The TRUE Meaning of “Gospel” is MIND-BLOWING

[0:00] what if I told you that Jesus's core message was not about going to heaven when you die what if instead Jesus is really emphasizing bringing Heaven to Earth and because we've gotten that wrong what if we've misunderstood the central themes of Christianity the church the gospel the kingdom the way we Define the words that we use has an enormous impact on the direction our interpretations are going to go and if our definitions aren't strictly biblical meaning if we've heaped a bunch of tradition and developments on top of those ideas it's easy to lose sight of the truth preferring our own ideas instead we're going to go deep today we're going to look at the definitions of the words church gospel and Kingdom find their equivalent in the Old and New Testaments and dig up the context and in the end what we're going to uncover is what Jesus meant and it's the best news you've probably never heard now if your experience was anything like mine this

[0:48] is probably something like the image you have when I use the word gospel so here you are you're this little stick figure guy and then at some point in your life you know at the end of your life you'll die whether that's young or old you never really know how long you you have and uh what happens when you die is entirely dependent on whether or not you trusted in Jesus right so if you if you trusted in Jesus then you'll go up here to the good place which is either going to be called heaven or God's kingdom and then if you have anything other than Jesus you know if you didn't trust in Jesus to rescue you from your sins uh at the end of your life you'll go someplace else the bad place which is hell now I want to be very clear it's not that this isn't true it's just that it's not true enough it's not taking the full picture into account and it's not using the Biblical term terms to describe what's actually going on here this is kind of like a small slice of the full story where the beginnings and the ending have

[1:35] been chopped off so let's just jump right into these words and actually take a look at the way that they're used in the context of the scripture and see if we can't gain some more information that way here I am in Mark 1 now Mark is actually the earliest of the gospels it's it's most likely the first one written and it's very brisk it's very fast-paced which means it's really easy to kind of get from point to point without getting bogged down in details which are also wonderful and theologically rich don't get me wrong I I love Matthew Luke and John 2 but Mark is just very fast-paced and you'll see what I mean in just a second starting from verse one the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ the son of God so let's pause before we even get to verse two most of us have that story in our mind already right of the of the little guy with the grave and if you did the Jesus thing then you go to heaven if you didn't do the Jesus thing you go to hell um that's what we think of when we think of gospel it's it's the good news of how

[2:22] to be saved how an individual person can be saved I want you to hold that idea out here in just a second okay keep it in your mind but then we're going to look at how else this word is is used as we go through this chapter but the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ the son of God now Christ is not his last name Christ is the Greek translation of a word in Hebrew which is Messiah right and both of them mean the anointed one Messiah is loaded up with all kinds of imagery and significance that pulls from the Jewish history and their anticipation of God picking one person who was going to come and complete all of God's promises that he'd made to the Jewish people which wasn't just about individual salvation it was about the transformation of the entire world that's what they expected from the Messiah and so Jesus is that person according to Mark so it's good news of that person Jesus the Messiah who is the Son of God so in the first few verses we

[3:11] are introduced to John the Baptist who is this super interesting character with a ton of backstory we don't have time for right now whose job was to sort of prepare the way get people ready to receive the Messiah in their midst you could call him the Forerunner now I told you this story moves quickly because John the Baptist has already arrived he's already baptized Jesus and by the time we get to verse 13 Jesus has already been taken out by the spirit Into the Wilderness and tempted by Satan and in 14 it just straightforwardly says now after John was taken into custody Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of God pause I've used this illustration before but it Bears repeating imagine that you're a Jewish fisherman your name is yeses yahu or something Isaiah and you've been subsisting on fishing and and living in the first century world where you know there's animal poop all over the ground everywhere you look and everybody lives

