Gospel from the Gospels #1
Gospel from the Gospels #2
Gospel from the Gospels #3
Gospel from the Gospels #4
(there will be more of these to follow, as it is an ongoing series)
The Gospel of the Kingdom
“Since the Kingdom of God was the heart of all that Jesus taught, and since he fully endorsed the hopes of the prophets (Matt 5:17, Rom 15:8,) the removal of the Messianic Kingdom will threaten the substance of Jesus’ Christian message…the teaching of Jesus suffered a devastating blow when expositors no longer acknowledged that the Kingdom of God means primarily and dominantly what it had always meant to the prophets: a “concrete” Kingdom of God on the earth to be initiated by the event known in the Old Testament as the Day of the Lord and in the New as the Second Coming of Jesus. The term “Kingdom of God” on Jesus’ lips is the new order to be inaugurated by his return. This corresponds exactly with the Old Testament’s descriptions of God reigning (i.e., in the person of His chosen King, the Messiah)( Isa. 52: 7-10; 32: 1; Ps. 2; Zech. 14: 9; Rev. 11: 15-18, Ps. 96-101, which describe the day on which “the Lord has become King” — begun to reign). Traditional theology seems to have forgotten that Jesus came to “confirm the promises made to the fathers” (Rom. 15: 8,) and the fathers, beginning with Abraham, were expecting to “inherit the world” (Rom. 4: 13).” Anthony Buzzard, The Coming Kingdom of the Messiah: A Solution to the Riddle of the New Testament
“For the concept of the Kingdom of God involves, in a real sense, the total message of the Bible. Not only does it loom large in the teachings of Jesus, it is to be found, in one form or another, through the length and breadth of the Bible… Old Testament and New Testament thus stand together as the two acts of a single drama. Act I points to its conclusion in Act II, and without it the play is an incomplete, unsatisfying thing. But Act II must be read in the light of Act I, else its meaning will be missed. For the play is organically one. The Bible is one book. Had we to give that book a title, we might with justice call it “The Book of the Coming Kingdom of God.” Dr. John Bright (Professor of Hebrew and Interpretation of the Old Testament, Union Theological Seminary)The Kingdom of God pp. 7, 197
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