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"...But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you." | |
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Overview Starting with the primary purpose of man In the Beginning, we see that God had always intended for man to dwell on earth, and to rule over it in His behalf. Man fell in sin, and so God had to begin His plan of bringing man back to the destiny He had planned. He started by calling Abraham, who believed and obeyed. The promises God made to him are the foundational promises to all who believe, and they include inheriting the earth. The descendents of Abraham were to be the chosen nation through which God would make His plan known. Moses delivered a temporary law to the children of Israel, but foretold of a Prophet who was to come. When David was king of Israel, it was a partial fulfillment of God's plan, but God promised a descendant of David who would have a never-ending rule on earth. After the kingdom of Israel was divided and eventually fell, the Prophets foretold of a time when Israel would be restored to the land, and the coming Messiah would rule with perfect righteousness. This was the foundation of the good news that Jesus preached, the proclaiming of which is the subject of the next section.
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In the Beginning |
Man was designed to live on this planet. The earth was designed to be the home for man. This was the plan God had from the very beginning. He began by creating the heavens and the earth, and He spent six days preparing it for His man. When it was finished, he put Adam and Eve in the garden and gave them dominion over the earth. Genesis 1: Psalm 8 also says that man was made to have dominion: Psalm 8: Man sinned and lost the rulership he was meant to have. But God had a purpose for man, and still has a plan to return man to his original state. And that original state included rulership of the earth. That plan is the overall subject of the entire Bible, which ends with man (specifically the man, Jesus Christ, along with his church) ruling on earth. There are many who have proposed that man, rather than having a purpose, evolved by random mutation and natural selection. There are a number of problems with this theory, not only because it contradicts the Bible, but because even scientifically there are flaws in it. Many scientists will not even consider creationism because they say it is not science, because the belief in a supernatural creator is outside the domain of that which can be tested. However, there is nothing about the theory of evolution that can be scientifically tested either. The truth is neither side can "prove" or demonstrate, by scientific testing, how life and specifically man originated. I will not go into the details of this vast and fascinating subject here, as there are a number of websites that do that far more competently than I ever could (see the Links page). What I would like to discuss here, though, is a Biblical theory that I believed in for many years. It is commonly known as the Gap Theory, although we didn't call it that at the time. It is also sometimes called the Ruin/Restoration theory. I have a Closer Look article about it that goes into more detail, but briefly, the theory states that God created the heavens and the earth in the beginning. Then in Genesis 1:2, the earth "became" without form and void. The remainder of chapter one, according to this theory, describes not the creation but God's rebuilding of His creation that was destroyed. The theory actually brings up more questions than it answers, though. Among them is, why would God make a heaven and earth with some form of people in it (or at least hominids, human-like creatures) only to have it be destroyed when the devil rebelled? And why, if God did make an earlier heaven and earth, does He tell us nothing about it in His Word? Also, is the devil so powerful that he can destroy all of God's creation the way I was taught that he did? Also, Romans 5:12 says, "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin..." so there could have been no death before Adam's sin. Therefore, how could the creatures in the first heaven and earth have been destroyed? It must be remembered that the Gap Theory was largely popularized by a 19th century minister, in an attempt to reconcile evolution and the Bible. The theory was adopted by many theologians, including E. W. Bullinger who influenced much of what V. P. Wierwille taught. (Before the 19th century, most Christians believed that fossils were the result of Noah's flood.) I had to ask myself, even though I believed in the Gap Theory for many years, is it in the Scripture? Those who attempt to reconcile Genesis chapter one with long periods of time do so with either the gap theory