What did Jesus (and the Comforter) ask people to believe? 2

[Guest guest]

" The Kingdom of God that we were promised is at hand. This is not a

phrase out of a sermon or a lecture, but it is the actualization of

the experience of the highest Truth which is Absolute, now

manifesting itself in ordinary people at this present moment. "

 

Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi

 

 

The Good News of the Kingdom of God

 

" Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching

the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, " The time is fulfilled,

and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel "

(Mark 1:14, 15).

 

The theme of Jesus Christ's message was the good news of the Kingdom

of God. This is made clear by Matthew, Mark and Luke. Luke records

Christ in His own words describing His purpose: " I must preach the

kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I

have been sent " (Luke 4:43).

 

Mark relates that, at the beginning of His ministry, " Jesus came to

Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God " (Mark 1:14).

 

Matthew tells us, " . . . Jesus began to preach and to say, 'Repent,

for the kingdom of heaven is at hand' . . . And Jesus went about all

Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the

kingdom . . . " (Matthew 4:17, 23).

 

Luke 8:1 confirms that Jesus Christ did exactly what He said He

would: " Now it came to pass, afterward, that He went through every

city and village, preaching and bringing the glad tidings [the

gospel, or good news] of the kingdom of God . . . "

 

This message of the Kingdom was the heart and core of Christ's

teaching from the very beginning. Together, the Gospels of Matthew,

Mark, Luke and John use the term " kingdom of God " in 53 verses. The

gospel Jesus Christ brought is clearly about this Kingdom.

 

Others told to spread this message

 

What about His disciples? What did He command them to preach? " Then

He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and

authority over all demons, and to cure diseases. He sent them to

preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick " (Luke 9:1, 2).

 

Later He instructed others to proclaim this same message. " After

these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them

two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself

was about to go. " He instructed the seventy to proclaim, " The kingdom

of God has come near to you " (Luke 10:1, 9).

 

The Kingdom of God was clearly the theme of Christ's ministry. In the

Sermon on the Mount, one of the most familiar examples of His

message, He pointed His followers toward the Kingdom. He began His

message with, " Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the

kingdom of heaven ... Blessed are those who are persecuted for

righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven " (Matthew

5:3, 10).

 

Christ told His followers of the importance of obedience to God's law

in entering this Kingdom: " Whoever therefore breaks one of the least

of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in

the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be

called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, that unless

your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and

Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven " (Matthew

5:19, 20).

 

He also warned that we must be submissive to God's will to enter the

Kingdom: " Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the

kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven "

(Matthew 7:21).

 

He taught His followers to pray " Your kingdom come " (Matthew 6:10).

And notice this! He commanded them to " seek first the kingdom of God

and His righteousness " (Matthew 6:33). Seeking to enter the Kingdom

of God should be our top priority.

 

Time and time again He used parables to illustrate aspects of the

Kingdom (Matthew 13, 20, 22, 25; Luke 13, 19). In some of His last

words before His crucifixion, He remarked to His disciples that He

would not partake of the Passover symbols until He would once again

do so " with you in My Father's kingdom " (Matthew 26:29).

 

Over a 40-day period immediately after His death and resurrection,

Jesus Christ was seen by His followers. Notice that even then He

continued " speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God "

(Acts 1:3).

 

What message did Christ's followers preach?

 

Jesus Christ was not the only one to proclaim this message. Before

Jesus began His ministry, John the Baptist commanded people to

repent, announcing that " the kingdom of heaven is at hand! " (Matthew

3:2).

 

As we have seen, Jesus' ministry centered on the Kingdom. In keeping

with Christ's direction, His disciples continued to proclaim the

Kingdom after His crucifixion.

 

The importance of Jesus Christ's life, sacrifice and resurrection was

a vital part of the message taught by the apostles. The apostle Peter

made this clear in his first public preaching on the very day the

Church began with the miraculous outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Acts

2:22-24, 36).

 

Peter also spoke of the broader concepts of the Kingdom of God in his

ministry. In 2 Peter 1:10, 11 we read, " Therefore, brethren, be even

more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you do

these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be

supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord

and Savior Jesus Christ. "

 

Notice, too, that people requested baptism as a result of Philip's

message about the Kingdom. " But when they believed Philip as he

preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of

Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized " (Acts 8:12).

 

Paul proclaimed the Kingdom

 

What about the apostle Paul? The book of Acts records that early in

his ministry, as he raised up congregations in various cities,

he " strengthen[ed] the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to

continue in the faith, and saying, 'We must through many tribulations

enter the kingdom of God' " (Acts 14:22). Later, in Ephesus, " he went

into the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and

persuading concerning the things of the kingdom of God " (Acts 19:8).

