Our Place in Proclaiming the Everlasting Gospel

The title for the message today is, Our Place in Proclaiming the Everlasting Gospel. Our Place in Proclaiming the Everlasting Gospel. Last week, during the message on Pentecost—I guess that wouldn't be last week, that would still be early this week— Sunday on Pentecost, I mentioned the fact that we are a living example for the gospel that we preach. That when people look at us, they should not only hear the words of God, but they should see it in action because of our behaviors, because of how we conduct ourselves both within the body and in the community around us, that we essentially should be a living gospel.

And that is a very wonderful thing to be. But sometimes the question comes up, which is, should we even be preaching a gospel? In terms of as a church, as a collective work, should there be a unified gospel message that goes out and our proclaiming of the gospel, such as we do today, again, as a collective work? I think we understand that individually our life is to be a gospel for Jesus Christ and the coming kingdom of God. And our Father, we've been reconciled to, but as a whole, should we even be preaching the gospel?

Is the gospel message the church's responsibility to convey to the world at this time? You know, after all, aren't there supposed to be two witnesses who will appear at the end of the age, who will be a witness for God and the kingdom of God and will proclaim that gospel message for three and a half years? Doesn't the Bible talk about an angel that will take the everlasting gospel to the world and to nations of people of all tongues and languages just before the fall of Babylon? It is true, yes, the Bible speaks of these end-time players, these end-time events that will take place.

But it is also true, yes, that we have been called today to be purveyors of the gospel message to the world, as a church, as a community, to do what we can to have a collective work that goes out in the time and the age in which we live. I would submit to you that as we look around us at the world as it stands right now, and the world has changed quite rapidly. I was talking to someone before services, and I was saying, you remember Y2K? All the preparation, all the warning, all the alarm that went out for Y2K, get ready, and then it was sort of a non-starter as that calendar rolled over.

And yet, we suddenly seem to be in the midst of something like you get up in the morning, you turn on the news, and sometime in the night the world has exploded. And it seems like so much of what we face just comes on the scene in an instant really isn't anticipated or planned for in a lot of ways. And honestly, I think we'll see that increasing as we move to the end of the age. But I would say the world as it is around us today, the wars, famines, plagues, coronavirus, which has circled the world, the civil unrest, the racial oppression that exists, all these things that exist in the world around us, and the things that we see taking place, is it really our place to say something, to preach a gospel, to have a message to the world at this time?

I think we would all agree the world is in desperate need of a solution, and it's in need of a reassurance of a better way, and that a better age is coming. And it's my belief that the church has been given the responsibility to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God and to warn a world of what yet lies ahead because of sin, because of choices, because of various actions that mankind has taken. So the world does need to hear the good news, and it needs to hear a message of repentance, reconciliation. Indeed, it is what Jesus Christ taught as he came to this earth. Let's begin today in Luke chapter 4 and verse 42.

Luke chapter 4 and verse 42, because this world needs to hear the good news of the coming kingdom of God. Luke chapter 4 and verse 42, hear Jesus Christ, his ministry, and it says, Now when it was day, he departed, Jesus departed, and he went into the deserted place. And the crowd sought him and came to him and tried to keep him from leaving them. But he said to them, I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent. And we say, well, didn't God send Christ into the world to die? Well, yes, he did. But also a purpose for which he was sent was to proclaim the kingdom of God, to issue a call of repentance to all of mankind and reconciliation to God. And so something I want us to be clear about is that the gospel message is not the church's message to the world. You know, sometimes we might think, all right, this is our message as a church, and this is our message to the world. That's not correct. The gospel message is actually God's message to the world through us. He allows us to participate in the deliverance of it, but it is not our message per se. It originates with God, and it is his message to the world. But he allows us to participate in sounding the alarm, of giving the warning, and offering loving solutions. Mark 1, verses 14 and 15. Again, just still glancing, at least as setting some groundwork, that this was the focus of Jesus Christ as he came, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom of God. Mark 1, verses 14 and 15. He says, So this is what he taught. This is what he spread about with his ministry as he went from place to place. It was repentance from sin and the coming kingdom of God. You can be a part of it. Be reconciled to God today. That was Jesus' message. Now, following his crucifixion, his death, and then his resurrection, Jesus then passed that commission onto his disciples as an ongoing function of the church of God for as long as they would have the ability to do so. And what he passed on to them was the instruction to go and preach the gospel. Matthew, chapter 28, verse 16.

