The Gospel of the Kingdom.
"This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, then shall the end come." The disciples had asked their Master when the temple should be destroyed, and what should be the sign of his coming, and the end of the world. He answered them by telling them, first, the general course of events through all coming time; and cautioned them not to be deceived by these, for they are not the signs of the end. It is not until the fourteenth verse, that he gives a positive sign of the end; and that is given in the text at the commencement of this chapter. But what is meant by "This gospel of the kingdom?" Answer. That peculiar form of glad tidings, in which John the Baptist, Christ, the twelve apostles, and seventy disciples went forth and proclaimed the kingdom of God, before Christ came to Jerusalem at first, riding on an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass, as King of Israel. John's enunciation was, "Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Matt. iii, 2. Jesus, as soon as John was cast into prison, "came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand; repent ye and believe the gospel." Mark i, 14, 15. So likewise, when Jesus sent out the twelve to preach, he gave them the same message. "As ye go preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand." Matt. x, 7. Also, when he sent out the seventy disciples, he gave them a similar commission. "And say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you." Luke x, 9. This message was restricted to Jews alone; his charge to the twelve was, "Go not in the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not; but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel; and as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of God is at hand." Likewise when the Syro-Phoenician woman came to him, he said, "I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Matt. xv, 24. In accordance with the purpose of offering the kingdom to the Jewish nation for their acceptance at that time, the entire nation throughout Judea, Galilee, and other places, was notified in this proclamation, and the accompanying miracles, that Jesus claimed to be the Christ, and was soon to appear as King. The preaching caused universal interest; and probably not an individual Jew existed capable of understanding the message, who did not hear it, and deliberate on the evidence of Christ's claims. He came and was rejected. Then he pronounced Jerusalem's doom; and in reference to his second coming as King, and the end of this dispensation he said, "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; then shall the end come." "I regard this as a positive promise that in the closing up of this dispensation, the same distinct enunciation, "THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS AT HAND," shall go to all nations of the earth to notify them of the coming of Christ in the clouds of heaven to reign forever, that was made to the Jews before he came as King, to Jerusalem."