rejecting God’s rule.
When we look around us in society today all we see is rebellion; we see hidden rebellion and open rebellion, from the poorest to the richest, from the factory worker to the smartest minds, and from the citizens of the country to the rulers of the country.
We live in an age of lawlessness, and when we preach the gospel, we not only want people to be saved from sin but, by the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom, that man would be brought under the ruling of the heavenly authority and be in the kingdom of God.
The rebellion against God started a long time ago and it will continue to get worse until Antichrist, the man of lawlessness, will declare open war in rebellion against God.
Until that time, until the time of the end of this age of the gospel, we need to be one with the Lord to preach not only the gospel of grace and of forgiveness of sins but even more the gospel of the kingdom.
We need to preach the gospel of the kingdom so that many devil-filled men and demon-possessed people who rebel against God would be turned to God and come under God’s authority!
We need to preach the gospel of the kingdom so that many satanic men would be released from the usurpation of Satan and return to God!
Through the Gospel of the Kingdom God Brings people under the Ruling of His Authority
There’s the need for the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom so that God would bring many people under the ruling of the heavenly authority so that they would become His kingdom, those ruled by His authority (Matt. 24:14; Rev. 1:5-6).
Man needs not only to be saved from his sins and find eternal life, but even more to be delivered from rebellion against God and His authority.
God’s kingdom is at stake, so we need to preach the gospel not only to give people life and peace, forgiveness of sins, and salvation with eternal life, but to bring them into the kingdom of God.
We preach the gospel so that God’s heavenly rule would be established on the earth.
The New Testament preaches the gospel in the way of the kingdom; when John the Baptist came, he preached the gospel of the kingdom, and when the Lord Jesus started His ministry, He preached the kingdom as the gospel.
Because the kingdom of God is the real gospel, to know the gospel requires that we know the kingdom (Mark 1:14-15; Acts 8:12).
The preaching of the kingdom of God is the preaching of the gospel; the kingdom is the gospel of the New Testament, and the gospel in the New Testament is the kingdom of God.
The way for us to bring others out of the world and into the kingdom of the heavens is not by preaching a superficial gospel as we see preached today but by preaching the gospel of the kingdom of the heavens.
The gospel of the kingdom includes not only forgiveness of sins (Luke 24:47) and the impartation of the divine life (John 20:31) but also the kingdom of the heavens with the power of the coming age (Heb. 6:5) to cast out demons and heal diseases (Isa. 35:5-6; Matt. 10:1).
The gospel of the kingdom includes the gospel of grace (Acts 20:24) and brings people not only into God’s salvation but also into the kingdom of the heavens (Rev. 1:9).
The emphasis of the gospel of grace is on the forgiveness of sin, God’s redemption, and eternal life; the emphasis of the gospel of the kingdom is on the heavenly ruling of God and the authority of God.
The gospel of life, the gospel of grace, and the gospel of salvation are all different aspects of the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is like the hub, and the other items are like the spokes, which are centered on the hub.
Everything comes out of the kingdom and is centered on the kingdom; the gospel of life is for the kingdom, the gospel of salvation is for the kingdom, and the gospel of forgiveness is also for the kingdom.
The kingdom is the real gospel, and we need to know the kingdom of God and be constituted with the gospel of the kingdom, and speak this gospel to the whole inhabited earth so that God would bring many under the ruling of His authority.
May we not only have a doctrinal understanding of this matter but know the kingdom, know the gospel of the kingdom in a full way, and preach this gospel kingdom one with the Lord for all men to hear and come into God’s kingdom!
Lord Jesus, we want to preach the gospel of the kingdom so that many would be brought out of the authority of darkness and of Satan and into the kingdom of God! Amen, Lord, may we as the church preach this gospel so that God would bring many people under the ruling of the heavenly authority for them to become His kingdom, those who are ruled by His authority! May Your kingdom come on earth, and may our preaching of the gospel enlarge Your kingdom and make many devil-usurped men into citizens of the kingdom of the heavens!