We know these words well. Matthew, chapter 28, and verse 16. Here, Christ was resurrected. He had appeared to his disciples. He was preparing now to go back to his Father in heaven. In Matthew 28, 16, it says, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. And so by his own authority, the authority that had been given to Jesus Christ by the Father, said, all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me, by that authority he then sent his disciples out to go preach the message, to make disciples of all nations, and to teach them to observe the things that he had commanded them. And as contained as part of that package of what Christ had commanded them, was the command to go out and to preach the gospel to all nations and to all peoples. Now, if there's any question that the gospel message was being included in Christ's words here, let's take a look at Mark's account. Mark 16, verse 15. Mark 16, verse 15 and 16. This is Mark's summary of the same events. Mark 16, verse 15 says, and he said to them, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. You know, every, I think we could say safely, every human being is what he's referring to here, but spread the gospel wherever you go, to whomever you see when you go there. Go into all the world, preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned. And so we have the record of Scripture that shows that the disciples who had been with Jesus Christ during his life went out and preached the gospel. And they spread it to the world around them, the known world at that time. And then you can follow down through the biblical line of history and see that those who came along as a result and went out after them preached the gospel and brought the message to the world of their day. And so as long as the Church of God has breath, as long as there is an open door and the opportunity and the ability to do so, the preaching of the gospel message is going to be a pass-it-on attribute of the disciples of Jesus Christ. Again, Christ, by his authority, established it to be such. And so we live in a world today that we look around and can see, yes, there are a lot of things happening, and happening very quickly. And it's almost like, you know, when the labor pangs start, and once it starts, that labor has begun, and the contractions, as they come, continue to increase and increase right up until the time of the end. I've thought of it as well, sort of like a tidal wave. Maybe you've watched a lot of videos of tsunamis. They've kind of fascinated me over time, but, you know, the water goes way out, and everyone says, well, this is interesting. And they wander out onto the beach and out, and then, you know, the water kind of comes back in and goes out. It doesn't seem like such a big deal, but each surge that it comes in is greater. And it goes back out a little more, and then it surges in again, and it just overwhelms everything. And it would seem that the events leading up to the time of the end are, they build upon one another, and with each wave that comes in, the surge is so much greater, until ultimately the system is overwhelmed.

We live in a world that desperately needs to hear the gospel message. A message that says, there is a better way. The world of this, the way of this world is not working. We have a system, I say we live, in my opinion, in the greatest country with the greatest set of governing documents and laws in the history of the world, but things are breaking down.

And, you know, the answer is not the Constitution of the United States. That may be a band-aid, okay, that might help slow the bleeding for a period of time. That might be a patch, but the answer is the Kingdom of God. It's the hope that it brings. It's the right system that will be established at the return of Jesus Christ. Additionally, the gospel message is preached not only as a message of hope in a better way, but it is preached as a witness. You know, Christ told the disciples, He will be witnesses for me.

And what a witness essentially is, if you think of, for example, a court case, a witness is called into court and they testify to what they've seen and they know. And the gospel is to be preached as a witness of what we see and we know about the way of God and the truth of God and what is coming. And it's also to be preached as a warning.

A warning to the sins of the world. A warning as Christ preached, repent, and believe in the gospel. Turn and change. Time is fulfilled. The Church of God, brethren, has been charged with the responsibility to sound the same warning alarm to the world today that Jesus Christ sounded. And we must sound it.

And it's not the time to draw back within ourselves. It's not time to say, nobody wants to hear it, so why even bother? The warning must go out and the alarm must be sounded. The book of Ezekiel has some interesting instruction from God to Ezekiel and he expresses to him the responsibility that the watchman has to fulfill the role of sounding the alarm to the people.

