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earth- but verses 2 to 6 definitely
refer to His yet-future SECOND com–
ing.
Yet, he did refer also (in verse 1)
to Christ's first coming, because
this prophecy is quoted in Mark
1:1-2: "The beginning of the gospel
of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; as
it is written in the prophets, Behold,
1
send my messenger before thy
face, which shall prepare thy way
before thee."
Actually, this latter statement ap–
plies to
both
Jesus' appearing more
thao 1,900 years ago and to prepar–
ing the way before His second com–
ing in power and glory as WORLD
RULER. The latter is
now
being pre–
pared from within the one true
Church of God! That is another evi–
dence of its identity!
However, in Mark 1, verses 14-
15, the account continues describing
John the Baptist preparing the way
before His first appearing then:
"Now after tbat John was put in
prison, Jesus carne into Galilee,
preaching the gospel of the KING–
DOM OF Goo, and saying, The time
is fulfilled, and the KINGDOM OF
Goo is at hand: repent ye, and be–
lieve the gospel."
Gospel of the Comlng Klngdom
The gospel Jesus brought from God,
which Christ proclaimed and taught
His apostles, was the prophetic mes–
sage of the coming KINGDOM OF
Goo.
Jesus went all over the Holy Land
teaching this same gospel. "And Je–
sus went about all Galilee, teaching
in their synagogues, and preaching
tbe gospel of the kingdom ..."
(Matt. 4:23).
He taught in parables about the
KINGDOM OF Goo. Jesus said ,
" ... Unto what is the KINGDOM OF
Goo like? ...
It
is like a grain of
mustard seed .. ." (Luke 13:18-19).
Again, the KINGDOM OF Goo "... is
like leaven ..." (Luke 13:21).
Again: "There shall be weeping
and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall
see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob,
and all the prophets, in the KINGDOM
OF Goo, and you yourselves thrust
out" (Luke 13:28).
Jesus sent His twelve disciples out
to proclaim the KINGDOM: "And he
The PLAIN TRUTH May 1979
sent them to preach the KINGDOM OF
Goo, and to heal the sick" (Luke
9:2).
He sent another seventy disciples
out on a special mission: " ... the
Lord appointed other seventy also,
and sent them two and two ... into
every city and place, whither he him–
self would come...." And He said to
them, "... heal the sick that are
therein, and say unto them, The
kingdom of God is come nigh unto
you" (Luke 10:1, 9).
After His resurrection: " ... unto
the apost les whom he had chos–
en ... being seen of tbem forty days,
and speaking of the things pertaining
to [concerning] the kingdom of God"
(Acts 1:2-3) .
The apostles proclaimed the gospel
of the KJNGDOM OF Goo. Philip, who
became an evangelist, proclaimed it:
" But when they believed Philip
preaching the things concerning the
kingdom of God ..." (Acts 8: 12).
Gospel Proclalmed to Gentiles
The apostle Paul proclaimed the
Kingdom of God to the Gentiles:
"And now, behold, I know that ye all,
among whom I have gone preaching
the KINGDOM OF Goo, shall see my
face no more" (Acts 20:25).
Again, Paul "expounded and testi–
fied the KINGDOM OF Goo" (Acts
28:23) and "preach[ed] tbe KING–
DOM OF Goo ..."(verse 31).
To the Corinthian church Paul
wrote: "Now this 1 say, bretbren,
that flesh and blood cannot inberit
the KINGDOM OF Goo ..." (J Cor.
15:50).
To the Galatians Paul wrote: "But
though we, or an angel from heaven,
preach any other gospel unto you
than that which we have preached
unto you, let him be accursed" (Gal.
1:8). And in verse 9 it was made a
DOUBLE curse to preach any other
gospel!
Yet THATGOSPEL was SUPPRESSED
about or just past the middle of the
first century and was not again pro–
claimed to the world unti l 1953-19
centuries later- and THEN by the
present living generation of that
same ONE and ONLY true original
Church of God, established by Jesus
Christ in A.D. 31!
The proclaiming of that
only
true
gospel message taught by Jesus
iden–
tifies
the one and only true Church of
God TODAY!
What ls the Kingdom of God?
IF "traditional Christianity" has NOT
proclaimed that gospel- when the
Bible is replete with passages show–
ing that was the gospel Jesus
preached- HOW DO THEY EXPLAIN
IGNORING IT? The Roman Catholic
Church simply claims that their
church IS the Kingdom of God.
lt
is
not generally realized, but the pope's
title, "Vicar of Christ," means, liter–
ally,
"in place of
Christ." Not one
merely serving Christ, but one who
has REPLACED Christ! The Kingdom
of God was aiready here! The papacy
had come IN PLACE OF Christ, to rule
the nations for 1,000 years. And the
papacy did rule the "Holy Roman
Empire" of Europe 1,260 years–
A.D. 554 to 1814! But the popes and
all Catholics are flesh and blood, and
fiesh and blood cannot inherit or en–
ter into the Kingdom of God!
Many Protestant churches have
simply designated the Kingdom of
God as "the church" in general , not
necessarily their particular' denomi–
nation.
Others have spoken of the King–
dom of God as an ethereal something
(or nothing) "set up in men's
hearts."
But none of those ideas square with
the teaching of Christ and of Paul
about what theKingdomofGod JS.
The Prophet Daniel Knew
The prophet Daniel, who lived 600
years before Christ, knew that the
Kingdom of God was a real king–
dom- a
government
ruling over liter–
al PEOPLE on the earth.
Jesus Christ brought additional
knowledge about it, which the proph–
et Daniel might not have known.
Still, Daniel knew there was going to
be a real, literal Kingdom of God on
the earth.
Daniel was one of four extraordi–
nary and brilliant Jewish lads in the
Judean captivity. These four men
were stationed in the palace of King
Nebuchadnezzar of the Chaldean
Empire, in training for special re–
sponsibilities in the Babylonian gov-
(Continuedonpage 40)
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