The Gospel of the Kingdom is Proclaimed for Rebellious Sinners to be Qualified to Enter into God’s Kingdom
The gospel is not only for eternal salvation and the receiving of eternal life but for the kingdom of God; we proclaim the gospel so that rebellious sinners might be saved, qualified, and equipped to enter into the kingdom of God (Mark 1:14-15; Matt. 4:17; Acts 8:12).
Whenever we preach the gospel we need to realise that it is a warfare; the real preaching of the gospel is never easy, for there’s resistance, rebellion, and lawlessness.
There is another spirit in this world that keeps people in the satanic darkness, and we are here to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom for people to be delivered from that kingdom!
Amen, the gospel of the kingdom is proclaimed so that men would be transferred out of the kingdom of Satan and be brought into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love.
For this, we need a lot of prayer, realising that the gospel is a real struggle, a battle; we are here to proclaim the gospel and bring sinners – who are not just full of sins but also rebellious – into the kingdom of God.
Through the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom men are saved and qualified and equipped to enter into the kingdom of God and become part of the development of the kingdom of God.
The emphasis of the this gospel is on the heavenly ruling of God and the authority of God.
We praise the Lord for the gospel of salvation and the gospel of grace, which bring us to enjoy God’s full salvation – His judicial redemption and His organic salvation!
But we need to realise that the full scope of God’s salvation, the issue of the gospel, should be not only to enjoy God’s salvation but to be brought into the kingdom of God!
Our emphasis shouldn’t be only on salvation but on God’s authority, His rule, His reign, His government, His throne, which is the King and the kingdom!
Through the gospel of the kingdom many are brought into the realm of the divine ruling so that they may participate in the blessings of the divine life in the divine kingdom (1 Thes. 2:12).
The gospel is not merely to bring people into a happy place, into some kind of a blessed situation; above all, the gospel of the kingdom brings people into a realm of God’s direct ruling.
God has called us into His own kingdom and glory; in that glory there are all kinds of riches – the riches of His glory, with all kinds of blessings of the divine life.
To enjoy all of God’s riches we need to be in the realm of God’s rule, the realm of the kingdom of the heavens.
This will culminate in the New Jerusalem, the eternal kingdom of God, where we see that the center is the throne of God, and out of the throne issue all manner of blessings of the divine life for our enjoyment!
Out of the throne of God there’s the river of water of life with the tree of life, and also the divine light shines from the throne.
May we be one with the Lord today to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom for many rebellious sinners to be qualified and equipped to enter into the kingdom of God!
Yes, the gospel of grace has been preached on every continent, but we need to rise up to speak the higher gospel for the bringing in of the kingdom of God on earth!
Lord Jesus, we proclaim the gospel of the kingdom so that rebellious sinners might be saved, qualified, and equipped to enter into the kingdom of God! Amen, Lord, bind the strong man in people’s thoughts and minds so that they would see the light of the gospel, be released from the authority of darkness, and be transferred into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love! Lord, may many enter into the realm of the divine ruling so that they may participate in the blessings of the divine life in the divine kingdom!
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References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament, msgs. 107, 240, 244 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Development of the Kingdom of God in the Church Life and the Christian Life (2019 spring ITERO), week 8, Preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom and Discipling All the Nations for the Spread and Development of the Kingdom of God.
- Hymns on this topic:
# He shall reign o’er all the earth, / He who wore the crown of thorn, / Whom they deemed of little worth, / Whom they met with hate and scorn; / Send the tidings forth, that all / Humbly at His feet may fall. (Hymns #919)
# Jesus came proclaiming: God’s kingdom has drawn near! / For this your way of thinking must be fresh and clear. / Repent and change your view! Consider Him anew. / Jesus came proclaiming and He says this to you: / Repent and believe! Repent and believe! (Song on, Jesus came proclaiming)
# By reigning in His kingdom / God worketh all His will, / And under His dominion / His purpose doth fulfill. / ’Tis only in God’s kingdom / His blessing we may know; / ’Tis from His throne almighty / The stream of life doth flow. (Hymns #941)
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