Mark 1:14-15 (NIV): After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!”
After John the Baptist went into prison, Jesus began to preach the same message that he had been preaching: “The time has come. The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!” (cf. Matthew 3:1-2) This was the first declaration of the gospel (an Old English word that means “good news.”).
The gospel and the here-and-now reality of the kingdom of God have always been intimately related. These days, many people associate the good news solely with the death and resurrection of Jesus, and they push back the reality of the kingdom of God to some indefinite time in the future – after death when people go to heaven, or after the return of Jesus. So the promise of the kingdom has been separated from the gospel in many believers’ minds.
But Jesus was very clear that in Him the kingdom of God had become a reality (cf. Luke 11:20). And in the vast majority of His parables, the kingdom of God is spoken of in the present tense. Jesus even promised His gathered disciples that some of them (not all of them) would still be alive when the kingdom of God came in power (Mark 9:1), and that they would see it. Some teach that this powerful coming of the kingdom of God was the Transfiguration, which happened six days later. But that would not fit Jesus’ prophecy, since ALL of those standing with Jesus were still alive when that happened, and only Peter, James, and John witnessed it. Jesus was actually looking forward to the day of Pentecost, just a few months in the future. On that day, when the kingdom of God was inaugurated among Jesus’ followers by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, Judas was no longer alive, having hanged himself six weeks before. And all of the rest of those who had been standing with Jesus when He had made the prophecy were present to experience it.
Up to the day of Pentecost, the disciples experienced the kingdom of God, its joy, its power, its fellowship, and its miracles through Jesus’ physical presence. From time to time Jesus even gave the disciples power and authority to heal diseases and cast out demons themselves (such as in Matthew 10:1), sort of a foretaste of what was coming for them. But on the day of Pentecost, all of the gathered disciples received the poured-out Holy Spirit, and from that time forward they lived in the kingdom of God as a here-and-now reality. They experienced its joy, its power, its fellowship, and even its miracles as the Holy Spirit changed them, moved them, and flowed through them to change lives everywhere they were (cf. Acts 2).
At its root, the gospel message is still “repent and believe the good news.” It is still, at its heart about the reality of the kingdom of God. But now the kingdom of God is not only near, it is here! And millions of people all over the world are living in it as a here-and-now reality, enjoying its joy, its power, its fellowship, and even its miracles as the Holy Spirit changes them, moves them, and flows through them to change lives everywhere they are.
Father, this is good news indeed! Thank You that I and the rest of Your people all get to live in Your kingdom as a here-and-now reality. Thank You for Your Holy Spirit, and for the life-changing, miracle-working power that moves in and through us because of His presence in our lives. Amen.