Freedom is Good News Part 192

When the angel first appeared to Mary, the mother of Jesus, he told her that she would give birth to a male child, one who would be “Son of the Most High”.  The angel said that His name was to be Jesus and that the Lord God would give Him the throne of His Father David.  And then she was told this, “He will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of His kingdom there will be no end.”

In our previous article I mentioned that Jesus taught extensively about the “good news of the Kingdom”.  I mentioned that His ways are perfect and then asked the question, “So what is this Kingdom of God all about?

When we consider what might be most important for Jesus to teach, we may think of the word ‘love’; and we understand that this is very much at the forefront of His mind.  But if we consider how frequently Jesus used a word, we would count 72 times that the word ‘love’ appeared on His lips in the four Gospels but the word ‘Kingdom’ appears 108 times in His teachings.  The people of His day understood that love was an important concept; after all they had in the Torah the two most important commandments, love for God and love for their neighbor.  But the concept of the Kingdom of God was not that readily apparent to them.

They could look into their history and recall tales of the Kingdom of Israel and of Judah.  The scrolls that were read every Sabbath were replete with these stories.  And of course the prophets told about the Kingdom of God that was to come.  In fact the prophet Isaiah put it this way, “For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given… Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end.  He will reign on David’s throne and over his Kingdom.” (Isaiah 9:6-7)  These words are reminiscent of the very words the angel spoke to Mary that were mentioned above.

The first time the word ‘kingdom’ is used in the gospel accounts it is spoken by John the Baptist, “In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”  This first time we find this word on Jesus lips, He says this, “From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  Yes the same phrase is used by them both – indeed it was a very important point to be made.

How much do you know about the Kingdom of God or as Matthew put it, “The Kingdom of Heaven?  What will it look like?  Does it exist today?  And if it does where is it?

Matthew tells us that “Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness among the people.” (Matt. 4:23)  It is within the Kingdom of God that we really discover the “good news”.  And remember the word ‘gospel’ is defined as ‘good news’.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt. 5:3)  And so now we know a little something about this ‘Kingdom’!!