[3:58] in bi are standards kind of shabby ston workk houses you're living under Roman occupation and it's been this way for a long time in fact for hundreds of years your entire existence has been under the boot heel of a succession of dictatorial Imperial Powers crushing you and your people down hear about this Yeshua guy this Jesus guy who's come into your area teaching you walk past the Romans kneecapping some guy for not paying enough taxes and on the way to this place you see the crowd gathered around Jesus and you've never heard of Jesus before but people say amazing things happen in his presence and as you kind of push through the crowd you see Jesus and he turns to you and he's saying something what you hear coming out of Jesus's mouth in that instance tells me everything about what you think he actually came to do so does he preach the message of individual salvation by

[4:45] trust and faith in him let's listen the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has come near repent and believe in the good news so if you pay attention it's not really about us going anywhere at all as individuals it's about something else coming here and it's about God's kingdom the gospel is not just the gospel of individual salvation it's the gospel of a kingdom where is he pulling this language from he's pulling it from Isaiah 52 look and listen to this here in verse 7 how delightful on the mountains are the feet of one who brings good news who announces peace and brings good news of Happiness who announces salvation saying to Zion your god reigns listen your Watchmen raise voices they shout joyfully together for they will see with their own eyes when the Lord restores Zion so again just imagine that Jerusalem has been surrounded by an army that's destroyed it and the people are desolate and they feel like they have no hope and they're they're expecting God

[5:34] to have abandoned them because of their circumstances but then someone runs in with a scroll in his hand and he's shouting good news I have good news and then the Watchman opened the gates for him and he runs in and he pulls open the scroll and it says your God Is Still The King this is what good news means this is what gospel means in fact everywhere that phrase good news b b or B in the Hebrew and yuang gelion in the Greek everywhere that phrase is used it's connected with the reigning of a new king now here I am back in Mark 1 when it says has come near the kingdom of God has come near Jesus is saying it's here I have it with me it's I'm I'm announcing it to you there's a kingdom and you're being invited to join it cuz repent just means turn around turn away from whatever it is that you're currently putting your allegiance to and join the kingdom that I'm offering other passages make this even more clear I hate that this pericopes says Second Coming foretold because that's not

[6:20] what's happening here but here starting in verse 20 now he was questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming pause the Pharisees just like a lot of people in our day and age expect the kingdom of God to be an only future reality the thinking is that God's kingdom is specifically in heaven or something and that's it there's no no other place for it and that we will only join God's kingdom when we leave this place and go to heaven when we die Look what Jesus says here they were questioning him about when it was coming and he answered them and said the kingdom of God is not coming with signs that can be observed nor will they say look here it is or there it is for behold the kingdom of God is in your midst in your midst is among you or upon you the kingdom of God is upon you right now he's emphasizing that his kingdom is not just a future observable event but it's an already present reality among the people here's another cool thing to

[7:08] just kind of put a fine point on this here in Matthew 4 I'm looking at verse 23 there's a whole phrase that's used and it's really important you'll see why in a minute says Jesus Was going about in all of Galilee teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every sickness among the people so first of all recognize again that this is that Gospel of the Kingdom message it's not the gospel of individual salvation message it's the GOP of kingdom and what he's announcing and what he's doing are illustrations for his message healing disease and sickness are things that indicate that God's Rule and rain has come and it's dealt away with the chaos and disorder that was there previously here's why that verse is interesting all the way in Matthew 9:35 we get the same thing Jesus was going through all the cities and Villages teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every sickness this is what's called an inclusio it's when you have the same statement at the beginning and end of

[7:56] something that's supposed to frame and give context to everything that's in between Matthew is saying that everything that happened in Pages 5 6 7 and 8 has to do with the announcement of the Gospel of the Kingdom I know this is pretty technical so follow with me if we go back a few chapters inside of that like parenthesis where Jesus is is talking about the gospel of the Kingdom one of the first things that you see is Matthew 5 which is The Sermon on the Mount including the Beatitudes look at some of the things that he says to these people blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven this is present language this is not future language now some of it is future language for they will inherit the earth right the gentle will inherit the earth those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be satisfied the merciful will receive Mercy but again blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness for theirs is the kingdom of heaven now some people will say kingdom of heaven and Kingdom of God are different things that's just not biblically accurate