or by interpreting the "days" of Genesis 1 as "ages." There is much disagreement over whether the "days" in Genesis 1 are literal or figurative. But Exodus 20:8-11 tells us that the Sabbath, the seventh day of the week is to be holy, because "...In six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is." If the six days were actually six "ages," did God rest during the seventh "age?" This also does not fit with the Gap Theory, which says that God made heaven and earth all at once, and the six days were merely "rebuilding." Furthermore, Jesus said in Mark 10:6 that "...from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female." God's creation of Adam and Eve on the sixth day could not therefore be after a long gap of billions of years, nor could it be after a series of five earlier "ages." He made them male and female "from the beginning" and it was part of His original plan. The implication of the Gap Theory is that what God started out to do in His creation, the devil made ruin of and God had to start over. Did God know what was going to happen when he created the heavens and the earth? For that matter, when he finished what He did in Genesis chapter one, He said it was "very good." If Satan had fallen before that time and become the Evil One, how could all creation be described as "very good?" And if Satan had fallen before man was put in the garden, why did God give Adam no warning of the Evil One, as He did in so many other places in the Bible? Perhaps the most important point to consider is this. Any theory that allows for death and decay before the fall of Adam misses the whole point of God's redemption plan. The theory of evolution, as well as various old earth theories, including the Gap Theory and theories that interpret the six days of creation as six long ages, all have one thing in common. They all have death and corruption before the fall of Adam, whereas Romans 5:12-21 and I Corinthians 15:21-22 tell us that death was the result of man's sin. If death existed before man sinned, then it is a normal, natural part of the cycle of life. But the Bible teaches us that God designed man with a purpose, and that purpose included everlasting life. Death was not part of that plan, but rather something that was introduced which marred it and hindered it, and had to be overcome. It was first introduced as the penalty for man's sin. God told man that if he sinned he would die. Satan said man would not die. (The same lie is propounded everywhere to this day. See the Closer Look article on The State Of The Dead.) While the penalty for sin is death, God also provided the payment when he sent His Son to die in our place, and overcame death when He raised Christ from the dead. None of this has any meaning if death is just a natural part of life that has always existed. God's plan from the beginning was for man to inhabit this planet, and to rule over it. Since man fell, God has been unfolding a plan to restore man to his original condition, and to restore the earth to the way it was, referred to in Acts 3:21 as "the times of restitution of all things." Romans 8: The word "vanity" in verse 20 means "futility." The world is subject to futility because it is not currently able to measure up to its intended purpose. God subjected it to that futility "in hope," because His plan involves one day delivering it from the bondage of corruption and returning it to its former glory. This is the foundation of the good news about the Kingdom of God.
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Abraham is called the "Father of them that believe" in Paul's writing about him in Romans and Galatians. His life was a pivotal point in the unfolding of God's plan of salvation. The first eleven chapters of Genesis span a period of roughly 2,000 years, from creation through Noah and his descendants. Then the next fourteen chapters focus on the life of this one remarkable man. Of all the people in the Bible, Abraham is the only one who is called the friend of God (James 2:23). We are told that Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness. What was it that Abraham believed? God made very specific promises to Abraham, and they represent the unfolding of God's plan, and the foundation of the Gospel (Galatians 3:8). God promised several things to Abraham. Genesis 12: In addition to making his descendants a great nation, and blessing all families of the earth in him, God specifically promised land. Genesis 12: God reiterated and expanded the promises to Abraham as time went on. He promised that Abraham's seed would be as numerous as the stars of heaven (Genesis 15:4-5) and made a covenant with Abraham to give land to him and his seed. (Genesis 15:18; 17:1-9; 22:16-18; 26:2-5). He established the covenant to Abraham's son Isaac (Genesis 26:3-5, 24), and later