When we come to the New Testament we find there are indeed multiple usages of the word gospel which simply means Good News. The content of the good news or what defines the good news is what follows or by what can be found in the context. So when we see the Gospel of the Kingdom; the Gospel of God or the Gospel of Christ we recognize that, while these are all good news, they are not the same good news. The vast majority of Religion-dom teaches they are all the same which has cause a great deal of confusion.
Different words mean different things so we should not make the mistake of making something the same just because someone such as a teacher or even a preacher tells us that it’s the same.
We see in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John that the primary Gospel was the Gospel of the Kingdom. It was the Gospel that Jesus preached and taught to his disciples that the Kingdom of God was at hand. It was the good news about the promised kingdom and that Israel would be above all nations on the earth and that they would be a peculiar people; a nation of priest, as delineated in Deuteronomy 26 and elsewhere. The kingdom was at hand because the King was at hand and the gentiles would come to the brightness of Israel’s rising according to Isaiah 60. Their promised Messiah was among them.
Even after the death, burial and resurrection we see the Apostles continue to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom or about things pertaining to the kingdom of God but now, they are also proclaiming that Jesus whom they crucified had risen from the dead and was indeed the Messiah.
You recall that Jesus had told the disciples to not tell anyone that he was the Christ before his death, burial and resurrection. So it is clear that this information was not a part of the Gospel of the Kingdom. In fact, the disciples had been preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom when they didn’t know or understand that Jesus was going to die. But later we see in Acts, after Jesus’ resurrection there’s more good news. This same Jesus who was crucified and buried has risen from the dead and has been made both LORD and Christ and is seated at the right hand of the Father. This is the Gospel of God.
So the Gospel of the Kingdom is the good news that the promised kingdom was at hand and the Jews were required to make their law failure confession; confessing their sins and be cleansed receiving the Baptism of John. The Gospel of God was the information about Jesus, the promised messiah and that he had risen from the dead.
So post resurrection and even after the Feast of Pentecost we are still not hearing anything, in the Gospel they were preaching, about Christ’s death paying for the sins of the world and the world being reconciled to God. No mention of gentiles being saved by believing that Jesus died for their sins or that Jesus became sin for us or about them being on equal par with the Jews and part of the same body; nothing like that. In fact at this point any gentiles that came to believe these gospels are “zealous of the law”; they are, in fact, Jewish proselytes.
That God, in the first part of Acts, is still dealing with Israel and his program with her and that the Jews are still preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom could not be any clearer. That being the case we know with certainty that Act 2 and Pentecost is NOT the birth of the Church we are a part of now, as we did not replace Israel since, according to the Bible, God is going to eventually resume his program with Israel. There is a church or a called out assembly which, is what the Greek word ekklesia, translated Church, means. Just as there is more than one Gospel there is also more than one assembly or congregation, in the Bible.
The “But Now” Gospel
The last Gospel and the one that is relevant for us today, is the Gospel of Christ. This is the Gospel which people today must understand in order to be saved. The Gospel of Christ is exclusive to the Apostle Paul as it was Paul to whom God gave the mystery or secret and Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, calls it “my Gospel”.
Romans 2:16 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.
Romans 16:25 Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,
You see God had been keeping a secret and that secret was not revealed until after the rulers of Israel had rejected their Messiah completely and God closed the door on Israel’s kingdom being at hand. This happened at the stoning of Stephen when we see Jesus no longer sitting at the right hand of God but rather, he is standing in judgement against his enemies. And who were those enemies? None other than the children of disobedience; It was the Jewish leadership and all those who rejected the testimony of John the Baptist, Jesus and then finally the Holy Spirit. Just when the time came for Christ to make his enemies his footstool and begin Israel’s last days before entering the Kingdom, something else happens.
God had given Israel one year to produce fruit as seen in the parable of the fig tree told by Jesus.
Luke 13:6 ¶ He spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. 7 Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground? 8 And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it: 9 And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.
We see for three years Christ sought fruit and found none but the dresser of the vineyard which, would be Peter, asked that he be allowed to dig about it and dung it for one more year then, if it doesn’t bear fruit it would be cut down. This is exactly what happened. The rulers of Israel would not repent; they would not accept the Baptism of John and admit they had failed to keep the law contract they had made with God back in Deuteronomy 6:25 when they said:
25 And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as he hath commanded us.
They thought they could keep every jot and tittle and that they could earn their righteousness. They did not recognize that by the keeping of the law no flesh shall be saved. They missed the whole point of the law which was to show them that they could not possibly live up to God’s standard of righteousness. Non the less God, being longsuffering, had made a way for them to still have the kingdom. All they had to do was confess their national sin that they had broken the covenant they had made and be baptized with water, cleansing them from their sin. Yes, some did and these were those Jesus called the little flock but this was a national issue because All Israel had proclaimed, with one voice that, they would keep the law and so it was necessary that the rulers, those whom God worked through in his program with Israel, must also make that confession. But as Stephen said before they murdered him:
51 ¶ Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.
