What is the Gospel? A Series, Part III

The End of the Gospel

A Sermon,

Preached on the Lord's Day

in

SANTA ANNA, July 8, 2007

And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

Christ, sitting on the Mount of Olives, is approached by His disciples who desire to question Him concerning the end of the world. The disciples would begin to feel the urgency of the matter a couple of chapters later as Jesus closes this lesson with these words: “Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified” (Matt. 26:2). A frightening prospect for the disciples, who obviously would have sensed the remarkable drama in which they were participating growing to a crescendo. The controversy between Christ and the rulers of the world and the rumblings of danger and the gnashings and threats from the religious authorities have reached critical mass. What remains is a dark promise when considered by the carnal flesh: The Son of man is to be betrayed and crucified; deception will then reign when false Christs and false gospels multiply. There will be wars and rumors of wars, famines, pestilences, uprisings, persecutions, martyrdoms, betrayals – all these things must come as love waxes colder and colder. This sermon would initiate two millennia of eschatological surmisings and end times fascinations. Generation after generation, billions upon billions of people would be born in this world, live, and die under the threat that the end would come – and it would come for each of them. To each was fulfilled the promise that it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment (Heb. 9:27) – which is the end of the Gospel - and this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. Each generation has been convinced by charlatans and tricksters to distance themselves from the teachings of these prophecies. The Preterist does not concern himself with prophecy; all of this, he says, is past. He cannot apply these scriptures to Himself, so He does not – and when the end comes, he realizes that the Gospel was preached unto Him – according to this prophecy – as a witness. It testified of Christ and of the Gospel age, and he heeded it not but went about his business unconcerned with the requirements of that Gospel. The Futurist sits and waits with baited breath, convinced that he is on the cusp of the full manifestation of these events. Each generation of Futurists, in turn, has perished without the promise, only to realize that their participation in the events foretold in Matthew 24 consisted of this... they were warned to be not deceived, and they did not listen, and now, upon their deaths, they come to judgment.

We have heretofore examined the Gospel which is to be preached according to this prophecy and how it reveals the power of God unto salvation, and how it is hidden from some for the glory of God. Here we will examine the rest of the equation, because this Gospel, called here the Gospel of the Kingdom, is to be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations. Our task, then, before we examine the end that shall come, is:

1. to define the Gospel as it relates to the Kingdom of God,

2. to define the “world” unto which this Gospel is to be preached,

3. to define the Gospel as it serve as a witness unto all nations

In the final part, we will endeavor to define the end that shall come following the fulfillment of these things.

The Gospel of the Kingdom

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is rightly called The Gospel of the Kingdom. In the previous parts we have stated plainly that to take Christ rightly it is necessary that we take Him as Lord as well as Savior. If we will not have Him as Lord, Master, and King – then we do not have Him as Savior, because He will only save those over whom He will have absolute rule. Our love towards a wise and merciful potentate is such that we bow the knee unto Him as King. A King is no King who does not rule in a Kingdom, and whose power and authority is questioned or rejected by His subjects, and neither will any righteous King suffer private rebels, posers, fakes and frauds to benefit from His Kingdom while their hearts are far from Him, “Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men” (Isa 29:13). It is not possible to emphasize this point enough, and though men may grow tired of me repeating myself, it is critical to our right understanding and our humility before God – if we are to apprehend God's working in us and in the world – that we recognize that, according to the scriptures, most of those who claim the name of Christ, and who claim to be in the Kingdom, and who claim to have Jesus Christ as savior, are not and will not finally be saved. “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matt. 7:21).

Let us quickly define God's Kingdom, that we might know who are its rightful inhabitants. A Kingdom is a realm or reign, a nation of citizens under the absolute authority of a single monarch. A Kingdom has a ruler and those who are ruled. A Kingdom has laws, and establishes the absolute sovereignty of the King over the domain established by that King.

The Kingdom of God was announced at the time of John the Baptist (Matt. 3:2), and was at hand (imminent) during the time of Christ's ministry (Matt. 4:17). The Kingdom was considered in place and established when Christ taught the disciples how to pray (Matt. 6:13,33). The Kingdom of God is come unto you (Matt. 12:28). “When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side” (Mat 13:19). The Kingdom of God, so long and so far as it exists on earth, is made up of the children of the Kingdom, who are likened to wheat in the Lord's field; and the children of the wicked one, who are likened to tares (false wheat), and who are to be plucked out and burned in the fire. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth” (Matt. 13:47-50). And in all of these parables it is manifest that both the righteous and the wicked are professing “Christians”. In every case, we can see that the wicked who are to be destroyed are those who profess Christ, but who do not submit themselves to Christ as King. They have other business, and they believe that obedience is just spiritual and requires no actual commitment to love Christ and those who are His. Let us see an example in the discourse between two professing Christians, one – a child of the Kingdom, the other – a child of the wicked one:

Kingdom Child: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10).

