Jesus Preached Kingdom
Christ declared the Kingdom before he ever introduced his church (Ekklesia). I think most would agree. That his very first sermon was a sermon. That he thought through very carefully. Jesus is brilliant. He is a genius. No one can communicate like him. No one even spoke like he spoke, no doubt his first sermon was designed with a very clear purpose and is found in
Matthew 4:23-24, “23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. 24 And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.”
Notice Jesus preached the gospel of the Kingdom and He never stopped preaching the Kingdom. The Moffett translation reads he made a tour through the whole of Galilee... preaching the gospel of the Reign. The church has preached many things, is preached most of the things found in the Bible, but it has not preached the gospel of the reign, and governing, Jesus preached the sermon on the Mount.
Matthews 5:3, 10, “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand”, “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand”
Matthews 6:9-3, “His Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth”
Matthew 7:12-14, “You can enter God’s Kingdom”
Matthew 7:21-23, “The Kingdom of Heaven way right now”
If you do things that are not authorized, you are apostate, and you're sent away from him. In other words, you are a phony. You can't be part of his Kingdom and do unauthorized things, you can't Ordain homosexuals; it’s unauthorize you can't preach Chrislam; it’s unauthorized, you can't say everybody is going to heaven, no matter what; it’s unauthorized. If you can't enter into Heaven and you are sent away. Then there is only one other choice – hell. No, not everyone is going to go to heaven; our king says so. It’s unauthorized to say it, and if you do then, the king says, get away from me. You’re not entering the Kingdom of Heaven.
We must preach what is authorized and plant the uncompromising Word of the living God. You can't suppress what it’s saying, if you do, He could send you away. Jesus began His ministry by preaching in Matthew 9:35,
“35 And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.”
Why would He be preaching the gospel of the Kingdom if it was for the future, especially when they demonstrate it that the Kingdom of Heaven was among them by healing the sick and the diseased.
Later, Jesus sent his 12 disciples out to preach. He empowered them when they went to cast out devils and to heal the sick. What were they preaching?
Matthew 10:7, Jesus said. “7And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of Heaven is at hand. 8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.”
Right at your fingertips. You can touch it, demonstrate by casting out demons and healing the sick. The message Bible Rees tell them that the Kingdom is here. J.B. Phillips translation says proclaim that the Kingdom of Heaven has arrived. That doesn't sound like his off in the future to me.
Christ made these statements 2,000 years ago, so, He can't be talking about the future. He said to them, “declare the Kingdom of God is here now,” in the book of Matthew's Jesus continues with one parable after another concerning the Kingdom of God and what the Kingdom of God is like. The point is, Jesus did his very best to get his disciples to understand the gospel of the Kingdom. He wanted them to think Kingdom. He insisted that they renew their minds what was contrary to that of the world view. Over and over, He said that He came to plant a Kingdom on Earth - a Kingdom that cannot be shaken. A Kingdom that he said would never come to an end. So, when He begins to speak of the church (Ekklesia) without question, the context is the Kingdom of God. The church (Ekklesia) is part of His Kingdom upon the Earth.
