06/03/2026
The Gospel Jesus Preached pt.4
What Did Jesus Say about the Gospel?
When God gave us His Son, He gave us everything Christ embodies (the Way, and the Truth, and the Life). When Jesus preached the gospel, He preached everything about Himself as the Gospel of God and the Gospel of the kingdom of God. When Jesus came to earth in His incarnation, He brought the good news with Him and he brought the kingdom. For wherever Christ is, there is the kingdom. A revealing event is described in Luke 24:13-35. On the same day Mary Magdalene and the other Mary discovered the empty tomb, two despondent disciples were walking to Emmaus, a hike of over seven miles. The Bible tells us they were talking and debating about all that had transpired in Jerusalem. Jesus joined them as an as-yet unrecognized traveler and asked them about their conversation. “And one of them, named Cleopas, answered and said to Him, ‘Are You the only one visiting Jerusalem and unaware of the things which have happened here in these days?’”
Let’s stop here and consider something of extreme importance. Cleopas and his friend were talking to the only one who understood the eternal ramifications of what just happened. Can you imagine being along on that road with Jesus when, “…beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He interpreted to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures” (Luke 24:27). Jesus didn’t say some of the Scriptures; He said all. The Scripture about which they spoke was the Old Testament. From this interaction, we learn the gospel permeated the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 18:15-18). God “put on flesh” and walked among men (John 1:14), and the gospel is manifest in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Because Jesus is God, the gospel as referred to by Jesus and as proclaimed by Him is the gospel of God. Mark 1:14-15 states, “Now after John had been delivered up into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’”
Mark 1:14 tells us Jesus preached the gospel, and verse 15 tells us Jesus said, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” We can paraphrase this sentence, “God set the exact time for Me to come, and here I am bringing the kingdom of God to you, because it’s in Me. You can enter the kingdom by repenting of your sins and believing in Me.”
When Jesus preached about the kingdom of God coming near (being at hand) in Mark 1:14, it’s earth-shattering. He means that He brought God’s rule and reign with Him when He came to earth. Nothing like that had ever before happened in all of history.
Jesus, upon His incarnation, was the beginning of the fulfillment of the establishment of the kingdom. Because Jesus inaugurated the kingdom through His resurrection, one day everything will be made new (Revelation 21:5). The kingdom yet to come will be perfect in peace, righteousness, and holiness. The old will be gone and no more earthly tears will be shed (Revelation 21:1-5).
9Marks shares, “Yet while this gospel of the kingdom has striking global implications, it is fundamentally a message about what Jesus has done to save sinners. Jesus said that unless a man is born again — a new birth that can only come through hearing the gospel (1 Pet. 1:23) — he cannot enter the kingdom of God (John 3:5). Paul makes it clear that the only way anyone participates in this kingdom is by believing in Jesus Christ and living a life that demonstrates the reality of that faith” (1 Cor. 6:9-11, 15:50).
Luke 4:18 shows us Jesus speaking to the disciples whom John the Baptist sent to see if He was the Messiah. Part of Jesus’ answer was, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because he anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor.” The “poor” Jesus referred to here are the same as the poor He mentioned in Luke 6:20 — the poor in Spirit. They knew they needed Jesus; they were needy for Him and for His kingdom. That’s what He preached to them, all about Himself and all about the kingdom He brought. The kingdom now resides within each person who believes. When we understand the fullness of the gospel, we can better emulate Christ when we share the good news of God’s redemptive plan for humanity.
