Matthew6:33
Set your face like flint - Isaiah 50:7
There are two different Gospels in the New Testament and we should know the difference in order to avoid confusion, false doctrine, and bad eschatology.
14 "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.
Deuteronomy 17:15 NASB95
15 you shall surely set a king over you whom the LORD your God chooses, [one] from among your countrymen you shall set as king over yourselves; you may not put a foreigner over yourselves who is not your countryman.
Matthew 3:1-2 NASB95
1 Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying,
2 "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
Matthew 4:17 NASB95
17 From that time Jesus began to preach and say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
Why should we repent? Because the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand. Why was the Kingdom of Heaven at hand? Because King Jesus was there in Israel at that time.
What happened shortly after? Jesus sent out the 12 disciples to preach the same message that the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand. Notice they were only supposed to go to the Jewish people, the house of Israel.
Matthew 10:5-7 NASB95
5 These twelve Jesus sent out after instructing them: "Do not go in [the] way of [the] Gentiles, and do not enter [any] city of the Samaritans;
6 but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
7 "And as you go, preach, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.'
In Matthew 15, Jesus commends the Canaanite woman's faith when He told her He was there only for the lost sheep of the House of Israel.
Matthew 15:22, 24, 26 NASB95
22 And a Canaanite woman from that region came out and [began] to cry out, saying, "Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed." ...
24 But He answered and said, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." ...
26 And He answered and said, "It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs."
Then Jesus, in Luke 10, sends out the 70 to preach the same message about the coming Millennium Kingdom if the Nation of Israel would accept their King (Deuteronomy 17:15) who was currently with them.
Luke 10:1, 9 NASB95
1 Now after this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them in pairs ahead of Him to every city and place where He Himself was going to come. ...
9 and heal those in it who are sick, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.'
So this National Gospel was preached to the Jews by 4 different people/groups of Jews.
Matthew 12:23-24, 28-32 NASB95
23 All the crowds were amazed, and were saying, "This man cannot be the Son of David, can he?" (Remember Deuteronomy 17:15)
24 But when the Pharisees heard [this,] they said, "This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons."...
Jesus continues the discussion...
28 "But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you...
29 "Or how can anyone enter the strong man's house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong [man?] And then he will plunder his house.
30 "He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters.
31 "Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven.
32 "Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the [age] to come.
So the Kingdom is not in existence today. It has been put on hold until the tribulation period at this point. The salvation offered in the Kingdom Gospel was National. It had to do with the overthrow of Israel's oppressive enemies (in Christ's time, Rome) and the fulfillment of the Abrahamic and Mosaic Covenant.
Now to contrast,
37 [And Philip said, "If you believe with all your heart, you may." And he answered and said, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God."]
Act 16:30-31 NASB95
30 and after he brought them out, he said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
31 They said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household."
Genesis 15:6 NASB95
6 Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.
John 3:16 NASB95
16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
Matthew 16:18 NASB95
18 "I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.
Romans 11:25 NASB95
25 For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery--so that you will not be wise in your own estimation--that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in;
This is why Paul is preaching The Personal Gospel in the book of Acts amongst the gentiles (reference Mathew 10:5-7).
Matthew 10:5-7 NASB95
5 These twelve Jesus sent out after instructing them: "Do not go in [the] way of [the] Gentiles, and do not enter [any] city of the Samaritans;
6 but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
7 "And as you go, preach, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.'
The Tribulation
When Jesus mentions the Gospel of the Kingdom being preached worldwide, this is during the Tribulation period.
Matthew 24:14 NASB95
14 "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.
The 144,000 and even angels will complete this task.
Revelation 7:4 NASB95
4 And I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred and forty-four thousand sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:
Notice how the 144,000 (Rev 7:1-8) are Jews, numbered, and sealed, to preach the National Gospel worldwide (before the end comes).
Compare this to the multitude (Rev 7:9-17) that are innumerable, all nations, and slain because of The Personal Gospel.
So both of these Gospels will be preached during the tribulation period, all over the Earth, even by angels (Revelation 14:6-7).
Revelation 14:6-7 NASB95
6 And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people;
7 and he said with a loud voice, "Fear God, and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters."
Many ministries now believe they need to "Preach the Kingdom" (National Gospel) of Matthew 24:14 to the world before the end can come. They need to translate the Bible to all languages, they need to reach all of the lost people groups, etc. before the Rapture can take place and Jesus will come back. This is not the case. While these are all good things that the Church should be doing, it has nothing to do with the Rapture or bringing about the end times. No, it is describing what WILL happen during the Tribulation.