 

Paul described his own preaching in Corinth as relating to " the

kingdom of God " (1 Corinthians 4:20). He referred to himself and his

companions as " fellow workers for the kingdom of God " (Colossians

4:11).

 

When under house arrest in Rome near the end of his ministry, Paul

received a number of visitors, " to whom he explained and solemnly

testified of the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus

from both the Law of Moses and the Prophets, from morning till

evening " (Acts 28:23). Notice that Paul used the Old Testament

scriptures- " the Law of Moses and the Prophets " -to preach about both

the Kingdom of God and Jesus Christ.

 

Paul is misrepresented as preaching a gospel about only the life,

death and resurrection of Christ. The reality, however, is that Paul

preached a message about both Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God.

The last verse of the book of Acts describes Paul " preaching the

kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus

Christ . . . " (Acts 28:31).

 

Those who followed in Jesus Christ's footsteps taught the same

message He taught. The book of Acts and the apostles' letters to the

early church make it clear that they taught about the Kingdom of God.

 

The gospel before Jesus Christ

 

Some have assumed the gospel was first introduced by Jesus Christ in

His earthly ministry. The gospel, however, is much older than that.

It is called " the everlasting gospel " (Revelation 14:6).

 

The last four verses of Hebrews 3 speak of ancient Israel's unbelief

and the sad fate of those who died in the wilderness, not entering

the promised land. Hebrews 4:2 continues the story: " For indeed the

gospel was preached to us as well as to them . . . " Israel had heard

the gospel but failed to respond because of lack of faith.

 

Hundreds of years before that, the patriarch Abraham also heard the

gospel (Galatians 3:8). Both of these passages confirm that the

gospel was being proclaimed before Christ's ministry on earth.

 

In describing how, at His return, He will reward those who have been

faithful to His way of life, Jesus Christ revealed that the Kingdom

of God has been prepared for us far longer than we can

imagine. " Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom

prepared for you from the foundation of the world " (Matthew 25:34).

 

This good news about the glorious future of humanity has been God's

plan from the very beginning! Christ's part in that plan, including

His sacrifice to pay the penalty for the sins of humanity, was also

established from the very beginning (Revelation 13:8; 1 Peter 1:18-

20). This was the good news given to Abraham-that through his

descendant, Jesus Christ, all nations would be blessed (Galatians

3:8, 16).

 

Few understood before Jesus Christ

 

The Kingdom of God was proclaimed by God's servants before Jesus

Christ's ministry on earth. King David, in some of his psalms, looked

prophetically to God's Kingdom. As he wrote in Psalm 145:10-13: " All

Your works shall praise You, O LORD, and Your saints shall bless You.

They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom, and talk of Your

power, to make known to the sons of men His mighty acts, and the

glorious majesty of His kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting

kingdom, and Your dominion endures throughout all generations. "

 

The prophet Daniel also knew of the coming Kingdom of God. He, too,

was inspired to write of the future reality of the Kingdom: " Then the

sovereignty, power and greatness of the kingdoms under the whole

heaven will be handed over to the saints, the people of the Most

High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will

worship and obey him " (Daniel 7:27, New International Version).

 

However, even though the gospel originated at the foundation of the

world and was proclaimed through the ages, few understood it until

Jesus Christ and the apostles declared it to the world.

 

But why? Ancient Israel, as noted earlier, lacked the belief and

faith to understand and act on it (Hebrews 3:19; 4:2). In addition,

the Old Testament scriptures did not connect all the pieces of the

puzzle. They provided tantalizing glimpses of the Kingdom, but

greater understanding had to wait until the coming of Jesus Christ,

the revealer of " the mysteries of the kingdom " (Matthew 13:11).

 

When Jesus Christ came preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God, He

built on the foundation already planned by God the Father from the

beginning and revealed by the earlier prophets. As the messenger of

the Kingdom, He revealed vital truths that were not understood from

the Old Testament prophecies.

 

One of the great misunderstandings about the Kingdom, not made clear

until revealed by Jesus Christ, was that thousands of years would

separate His first coming as the sacrificial Lamb of God (John 1:29)

from His return as the conquering King of the Kingdom (Revelation

19:11-16). His first coming fulfilled a vital part of the gospel of

the Kingdom-His sacrifice to make possible our forgiveness,

justification and ultimate entry into the Kingdom. His second coming

will bring the establishment of that incredible Kingdom.

