The gospel of the kingdom

Jesus preached the gospel of the kingdom; He preached good news.

"And Jesus was going about in all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people." Matthew 4:23

The gospel of the kingdom is to be preached to all the world.

"And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations, and then the end shall come." Matthew 24:14

This is the message of the apostle Paul in Rome.

"And he stayed two full years in his own rented quarters, and was welcoming all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all openness, unhindered." Acts 28:30-31

The kingdom of God was near in the person of Jesus Christ when He was here; it can still be near even though Jesus Christ is seated in heaven. Christ can be in us.

"...the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations; but now has been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." Colossians 1:26-27

The kingdom of God is near now through this. We can be the point of contact for the kingdom of God in this world of darkness; we can be the beachhead.

But the language of the New Testament addresses our sharing in Christ in two ways. We are in Christ.

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ..." Ephesians 1:3

We are in Christ in the heavenly places. In spiritual things we have become new in Christ.

"Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; old things passed away; behold, new things have come." II Corinthians 5:17

Yet Christ is also in us. Christ is to be formed in us in this life.

"...for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ." Ephesians 4:12-13

We are to be transformed. The new creature is in Christ in the heavens; here Christ is in the mature man. A process is at work here in our bodies.

"I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." Romans 12:1-2

Christ is being formed in us in this life; this is an ongoing process. It is in the mature man that Christ has been formed. When a believer loses his way, reconstruction of Christ in him is needed. He is still in Christ, but Christ is not in him.

"My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you..." Galatians 4:19

Christ can be formed in a man. Christ can be in us in this life.

Christ is in us; the kingdom of God is near. This is still the gospel of the kingdom.