Ezekiel chapter 33, beginning in verse 1, God had commissioned Ezekiel to be a watchman to the people of Israel in his day. Ezekiel chapter 33, verse 1, it says, And he warns the people, then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, and his blood shall be on his own head. So, you know, if you have somebody that's out there and he blows the trumpet and sounds the warning and the people hear it, and they don't respond, okay, they've been warned. And the consequence is on their own head. He who heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take the warning, his blood shall be upon himself, but he who takes warning will save his life.

Verse 6, but if the watchman sees the sword coming and he does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman's hand. He says, so you, son of man, Ezekiel, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel, therefore you shall hear a word from my mouth and warn them for me.

So we see here the heavy responsibility that God places on the head of the watchman to fulfill this responsibility to warn the people of coming calamity, coming consequences of their actions, call for change, call for repentance. God says, if you have that message committed to you, it's your responsibility to sound the warning. The watchman in the tower, you'd have maybe a wall built around a city, and you had towers, and you had a watchman out on these towers, maybe one in each corner, however it would be.

But a watchman in the tower, when he saw an army coming, or a threat coming, had a responsibility to warn that city within the gates. He warned his own. That's who he was a watchman for. Well, here Ezekiel was commissioned by God to be a watchman to the entire nation of Israel because of their sins, to proclaim the truth of God and the warning message of God.

And, brethren, the Church of God has been commissioned by Jesus Christ to be the watchman, not to a city, not simply just to a nation, but to the entire world, preaching the gospel as a warning, as a witness, as a calling, and an election. Whether the world wants to hear it or not. Whether the world responds or not. Because I think sometimes we can sit there and think, well, nobody wants to hear this message.

You know, it's just following on deaf ears, and we're putting this time, this resource, this effort into proclaiming this message, but nobody wants to hear it. You know, nobody's coming flooding in the door, so, you know, it's a failed effort. And sometimes, almost in our mind, we can think it would be easier just to not preach a message. But my question would be, did Israel want to hear Ezekiel's message? Did it change their heart? Did they come to repentance?

Did they respond as God desired? Did Judah want to hear Jeremiah's message? Did it change their ways, their actions? Well, not ultimately. Ultimately, they did not respond. They paid the price for their disobedience. But you see, the message went out anyway. It was the responsibility of the watchman whom God had ordained to deliver that message. God's instruction in Isaiah, chapter 58, verse 1, to his prophet Isaiah was to cry aloud, raise up your voice, proclaim among my people.

He said, Isaiah, cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet, tell my people their transgression in the house of Jacob their sins. Again, the gospel message is not the message that the church of God has come up with to preach to the world. It is God's message to the world through us. And just as God would commission a prophet to go to his people of Israel to proclaim a message on his behalf, what he wanted delivered, again, God has appointed the church through Jesus Christ at the end of the age to declare this message.

And we dare not be like Jonah, kind of seeking to run away from what it is that God has laid upon us, or to actually look at the people that God said you're going to take the message to and think, you know what, I really don't want them to repent. Maybe they're an enemy of Israel, right, as it was in Jonah's case. Maybe they're somebody that would say, well, let's just let them have the consequence of their actions. We don't get to make that call. We don't get to make that determination, but we've been charged to deliver a message.

The church's responsibility to preach the gospel of the kingdom of God today isn't to be judged by numbers. You know, we're not to look at the monthly reports that come in and the stats of responses to determine whether or not we will preach the gospel. The church's responsibility isn't to be determined by how many people want to hear the message. Well, they don't really want to hear it, so we're just going to kind of quit preaching it.

That's not the point. The point is, again, there are legitimate discussions that can be had about how we preach it. In terms of the United Church of God, there are discussions that happen all the time of what resources are allocated towards the preaching of the gospel in terms of the television program or the magazine or the booklets. Those are legitimate discussions to have. How do we best use the resources God has given us to do a work that He's given us? But the discussion isn't whether we do it or not. The church has not been given the authority to make that determination.