to Isaac's son Jacob (Genesis 28:3-4; 13-15; 35:9-12). It was because of God's covenant with Abraham that his descendants, the twelve tribes of Israel, were blessed (Exodus 2:24,25). God told Moses that He was going to lead Israel out of bondage and into the promised land, because of His covenant with Abraham (Exodus 6:1-8). Moses prayed to God not to destroy Israel in the wilderness by mentioning God's covenant with Abraham (Exodus 32:12-14). In Deuteronomy, Moses told the children of Israel to possess the land that was promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Deuteronomy 1:8). Yet God had told Moses that it was because of His promise to their fathers, in spite of their being an obstinate people (Exodus 33:1-3). The Israelites were permitted to enter and possess the promised land, not because of their righteousness, but because of the covenant with Abraham (Deuteronomy 9:5-6). The Israelites settled in the promised land, and later, under David, the nation saw its greatest period of history to date. But it did not last, and the Israelites fell into idolatrous practices. Nevertheless, God did not utterly destroy them because of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (II Kings 13:23). Abraham and David are both dead. When Stephen addressed the high priest and the council in Acts 7, he gave them a little review of their history. Acts 7: Abraham never received any inheritance in the land. The place where he buried Sarah was the only piece of ground he ever owned, and he bought that from Ephron, even though Ephron offered to give it to him. God promised great blessings to Abraham, including an inheritance of land. But he never received those promises in his lifetime. Yet Abraham believed that God keeps His promises, and as a result he sojourned as a stranger in the promised land. Hebrews 11: This passage is sometimes interpreted as saying that living somewhere "in heaven" as a disembodied soul is how God will ultimately fulfill His promise to Abraham. But the promise was specifically land, and was repeated as such over and over again. This passage tells us that the "better country" is heavenly, not because of its location in heaven, but because of its origin from heaven, being prepared for them by God. Abraham remained faithful even when he was asked to sacrifice Isaac, not because he thought Isaac would live on in heaven, but because he believed God could raise him from the dead. Hebrews 11: Abraham knew that God could raise Isaac from the dead. He also knew that if he did not receive the promise of land during his lifetime, God would raise him up in the future. Isaac, also, blessed his sons "concerning things to come" (Hebrews 11:20). It was the resurrection and the inheritance of the promised land, not living in heaven, that was always the hope of Israel, and this hope has not changed. The hope of this promise is still future, and we have been granted the privilege of sharing in it.
Hebrews 11: The whole notion of living somewhere other than earth, in a disembodied state, is based on the pagan notion that man has an immortal soul. This notion originated with Greek philosophy and not with the Bible. The Bible clearly teaches that when a person dies, he remains dead, unconscious, in the grave, until the resurrection. This is quite contrary to what most of Christianity teaches, of course, but as I demonstrate here, it is the Biblical view of death. The first thing that is said about Jesus Christ in the New Testament (Matthew 1:1), is that he is the son of David and of Abraham. Jesus spoke of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob being in the Kingdom of God in Matthew 8:11 and Luke 13:28. Paul wrote in Romans 4:13 that "...the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith." Notice it does not speak of being an heir of "heaven" but of "the world." And that blessing of Abraham is now available to Gentiles as well as Jews, according to Galatians 3:14, "That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith." Paul also wrote in verse 29 that "...if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." He believed and taught that the hope of the Christian is the same hope that Israel had (Acts 24:14; 26:6-7). God had promised Abraham that He would bless him and make him a great nation, and make his name great. He would also bless them that blessed that nation, and curse them that cursed it. All the families of the earth would be blessed through this nation, which would dwell in the land that God showed Abraham. They would have victory over their enemies and inherit the cities that had belonged to those enemies. As Christians we are now privileged to share in those same promises. This is why Abraham is called the father of them that believe and we are called the seed of Abraham if we have accepted Christ.
