This post is part of a Series and I therefore request you to please read the earlier posts before you read this one. (Read: The Kingdom of God Series)
In this post we will talk about the Gospel of the Kingdom. The word Gospel is often translated as Good News in contemporary translations of the Bible but the word Gospel really means 'too good to be true news'.
The bible says that the Kingdom of God has Good News for all the world. (Matthew 24:14) It is the will of God that this Good News be proclaimed to the world by kingdom born sons and daughters of God (John 1:12-13) who have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 1:4) On this note, I would like to highlight the importance of receiving the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. No child of God should evangelize, preach, teach or do anything for the Kingdom without the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus made it very clear after His resurrection that nobody should depart from Jerusalem and be His witness up till the Holy Spirit is received. (Acts 1:4-8) God wants us to be His witnesses with His power and not our own.
When we are ready to serve God, we must ask God for the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and God will freely give it to us. (Luke 11:13)
Whenever Paul preached, he preached in the power of the Spirit. (1 Corinthians 2:1-5)
The preaching of the Gospel is a very important for the Kingdom of God. The bible says: How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written:
“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace,
Who bring glad tidings of good things!”
But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:14-17)
Finally what is the good news?
The good news is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). It is so simple yet so profound.
Who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,
And as a root out of dry ground.
He has no form or comeliness;
And when we see Him,
There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
He was taken from prison and from judgment,
And who will declare His generation?
For He was cut off from the land of the living;
For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
And they made His grave with the wicked—
But with the rich at His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was any deceit in His mouth.
Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul an offering for sin,
He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,
And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.
He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied.
By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many,
For He shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great,
And He shall divide the spoil with the strong,
Because He poured out His soul unto death,
And He was numbered with the transgressors,
And He bore the sin of many,
And made intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:1-12)
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