The Good News of the Kingdom

The good news of the kingdom is that fallen man can be restored to right relationship with God. When man rebelled he joined the rebellious kingdom of darkness and became subject to the prince of that kingdom Satan himself. When Jesus came preaching the good news of the Kingdom of God, he was basically announcing the good news that man (the prisoner of sin) can be free. He declared that the reasons for mans chains was his disobedience and the key to freedom was repentance. In other words if man wanted to remain a rebel then he could only be disqualified from God’s Kingdom. Man doesn’t realise that it is his rebellion that has enslaved him; hence the gospel call is primarily a call to renounce disobedience and profess allegiance to the rightful King of Kings! Only when this is understood can we rightly begin to talk about the benefits of citizenship i.e. everlasting life etc.

Within the Good news of the kingdom and the teaching of Jesus there is an announcement of Kingdom privileges and Kingdom responsibilities. The privileges are things like unmerited forgiveness towards the traitors of The King of Kings. The unpopular message is that all have become traitors! However those who wish come to Christ must count the cost. They must realise that they are in the Kingdom of God’s enemy and they are also enemies. They are slaves of disobedience unable to redeem themselves and unable to carry out God’s requirements even if they wanted to. The consequences of their current allegiance will be the wrath of God in the day that he come to judge the living and the dead and to restore the whole world to the glory of his everlasting kingdom. Those who wish to return to the King are submitting themselves to the rules of the kingdom. These rules are rules of holiness, love, mercy, peace and righteousness. The good news is that the King himself makes this obedience possible through the indwelling Spirit of the Kingdom and the promises of the King.

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