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The children of Israel wandered in the wilderness for forty years because the older generation did not believe God nor trust Him to enable them to overcome the inhabitants and enter the Promised Land. When Moses told the new generation about God's promises, he referred back to the land promise made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Numbers 32:8-13). He warned them against forgetting about God after He would bring them into this wonderful promised land (Deuteronomy 6:10-12). Joshua led them into the Promised Land and God gave the land into their hand and drove out the inhabitants (II Chronicles 20:7-8). It might seem as if that were the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham. Joshua 23: But if you read the context of Joshua's address in chapter 23, you see that he was saying that God had kept His promises regarding the land and the blessings, but if the people turned back and worshipped the gods of the people who were in the land, then God would also keep His promises about His punishment of wickedness. The people did, in fact, turn to idolatry and wickedness, and although God patiently warned them over and over, eventually (nearly 1000 years later) He removed them from their land (Ezekiel 33:23-29; II Chronicles 36:15-21). When the children of Israel lived in that land for a time, it was not the complete fulfillment of the promises to Abraham, for it did not last, even though God said He would give the land to his descendants forever. It was a temporary, conditional fulfillment designed as a foreshadowing of the ultimate fulfillment that is still to come. Moses was called by God to lead the children of Israel out of slavery in Egypt and into the Promised Land. But that it was not the final fulfillment of all that God would do can be seen from Moses' repeated reference back to God's covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (see previous article), as well as his prophecy of a coming prophet (whom Peter identifies as Jesus Christ in Acts 3:22ff). Deuteronomy 18: Moses was God's spokesman to the children of Israel, and he gave them the Law that was to govern them as a nation when they entered into the promised land. Jesus Christ is that prophet that Moses spoke of, and it is his words that we are to hearken to, for God put His words in his mouth. Jesus said that his words are spirit and life (John 6:63). But notice that he was to be a prophet from among their brethren. The prophecies of the coming Messiah all refer to a man who would be God's son and His perfect representative, but they do not speak of God becoming a man. I cover this in more detail in the Closer Look article on Who is Messiah. Not only did Moses foretell of the coming Prophet, but he laid out details of how God wanted the king of the nation of Israel to rule. The king was not to be a stranger, but one of their brethren. And he was not to multiply horses, or gold and silver, or many wives, or anything that would turn him away from God (Deuteronomy 17:14-20). Rather, he was to copy the book of The Law and read it, so as to keep his heart focused on God. Deuteronomy 17: It was indeed God's will for them to have a king. When the people later asked Samuel for a king and he told them it wasn't God's will, it was not because God did not want them to have a king, it was only because the time was not right. They insisted, and the result was that they got a bad king, Saul. He did not do what the Law said the king was supposed to do, and his heart was not right with God. Later, David became the king that they should have had, and he was a man after God's own heart (Acts 13:22). But the words of the Law as recorded in Deuteronomy 17 show that it was God's will for them to have a king as long as that king ruled righteously. In fact, that is what God has wanted all along on earth - a man after His heart that will speak His words and rule righteously on His behalf. This is the entire purpose for man.
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It is amazing that most people who call themselves "Christian" don't actually know what the word means. A "Christian" is a follower of Christ, but like most people, I did not know what the word "Christ" meant for many years. Like some, I assumed that it was part of his name. Others know that it is a title, but don't know exactly what it means. The fact is, however, that the word Christ comes from the Greek word christos, which means "anointed one." It is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word, mashiyach from which we get our English word, Messiah. The titles Messiah and Christ mean exactly the same thing: an anointed one. While there have been other "anointed ones" throughout the Old Testament, there are prophecies of the anointed one who was to come. The term "anointed" is first used in the book of Leviticus. It occurs four times and refers to the priests who would be anointed for that office. The next two occurrences of the word are very descriptive. I Samuel 2: God's plan involved raising up a king whom He would exalt and strengthen. The human kings of Israel, throughout the Old Testament, were referred to as the Lord's anointed. Because Saul did not do what God had commanded, his kingdom was taken away and given to David, who is described as a man after God's heart (I Samuel 13:13-14). God was pleased with David's rule, because for the most part he kept God's commandments, and even when he didn't, he repented because his heart was ultimately to please God. God told David that He would "appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more" (II Samuel 7:10). Moreover