We've simply been given the instruction by Jesus Christ to go forth and to do this work. Although the gospel message contains a warning element to it, it's not a pronouncement of condemnation. It's not just crying out and telling everyone that you're cursed, you're doomed. It's a cry of love. It's a cry of hope. There is a better way.

It's a cry from a people that knows a better way and wants to see their fellow man live a better way as well. It's a reminder that God does have a plan for all of mankind, and it's a plan that will bring true peace and true justice. God is not a respecter of persons. It will bring true equality to all the people of the earth.

Again, the title of the message is, Our Place in Proclaiming the Everlasting Gospel. Brethren, what is our place in all of this?

Well, if we're going to understand what our place is, we need to understand why the gospel is referred to as the everlasting gospel. Why is it called the everlasting gospel? If we understand that, we'll come to understand indeed what our place and our participation in it is. The term everlasting gospel denotes a message that has been in place since the beginning, and it is a gospel message that will be in place until all is fulfilled. It's not a snapshot of a moment in time, but it's a message that endures until all things have been fulfilled that God has purposed. It was from the beginning, it will be to the end, it is everlasting. And there's not a point where you say, okay, we're going to pause with this message, pick it up another time. It is the everlasting gospel. The need for this gospel of redemption and salvation began with the first man and woman when sin entered the world. And we find the first proclaiming of it all the way back in the beginning of the biblical record. So let's just kind of take a little bit of a walk through. We're going to follow a bit of this thread of the everlasting gospel as it began in Genesis and as it moves throughout Scripture. Genesis chapter 3, let's go to the first messianic prophecy about Jesus Christ, about the need for redemption, reconciliation to God in a better way. Genesis chapter 3, beginning in verse 13.

The run-up to this is, the serpent deceives the woman, and she and her husband take of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Genesis chapter 3, in verse 13, it says, The Lord God said to the woman, What is this that you have done? The woman said, The serpent deceived me, and I ate. And so the Lord God said to the serpent, Because we have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, More than any beast of the field, on your belly you shall go, and shall eat the dust all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed. You'll notice her seed, seed is capitalized. This is referring to the Messiah that would come from her descendants, the promised seed that would bring that reconciliation. Between your seed and her seed, he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. And so right from the beginning, there was the need for this good news of redemption to be preached, to be proclaimed, to be given as a gospel of hope to all of mankind. From the seed of the woman would come the Messiah, the Savior of the world, the one who would be bruised temporarily by Satan. Christ was bruised at the crucifixion, and he died. But that was only temporary. Ultimately, he would be victorious over death in order to crush the works of Satan under his heel. And ultimately, the Bible tells us that the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly, as we have a part to play in the fulfillment of that process. This message of redemption and salvation and a kingdom was known and carried down through the threat of faithful people who lived on the earth. You know, the gospel message didn't start in the gospels of the New Testament. It started in the beginning, and it was understood, and it was carried out and carried on, and it was preached through a line of faithful people down through time. Let's go to the book of Jude. Jude right before the book of Revelation. Easily lost here because it's one chapter only.

Jude, we're going to look at verse 14 and 15 again. The concept that the gospel and what God was doing was something that was revealed from the beginning. Jude, verse 14, the run-up to this is talking about evil men, imposters, those at the end of the age that would, frankly, bring judgment upon themselves. Jude, verse 14 says, Enoch prophesied of the Lord coming with ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment on the earth. He's speaking of the kingdom of God, the establishment, the end of the age when the kingdom of God will be established and it will rule. Genesis 5 and verse 24 describes Enoch as a man who walked with God. He was a friend of God. He had a relationship with God. He had an understanding of the plan and purpose of God. He understood the restoration of all things as God had intended them from the beginning. He understood a kingdom. He understood righteousness that would reign on the earth. Jude says that Enoch prophesied about these things. He taught these things. He proclaimed these things. We could say in our own terminology that Enoch preached the gospel of the kingdom of God in the beginning. It's interesting as you follow this thread through Scripture. Let's further examine Enoch's lineage coming down. How about his great-grandson? What did the great-grandson of Enoch proclaim? Genesis 6 and verse 5.