Finally, this leaves us with the Doctrine of Imminency for the Rapture. Matthew 24:14 is specifically speaking of a time where the National Gospel and the Personal Gospel will be preached all over the entire Earth during the Tribulation AFTER the Church is removed in the Rapture.
Now which Gospel are we preaching? Are we confused thinking we need to bring God's Kingdom to Earth? Do we tell the unsaved loved ones to "Repent and turn to Jesus for the Kingdom of God is near"?? I hope not...
These days, we should only be preaching the Personal Gospel of Salvation. The focus should not be on repenting of our sins as a nation but believing in Jesus as the Son of God that died to pay our debt for our sins.
John 20:31 NASB95
31 but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.
Act 8:32-37 NASB95
32 Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this: "HE WAS LED AS A SHEEP TO SLAUGHTER; AND AS A LAMB BEFORE ITS SHEARER IS SILENT, SO HE DOES NOT OPEN HIS MOUTH.
33 "IN HUMILIATION HIS JUDGMENT WAS TAKEN AWAY; WHO WILL RELATE HIS GENERATION? FOR HIS LIFE IS REMOVED FROM THE EARTH."
34 The eunuch answered Philip and said, "Please [tell me,] of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or of someone else?"
35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him.
36 As they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said, "Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?"
37 [And Philip said, "If you believe with all your heart, you may." And he answered and said, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God."]
Acts 16:31 NASB95
31 They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household."
John 3:16 NASB95
16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."
Praise God for the simplicity of the Personal Gospel of Salvation!
Maranatha!
- The National Gospel (that the Nation of Israel rejected during the time of Jesus–see Matt 12, Mark 3, Luke 11). It will will only resume in Daniel's 70th week (Jacob's Trouble) during the tribulation period when the Jewish Nation once again has a chance to accept their King Jesus. This Gospel should not be preached today and it is the cause of much confusion and apostasy (Kingdom Now, New Apostolic Reformation, Replacement Theology, Calvinism, and generally poor eschatology doctrine).
14 "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.
Deuteronomy 17:15 NASB95
15 you shall surely set a king over you whom the LORD your God chooses, [one] from among your countrymen you shall set as king over yourselves; you may not put a foreigner over yourselves who is not your countryman.
Matthew 3:1-2 NASB95
1 Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying,
2 "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
Matthew 4:17 NASB95
17 From that time Jesus began to preach and say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
Why should we repent? Because the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand. Why was the Kingdom of Heaven at hand? Because King Jesus was there in Israel at that time.
What happened shortly after? Jesus sent out the 12 disciples to preach the same message that the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand. Notice they were only supposed to go to the Jewish people, the house of Israel.
Matthew 10:5-7 NASB95
5 These twelve Jesus sent out after instructing them: "Do not go in [the] way of [the] Gentiles, and do not enter [any] city of the Samaritans;
6 but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
7 "And as you go, preach, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.'
In Matthew 15, Jesus commends the Canaanite woman's faith when He told her He was there only for the lost sheep of the House of Israel.
Matthew 15:22, 24, 26 NASB95
22 And a Canaanite woman from that region came out and [began] to cry out, saying, "Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed." ...
24 But He answered and said, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." ...
26 And He answered and said, "It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs."
Then Jesus, in Luke 10, sends out the 70 to preach the same message about the coming Millennium Kingdom if the Nation of Israel would accept their King (Deuteronomy 17:15) who was currently with them.
Luke 10:1, 9 NASB95
1 Now after this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them in pairs ahead of Him to every city and place where He Himself was going to come. ...
9 and heal those in it who are sick, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.'
So this National Gospel was preached to the Jews by 4 different people/groups of Jews.
- John the Baptist - Matthew 3:2
- Jesus - Matthew 4:17
- The 12 Apostles - Matthew 10:5-7
- The 70 - Luke 10:1, 9
Matthew 12:23-24, 28-32 NASB95
23 All the crowds were amazed, and were saying, "This man cannot be the Son of David, can he?" (Remember Deuteronomy 17:15)
24 But when the Pharisees heard [this,] they said, "This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons."...
Jesus continues the discussion...
28 "But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you...
29 "Or how can anyone enter the strong man's house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong [man?] And then he will plunder his house.
30 "He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters.
31 "Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven.
32 "Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the [age] to come.
So the Kingdom is not in existence today. It has been put on hold until the tribulation period at this point. The salvation offered in the Kingdom Gospel was National. It had to do with the overthrow of Israel's oppressive enemies (in Christ's time, Rome) and the fulfillment of the Abrahamic and Mosaic Covenant.
