THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM - PART TWO

QUESTION: Is the gospel strictly a New Testament teaching or does it have any connections with the Old Testament?

ANSWER: CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING TEACHING FROM THE APOSTLE PAUL:

“And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘All the nations shall be blessed in you’” [Galatians 3:8].

Did you realize that the gospel was preached to Abraham before John the Baptist [Matthew 3:2] and Jesus [Matthew 4:17, 23] began to preach the message about the Kingdom of God? To best understand the gospel that Abraham received, we need to search the account from Genesis chapters 12-18, because God reveals this gospel to Abraham in parts, each building on the other to give Abraham a clear understanding of that gospel. Let us examine more carefully major texts in these chapters to determine what gospel Abraham received.

Remember the basic meaning or translation of the word “gospel” is “good news.” So as we search the Scriptures about the life of Abraham, we need to ask ourselves, “What was the good news that Abraham received from God?”

THE GOSPEL (GOOD NEWS) ABRAHAM RECEIVED: GENESIS 12-18

· Abraham is told to leave his country and go to a land God will show him [Gen. 12:1].
· Abraham is told by God that He will make him a great nation [Gen. 12:2].
· God will bless those Abraham blesses and curse those Abraham curses [Gen. 12:3].
· The land Abraham was to go to was Canaan [Gen. 12:5].
· God promised to give this land of Canaan to Abraham’s descendants [Gen. 12:7].
· God speaks again to Abraham, but this time promising to give him and his descendants, as numerous as the “dust of the earth,” the promised land “forever” [Gen. 13:15-17].
· God promised Abraham a great “reward”—a heir, a son [Gen. 15:1-4].
· God promised Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars [Gen. 15:5].
· God repeats to Abraham that He is giving him this land to possess [Gen. 15:7].
· God makes a covenant with Abraham about giving the land to his descendants and giving further details as to the boundaries of this land [Gen. 15:18-21].
· God adds to His promise to Abraham a conditional covenant with him and his descendants [Gen. 17:1-2].
· God’s covenant includes Abraham becoming the “father of a multitude of nations” (note: this is far beyond the twelve tribes) [Gen. 17:4-5].
· Nations and kings will come from Abraham [Gen. 17:6].
· God’s covenant with Abraham and his descendants is an “everlasting covenant” [Gen. 17:7].
· God restates that He will give him and his descendants all the land of Canaan as an “everlasting covenant” [Gen. 17:8].
· When the Lord appeared to Abraham and tells him what He is going to do to Sodom and Gomorrah, God repeats again that Abraham will become a “great and powerful nation,” that “all nations on the earth will be blessed through him;” however, all that was conditional based upon Abraham teaching his children and household how to keep God ways [Gen. 18:18-19].
· An angel of the Lord appears to Abraham to once again recount all the major points of the gospel—Abraham would be blessed; his descendants will be numerous as the sand on the seashore and will take possession of the land (“cities of their enemies”); and through Abraham’s offspring “all the nations on earth will be blessed,” but only through obedience to God [Gen. 22:17, 18].

According to Genesis 12-18, the gospel or good news that Abraham received was primarily about he and his descendants inheriting a specific piece of land on this earth and it was given to them eternally. And from this land all the nations of the earth could be blessed. This promise made between God and his people became a covenant, but it was conditional—they had to walk in obedience to God’s word.

God shares this same gospel to Abraham’s son Isaac [Gen. 26:2-5] and to Isaac’s son, Jacob [Gen. 28:3-4, 12-15]. These three, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob receive the gospel directly from God—no wonder the three of them are mentioned so frequently throughout Scriptures. Jacob near his death passes on this same gospel to his son Joseph [Gen. 48:3-6].

The rest of the Old Testament is one testimony after another as to what happened to God’s people when they obeyed and when they disobeyed. Obedience led to their possessing the Promise Land and prospering; disobedience led to other nations taking control of their land. In other words, entrance to ruling the nations is not 100% guaranteed, lest we forget that the first generation of those who left Egypt, other than Joshua and Caleb, were not allowed to enter the Promised Land. Obedience to living according to the teachings of God’s kingdom had to be adhered to.

When you think about the gospel, do you think about inheriting land eternally on earth? The good news that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob received from God was inheriting a land eternally from which they would rule and bless the nations on earth. For any Jew, it has always been the good news they were looking for both in the past and in our present day. They are looking for God to deliver them from their enemies and put them back in the Promise Land. They are waiting for that to be fulfilled.

In “The Gospel of the Kingdom: Part Three, we will examine how the gospel that Abraham received is connected to the New Testament.