He promised that of David's kingdom there would be no end. II Samuel 7: Many prophecies in the Hebrew Scriptures have a dual fulfillment, that is, there is an immediate, more specific fulfillment, and a long-term, ultimate fulfillment as well. The specific and immediate fulfillment of these verses was in the person of David's son Solomon, who built a house for God's name, after David died. Solomon sat on the throne of Israel in David's place, and it is called the throne of the Lord in I Chronicles 29:23 ("Then Solomon sat on the throne of the LORD as king instead of David his father..."). The throne of Israel is called the throne of the Lord, because the king of Israel was intended to be God's representative on earth, who would rule on God's behalf. He would be a "vice-regent" or ruler second only to God Himself. The king of the nation of Israel was a "type" or foreshadowing of the ultimate king of the whole earth that God said He would raise up. But Solomon did not remain faithful until the end, and by the time he died had turned to idolatry. The kingdom was divided after that, and descendents of David and Solomon continued to reign until the Babylonian captivity. Some ruled well, most did not. After the people returned from captivity in Babylon under the Persian empire, the promised kingdom of God on earth still did not materialize, and the nation of Israel continued to be under the rule of various Gentile kingdoms. Yet God had promised that He would establish David's throne for ever (Psalm 89:2-4,18-29) While the immediate fulfillment of II Samuel 7:12 was in David's son Solomon, like many prophecies there was also another, long-term fulfillment. The second Psalm is a Messianic prophecy, referring to the future rule of God and His anointed (Messiah, or Christ). "The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us" (vs. 2-3). But God says that He will "set my king upon my holy hill of Zion" (v. 6). He also says, prophetically, "Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee" (v. 7). The coming king would not only be of David's lineage, but also the Son of God. He would rule the nations mightily on his Father's behalf. "Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel" (vs. 8-9). For this reason, the kings of the earth are warned, "Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss [give honor, do homage to] the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way" (vs. 11-12). God will eventually send His anointed king to rule the earth and rid it of those who would rebel against God's judgment. This has been the hope of Israel all along, starting with the promise of land to Abraham, and the promise of a never-ending kingdom to David. (See also Psalm 72:1-20.) The first thing that is said about Jesus in Matthew 1:1 is that he was the Messiah, the son of Abraham and the son of David. The angel told his mother Mary (in Luke 1:32-33) that "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end." Every prophecy about who the Messiah would be is summed up in these verses. Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of God's promise to establish David's throne for ever.
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The promise of land and blessings to Abraham and his descendants was only temporarily fulfilled by the kingdom of Israel. But they did not keep God's covenant, and so they were divided, the northern kingdom (Israel) being defeated by Assyria and scattered, and the southern kingdom (Judah) being taken captive to Babylon. Yet God had promised to establish David's throne forever. During the Babylonian captivity, Daniel prayed, confessing that Israel and Judah had deserved what had happened to them. He asked the Lord to turn His anger from Jerusalem and once again allow His face to shine on the sanctuary, for His own name's sake (Daniel 9). Daniel understood from Jeremiah (see Jeremiah 25:11-12; 29:10) that the Babylonian captivity would be 70 years (Daniel 9:2). In response to his prayer, it is revealed to him that another seventy, this time seventy "sevens" were determined, "to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy" (Daniel 9:24). This prophecy will be examined in detail in another article, but for now the point I want to demonstrate is that the return of the people to their land after the Babylonian captivity was not the final fulfillment of the prophecies. Jeremiah 16:10-15 says that the reason for Israel's great calamity was that they continued to serve idols. But in the same breath God promises to restore them to their land. He makes a similar prophecy in Jeremiah 23. Jeremiah 23: God did restore them to their land after the captivity in Babylon, but that was not the complete and final fulfillment of this prophecy or of God's plans. Verse 3 says the remnant would be gathered out of "all countries" (the reference in Jeremiah 16, above, says, "from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them") yet the return after the 70 years of captivity was only out of Babylon. In verse 4, "neither shall they be lacking" is rendered in the NASB and the NRSV as "nor will any be missing." Yet only Judah was returned from Babylon. The ten northern tribes of Israel were scattered into many nations, and have yet to be returned. But the next verses describe such a return. Jeremiah 23: When God raises up the righteous branch of David, that is, the Messiah, he will reign as king. At that time, both Judah and Israel will be saved and restored to the promised land, with peace and prosperity. (See also Ezekiel 37:15-28; 39:25-29; Hosea 3:4-5; Joel 3:16-21; Amos 9:11-15). At that time God will no longer be primarily known for bringing