 

The Bible proclaims a consistent message from beginning to end

concerning the Kingdom of God, a message delivered throughout the

ages by God's servants. But, paradoxically, the part of the

revelation about the Kingdom of God that was most fully and clearly

described in prophecy after prophecy in the Old Testament-a literal

kingdom ruled over by a prophesied Messiah-seems to be the least

understood aspect of the gospel today.

 

Many believe that the fantastic truth that fllowers of Jesus Christ

will enjoy eternal life in an eternal Kingdom renders any need of a

literal earthly reign over physical human beings totally unnecessary.

 

But what does the Bible say? Let's put aside all preconceived ideas

and believe the plain teachings of God's Word.

 

The Bible proclaims a consistent message from beginning to end

concerning the Kingdom of God, a message delivered throughout the

ages by God's servants. But, paradoxically, the part of the

revelation about the Kingdom of God that was most fully and clearly

described in prophecy after prophecy in the Old Testament - a literal

kingdom ruled over by a prophesied Messiah - seems to be the least

understood aspect of the gospel today. "

 

The Good News of the Kingdom of God

http://www.gnmagazine.org/booklets/bk5/news.html

 

 

 

 

, " violettubb " <violettubb

wrote:

>

> What did Jesus ask people to " believe " ?

>

> ...Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and

saying, " The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent and

believe the gospel. " (Mark 1:14-15)

>

> (p.378) Jesus' exhortation to " believe the gospel " does not refer to study of

or belief in scriptural writings per se.[1] In the original Greek in which the

New Testament was written, the word used for gospel is 'euangelion', " good news "

or " good message. " As used by Jesus it expressed the " good message, " the

revelations of truth, he was bringing to man from God.

>

> When Jesus said to " believe the gospel, " he meant more than a casual mental

acceptance of his message. Belief in general is that conditional receptive

attitude of mind that must precede an experience in order to cognize it. One

must have sufficient belief in a concept in order to put it to the test, without

which one cannot possibly verify its validity. (p.379) If a man is thirsty and

is advised to quench his thirst with the water from a nearby good well, he must

believe in that advice sufficiently to make the effort to go to the well and

drink from it.

>

> Similarly, Jesus emphasizes that truth-seeking souls must not only repent of

the foolishness of following unsatisfying material ways of living, and believe

in the truths experienced by him through God; they must also act accordingly

that they might realize those truths for themselves.

>

> To be an orthodox unquestioning believer in any spiritual doctrine, without

the scrutiny of experimentation to prove it to oneself, is to be ossified with

dogmatism. Jesus did not ask the people merely to believe in his message, but to

keep faith in his divine revelations with the assurance that by believing in,

and hence concentrating upon, the gospel, they would surely and ultimately

experience within themselves the truths in those revelations. Belief is wasted

on false doctrines; but truth poured out to man through the authority of

God-realized saints is worthy of belief and sure to produce divine realization.

>

> Even on the authority of the fame of scriptural text, one cannot judge what it

teaches, for various are the meanings and consequent distortions drawn from holy

writ, some of which defy the laws of both reason and wisdom. Also, who can deny

what errors might have come down through the centuries in the form of

mistranslations or mistakes made by scribes? The Bible and the Vedas may well be

inspired texts that came from heaven, but the ultimate test of truth is one's

own realization, direct experience received through the medium of the soul's

omniscient intuition.

>

> The Second Coming of Christ (The Resurrection of the Christ Within

> You) Volume 1, Discourse 22, pg. 378-379

> Paramahansa Yogananda

> Printed in the United States of America 1434-J881

> ISBN-13:978-0-87612-557-1

> ISBN-10:0-87612-557-7

>

> Notes:

>

> [1] " While two of the New Testament gospels use the word 'gospel' (it is

missing in Luke and John), they use it to indicate not the written works

themselves, but rather the message preached either by Jesus (in Matthew) or

about him (in Mark). Not until the middle of the second century are documents

about the words and deeds of Jesus called gospels. " - Robert J. Miller, ed.,

'The Complete Gospels: Annotated Scholars Version' (HarperSanFrancisco, 1994).

>

> " The English word 'gospel' is a descendant of the Anglo-Saxon word 'godspel'

or 'good news'. 'Godspel' was an accurate equivalent of the original Greek word

'euangelion', literally a 'good message' or 'good tidings'. And the oldest

surviving Greek manuscript copies of the four canonical gospels bear only the

headings According to Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John (the four books together

comprise the whole of the single 'gospel'; and the word 'canonical' derives from

the Greek 'kanon' or 'measuring rod' and indicates, in this case, those few

gospels that were approved as holy scriptures by the orthodox church of the late

second century). " - Reynolds Price, 'Three Gospels' (New York: Simon and

Shuster, 1997). ('Publisher's Note')

>