The True Gospel of Christ–The Kingdom of God

An earth free from corruption and cruelty, free from addiction and selfishness, free from hunger and desperation, free from greedy leaders who cast the poor in chains of lies and deceit, free from husbands and wives betraying those who love them the most, free from brokenhearted children thrown by the wayside by selfish parents, free from the evil that pillages every soul on the face of the earth–this is the promise God has made to those who love Him. And He will make it happen when He ushers in His kingdom that will fill the whole earth. This is the good news; this is the gospel of the kingdom of God.

There are many “gospels” out there, many different takes on what the “good news” of Christ is all about. Yet there is only one real gospel.

We must get it right. For the apostle Paul says that anybody who preaches a different gospel, “let him be accursed” (Gal. 1: 9). That is a serious warning to us that we better get it right.

To know for sure, we must verify through the scriptures what we have been taught. Excuses won’t be accepted when we stand before the Judge. “Well, that’s what they taught me in Sunday school.” And He will say, “Why didn’t you prove it out by study and prayer.

What the Scriptures Say

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God” (Mark 1: 14; Matt. 4: 23). Which gospel? The good news concerning the kingdom of God.

Some say that being “born again” is the gospel. It is important, but only the first step. For, “except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”

The gospel is much bigger than our personal salvation. It encompasses the whole earth. Man’s rule of himself is a hopeless mess, full of cruelty and sin. Just turn on the news and glimpse the killings, thefts, and wars. The real good news is that Christ is coming back to establish His government. Since He is the king, it will be a kingdom.

Christ prayed in His famous model prayer, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.” God’s will in heaven is that His kingdom come to rid this earth of evil and establish His righteous rule over all. That’s the good news.

The prophet Daniel speaks of God’s kingdom and the splash it will make when it comes. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had a dream and his spirit “was troubled to know the dream,” for He had forgotten it. None of his soothsayers could tell him it, but God revealed it to Daniel.

He told Nebuchadnezzar that he had seen in the dream a great image of a man with a head of gold, breast and arms of silver, belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron, and feet of iron mixed with clay. And he saw “till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet…and brake them to pieces…and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.”

The interpretation followed. The different sections of the image were kingdoms in history that would stride forth upon the earth–powerful kingdoms that at the end of the age would be struck down by the stone kingdom, the soon coming kingdom of God.

When will it come? “In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever” (Daniel 2: 1-44).

It Is Coming

The kingdom of God is coming to fill the whole earth with its righteousness, peace , and joy. This is the good news, the gospel proclaimed in the gospels and in the prophets. This is it. This is what they spoke about all the time.

What was on Christ’s mind during the 40 days He spent with His disciples after His resurrection from the dead? Christ spoke to them “of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God” (Acts 1: 3).

Forty days! The kingdom of God was such an important subject that the greatest teacher who ever lived spoke to His followers exclusively about it for forty miraculous days! He was telling them, You have got to wait here in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit comes down upon you, and you will receive power to be my witnesses (Acts 1: 8).

Witnesses of what? You are going to get the power you need to tell the people of this earth about the kingdom of God–what it is, when it is coming, who will be the King, how it will be established, who will be the citizens of this new heavenly government, where it will be established…

Brothers and sisters, Christ gives us power for one purpose–to bear witness that He is the King of God’s kingdom and that He is coming back soon to take back this earth, which is His rightful inheritance! Those of us who do this will rule with Him. Those who will not have Him rule over them in the Kingdom of God will come to a bad end.

Did the disciples take heed to what the risen Christ taught them those forty days about His kingship and kingdom? Did they receive power to be His witnesses, that they had seen the resurrected Christ and had talked to Him about His plans for His return to be that stone that would crush the evil kingdoms of the world?