Genesis 6 and verse 5. It says, It's interesting the Bible says, as were in the days of Noah, it's going to be like that again before the return of Jesus Christ. Whenever I read through this, I take note of what was going on. The thoughts of the hearts of men were only evil continually. Verse 6. The Lord was sorry he had made man on the earth, and he was grieved in his heart. The Lord said, I will destroy a man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air. I am sorry that I have made them, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.

Noah followed the lineage down. Great-grandson of Enoch was a man of faithfulness, a man who walked with God, and he was blameless in his generation.

Verse 10 says, And all the earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, The end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them, and behold I will destroy them with the earth.

Make yourself an ark of gopher wood, make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch. And so God was going to destroy the earth, all of mankind apart from Noah and his family, with the flood. And yet, he provided a provision, a means of salvation, in which to save those who would be faithful and righteous before him. I think it's interesting that 2 Peter 2, verse 5, calls Noah a preacher of righteousness.

2 Peter 2, verse 5, he was a preacher of righteousness. What do you suppose he preached? Think of the earth, think of how it was in his day, it will be that way again before the return of Jesus Christ. What did Noah preach? Well, the rain's coming, right? He's building this massive boat on dry land, people probably looking and mocking, but it says he was a preacher of righteousness.

My speculation is he probably preached something like, Repent and be saved from this perverse generation. Probably preached something like, Come out of the ways of this world, repent and believe in the gospel. Salvation is available. At least salvation, as they would have understood it very clearly once the rains began to fall, and they were on the outside of the boat. But he said, Noah was a preacher of righteousness. He preached for at least 120 years. Who knows how many years he preached? He was a man walking with God, probably his whole life, part of this line of understanding of those who knew God.

And he preached, likely, the destruction that was to come. Why are you building that boat? What's the point? And you preach salvation, deliverance, the good news, and the kingdom of God. Noah is a preacher of righteousness, but again, it's not about the numbers, is it? Because how many got on the boat with his family when that door was shut?

How many were saved? And yet, Noah preached righteousness to the generation in which he lived. What about after the flood? It starts over with Noah and his family. You get down a number of generations, and man starts to do their own thing again. But was that message preserved? Was that gospel known? What about after the flood? Let's go to Job chapter 19, verse 25. Job, we know, was a righteous man. Obviously, he came through the family of Noah, right?

Everybody on earth from that point coming out of the ark. Job chapter 19, Job's one of the earliest, or it's actually the earliest book of the Bible written. It's the book of Job. It's believed he lived shortly after the flood. Job 19, verse 25. What did Job understand? I'm not going to read all the surrounding context, but here he is afflicted by God in a very, very difficult circumstance physically. God's allowing him to be tested.

Job 19, 25. Job says, Job says, Job understood he had a Redeemer. He understood there was a time when there was a kingdom that would come to this earth, and his Redeemer would stand on this earth, and Job himself would live after his skin was destroyed. He understood the resurrection. He understood the time of salvation. He understood the everlasting gospel. We could go to other places in Job to see that reinforced. We won't do so today, but it comes to mind, the verse we oftentimes will read during funeral service, you know, about the resurrection.

Job says, So he understood the plan and the purpose of God. Other places say, Job says, And so he, in fact, preached it. We could call Job a preacher of righteousness as well, preaching the gospel to his generation. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had an understanding of these things as well. Again, the point being, this is the everlasting gospel. It started at the beginning with the need for it to be proclaimed.

And frankly, it started before Genesis chapter 3. Jesus Christ was slain from the foundation of the world. Before mankind was even created, it was understood there would be the need for this redemptive plan of salvation. But Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob understood this gospel message and their place and their moment in the history of it as well. Let's go to Genesis chapter 12, verse 1.

Genesis 12, verse 1, familiar passage. Now the Lord had said to Abram, Get out of your country and from your family and from your father's house to a land that I will show you. You think Abraham was just kind of clueless? You know, what God had in store, what was going on, that this was just sort of blind, ignorant faith? I personally don't think so. God said, Get out of your country from your family, from your father's house to the land that I will show you, and I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and your name, make your name great. And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, I will curse him who curses you, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Of course, we understand this as another messianic prophecy of the Messiah that would come through the lineage of Abraham.