[8:44] Matthew uses the phrase Kingdom of Heaven in the exact same places that Luke and Mark use the phrase kingdom of God the reason Matthew doesn't say kingdom of God where Mark and Luke do is that Matthew's writing to a primarily Jewish audience who felt weird we'll say about referring to God by his name directly or even even referring to it they would rather refer to an attribute of his or they'd refer to something next to him like calling him Lord Adonai rather than calling him God or even his name the tetragramaton whole other thing they're not different is the bottom line but notice this is present language Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount is talking about a present reality that's available for the people who are destitute who are overlooked who are downtrodden who are poor who are hated by the people that are in power currently these are the people to whom he's giving the good announcement and the ability to abandon the kingdom of

[9:31] darkness and come join him in the Kingdom now if you uh live in the United States which is of course where I'm from and this is the way that you've kind of this is all new to you or this is different and this way of talking about things is kind of strange chances are that you're whether you know you are or not you're an adherent of something that's called dispensational premillennialism what on Earth is that unfortunately we can't go into a ton of depth on it now we'll probably talk about dispensational premillennialism in a few weeks sometime after the Christmas holiday I'll do a video on premillennialism let's just say it's a set of assumptions that are kind of knitted together into this whole set of ideas and doctrines that does violence to that view I just explained to you one of those is what you'd call a future only Kingdom they often view the kingdom of God as a future literal Earthly reign of Christ following the Rapture and tribulation this is a little different from this now and not yet view which sees the kingdom as already active and

[10:21] present in the world and yet still awaiting a greater fulfillment later Jesus is saying the kingdom is among you is something that would kind of fry the circuits of someone who's a dispensation premillennialist they also make a major distinction maybe the main thing that would that would distinguish a dispensational premillennialist is the person who says that there is a huge distinction a strict delineation between Israel and the church like there are specific prophecies and Kingdom promises that are applying uniquely to Israel that don't have anything to do with the church whereas my view and this view that I'm espousing sees the kingdom promises as being fulfilled in the church both Jew and Gentile as the new people of God together pretty much if you've done if you're down with anything that's like Rapture and tribulation that's all dispensational premillennialist stuff and it might help you to know that those aren't the only views so it's this view that's largely responsible for that story we had

[11:08] earlier about the gospel just being the good news that you can be saved from the penalty you deserve to pay for your sins that you as an individual at the end of your life when you die can go to heaven which is the kingdom in their view or to hell if you rejected the gospel but we just pointed out that that's not really what it says the good news is that the King has come and that his Reign Has Come On Earth as it is in heaven you can hear Echoes of the Lord's Prayer in that and that you're being invited to join into that Kingdom and and abandon your allegiance to the kingdoms of Darkness instead placing yourself under the lordship of the one who is the king of that new kingdom and that kingdom is a present reality that is at work in the people who are living as though Jesus really is the king and when people live as though Jesus really is the king and that they they follow his sort of upside down ethic where rather than the strong being the ones who Rule and push the boot heel down on the neck of the people

[11:55] who are weaker it's the it's the people who are willing ly humbling themselves and making themselves the Servants of all who are the most exalted and the prideful those who want to exalt themselves and acre power to themselves are the ones who are cast down we're heading straight at the Christmas season and uh if you read in Luke 1 Mary's poem which is called the magnificant she talks about this in really Stark terms the poor going away with full bellies and the rich leaving with empty stomachs things like that and that is a sure Mark that the kingdom of God has come so if I were to give a really simple biblical definition the kingdom of God is simply the extent of God's ruling influence Ence on Earth and in heaven through Christ which has Eternal implications cuz remember this whole channel is about living in light of Eternity I agree that the kingdom of God will be in fullness in an eternal State not just for a thousand years but for all eternity Jesus will rule on the throne of David