Yes, they did and became powerful witnesses for the King. Peter at Pentecost tells people to repent of their sins and be converted to the King and His cause, for the King Jesus Christ (Yahshua) shall remain in heaven until the things spoken by the prophets of old be restored and fulfilled (Acts 3: 19-21). That would include the prophecy that Daniel the prophet gave about the “stone kingdom” coming in there in chapter 2.

The evangelist Philip preached “the things concerning the kingdom of God” (Acts 8: 12). The very last act that is recorded in the book of the Acts of the Apostles has Paul “preaching the kingdom of God” (28: 31). And we know that they were preaching the gospel.

The kingdom of God is coming. And it’s coming to fill the whole earth with His righteousness, peace and joy. This is the good news proclaimed in the four “gospels” and in all the prophets.

The Father’s heavenly government is coming fully to earth, and it shall smash into pieces all of man’s governments. It is the stone kingdom that the holy watchers saw coming to earth that crushed the world’s newly minted one world government.

To those of us who have been called and chosen, this is good news. To those who love this present world system, this coming literal government of God is bad news. But be it “good news” or “bad news,” it is coming.

The First Thing We Are to Seek

Christ is showing us that we should have this truth about the kingdom in our minds when communicating with our Father. We are to have this grand and glorious vision of the earth free from corruption and cruelty, free from addiction and selfishness, free from hunger and desperation, free from greedy leaders who cast the poor in chains of lies and deceit, free from husbands and wives betraying those who love them the most, free from brokenhearted children thrown by the wayside by selfish parents, free from the evil that pillages every soul on the face of the earth–this is the good news; this is the gospel of the kingdom of God.

This is the good news that will fill the earth when Christ comes back and sits down on the throne of our invisible Father. And His sons and daughters will be sitting alongside Him there, awaiting orders to be dispatched out into the ravished earth to rebuild and restore what the satanic forces wasted.

This is the very first thing we should seek for in God. He says, Seek and ye shall find. Seek what? “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,” and everything else will be added to you.

This wonderful vision of His government actually coming to earth along with its 1,000 years of peace with the Prince of Peace in charge–this is what we are to seek for. This is the gospel; this is the good news.   Kenneth Wayne Hancock

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Manifestation of the Sons of God–Purging Out the Old Leaven

We have become the princes and princesses of God the King by our new spiritual birth.  However, we are in training to assume royal duties with Him upon His return to earth.

What should we be doing to get ready for this great responsibility?  We are admonished to “purge out the old leaven that the lump may be holy” (I Corinthians 5:7).

Leaven?  What does that mean?  Look.  Christ is the “bread of life.”  We have received His Spirit, and it is “no longer I that lives but Christ that lives in me.”  Therefore, we as His body are the “bread of life,” too, because of His presence within us.  But we come into this new life with some old concepts about God and the affairs of this world system that must be gotten rid of.  We have carried over in our thinking old doctrines, beliefs, traditions, and concepts.

Unleavened bread is “sincerity and truth” (I Cor. 5:8).  So, “leaven” must be insincerity and falsehoods.  Christ Himself told us to “beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy” (Luke 12:1).  Yes, “beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod.”  The Pharisees were the religious leaders, and Herod was the political leader back in that day.  They are symbols of religious and political leaders today.  “There is no new thing under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9).  So, Christ is telling us to beware of them in our day, too.

To “purge out” the old leaven, we must be brutally honest with ourselves and “examine ourselves.”  We must be open to new truth; if we are not open, then we must believe that we have all truth already.  And if we think that way, then it will be very difficult for the Spirit to “guide us into all truth.”

No one except Him can help us get ready to rule with Him.  It is our responsibility to study and search out true concepts and get rid of false concepts about Him and His plan and purpose.  Like the “Reverend Mr. Black” said in song, “You gotta walk that lonesome valley; you gotta walk it by yourself.  Nobody else can walk it for you.  You gotta walk it by yourself.”

We must rid our minds of false religious and political concepts and take on the “mind of Christ” in order to “make our calling and election sure” as His princes and princesses.