But again, I don't believe you follow God and blind faith or ignorance. I believe there was a degree of understanding behind what God was going to do with Abraham and his descendants and through his family, because Abraham also understood the gospel message that God had delivered to him. Galatians 3, verse 6, if we wonder, was the gospel preached to Abraham? Did Abraham know who God the Father was? Sometimes the question comes. Did he know who the Messiah would be, who would come from his loins, from his descendants? Did Abraham know about a kingdom? Did Abraham know what it is that you and I know today? Or was he in the dark? Galatians 3, verse 6, Apostle Paul says, So it's just as Abraham believed God and was accounted to him for righteousness, therefore know that only those who are of faith are the sons of Abraham. Verse 8, in the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, So God preached the gospel to Abraham, telling him all that he would accomplish through his lineage, taught him about the Messiah, taught him about the redemption from sin, taught him about the kingdom of God. How do we know Abraham knew about the kingdom of God and the establishment of that kingdom?

Well, Hebrews 11, verse 10, says that Abraham waited for the city, which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. It's New Jerusalem. It's the kingdom of God. Abraham had that vision. Isaac had that vision. Jacob had that vision. And they grabbed hold of the promise, and they would not let go. God had Abraham almost sacrifice his own son. He was the type of Jesus Christ, God's only begotten son whom he sent into the world. He had Abraham walk right up to that point where he almost sacrificed his own son. And through that event, God came to see Abraham's heart of faith clearly, and through that event, Abraham came to understand more fully what it was that God was doing in sending his own son into the world.

John 8, verse 56, there's a string of passages there where Christ is confronted by the Pharisees and the Jewish leadership. And we know John 8, 58 pretty well. It's kind of a go-to scripture of, before Abraham was, I am. But if you back up from that scripture and you look at the context of the run-up, John 8, verse 56, and I'm going to read this to you from the New Living Translation, John 8, 56, Jesus says, His first coming, Messiah, as he would come and die for the sins of mankind. He saw it and was glad. I believe the New King James says, Your father Abraham rejoiced the sea my day, and he saw it and was glad. Abraham had the vision, the understanding, the knowledge, the Messiah that would come, the Savior of the world, and the gospel of the kingdom of God.

King David. What did King David know? The really interesting study of the Psalms is the study of the Psalms from a prophetic perspective. And maybe we'll go through that sometime in a Bible study. But the Psalms are the most prophetic book in the Old Testament. It's stacked full of prophecy of the Messiah, of the kingdom of God, of resurrection, of redemption, and it's quoted over and over and over in the New Testament for fulfilled prophecies, and it's quoted over and over as well for prophecies that are even yet to be fulfilled. King David understood these things. He had a relationship with God, and he preached the gospel through the Psalms. And certainly in my mind, as I think of a number of the Psalms where he says to God, basically, God, if you don't save me, how can I proclaim you to my generation? How can I, you know, sing forth your praises? How can I preach the gospel? How can I make your truth known?

It's also interesting to note that the concept of preaching the gospel message to the world existed during the time of ancient Israel as a nation. Let's go to 1 Chronicles 16, verse 23. 1 Chronicles 16, verse 23. This is actually a Psalm of David here inserted into the Chronicles. 1 Chronicles 16, verse 23. It says, Sing to the Lord all the earth, Proclaim the good news of his salvation from day to day. What's the good news of his salvation? What does gospel mean? That's the good news. And David, through this Psalm, says, Sing to the Lord all the earth, Proclaim the good news, Proclaim the gospel of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his wonders among all peoples.