Wicked Child: Easy there brother. Obedience is about the heart. There are only two commandments – we should love our neighbor and love God. Leave all that legalism behind.

Kingdom Child: Surely we must love our neighbor and love God, but HOW do I do that? The scriptures say that if I love God, I will keep His commandments (1 John 2:3), and likewise the scripture saith “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments” (1 John 5:2). So in both cases, we are in a good stead if we keep his commandments.

Wicked Child: Yes, but by “commandments” He means the TWO COMMANDMENTS, not the TEN. Jesus reduced it all down to two commandments. Anything else is legalism.

Kingdom Child: Jesus “reduced nothing”, he identified two commandments which were shorthand for the full ten – which deal completely with our love of God and our love of our neighbor. Jesus was saying that the love of God and the love of our neighbor is accomplished by the right adherence to the whole moral law embodied in the Ten Commandments.

Wicked Child: You can believe all that if you want, but obedience is all about the heart, not about keeping a set of rules.

Kingdom Child: How can you say your heart is obedient while your body is not? Isn't this to draw near unto Him with your lips while in actuality your heart is far from Him? What is it when Christ says IF YOU LOVE ME you will keep my commandments, but a man says, “I love you though I refuse to”? What King allows his servants to break his law so long as they convince themselves they keep it in their hearts? Likewise we are told to separate from all other Kingdoms and to not attempt to serve two masters. Listen, the scriptures say that the child of the Kingdom will separate from the ungodly and will keep and meditate on God's law: “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night” (Psa 1:1-2). So you say you are not responsible to keep the moral law, and you may continue with your conversation, commerce, and communion with the ungodly – because God knows your heart? I say plainly that He sure does know your heart. He knows that you draw near unto Him with your mouth and with your lips you do honor Him, but you have drawn your heart far from Him.

Wicked Child: I reject your sayings and I feel sorry for you – but we are still both Christians and we both love God – in that we still have fellowship despite our disagreements.

Kingdom Child: How can we both be children of the same King when one of us refuses His yoke and burden, no matter how easy and light it is. You refuse to be ruled by Him except invisibly according to the dictates of your own heart and according to the precepts of men. You say we are brothers and fellows? How can that be? One of us is likened unto “a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper”. Of the other it is said, “The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish” (Psalm 1:3-6).

The Gospel then, as we have examined in the first two parts, is the means by which we know the counterfeit believer from the true believer. The Gospel, if it is not the Gospel of the Kingdom, is a false gospel and we will see where accepting that false gospel leads.

