Basic HTML Version
the world!
Almost nobody today
knows
what
the Kingdom of God is!
Millions think it is a church! Other
millions think it is sorne ethereal
nothing "set up in men's hearts."
Sorne have even thought it was the
British Empire. (Por a fu ll ex–
planation, write for the free. eye–
opening booklet,
Just What Do You
Mean .
..
the Kingdom of God?)
The word "gospel" means "good
news."
It
was an advance NEWS an–
nouncement. It was tremendous,
wonderful news - the biggest, most
important news ever announced to
mankind!
Yet it has been sup–
pressed!
Your Bible says ALL NA–
TrONS have been deceived.
The leaders in Judaea a nd Ga–
li1ee in Jesus' day rejected that won–
derful news. Many of those who
BELIEVED ON CHRIST rejected Ít,
sought to kili him for teaching it, as
shown above, and finaJJy did have
bim killed. The apostles who went
out proclaiming that wonderful
news were martyred for preaching it
- with the possib1e exception of
John. After 3\12 years of Jesus' minis–
try and preaching toas many as five
thousand men at a time, on ly 120
were still accepting the gospel and
continuing in it by the time of his
ascension to heaven - forty days
after his resurrectioo (Acts 1:3, 14-
15). Soon a great persecution set in
during the time of the apostles'
preaching (Acts 8: 1). After the Ro–
mans took Jerusalem
in
A.D. 70,
Roma n persecution virtually
snuffed ou t a ll true gospel preach–
ing. Por the next 18!--í centuries,
Christ was preached to the world.
but NOT HIS GOSPEL!
What ls That Kingdom?
Just what IS a kingdom? l f 1 tell
you that King Hussein is the King
of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jor–
dan, you understand what
J
mean.
It is not sorne nonexistent, e thereal
nothing in Hussein's heart.
A kingdom is a govemment. It is
ruled by laws. The function of gov–
ernment is to administer and en–
force those laws.
PLAIN TRUTH July·August 1973
Did you ever hear of a nation or
its government without laws? Of
course not! The Kingdom of God
once ruled this earth. It ruled with
the
laws ofthe Creator God.
As long
as it ruled, the whole earth was
fi iJed with peace, with HAPPINESS
and JOY. Then that government was
taken away, and 1 do not mean in
the time of ancient Israel - but all
that's another story.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is a
NEWS announcement about Gov–
ERNMENT! The heavens have re–
ceived Christ until the time of
RESTORATION of that government
(Acts 3: 19-2 1).
Who ls to Be King?
A kingdom consists of ( 1) a king,
or chief ruler with a ll his officers
who rule over (2) people within (3)
certain boundaries in which the ru–
ler has j urisdiction, wi th (4) a sys tem
of laws and govemment.
Pirst, then, no tice WHO is to be
the king of the Kingdom of God.
Look at the prophecy in Jsaiah 9:6-
7: " Por unto usa child is born, unto
us a son is given: and the govem-
her, Fear no t, Mary: for ... thou
shalt conceive in thy womb, and
bring forth a son, and shalt call his
name Jesus. He shall be great, and
sha ll be called the Son of the High–
est : and the Lord God shall give
unto him the throne of his father
David: and he shall reign over the
house of Jacob for ever; and of his
kingdom there shall be no end"
(Luke 1:30-33).
When Jesus was on tria! for his
life Pilate asked: "Art thou a king
then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest
that 1 am a king. To this end was
1
bom, and for this cause carne 1 unto
the world ..." (Joho 18:37). But in
the preceding verse Jesus had ex–
plained, " My kingdom is
not
of this
world...."
A World-Ruling Government
The prophe t Daniel foretold the
Kingdom of God. lo the second
chapter, speaking of the kings over
govemments in this,
our
genera tion,
he prophesied: " And in the days of
these kings shall the God of heaven
set up a kingdom, which shall never
be destroyed: and the kingdom shall
J
esus brought big news - the most
important news announcement ever
reported to man. It is the advance news
of how world peace will come!
ment shall be upon his shoulder:
and bis name shall be called Won–
derful, Counsellor, The mighty
God, The everlasting Father, The
Prince of Peace. Of the increase of
his government and peace there
shall be no end, upon the throne of
David, and upon his kingdom, to
arder it, and lo establish it witb
judgment and with justice from
beoceforth even for ever."
Next, in the New Testament, j ust
prior to Jesus' birth, an angel spoke
to Mary, who was to become Jesus'
mother: "And the angel said unto
not be left to otber people, but it
shall break in pieces and consume
all these kingdoms, and it shall
stand for ever" (Daniel 2:44).
In the seventh chapter is a proph–
ecy o f the succession of wo rld
empires, beginning with Kin g
Nebuchadnezzar's Chaldean Em–
pire, called Babylon, through the
Persian Empire, the Greco-Macedo–
nian Empire and its four divisions,
followed by the Roman Empire, the
Holy Roman Empire of the Middle
Ages, and its final reviva! in Europe
now forming. Then, speaking of this
29