Israel out of Egypt, but for bringing all the scattered "seed" or descendants of Israel from out of all the heathen nations to which they had been driven. This specific statement was also made in Jeremiah 16:14-15. There are many instances in which an Old Testament prophecy is partially fulfilled in its immediate future, but is in fact a type of a further, ultimate fulfillment. The return of Judah to their land after the Babylonian captivity was only a partial fulfillment of the prophecy. One of the verses referenced above, Amos 9:15, said, "I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land." But the Jews were driven out of their land again, after they rejected the Messiah. Yet Isaiah speaks of God restoring a remnant of His people "a second time." Isaiah 11: Paul refers to this prophecy, that a remnant of Israel would be saved, in Romans 9:27. He goes on to describe how the remnant would be saved by accepting Christ as their Messiah. However, most of them are blind to that truth, although a number of them have believed, especially in the first century Church (Romans 11:8-10). Nevertheless, Paul says that the blindness is temporary, "until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in" (Romans 11:25). Jesus had used the same time reference to describe Jerusalem being trodden down of the Gentiles in Luke 21:24. Jerusalem has been under the control of the Gentiles since the time of Daniel, as illustrated by his visions of the successive Gentile empires. But a time will come when Israel will turn back to God, at which time the Gentile kingdoms will be subdued by God's Kingdom. Matthew 23: This fits with the prophecies that God will never completely forsake Israel (Psalm 94:14; Isaiah 54:5-10; Jeremiah 31:35-40; 32:37-40; 33:23-26; Micah 7:18-20). The promise that God would establish David's throne to a restored Israel is further elaborated on in all of the Prophets, expanding it to encompass the whole world. The focus of the new kingdom will be the throne of the Lord in Jerusalem. Jeremiah 3: Israel, and Jerusalem in particular, will be the center of a coming world empire, in which God's vice-regent, or co-ruler, will administer a perfect government. "A throne will even be established in lovingkindness, And a judge [literally, an administrator] will sit on it in faithfulness in the tent of David; Moreover, he will seek justice and be prompt in righteousness" (Isaiah 16:5, NASB). The New Living Translation words it this way: "Then God will establish one of David's descendants as king. He will rule with mercy and truth. He will always do what is just and be eager to do what is right." A famous scripture in Isaiah describes the purpose of the Messiah's birth. "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder...Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this" (Isaiah 9:6-7). God's king would be perfect and just in his judgments, and he would rule over not just Israel but the whole world. "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion...thy King cometh unto thee...and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth" (Zechariah 9:9-10). God's righteousness will encompass the earth by way of this kingdom centered in Israel. Micah 4: In Daniel, we are given a vision of future events, including a succession of world empires that would dominate Israel following Babylon. But the last one would be replaced by God's kingdom on earth. "And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever" (Daniel 2:44). Daniel 7: Not only will there be a great world empire ruled by God's king, but the saints are given a part in ruling with him. Daniel 7: In Daniel it is also revealed that the establishment of the kingdom would be preceded by a Great Tribulation, and then the resurrection of the dead. Daniel 12: There are many more details in the prophecies recorded in the Hebrew Scriptures. These are only a small sampling. The earth will be restored to its former perfection (Isaiah 65:17; Psalm 96:10-13). There will be peace and rest, and no more war (Isaiah 2:2-4; Micah 4:3). There will be perfect and just judgment (Isaiah 11:1-5), and nature itself will be restored to the way God intended, with peace among the animals (Isaiah 11:6-8). "The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea" (Isaiah 11:9). This is indeed good news, which is what the word "gospel" means. The Prophets proclaimed not only God's judgment on the wicked, but also the good news of the coming kingdom of God, when wickedness would be no more. The hope of Israel throughout the Old Testament was the fulfillment of God's promises to Abraham and David, specifically the coming righteous rule of God through His Messiah. Jesus preached the "Gospel" or "Good News" of the coming Kingdom of God. He declared that the reason he was sent was to preach the Kingdom of God (Luke 4:43). Because Israel was quite familiar with the Hebrew Scriptures, when he came preaching that Gospel, he did not need to explain what he meant, because they knew from the Scriptures what the coming Messiah was all about, and they knew that he was coming to set up God's Kingdom on earth. Many of them did not believe that he was that Messiah, but there was no question in their minds about what the purpose of the coming Messiah was. As followers of Christ, we should be as knowledgeable about his purpose and function, why he came, and what he accomplished. When he proclaimed that the Kingdom of God was at hand, what did he mean? With the foundation from the Hebrew Scriptures, it will become clear what Jesus was preaching, when we consider his words in the next section.
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