The Gospel of the Kingdom to be preached in All the World

Now we move to our second point. The Gospel of the Kingdom is to be preached, and it is particularly commanded to be preached in all the world. As we very well know, the word “world” can be very confusing, and can lead to great error if it is not properly identified by definition and by its context. The word translated as “world” here is not the same word (kosmos) which we find in John 3:16 – and we have studied where that word has at least 7 different meanings, depending on its context. The word “world” here in this portion of Matthew 24 is the Greek word “oikoumenē” which, according to Strong's means “land, globe, or specifically – the Roman Empire”. I find it interesting that Strong's actually mentions that this word “world” can actually mean Roman Empire in the Bible, because I came to the same conclusion before I looked it up. We know that this word does not always represent the whole earth, because in Luke 2:1 we see that the whole “world” is to be taxed, when we know that the command came from Caesar Augustus of Rome, and that it only involved the Roman world over which Caesar had dominion. In Acts chapter 17 it is said that the disciples had “turned the world upside down”, when it is evident that only the Roman world had been turned upside down at that time, and that the Gospel had not yet gone out to most of the rest of the world. In Acts chapter 19, verse 27, Paul is accused of preaching against the goddess Diana, whom it is said, “all Asia and the world worshippeth” - which again signifies all of Asia and the Roman Empire. So with this information, we go back to our text. The Gospel is to be preached in all the world for a reason, and it is in this reason we will find the answer to exactly what “world” is in view here in Matthew 24. The Gospel is to be preached in all the world, for a witness unto all nations. Here we see the purpose of the Gospel being preached at this time. It is to be recorded as a witness to unto all nations. If the word “world” here meant the whole world, then there would have been no reason to differentiate the “world” from all nations – and to identify “all nations” as different and distinct from the “world”. This does not say that as soon as the Gospel is literally preached in every nation, then the end will come, as some modernist preachers preach. It says that the Gospel will be preached in all the world, meaning all the Roman Empire, and that this preaching will be recorded (in this case in a book), and that that book (or testimony of the preaching of the Gospel in the Roman Empire) will be as a witness unto (or against) all nations. This is quite a different message than that preached in mainstream professing Christianity. In mainstream professing Christianity it is believed that God desperately wants to save all men, so He sent the good news of free salvation to all men everywhere in the world, and God is desperately seeking anyone who will believe in that Gospel so He can have friends and brothers in the next life. They teach that God is waiting anxiously for men to get out there and preach that Gospel all over the world, and then as soon as everyone has heard it, He will come and finish off His enemies. They preach that the Kingdom is to come some day after man is finished working his work on earth. But this is not what the Bible says. This is not the Gospel. We have already studied (in the first two parts of this study) that the Gospel is only revealed to the elect, and that it is hidden from most professing Christians for a specific purpose. And here we see that the Gospel is going to be preached throughout the Roman Empire as a testimony to be written down in witness both for and against all nations. When this is accomplished (the preaching of the Gospel throughout the Roman Empire), the end will come. For the Jewish nation the end will come immediately, according to the prophecies of these 3 chapters; Jerusalem will be destroyed only a few short years after Paul preaches to Caesar and the Roman nation from Rome. National Israel will be destroyed, along with Jerusalem and the Temple. The people who are not killed will be scattered. For the Roman nation, the end will come centuries later, according to the prophecy that it will be taken away so that the Antichrist can be revealed. For the rest of the nations, they will be testified against in their turn according to their acceptance or rejection of the testimony in the Book. The Testimony to those nations is the topic of our third point.

The Gospel as a witness unto all Nations

The Gospel consists of great promises and great threatenings. Those to whom it is given to spiritually receive the Gospel by faith as that Gospel reveals the power of God unto salvation, will be the saved. Those to whom the Gospel is hidden, who believe in a false gospel and/or a false christ, or who believe according to a false and human “faith”, will be the damned. As I mentioned earlier, the prophecy can only be understood when it is noted that literally billions and billions of people have been born, have lived, and have died since this prophecy was made. Kingdoms and nations have risen and have fallen. The Preterist and the Futurist views of prophecy have nothing to say to most of these billions of people and their nations. The Preterist says that all of this was completed only a few decades after the prophecies in Matthew 24-26, so the testimony to most of those who were ever born during the Christian epoch is of no account or authority. The Preterist says that all of this was completed in 70 a.d. And so it has nothing to do with you. The Futurist, to the contrary, believes that none of this has any real meaning until the very end of time. The “wars and rumors of wars” have meaning to us, but none of this has any fulfillment until the last 7 years (or 3.5 years, or whatever the individual futurist believes) of time, so you might not waste your time looking here for any message to you... unless you happen to be one of the one out of billions who just happens to be alive during the end time prophesied. The true and right understanding of prophecy, is that it had very literal and exact fulfillments in time, and that these fulfillments continue from the time when they are prophesied all the way unto the end of time. Prophecies may have layered fulfillments, where parts of the prophecy are fulfilled immediately, very soon, or in a short matter of time – while others may not be fulfilled until subsequent generations, each verse having true and special meaning to every generation as they come and go. There are spiritual fulfillments and actual literal fulfillments, and each must be understood according to its context, to whom it is written, the shadows and types that were built into the system to explain and define the prophecy, etc. Here, according to the proper Historicist interpretation, the Gospel is to be preached throughout the Roman Empire for a witness unto all nations. Matthew 24 begins a dissertation about the end of the Israeli nation and the reasons behind God's dealings with that people, beginning with the death of Christ only a few days hence according to His prophecy that He would be delivered and crucified during the Passover. The events that would transpire are like a great history book, written in advance, of the final age and of the witness of the Gospel to all nations. Jesus exhorts the disciples first to NOT BE DECEIVED – many would come claiming to be “Christ” (meaning anointed of God) and would deceive many. Wars and rumors of wars would abound and nations and kingdoms would fight one another, but the end is not yet. Then (meaning that when the disciples themselves were strengthened against their fears and troubles on account of false christs, false prophets, and other turmoils) more sorrows would unfold; more wars, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes (often symbolizing civil wars) would assault the Roman Empire. Following upon these things, the disciples themselves would be given up to be afflicted, persecuted and killed. Many would be betrayed just as Christ was betrayed, and they shall hate one another. Now, thus far these things are recorded historically as having been fulfilled building up to the destruction of the Jewish nation in 70 a.d. And now many false prophets arise, and we find them hounding and attacking the true faith, to the point that John and Paul recognize them as the building blocks of the Antichrist false-christian system that will rise to power when the Roman Empire is eventually removed. Immediately upon the institution of this false religious system, which was actually the Babylonian mystery religion revivified in “christian” clothing, iniquity abounds and the love of many waxes cold. We'll pause in our survey of history to explain here what is happening. We already showed that when the heart is deceived concerning its position in relation to Christ, it believes that it loves neighbor and God, when in reality its love is “cold”; it is dead and deceptive love. Now, here, within the Roman Empire, just prior to the death of Paul in Rome and only a few years before the destruction of the Jewish Temple, the Babylonian mystery religion is being revived by false prophets and “many antichrists” who have put on themselves the title of “Christian” and are deceiving many. Those who follow their philosophy and vain deceits (Col. 2:8) are those whose hearts grow cold. They no longer have a love for truth, but instead have replaced it with a lie. They are set up to receive a man who will declare himself Christ on earth, the Vicar of Christ, the Holy Father.

