The Heart Of The Matter

In most cases he was a man of few words, but when asked about the conditions surrounding his return, Jesus’ response takes up two entire chapters of Matthew’s gospel, indicating the importance of the subject. A central statement in his discourse is the following.

“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness to all nations; and then shall the end come.” Matthew 24:14.

Now, if I were the devil (and I have been accused of being that before), and I didn’t want the end of my dominion to come, my primary weapon against the kingdom of God would be to corrupt the gospel with elements of confusion and error. This in turn would frustrate the witness to all nations that is needed to bring about the end.

Jesus knew this would happen, and he spoke of it in the parable mentioned in my previous post. Not only that, but the Bible goes on to show the final victory of the gospel in the book of Revelation.

“And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” Revelation 14:6-7.

It is worth noting that this is the only time in the entire Bible where the word "everlasting" is used to describe the gospel. The Greek word translated to "everlasting" is also translated to the word "eternal," as in the following verse.

“And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” John 17:3.

Here, the word "eternal" isn’t strictly referring to time, but is also associated with quality. Putting these things together, it can be seen that the significance of the everlasting gospel is that it is a gospel that gives its hearers a quality of life that is equal with the life of God Himself. This is the only thing that can bring about the end of the kingdom of darkness.

Although his identity wasn’t evident at the time, this angel encountered me while visiting with some younger people on Thursday, October 25, 2012. A co-worker had invited me to watch a video with some of his friends about Christianity. It involved a college professor speaking before a body of students. At one point he covered world views. He spoke of how the conventional world view is that man is inherently good, and he presented some of the world’s evidences for that. He then contrasted that with what he said was the Bible’s view of man as being fallen, and needing a savior.

Just as he said that, a voice spoke to my mind (not my ear) saying, “Wait a minute! I’ve read the Bible, and the Spirit I am of tells me that the Bible’s view of man is that man is the son of God because he has a savior.” I instantly agreed with that voice because I had also read the Bible, and I instinctively knew that this is the same conclusion I would have come to if I hadn’t previously associated myself with the system of Christianity that the man was advocating in the video.

One of the effects of believing this messenger is that I now have an identity. That is, I now know who I am in relationship to who God is. And because of that, I know who everyone else is also. This experience also brought the realization that this the only way a person can truly love another. The ironic thing is, this identity is what I was looking for all my life, and didn’t even know it until after it came.

When the video was over, I shared my experience with the other people, but it wasn’t received. Evidently, the life of God isn’t as popular as the life of one’s self.