To most people of strong evangelical persuasion, the term “the Gospel” immediately brings to mind a statement made by Paul:

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received. That Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. (1 Cor.15:3,4)

To many, “the Gospel” means the good news that in Jesus Christ is the way of salvation, open to all who will receive Him as their personal Saviour and Lord. While this is true, it is an incomplete truth. It is an inadequate concept of the Gospel when compared to that proclaimed and taught in the New Testament.

The Gospel of the Bible is always “the Gospel of the Kingdom of God”. Without the message of the Kingdom, we are left with insufficient truth to overcome the enemy. Our spiritual development will be forever limited, and our flanks exposed to the divisive working of satan.

Over the centuries, the emphasis of the King and Kingdom message was distorted and blurred. The Gospel became a message of salvation that offered eternal life in heaven and escape from hell. The Kingdom of God came to be equated with heaven, or at best, the Millenium upon the earth.

The message was divided so that “the Gospel” was for today, but “the Kingdom” was for the future. This is not the message proclaimed by Jesus and the first apostles, who preached “The Gospel of the Kingdom of God.”

This book is an attempt to impart some general understanding of the Kingdom message as revealed in the Scriptures. It is intended to enlarge the reader’s concepts of the Gospel and to force him to re-examine the Scriptures to “see whether these things are so.”

More importantly, it is to bring him into a confrontation with Jesus Christ the King and His sovereign purpose for His Body.

The Gospel of the Kingdom of God has many different facets and cannot be reduced to complete explanations or definitions. Only the Holy Spirit can reveal certain aspects because they cannot be comprehended by the natural man.

The Kingdom of God is from above.

It is spiritual.

Only those who are born again can SEE it in this life.

Not every believer does, though all will see it in the future life.

Only those who are born [baptised] of water and of the Spirit can ENTER the Kingdom in this life.

[see John 3: 3,5]

ENTERING IN is a continuing process in this life.

Not every believer has an “abundant entrance.”

This book is only for those who earnestly desire to FOLLOW and OBEY the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is for those who desire to be overcomers and to reign in life.

It cannot be complete, and it cannot be conclusive.

The reader must afterwards go on into the realm of the Holy Spirit. Only He (the Comforter) can lead us further “into all truth”.

Peter Whyte 1930–2017,

Harare, Zimbabwe