At this time the Roman army descends on Jerusalem and surrounds it round about. Note that this prophecy specifically has to do with Jerusalem and “them which be in Judea”. The Roman army is a Gentile army, an army terrible with ensigns and banners whipping in the wind, each with the symbol of an eagle upon it. The army is often in scripture pictured by the term (or imagery) of “wings”, which matches with the symbolism of the eagle on the ensigns of the Roman Army. Therefore it is said in Daniel 9:27 concerning the destruction of the Temple “for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate”. The word “overspreading” here is the Hebrew word for “wing, specifically of a bird or an army”. The wing (or wings) of abominations shall make it desolate. The abominable Roman army does this very thing, and right on time according to the prophecies, and they destroy the nation, the city, and the Temple, making it desolate and bringing to a close the blood animal sacrifice and the machinations and deceptions of the Jews. Now at this time we find the city compassed with armies, and it is here that those who will hear are encouraged to flee and to pray that the days be shortened, lest no one be saved. And again, as this destruction of the city and the Temple takes place (it took quite some time), we find that again false christs and false prophets multiply, seeing that now there will no longer be a central “church” of Jerusalem to resist such blasphemies; according to history, the Jerusalem Christians, heeding the warning of Christ, fled Jerusalem for Pella on the Decapolis more than a year before the final destruction of the city. Just as the “eagles are gathered” in Jerusalem to consume the carcass of that wicked generation, and just as the destruction of that people and that system is made complete, we find that the “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken” (Mat 24:29) – which are common figurative representations of the ways in which God has, in former times, made Himself known. Formerly, in times past, God has made himself known through:

a. His physical shekinah glory, often represented as the sun which filled the tabernacle. In this way, Christ is pictured as the “light” of the Sun (or Son).

b. At other times, God has shown Himself in types and shadows of the ceremonial law, often represented by the moon, which is not the direct light of the sun, but which reflects or indicates that light. The sacrificial and ceremonial laws were not the direct light of the Son, but were representations or reflections of Christ and His work.

c. God has also shown Himself, according to the scripture, by speaking to the people through His representatives – Prophets, Elders, and Teachers. In the scriptures, these representatives are always represented prophetically as “stars” or as “angels” (which means 'messengers').