[12:45] and it will never end his kingdom will never end but that is the kingdom that we're participating in now because Jesus has already been aurated as the new king now how does the church fit into all this and I've already done some videos on this where we've talked about these things before before but many of us think of the church as the building or the 501c3 nonprofit at the end of the road where we dress up nice and we put on fancy clothes and we go and we put some money in the offering plate and then there's a pastor guy wearing fancier clothes who stands up there and gives us a message about Jesus but again the Greek word here is ecasia and it straightforwardly just means a gathering and Time After Time After Time the way that the word is used especially in the letters of Paul it's talking about the entire population of those who have been rescued by Jesus into this Kingdom listen we'll put it this way hopefully you can see now the gospel isn't just

[13:31] the good news of how individuals can be rescued from their sins and go to heaven when they die it's an announcement of a new kingdom and a new king and the invitation to abandon the kingdom of darkness to enter the ruling influence of God by way of faith in Jesus the kingdom isn't just a future reality where Jesus rules physically over the Earth for a thousand years it's a now and not yet reality it is simply the extent of God's ruling influence on Earth and in heaven and the church is not an institution in its own right it's certainly not not the 501c3 nonprofit or the building or the programs the church is simply the people of the Kingdom which God is establishing so the good news is that you are invited to join the Eternal Kingdom of Jesus to become a citizen in that world and participate in its Civic life advancing the borders of God's kingdom alongside the entire community of newly remade humans who are all undertaking that same project and we

[14:21] call that transition from being a a part of the kingdom of darkness and being rescued into the church which is the PE people of the Kingdom God is establishing we call that transition salvation it's a Salvation from something and for something from death and for life from shame and destruction and for Glory saved from slavery and for freedom from sin and for following the king who is our rescuer Our Savior so to be saved into God's kingdom is to embrace God's comprehensive rule over every aspect of life it's not merely asking Jesus into your heart it should mean a new life a new identity a new nature and a new kingdom and all of that is given to you for free simply on the basis of placing your trust in Christ it

[15:08] transforms your life now and it transforms your eternity later and it has implications not just for your spiritual life and where you go to heaven when you die it's about God restoring and healing his entire glorious Kingdom which is the creation he made and called good in the beginning remember it all started in the garden where God commissioned his people to go to the ends of the Earth to make the rest of the world like Eden the Garden Kingdom was meant to become a global Kingdom where people would rejoice and the world would flourish under God's loving rign and even after the fall that storyline doesn't change the Bible is a rescue story but it's not just about God rescuing sinners from a broken creation to airlift them up to heaven it's about him rescuing them for a new creation God's Reign begins in the human heart and it extends into their sphere of influence until one day it'll cover the

[15:56] ends of the Earth or as that great Christmas hymn goes as far as the curse is found and as we head directly at Christmas what we're celebrating was the humble lowly birth of the king of all Kings and the Lord of all Lords and the beginning of the good news which is the announcement of the ruling reign of that King who according to Paul in Ephesians 1 will one day have all things United and summed up in himself so it could very well be that you've never really heard the phrase the kingdom of God or the gospel of the Kingdom put to you in quite this way I hope this is is extremely thought-provoking remember the church is simply the citizenry of the Kingdom which God is establishing in Christ and the kingdom which God is establishing in Christ is the extent of his ruling influence over the world he made and called good which has begun now and will be completed in eternity later

[16:45] but in the meantime the task for us is to live every second of our lives in allegiance to that King ruling and reigning under him as his Partners the way he wanted for humans in Genesis 1:2 until the day when the commission is given back to us in our glorified state for all of eternity and that's what the gospel the church and the kingdom are all about if you want to dig a little bit deeper on this you can go and watch this other video where we talk a little bit more in detail about what the church is according to the pages of scripture I hope it blesses you greatly further up and further in