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Jesus was speaking in the Temple at
Jerusalem: "Then said Jesus to those
Jews which believed on him, If ye
continue in my word, then are ye my
disciples indeed" (John 8:31 ).
Understand it! Jesus' word was
His message-the gospel He was
teaching. He was saying, in other
words:
"lf
you continue DOING what
the gospel teaches, you will be my
disciples."
But they refused to
be/ieve
what
He taught- His gospel-or to do
what He taught. They believed on
Him- they believed in His identi–
ty- they believed He was the Mes–
siah- the Christ-but they did not
BELIEVE HIM- what He said!
Continuing, " ... but ·ye seek to kili
me, because my word hath no place
in you.
1
speak that which
1
have seen
with my Father ..." (verses 37-38).
These very people who BELIEVED ON
HIM sought to kili Him because
they
hated what He said-His
gospel–
the very solution to mankind's trou–
bles- the way tbat will usher in
peace, prosperity, happiness and
every good state.
These who believed on Him con–
tinued to argue. Then He said: "But
now ye seek to kili me, a man that
hath told you the truth, which
1
have
heard of God ..." (verse 40). Jesus
continued: " ... I proceeded forth
a nd carne from God; neither carne
1
of myself, but he sent me" (verse 42) .
Further: "And because I tell you the
truth, ye believe me not" (verse 45).
Millions today believe on Christ, but
do NOT believe His gospel in most
cases because they have never heard
it. They have heard of Him-of what
He did- but not His message of the
solution to all man's troubles a nd
how to gain eternallife in joyful hap–
piness, abundance and accomplish–
ment.
A Messenger and Hls Message
You will have noticed, above, how
Jesus stressed the fact that God, His
Father, had sent Him. What He
taught, He had received from God.
Notice now this prophecy in Mala–
chi: " Behold,
1
will send my messen–
ger, and he shall prepare the way
before me .. :" (Malachi 3:1 ). He is
speaking here of John the Baptist
(Mark
1
:2), but primarily as a type
The
PLAIN TRUTH Oecember 1979
of another to prepare the way before
His second coming (Malachi 4:5-6).
Continuing, " ... and the Lord,
whom ye seek, shall suddenly come
to bis temple, even the messenger of
the covenant, whom ye delight
in ..." (Malachi 3:1). J esus carne as
a messenger- the messenger of the
COVENANT. This is speaking of the
New Covenant. Moses was the me–
diator of the OId Covenant, an agree–
ment between God and the people of
Israel, which set them up as one of
the
ki~gdoms
on earth named after
their earthly father, Israel (Jacob).
This prophecy leads us directly to
the beginning of the gospel of Jesus
Christ, in Mark l:
1:
"The beginning
of the gospel of J esus Christ, the Son
of God; As it is written in the proph–
ets, Behold, I send my messenger be–
fore thy face, which shall prepare thy
way before thee. The
voic~
of one
crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye
the way of the Lord, make his paths
straight" (Mark 1:1-4).
This shows John preparing the
way before the
beginning
of Jesus'
announcement of His gospel. The
next nine verses describe John's bap–
tizing and bis announcing of the
coming of the Messiah, the baptism
of Jesus and Jesus' head-on confron–
tation with and conquering of Satan,
by which He qualified to restore on
earth the government of God.
Then, verses 14-15: "Now after
that John was put in prison, Jesus
carne into Galilee, preaching ...."
What? What gospel? " ... preaching
the gospel of the kingdom of God,
and saying, The time is fulfilled...."
How fulfilled? Jesus had just quali–
fied to restore and rule that govern–
ment. It could not have been an–
nounced sooner-"the kingdom of
God is at hand: repent ye, and believe
the gospel." Believe what? He said
we must believe the gospel- the good
news of the Kingdom of God.
But since late in the first century,
that gospel has not been preached to
the world! Almost nobody today
knows
what
the Kingdom of God is!
Millions think it is a churcb! Other
millions think it is sorne ethereal
nothing "set up in men's hearts."
Sorne have even thought it was the
British Empire. (For a full explana–
tion, write for the free, eye-opening
booklet
Just What Do You
Mean .
..
the Kingdom ofGod?)
The word "gospel" means "good
news." Il was an advance NEWS an–
nouncement.
It
was tremendous,
wonderful news- the biggest, most
important news ever announced to
mankind! Yet it has been suppressed!
Your Bible says ALL NATIONS have
been deceived.
The leaders in Judaea and Galilee
in Jesus' day rejected that wonderful
news. Many of tbose wbo BELIEVED
ON CHRIST rejected it, sought to kili
Him for teaching it, as shown above,
.and finally did have Him killed. The
apostles who went out proclaiming
that wonderful news were martyred
for preaching it- with the possible
exception of John. After 31h years of
Jesus' ministry and preaching to as
many as five thousand men at a time,
only
120
were still accepting the gos–
pel and continuing in it by the time of
His ascension to heaven-forty days
after His resurrection (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, Ro–
man persecution virtually snuffed out
all true gospel preaching. For the
next 18 1h centuries, Christ was
preached to the world, but NOT H1s
GOSPEL!
What ls That Klngdom?
Just what IS a kingdom? lf
1
tell you
that King Hussein is the king of the
Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, you
understand what
1
mean.
lt .
is not
sorne nonexistent, ethereal nothing in
Hussein's heart.
A kingdom is a government.
It
is
ruled by laws. The function of gov–
ernment is to administer and enforce
those laws.
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 of
the Creator God. As long as it ruled,
the whole earth was filled 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 tbat is another story.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is a
NEWS announcement about GOVERN–
(Continued on page 42)
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