Back to our story, according to the prophecy concerning the end of the age for Israel, the sun now is darkened and the moon does not give off the light of the sun. This is all plain. God will no more be represented by His Shekinah glory in the Temple, nor will He suffer the ceremonial and sacrificial law to continue. The stars fall from heaven, which indicates that the Jewish rabbis and sages, who have themselves now rejected the truth and maintained themselves steadfast in their false religion, are removed and destroyed. This destruction of Israel, Jerusalem, and the Temple is not just the destruction of land and people. It is the destruction, long prophesied, of the Judaistic religion, which condemned and executed the Messiah of Israel because, as God said, they had “removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men”. Here we see all of the tokens of God's esteem removed from Israel. His shekinah glory is no more to be seen in the tabernacle, His ceremonial and sacrificial law which prophesied of Christ, is now taken away, and the Scribes, Pharisees, and teachers of the law in Jerusalem are all killed by the invading Romans.

Now, at this time, it is prophesied that the Sign of the Son of man will be evident in Heaven, and the tribes of the earth will see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. As the events unfold, the Son of man and His Kingdom is made evident in that terrible judgment, and according to historians, it is said even by those who are perishing in the devastation, that Jesus Christ has come in power and glory to judge that wicked generation, just as He promised. He comes in two ways:

1. He appears in the judgment and destruction of the Temple and in the fulfillment of His own very specific prophecies to that singular generation. He has promised to hold them responsible for every murder of every prophet “from righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias” (Matthew 23:35), and He appears to them in this judgment having fulfilled His promise to them.

2. He now appears at this advent of the Gospel age, in the person of the eyewitness testimonies of his life, works, and death, and He is seen, and made evident in those testimonies.

“God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Heb 1:1-3). So this prophecy teaches us that the old ways of communication with God are past. God no longer appears in His shekinah glory in the Temple of God. He no longer appears in the types and shadows of the ceremonial and sacrificial law, which is now done away in Christ. He no longer appears to the world according to the word of Israel's holy men. He spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, but now, in these last days (meaning the rest of the time from this destruction unto His second return) by His Son. It is now Christ, revealed in the Gospel, that is the “brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person”. Rather than some ceremonial and sacrificial system, which had no power to take away sins, Christ has appeared, according to the Gospel, to “purge our sins”, and now, His work being finished, He has sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on High. This is a very important statement, because the right hand of the Majesty on High is a symbol for the power and authority of the King. Christ, having received the Kingdom, sits down on His throne to rule and reign as King. Now, at this time, He sends His angels (His ministers and Gospel messengers), with a great sound of the trumpet, meaning the testimony of the Gospel – the same which had been preached throughout the Roman Empire – so that the Gospel will be a witness to all the nations; and it is by the revealing of this Gospel that Christ gathers to Himself the elect of God from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

This is the design of prophecy, that the Gospel be given to the Jew first, and then the Gentile. The Gospel is first locked up and delivered to the Jews, by Christ and His immediate disciples, as a testimony against them and their nation. Next it is delivered throughout the Roman Empire, and the testimony of the fulfillment of this prophecy as the Gospel is delivered to the Gentiles of the Empire (primarily by Paul) is written down for us as a testimony to all nations. Then comes the destruction of Israel, Jerusalem, and the Temple – and along with it the Judaistic religion, which ceases to be used of God for the purposes of God making Himself known to men. Christ then unveils Himself plainly through the Gospel, by means of righteous ministers and preachers, and by them He gathers all of His elect to Himself from all nations.

The end (the final purpose, or the reason) of the Gospel is now before us, because when this witness is made to all nations, “then shall the end come”. The first end represented by this statement that the end shall come is the end of the Judaistic religion and the nation of Israel. The second end represented by this statement is the end of the Roman Empire, which will make way for the rise of Antichrist. The third end represents a personal end – the individual end of each man in this life, and the judgment He must face in accordance with His reception or rejection of the true Gospel.

As a preview of our last part, let us examine this final end of the Gospel:

1. There are ten virgins (all Gospel professors), 5 who are wise and 5 who are foolish. The 5 wise are accepted of Him, while the 5 foolish are denied by Him.

2. There are wise and faithful servants, and there are wicked and unprofitable servants (all Gospel professors). The wise and faithful are given gifts and authority. The wicked and unprofitable are thrown into outer darkness.

3. He shall gather all nations, and shall separate them one from another – the sheep from the goats (all Gospel professors). The sheep go in and inherit the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world. The goats, while protesting that they are ignorant of His righteous requirements of them, are commanded to depart into everlasting fire.

All of these who are mentioned in these parables are Gospel professors. But the end of the Gospel is to separate one type of professor from another. We will examine this and the ramifications of it in the next part.

I am your servant in Christ Jesus,

Michael Bunker

 
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