First the Kingdom 22b, the One Gospel continued

In the last message we discussed the question of the Gospel of the Kingdom vs the Gospel of Grace. For time’s sake, some details were left for this installment. This time I hope you all will bear with me, as I try to explain things very carefully. Many years ago I was taught that we were living in a time known as the dispensation of grace, and that the dispensation of the Kingdom of God was coming in the future. However, after reading the Bible for myself I began to question this teaching. First I began reading the Gospel according to Matthew, which is first in the order of books in the New Testament. I discovered that in Matthew, as well as the other 3 gospels that the Kingdom of God was definitely present at the first coming of Jesus! While He also fortold of future events relating to the Kingdom, there can be no doubt that He claimed the promised time had come.

From cross-references I learned that the hope of the Kingdom was firmly planted in the hearts and minds of God’s people by the words of the prophets in ancient times. Often highly symbolic language was used by the prophets, but the Holy Spirit always enabled at least some to know they had reason for great hopes of a future in God. At the heart of this hopeful future is the promised Messiah of Israel. The glory of His ministry can be summed up in this passage from Isaiah 9:6-7:

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

KJV

Also among the prophecies of Isaiah there is the picture of the suffering servant, who would give his life as a ransom for all. He would be the Lamb that all previous sacrificial lambs represented in the history of God’s people. His blood would atone for the sins of the world. He would be sacrificed and buried, and yet He would live to see His children, the fruit of His intercession for us all! (Isaiah 53). Today we can see this was referring to the resurrection of Christ.

At the time of His first coming, the people were not looking for the suffering servant. Instead of hoping for freedom from their own sins, they wanted freedom from the tyranny of Rome. This Jesus did not bring, so He was crucified, with both the consent of Rome and many Jews. After His resurrection, His disciples began to see the plan more clearly, and were able to help others see that freedom and forgiveness of sin was the greater need.

They did not however give up on the hope of the Kingdom of God. They continued to proclaim the Kingdom, and saw great progress in their preaching. The book of the Acts of the Apostles covers the advance of the Gospel from Jerusalem to the great center of the western world, Rome. However, several generations would live through times of persecution. The Christian Faith would not even be legal until 300 years after Christ. But when we look at the phenomenal growth of the faith during those hard times, we might see how understanding the present reality of the Kingdom of God and the future hope to see it prevail in the world had a part in that growth.

In fact when Christianity became dominant in that part of the world, its leaders and historians had no difficulty in seeing the hand of God in it. They could easily see the parables of Jesus being fullfilled, and that the Kingdom of God had won at least in part. Since that time there have been many seasons of decline and renewal, until a sort of permanent pessimism began to set in.

That is where the idea of separating the dispensation of grace and the dispensation of the Kingdom comes in. It appeared to some tha[...]