The Gospel: The Size of a Kingdom, Not the Size of a Coffin

The main message in Christianity, of course, is the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ — the good news we are to proclaim. This message, or good news, is about what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross.

1 Corinthians 15:1-6 "Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that, He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep."

Christ died on the cross for our sins, and after three days, He rose victorious over sin. If you repent of your sins and place your faith in Him, He will save you. This is the core message of Christianity, but it often only gets applied to our time of death. While it is true that the gospel of Jesus Christ prepares us to die, it does much more than that, as it teaches us how we ought to live. Simply put, the gospel is not the size of a coffin — it is the size of a kingdom.

In Matthew 24:14, Jesus gives us this promise: "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come." The gospel we are to preach is that of a kingdom, not of a coffin. A coffin is small, meant for singular use, and only useful postmortem, while a kingdom is expansive, has jurisdiction over multiple areas of life, and is useful in the here and now.

The gospel of the kingdom is HUGE! It's REAL! The King was born in Bethlehem, He left this earth 2,000 years ago, and He is coming again! Repent before He returns! It will be too late when He arrives. The gospel of the kingdom is the declaration that Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords, and everything is under His domain. Therefore, we seek to establish His laws in every area of life — at home, in the workplace, and even in the voting booth — because Jesus is King.

This message also recognizes that if Jesus is our King, we are His ambassadors. As ambassadors of Christ’s kingdom, we are to proclaim His message everywhere, and that message starts with the word “Repent,” as we follow in the footsteps of our King, who proclaimed, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

We have broken God’s law, and the only remedy is found in repentance. The GOOD NEWS of the kingdom is that the King responds favorably to our repentance because of His actions on the cross of His crucifixion. After you repent, you will discover that He made a way for you to enter a vast kingdom by His resurrection! After you repent, you will understand where your citizenship, loyalties, and allegiance reside! After you repent, you will see His kingdom and its laws as proof of His love for the world.

Proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, as taught in the Scriptures, becomes our highest calling as Christians. You must be willing to proclaim, “Christ is King, we have broken His laws, and you had better repent because He is coming back.” Proclaim this to your family, your friends, your co-workers, in the public square of social media, in the realm of politics, and anywhere else you can think of. This, of course, comes with risks — you may not be invited to the next family reunion, you may lose your job, and you may even suffer persecution from our increasingly pagan government. But rest assured, it is worth it to please the One who has enlisted us, and to someday hear, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” This commendation will only come if we proclaim a gospel the size of a kingdom.