Sounds to me like he's saying, go preach the good news, the gospel to the world. Preach it to your age, to your generation. Verse 23, again, I read through that. Verse 25, For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised, He is also to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are idols, But the Lord made the heavens, Honor and majesty are before him, Strength and gladness are in his place. Again, it's what is to be proclaimed. We worship God, God alone. The only God is not the idols of man's hands. And you'll proclaim the good news of these things to the nations, to the world. Verse 31 says, Let the heavens rejoice and let the earth be glad, And let them say among the nations, The Lord reigns. Let the sea roar in all its fullness, Let the field rejoice, and all that is in it. Then the trees of the woods shall rejoice before the Lord, For he is coming to judge the earth.

David's Psalm, we see the prophecy, we read it from our perspective. He instructs the people of Israel to declare these things among the nations, to declare the good news of the salvation of God to all of mankind, as he says from day to day. And as we understand Israel, God brought Israel out of Egypt, brought them into the Promised Land to be a model nation, and a light to the world, as to what, you know, they should have been what the kingdom of God looks like on a small scale. And the nations around would come up and say, Wow, we want to know about your God. Let us live his way. It's what we see fulfilled in the millennium, and God will again regather the remnant of Israel and the descendants, settle them back into the Promised Land. People will say, Let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and the house of the God of Jacob, and learn of his ways, and walk into statutes and judgments. It's a model nation that Israel was called out to be, but they failed to be such. It will be established again, but, brethren, in the meantime, God has established a spiritual model nation to declare the praises of him who called them out of darkness into his marvelous light, to proclaim the salvation of God from day to day to this world and this generation in which we live.

One more example of the everlasting gospel I'd like to look at is found in the book of Daniel, chapter 2, if you recall, King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream, and Daniel now comes in to interpret it for him.

Basically, cutting to the chase, this dream involved this great image built of multiple different materials kind of coupled together, but Daniel said, These are successive kingdoms that will exist up until the return of Jesus Christ. And, in fact, the first chapter of the book of Daniel, chapter 2, verse 44 and 45, just zero in on this point. Here are sort of the climax of the prophecy.

Daniel 2, verse 44 says, And in the days of these kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, and it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand in peace. And in the days of these kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and it shall stand forever. And as much as you saw the stone that was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God is made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure.

The Gospel message, it was given by God in a dream, but it was interpreted by Daniel, and it was preached to the king of a world-dominating empire in the generation of Daniel. It is, brethren, the everlasting Gospel.

So many more examples we could go through if we had the time. I encourage you to study through for yourself. There were many I just sort of cut and left on the table. But the fact is, what we see is that the Gospel existed from the beginning and has been the hope of the people of God down through the centuries. It has been the hope of the people of God down through the centuries, and it is the hope of the people of God today. It has been prophesied about. It has been preached about. It has been lived for. It has been died for. Read through Hebrews 11, those that would not accept deliverance looking to a better resurrection. They understood these things.

And it will continue to be so until the end of the age. I want to transition at this point now and jump forward in the timeline. You know, we're sort of the anchor point of this message.

What is our part and place in the everlasting Gospel?

So we look backwards. Looked at the beginning of history through the patriarchs, through the prophets, through the life of Jesus Christ, through the early Church. Let's look forward now from our position today and consider the preaching of the Gospel that lies yet ahead of us at the end of the Gospel. Consider the preaching of the Gospel that lies yet ahead of us at the end of the age because the Bible does reveal it will go out with boldness and with power.

Revelation 11 and verse 3.

Revelation 11 and verse 3. We're jumping forward now to the Great Tribulation, the time of the two witnesses.

Revelation 11 and verse 3. It says, And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days clothed in sackcloth. How long is one thousand two hundred and sixty days?

It's three and a half years. These are the two olive trees, the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth. Go back to Zechariah, you can find that prophecy. Verse 5, If anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouth, devours their enemies, and if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this manner. The beasts have power to shut up heaven so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy, and they have power over waters to turn them to blood and to strike the earth with all plagues as often as they desire.

And when they finish their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them. And so you have here for three and a half years before the return of Jesus Christ, the two witnesses go out, and with signs and wonders and power and miracles by God, they prophesy, they preach the gospel of the kingdom, they warn, they instruct.