And that was that! You will not see the Gospel of the Kingdom being preached after that point because God had now temporarily shut down their program and shortly we see there’s a new sheriff in town who will be given a Dispensation of the grace of God; a new program where the gentiles will come to salvation apart from Israel’s rise; yet another Gospel; the Gospel of Christ. And as Paul later reveals, it is now by Israel’s FALL that this grace has come to the gentiles.
Paul was saved by believing the Gospel of God as that was the only gospel there was at that point. He believed that Jesus had risen from the dead and that he was the Son of God; the Messiah but at that point he still did not know anything about what Jesus death, burial and resurrection had actually accomplished. But all would eventually be revealed as Paul received multiple revelation from the risen, ascended Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul continued, throughout his ministry, to try to reach his “kinsmen after the flesh” with the Gospel of God and then the Gospel of Christ. The Gospel of Christ is all about the message of Reconciliation and that’s the Gospel God gave us, as ambassadors for Christ, to take to the lost:
14 For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: 15 And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. 16 Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. 17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. 21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
From God’s perspective we are reconciled. Jesus died for our sins and not ours only but for the sins of the whole world. So sin is no longer an issue.
2 Corinthians 5:18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
Romans 11:13 For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:14 If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them.15 For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?
We are not saved by turning from our sin, what many today call repentance, but rather, we are saved when we believe what God says his Son’s death, burial and resurrection accomplished. He became sin for us and God’s wrath against sinners, past present and future was poured out on Christ Jesus. So neither we nor those who don’t believe are or will ever be judged for their sin. They are judged for their unbelief. Yes, God’s wrath will be poured out on his enemies but that is not the same as judgement for their sins.
When we believe the Gospel of Christ, that Christ paid for our sins by his death, was buried and rose again, we are then baptized by the Holy Spirit, into the Body of Christ; we are identified with Christ in his resurrection having overcome sin and the grave and Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us or applied to our account the moment we take God at his word believing that Jesus died for our sins.
There is no walking down to the alter and confessing your sins and asking Jesus to come into your heart; there is no magic prayer – there is no such description in the Bible for those who believe the Gospel of Christ. Alters are for sacrifices and we have nothing to sacrifice and asking Jesus to come into your heart comes from a complete misunderstanding of a verse in Revelation, as does being “born again” both of which have everything to do with Israel and nothing to do with salvation in the dispensation of the grace of God.
There are at least a couple of other gospels but these three are the primary gospels in the part of the Bible we call the New Testament. Not all of the New Testament is the New Testament. Another issue for another article.
In conclusion
It is so important to realize that revelation was progressive. God did not reveal everything about his plan all at once. Even Paul did not get all the Mystery information all at once. There were changes occurring even during Paul’s ministry as can be seen when, in the early years he was healing and being healed and baptizing some but as he received further revelation we see later there is only one baptism and he tells Timothy to take some medicine and another fellow is sick nigh unto death… Why doesn’t Paul just heal them? Because it is revealed to Paul that God’s grace is sufficient.
So as you go through your Bible keep in mind that what you may be reading, at any given point, may not be a place where you can just plant a flag and say “this is it!” If you do that you may well end up in Israel’s program and as Paul tells us, Israel is fallen so that’s definitely not where you want to be. Or you may end up following the letters written to the Jews, called the Hebrew Epistles, that have information and doctrine pertaining to them during the Time of Jacob’s Trouble, better known as the Tribulation. Of course ALL the Bible is for us and is profitable but it is not all to us which should be obvious, but unfortunately “ministers of righteousness” have done a good job of selling a counterfeit gospel just has Satan, the great counterfeiter, would have it.
Paul’s ministry was to the uncircumcision including the Jews who were uncircumcised of heart. He was THE ONE apostle of the gentiles and the uncircumcision, ministering to the one body whereas, the other Apostles were ministers of the circumcision or Israel; Twelve apostles – Twelve Tribes and promised Twelve Thrones. Funny how the math works out and yet the vast majority of Bible teachers choose to ignore the obvious. (Paul doesn’t indicate anywhere that he was promised to sit on one of the twelve thrones during the Millennial Kingdom) That’s the division God made and it’s clearly written in his word. We should respect that division even though almost no one has for the last nearly two thousand years.
25 Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; 26 Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: 27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: 28 Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: 29 Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.
Be a part of the “But now” gospel. The Gospel of Christ
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