Gospels and Raptures (God - Part 8): Message

The Gospels and their Raptures (God - Part 8)

Message

At the end of Part 7 I raised a few rhetorical questions,

• Why does Paul say he was separated unto the gospel of God? 
  
• Did you notice how Paul connects the gospel of God to that which was prophesied afore concerning the Son of God?
  
• Paul said, "which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh". Why was Paul writing to the church at Rome about David?

I will answer the first two questions in the next post. The third one will be answered at a later point in this study as the answer to this third question will be better understood once you have a clearer picture of how Paul went about ministering to the Jews and Greeks during his missionary journeys. For now, lets get into more details of what the message of the gospel of God is all about.

We know that the Kingdom Gospel was preached by John the Baptist and Jesus during the four gospel books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. (See Matt.9:35; Matt.24:14; Mk.1:14). The focus of the Kingdom gospel was to believe in Jesus as the Messiah, get water baptized (for the remission of sins, to prepare for priestly service, Exo.19:6), to obey the Mosaic Law, and do works that proved your faith (as encouraged in the book of James). 

When we get to the book of Acts, we encounter the first preaching of the gospel of God. As we will soon see, the gospel of God is different to the Kingdom gospel because of two key elements being added to the existing Kingdom message. The first was the incredible event of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The second was by instruction of Jesus concerning the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Let's deal with these two elements separately,

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ

The gospel of the Kingdom made a transition to the gospel of God due to one HUGE, singular event! The resurrection of Jesus Christ. The gospel of God declares that Jesus Christ is the Son of God by the resurrection. Paul sums it up eloquently here,

Romans 1:1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, 2 (Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,) 3 Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; 4 And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:

For Peter and the other apostles, the fact that Christ was risen, and had walked amongst them, and had ascended before their eyes, provided an immense boost of hope and expectation that the Kingdom could be coming soon. Since Jesus was alive He could come back again as King and set up His promised Kingdom.

Acts 1:6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?

The gospel of God can thus be identified by the addition of this first extra piece of information; the resurrection of Christ, and we hear Peter passionately preaching exactly this, when he mentioned that God raised Jesus from [out of] the dead, in his first message after the Pentecost event.

Notice how the emphasis in Peter's message is all about the resurrection of Christ. He tells how David is still dead in his grave, but that Jesus did not see corruption,

Acts 2:29 Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. 30 Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; 31 He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. 32 This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. 33 Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. 34 For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, 35 Until I make thy foes thy footstool. 36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made the same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.

As additional examples, we see much of the same in Peter's second message in Acts 3:13-21, and also in the beginning of Paul's message in Acts 13:27-37.

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit

The second HUGE piece of detail that marks the message of the gospel of God is the instruction to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. Water baptism was necessary in the Kingdom gospel, for the removal of sins (in the preparation of priesthood, Ex.19:6),

Ex.29:4 And Aaron and his sons thou shalt bring unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and shalt wash them with water.

A priest was to be washed [with water] and anointed [with oil]. Washing (in the context of a priest) was for cleansing of sin. The anointing oil poured out over the head shows that the priest was set apart for a holy service to God.

Ex.29:7 Then shalt thou take the anointing oil, and pour it upon his head, and anoint him (See verses: Lev.8:10-12; Ps.51:2,7; Ezek.16:9; Acts 2:38). 

So this is why we now have the requirement of baptism in the Holy Spirit as part of this gospel. The baptism of the Holy Spirit wasn't just another condition for the sake of it. Not at all! There was an important purpose for this event as it was the "oil of separation" unto God for holy service. These events were setting Israel up to take on the position as priests of God in His kingdom, making them His ministers to take His word and blessing out to the millennial nations. Can you see how things were falling into place here? If you were in the position of the 12-apostles having knowledge of these things, your heart would leap as you start seeing prophesy coming to pass, revealing the immanency of that Millennial Kingdom.

Acts 2:37 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? 38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. 39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

If you'd like to dig deeper into the purpose of these baptisms and see the scriptures that validate this preparation of Israel, have a look at this post.

So, let's get back to the contents of the message of the Gospel of God? 

As I have pointed out, the gospel of God was taking the message of the Kingdom, to repent, and be water baptized into Jesus' name, and it added to it the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the necessity to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. The gospel of God brought about a renewed hope that the Kingdom could come soon. The call was for ALL of Israel to be saved so that their Messiah could come back and restore the Kingdom and bring in times of refreshing and restoration of all things, Acts 3:19-21. If ALL of Israel would believe, the Kingdom would be ushered in.

The 12-apostles were endued with Holy Spirit power to confirm this gospel with great signs and miracles. For Israel to believe, signs were necessary to validate the message (1 Corinthians 1:22). The apostles were certainly not lacking in these special works. The sign of tongues was prevalent in these early days, allowing them to minister in the languages of the foreign Jews visiting Jerusalem for the feast. The anointing of the Holy Spirit provided the apostles with the ability to do many other miracles, like healing the sick and lame, raising the dead, the instant judgements of sin (Ananias and Saphira), casting out devils, and many more. The Jerusalem church grew to great numbers within just a few days because of these accompanying signs to validate the message. Things were looking good for the Kingdom to come if they could win over the faith of ALL of Israel.

But, what about Paul?

Paul was another divinely chosen apostle that God called unto service about five years after Pentecost. Would you be surprised to hear that the gospel of God was also the gospel that Paul preached after returning from his three years of separation in Arabia (Gal.1:18). As I mentioned in 'part 7', it was a necessity and a strategy of Paul to preach this gospel to his audience. I'd like to elaborate on this a little to provide you with some important insights into Paul's ministry. Knowing a bit more about Paul's strategy for using the gospel of God will greatly assist you in understanding further key points in the study material to come.

Part 9 will continue with Paul's strategy of the 'message' of the Gospel of God.