Now to contrast,
- The Personal Gospel is for all nations and people. It is personal and individual. Instead of Christ being National Savior and King, He is a personal Savior. Rather than the expectancy of the Kingdom being imminent (Matthew 3:2, 4:17, 10:7), the expectancy language is absent in the personal gospel (Acts 8:37, 16:30-31, Genesis 15:6, John 3:16). Whereas the National Gospel ushers in the appearance of The Kingdom, the The Personal Gospel is focused on building the Church and saving the sinner from judgement (Matthew 16:18, Romans 11:25, 6:23, Genesis 2:17).
37 [And Philip said, "If you believe with all your heart, you may." And he answered and said, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God."]
Act 16:30-31 NASB95
30 and after he brought them out, he said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
31 They said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household."
Genesis 15:6 NASB95
6 Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.
John 3:16 NASB95
16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
Matthew 16:18 NASB95
18 "I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.
Romans 11:25 NASB95
25 For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery--so that you will not be wise in your own estimation--that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in;
- Do we preach the Kingdom Gospel today? No.
- Is the Kingdom Gospel available today? No. It was available to the Jews in the 1st century when their King was present. It will be available again during the tribulation period.
- Which Gospels preach the Kingdom Gospel? Matthew, Mark, Luke.
- Which Gospel preaches the Personal Gospel? John. Always point new believers and the unsaved to the Gospel of John for personal salvation.
This is why Paul is preaching The Personal Gospel in the book of Acts amongst the gentiles (reference Mathew 10:5-7).
Matthew 10:5-7 NASB95
5 These twelve Jesus sent out after instructing them: "Do not go in [the] way of [the] Gentiles, and do not enter [any] city of the Samaritans;
6 but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
7 "And as you go, preach, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.'
The Tribulation
When Jesus mentions the Gospel of the Kingdom being preached worldwide, this is during the Tribulation period.
Matthew 24:14 NASB95
14 "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.
The 144,000 and even angels will complete this task.
Revelation 7:4 NASB95
4 And I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred and forty-four thousand sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:
Notice how the 144,000 (Rev 7:1-8) are Jews, numbered, and sealed, to preach the National Gospel worldwide (before the end comes).
Compare this to the multitude (Rev 7:9-17) that are innumerable, all nations, and slain because of The Personal Gospel.
So both of these Gospels will be preached during the tribulation period, all over the Earth, even by angels (Revelation 14:6-7).
Revelation 14:6-7 NASB95
6 And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people;
7 and he said with a loud voice, "Fear God, and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters."
Many ministries now believe they need to "Preach the Kingdom" (National Gospel) of Matthew 24:14 to the world before the end can come. They need to translate the Bible to all languages, they need to reach all of the lost people groups, etc. before the Rapture can take place and Jesus will come back. This is not the case. While these are all good things that the Church should be doing, it has nothing to do with the Rapture or bringing about the end times. No, it is describing what WILL happen during the Tribulation.
Finally, this leaves us with the Doctrine of Imminency for the Rapture. Matthew 24:14 is specifically speaking of a time where the National Gospel and the Personal Gospel will be preached all over the entire Earth during the Tribulation AFTER the Church is removed in the Rapture.
Now which Gospel are we preaching? Are we confused thinking we need to bring God's Kingdom to Earth? Do we tell the unsaved loved ones to "Repent and turn to Jesus for the Kingdom of God is near"?? I hope not...
These days, we should only be preaching the Personal Gospel of Salvation. The focus should not be on repenting of our sins as a nation but believing in Jesus as the Son of God that died to pay our debt for our sins.
John 20:31 NASB95
31 but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.
Act 8:32-37 NASB95
32 Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this: "HE WAS LED AS A SHEEP TO SLAUGHTER; AND AS A LAMB BEFORE ITS SHEARER IS SILENT, SO HE DOES NOT OPEN HIS MOUTH.
33 "IN HUMILIATION HIS JUDGMENT WAS TAKEN AWAY; WHO WILL RELATE HIS GENERATION? FOR HIS LIFE IS REMOVED FROM THE EARTH."
34 The eunuch answered Philip and said, "Please [tell me,] of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or of someone else?"
35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him.
36 As they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said, "Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?"
37 [And Philip said, "If you believe with all your heart, you may." And he answered and said, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God."]
Acts 16:31 NASB95
31 They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household."
John 3:16 NASB95
16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."
Praise God for the simplicity of the Personal Gospel of Salvation!
Maranatha!
