The Gospel of the Kingdom

The Gospel of the Kingdom

Zac Poonen | 26th January 2025

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Before Christ returns, there is going to be a proclamation of this gospel of the kingdom that reaches the whole world (Matthew 24:14).

What is the gospel of the kingdom? Romans 14:17 clearly teaches that it is a gospel of righteousness in the Holy Spirit, peace in the Holy Spirit and joy in the Holy Spirit. There are very few proclaiming it. Most people are only proclaiming the forgiveness of sins, which is a very good first step.

To me it is like the cleaning of a cup. If my little boy comes to me and says, “Daddy, can you give me a glass of milk?”, and he gives me a dirty cup (a picture of our hearts), what I do first is clean the cup. I would not pour milk into that dirty cup. I would take that cup and clean it thoroughly. But then, what is the purpose of that? I do not give him an empty cup! I fill it with milk and then give it to him.

“Christ had to die and rise again and present His blood before the Father. Only then, could the hearts of men be cleansed.”

Likewise, when we come to Christ, the first thing He does is clean up our hearts, like cleaning the inside of the cup. But does He leave it like that? No! He fills it with the righteousness of God, the peace of God, and the joy of God, through the Holy Spirit. This is the gospel. If we only offer the truth that Christ will clean up the heart and clean up the cup, we are offering people an empty cup, and that is why so many Christians are thirsty. They are not satisfied because they are going around with an empty cup that may indeed be clean, but it is empty. What 'is the use of giving my son an empty cup that's clean saying, “Son, you gave me a dirty cup, here it is, clean”. If that is all God gives us, it will be frustrating. My son would say, “Hey dad, I wanted some milk.”

Do you hunger and thirst for righteousness? The trouble is that a lot of Christians are not hungry and thirsty for righteousness, and that is why they go around with a clean empty cup.

The difference between the old covenant and the new covenant can be pictured like this: the gift of the Holy Spirit, who brings the kingdom of God to earth, as given to an old covenant believer, is like a cup that is placed on a table, upside down. And you pour water from a jug on the cup. This is the picture of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. This is how it was in the Old Testament times. The water flowed; the Holy Spirit was upon people and flowed out around them and probably blessed thousands and millions of people. There were two million people in the wilderness who Moses, the anointed servant of God, led. But the inside of Moses' heart was dirty. He could not overcome anger. Despite his anger, the blessing flowed from him to bless the multitudes.

It was like that with David, Samson, Gideon and so many other people in the Old Testament. The Spirit of God was upon them. Even the great John the Baptist, who had the Spirit of God upon him from his mother's womb, had doubts about Christ when he was imprisoned. He questioned whether Jesus was really the Messiah, even though he had heard a voice from heaven. He had unbelief because the inside of his cup was not filled with faith.

But on the day of Pentecost, the Lord turned this cup right side up and poured the Holy Spirit inside the cup, which is the heart. Then it would not only overflow and bless people, like in the Old Testament, but much more than that, in the New Testament. It would be from the innermost being. That is the kingdom of God flowing out from within us. This is the kingdom that Jesus prophesied would come on the day of Pentecost. That is why on the last day of the great feast in Jerusalem Jesus said, “as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water'” (John 7:38). That would not and could not happen before the day of Pentecost. That is why it says in John 7:39, “This He spoke referring to the Holy Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given,” that means not given in this way, “because Jesus was not yet glorified.”

Christ had to die and rise again and present His blood before the Father. Only then, could the hearts of men be cleansed. The blood of bulls and goats could never cleanse people's hearts, and that is why God could not put the Holy Spirit within people. The kingdom of God could not come within people in Old Testament times. But now that Christ has shed His blood and ascended to the Father, every sin of ours can be cleansed if we confess it to the Lord.

So, God turns the cup right side up and cleanses us in the blood of Christ and pours the Holy Spirit within us first, so that He strengthens us to do God's will. Then, His life flows out from us in words and actions, so that we can also lead other people to do God's will, like we have done it ourselves.

The Holy Spirit flows from our innermost being. If the Spirit does not flow from our innermost being, then that is an old covenant type of ministry.