Basic HTML Version
Him! Jesu s said 10 him. "' ... I have
told yo u ea rthly lhi ngs. and ye be–
.l ieve nol' ' (Jo hn
3: 12) .
Why di dn ' l the Ph arisee, Nicode–
mus, understa nd when Jesus sa id lo
him: "Excepl a man be born agai n.
he cannol see lhe kingdom of God"?
Why do people not unders la nd
those wo rds 1oday? How many
know, 1oday. thal Jesus' gospel was
a sensa1 ional. neve r-before-pro–
cla imed NEWS ANNOUNCEMENT?
Jesus Was a Newscaster
Those in Judea knew - or should
have known - Ma lach i's proph ecy
concerning this. It was th e gospe l of
God - and lh e word "gos pel"
mcans GOOD NEWS!
Jesus was a NEWSCASTER. His
news was somelhi ng absolutely NEW
- neve r before proclaimed lo man–
kind. lt was lhe mosl wonderful
NEWS ever reported, actually almos t
too wonderful for humans to be–
Ji eve. It was news of the ut ter ly tran–
scendenl potcn lial ofman.
The tremendous message that
Jesus brought was not a repon of
past events. It was ADVANCE ncws of
an almost unbelieva ble UTOP IAN
WORLD TOMORROW! lt was news of
life after death. And it was news
that we may be BORN AGA I:-J! Ye l
a lmost nobody understa nds it !
Why has it never been recognized
by the world as the stupend ous
NEWS that it act ually was?
Because fi rst-century enemies of
th e gospel SUPPRESSED IT!
The Church of God. on th c foun–
dat ion of th e origi nal apostles and
Christ. was fou nded on lhc day of
Pentecost. A.D.
31.
Abou t 1wo
decades la ter. when th e apostle Paul
wro1e his leu er to the churches of
Galat ia. it had already been sup–
pressed, and false ministers had
lurned the people
to
a DIFFERENT
GOSPEL. Paul wrote.
' '1
marve l th at
ye a re so soon removed from him
tha t ca ll ed you in to the grace of
Christ unto
anorher gospel:
wh ich is
no t another ; bu t there be some lhat
trouble you. and
would perver/ rhe
go~pel
ofChrist"(Gal.
1
:6-7). Again.
in Romans
1:1 8:
" For th e wrath of
God is reveale d f rom hcaven
aga inst a l! ungodliness and wicked–
nes of men who by their wicked–
ncss
suppress rhe rrurh "
(
RSY). And
in
TI
Corinthians
11
Paul spea ks of
The
PLAIN TRUTH August 1976
fa lse apos tl es ofSatan (verses
13- 15)
who
come preaching
"anolhcr gos–
pel'' (verse
4).
T he time was at hand . then. for
thi message to be announced! The
time is a t hand. loday, for its lrue
MEAJ'.'li'<G lO be madc SO PLA!N that
people may UNDERSl
A ' D
IT! (Mal
t.
24: 14.)
ll WtLL BE. in lhis arliclc. And it is
a crucial CHALLE:-<GE to you who
now rcad it! And you havc to UN–
DERSTAND whal was lhat ncws an–
nou ncement. or yo u can never
UNDERSTAND what Jesus meant
about being '' born again."
What Was the News?
Notice. briefly. first. whal that as–
tonishing NEW message was! Thc
preanno uncement. in Malachi's
prophecy. says: ''Behold.
1
will send
my messenger. and he shall prepare
the way before me: ami the Lord.
whom ye seek [1he Messiah]. shall
suddenly come to his templ e, even
the messenger or the covenant ..."
(M
al. 3:
1).
Now not ice the beginn ing of the
MESSENGER'S proclamation of the
MESSAGE. ·rt is recorded in Ma rk 's
gospe l. eha pter
1:
"Thc beginning
of the gospel of Jesus Chrisl. the
Son of God; as il is written in 1he
prophets .. .." Thcn fo llows lhe ci–
tat ion frorn Malachi. writ ten above.
That is followed by the account of
John the Baptist. preparing th e way
befare the messenge r.
Then, verses
14-15:
' 'Now after
that John was put in prison. Jesus
came into Gal il ee. preaching the
gospel of 1he kingdom of God. and
say ing, The time is fulfill ed. and thc
kingdom of God is al hand : repcnl
ye. and believe 1he gospel" - that is.
BELIEVE thc good news!
What IS the Kingdom of God?
What dicl He mean - th e kingdom
of Gocl? Jesus· whole mcssage- His
gospel - was abou l the KII"GDOM OF
Goo! Yet few know anything about
it. today.
-
"
A kingdom is (a) a NATION com–
posed of people. and (b) thc Gov–
ERNMt.:N·r of 1he nat ion.
I n some cases. the pcople or a
nation a re lhe Jcscendanls - the
ch ild ren - of one man. Secula r his–
tory indicares thal lhe nal iOn or
Tu rkey probably
d~scendcd
from
ancient Esau. the twin brother or
Jacob. whose name was changed lo
Israel. father of the na t ion Israel.
Befare th e twins were born . God
sa icl to their mother. Rebekah.
' 'Two
IWfiOIIS
a re in lhy womb ..."
(Gen.
25:23).
Now Jesus thc Messiah was to
come
as
"the messcngcr of the cov–
ENANT." The ·'old covenant" hades–
tablished th e human ch ildrcn of
Israel as
a
NATION or KINGDOM of
humans.
called lhc KtNGDOM OF
ISRAEL Jesus came as the messcngc r
- heralding the message of thc NEW
covenant that
~ha ll
sel up thc spirit–
composed ch ildren of Goo as the
kin e.dom ofGod!
As
thc ancicnt kin gdom of Israel
was composed of the human FAM ILY
of the human man Israel. so the
kingdom of God wi ll be composed
of lhc
divine
fami ly of the divine
God!
And what does this have lo do
with Jife after dea1h? lt has
eve¡y–
thing
todo wi1h it!
WHY Jewish Rulers Rejected the
Message
The Jewish rulcrs of Jesus' clay
thought He was proclaiming a gov–
ernment to be set up immediately –
lo oven hrow 1he Roman Empire.
then ruli ng Judea as a vassal slate.
One of these promincnt Jews was
a man named Nicodemus, men–
tioned ea rli er. He was a Pharisee,
and the Pharisee were hostile to
Jesus because of this new gospc l.
Nicodcmus. howeve r. wanted lO
meel th is aston ish ing messenger and
discuss it with him. To avoid criti–
cism from his coll eagues. he came to
Jesus by ni ght.
"We know:· he sa id. "lhal you
are a 1eachcr come from Gocl."
The '\ve" implies that the divine
iden tity of the messenger and the
source of His message was known lO
thc
Pharisee~.
Bu1 they wcre "Now'·
people. conccrned with prolecl ing
their sta tus as rulcrs undcr thc Ro–
man govcrnment, not with receiving
revelations from God.
Jesus perceived 1he import of
Nicodemus· firsl words. !-lis
me~sage
was 1he good news or lhc
comi~g
WORLD
GOVER~MCN
t
of Goo - lhal
is. the KIN<;Do:vt OF Goo - thc GOV–
ERNMEN1 ofGod.
(Continued on page 39)
3