Ultimately, they're killed for their witness of the kingdom of God. My question for us, brethren, is, where will the church be during this time? Or what will the church's ability be to preach the gospel during this time period, these three and a half years? Let's go to Revelation 12 and verse 12. Revelation 12 and verse 6. Find the answer in part. Revelation 12 and verse 6. Revelation 12 basically starts out as a compressed history of the rebellion of Satan, the birth of Christ, Satan's attempt to destroy Christ as a baby, and now we come down to his attempt to destroy the church of God and the work of God at the end of the age.

Revelation 12 and verse 6, it says, The woman being a type of the church, where she has a place prepared by God that he should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days. Again, three and a half years. This is the place that the church of God has historically called the place of safety, a place where a portion of the body of Christ will be protected and nourished from the presence of the serpent during the great tribulation, again, three and a half years. In the detail, if we jump forward to verse 13, Revelation 12 verse 13, it says, Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child.

But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time from the presence of the serpent. So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman that he might cause her to be carried away from the earth. But the earth helped the woman. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood, which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth.

And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. So this three and a half year period is the same three and a half year period that the two witnesses are out proclaiming the Gospel, prophesying, doing signs and wonders on behalf of God. Here a portion of the church will be protected miraculously, and yet still the Gospel will be taken to the world during that time as the two witnesses go forth, and they fulfill that part.

Now additionally, Revelation 14 verse 6 shows that the everlasting Gospel will be taken to the whole world by an angel as well just before the final fall of the world. Just before the final fall of Babylon. Revelation chapter 14 verse 6 and 7, John says, Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth, to every nation, every tribe, tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, and the sea, and the springs of water.

Again, we have this term. It's the everlasting Gospel. And it denotes this message that has been in place from the beginning and will continue to the end, unto the fulfillment of all things. It's not a snapshot in time. The Gospel was here, but it's not here. And it appears again there. It is not a snapshot in time, but it is the message that endures unto the fulfillment of all things. And it is the everlasting Gospel. Jesus Christ prophesied in Matthew 24, verse 14, that this Gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all nations, and then the end will come. And indeed, that prophecy is sure, and it will come to pass. It will come to pass. It has come to pass in its age. It will come to pass in its ultimate fulfillment by the two witnesses and the angel at the end of the age. And yet, brethren, we are in the mix. We have our spot. We have our place on the timeline of this everlasting Gospel. For the Church of God today, our participation in the everlasting Gospel message is a continuation of what has come before us, and it is a bridge to what yet lies ahead. Now is not the time to draw back. As we look at the world around us, and we look at the increasingly desperate need for the good news, for the call to repentance and change. I don't know about you, but me, I turn on the news, and I feel an urgency that the Gospel must go out. I feel that urgency more and more when I see what's going on, not less and less. Brethren, it is not time to draw back or become silent in the message of repentance or the good news in the kingdom of God that is yet to come. As we approach the end of this age, we must be aware that there is an adversary who seeks to silence the Gospel message. There's an adversary that stands opposed to the Gospel and to the commission that Christ has given the Church, because you see His end is tied up in the fulfillment of these things. Right? The God of peace will cry, and crush Satan under your feet shortly. He doesn't like that message, and He will do everything within His power not only to silence the message, but to destroy the people who carry it as well. Brethren, you and I must resist Him, and must draw close to God and one another. Here now is our place in proclaiming the everlasting Gospel as a witness and a warning and a calling and an election to this world. I'd like to conclude today by quoting a very encouraging Scripture that we find in the book of Isaiah chapter 52 and verse 7. Isaiah chapter 52 verse 7. It says, How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of Him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaim salvation, who says to Zion, Your God reigns. Brethren, we have the opportunity to proclaim a good portion of that today. The day will come where God's reign will be established. The kingdom of God will reign, and we can proclaim the entirety of that message. Your God reigns. And we yearn for that time, and we look forward to that time. What a blessing it is today to be found in the lineage of those who carry the everlasting gospel, who proclaim it to the age and the generation around them. Brethren, let us never draw back as long as God gives us strength. Let us boldly proclaim these things, and let us rejoice in the fact that the good news is not only for the world, but it is something that God has given you and I to live today.