Evangelism and the Kingdom of Yahuwah | Part B

The King James Version (KJV) is mostly used in these lessons. Click here to access the KJV online.

The Nature of the Kingdom Message

The Gospel is not an invitation to “invite Christ into your heart,” although His Spirit indwells every believer. Neither does the Gospel center on the eternal bliss that awaits believers at death, although every follower of Christ will depart to be with the Lord.³ Few, if any, New Testament sermons deal with heaven. Rather they focus on the Kingdom and what it means to be part of it, now and in the future. The New Testament kerygma [Gospel] announces what Yahuwah has ultimately done in and through Yahushua and invites the hearers to become part of Yahuwah’s great plan for history. It is primarily about Yahuwah, not us.

Additionally, the authentic Gospel is an historical, not an ahistorical or existential message. Through the Old Testament prophets, Yahuwah foretold a time when He would send a mighty deliverer to establish a new covenant with Israel and bring all things in subjection to Himself. All independent kingdoms to which people give their allegiance, both spiritual and material, will be destroyed. Yahushua announced that Yahuwah’s Kingdom had arrived [was at hand], and then he called people to submit to his rule. On the cross he defeated Satan, offered his life as an atonement for sin, and regained dominion over Yahuwah’s creation which Adam had relinquished at the fall. Calvary was Yahuwah’s death blow to Satan’s rule, sin’s power and death’s victory and, hence, it became the “hinge of history.”

At his resurrection, Christ emerged from the cosmic battle victorious, proving that Yahuwah, not the rebels, was in charge. After all, if Yahushua could enter the heart of enemy territory and not be defeated, then their days are numbered!

From his exalted position at Yahuwah’s right hand, Christ now rules from his throne until his enemies become his footstool (Acts 2:35; 1 Cor. 15:23-24). The powers of evil may still function, but only under the authority of Christ (Col. 2:15; 1:15-16; 1 Cor. 2:6-8). As one theologian remarks, “All kingdoms are confronted with their rightful overlord.”

As sovereign Lord, Christ now directs the course of history toward its victorious completion, i.e. the future establishment of his Kingdom on earth and the judgment of all nations, which will take place at his coming.

Finally the Gospel is corporate in scope as well as individualistic. The Kingdom now finds root in the church. Becoming a citizen of the Kingdom cannot be done in a vacuum, any more than a foreigner can become a citizen of the United States without rubbing shoulders with other Americans. There is a corporate or community aspect to citizenship. It includes responsibility and privileges that cannot be found by living in isolation. Likewise, it is incoherent to say one can enter that reign of Christ and remain outside the church [ekklesia]. The church in turn, spreads the Gospel of the Kingdom to the entire world and summons humanity to submit to Yahuwah’s rule in Christ and align themselves with other believers in his Kingdom. Whenever and wherever the victory of Christ is proclaimed and obeyed, Satan must retreat. As Yahuwah’s rule expands, Satan’s recedes.

It is essential that we re-examine the message we proclaim. Is it the same “gospel of the kingdom” preached by Yahushua and the apostles?
 

¹[Title Footnote from Original Article] http://empoweringkingdomgrowth.org/ekg.asp?page=11 2Used with permission of Baptist Press. Emphasis added.
²It was of course very much still also in the future as the great event of the Second Coming — ed.
³We will be “with the Lord” only at the rapture/resurrection (1 Thess. 4:16-17) — ed.