Isaiah 52:7-10
7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!
8 Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the LORD shall bring again Zion.
9 Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the LORD hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem.
10 The LORD hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.
In a recent article by Ephraim Frank, he has this to say.
Almost a decade had gone by, when in an early morning time of reading scriptures, (in the year 1994 to be precise), I became intrigued, like never before, by Acts 28. Paul was under house arrest in Rome for the "hope of Israel". He had called together the Jewish leaders and explained to them why he was there. These leaders had heard about this sect of Judaism that was "spoken against everywhere".
After listening to Paul, they set a day to have him clarify what this sect was all about. When the day arrived, Paul “solemnly testified of the kingdom of God [Elohim], persuading them concerning Jesus [Yeshua] from both the Law [Torah] of Moses and the Prophets, from morning till evening” (Acts 28:23). Upon reading this something leaped inside of me with a big, “WHAT? Paul was teaching the Kingdom of Elohim from the Torah and the Prophets?"
I had never once, in all my years, heard the Gospel of the Kingdom being presented from the Torah and the Prophets! “Where in the Torah is God/Elohim's Kingdom?” I prayed. I turned to my Heavenly Father and asked Him to show me. I left for work that morning in a state of absolute bewilderment. How was it possible that after 20 years of being a believer and singing that song, “Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God,” I could still be so totally ignorant of something so important? I had read many times the parables of Jesus/Yeshua about the Kingdom of God/Elohim, but did not really understand what Yeshua and His apostles were actually teaching about the Kingdom from the Torah and the Prophets! Truly I fit the shoes of those who have ears but do not hear and eyes, but do not see!
Notice in the third paragraph quoted from Ephraim Frank where he says: Truly I fit the shoes of those who have ears but do not hear and eyes, but do not see!
This seems to be a case of spiritual blindness. There is a case of spiritual blindness that is parallel to this found in Luke, the famous Emmaus Road passage.
Luke 24:13-32
13 And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs.
14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened.
15 And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them.
25 Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:
26 Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?
27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
32 And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?
Suppose you had to preach "Christ and Him Crucified" from the Old Testament. It says And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. Exactly what scriptures could Jesus have discussed and opened to those disciples? For us today, it's fairly easy to know what Jesus might have showed them. The messianic psalms and prophecies are identified for us already, by scholars who have the advantages of faith in the Lord and hindsight into the old testament. Even so Jews today are still blinded to all the messianic passages we so easily identify.
1 Corinthians 1:23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;
When it comes to preaching the 'Gospel of the Kingdom' from the Old Testament, we don't have it all laid out for us in like manner. There is not a set list of Kingdom scriptures already put together for us. We will have to research and discover what verses to use for ourselves.
Part of the problem is once again, spiritual blindness. The church is split into so many factions that we have no consensus of exactly what the Gospel is, and no clear idea of what the Kingdom of God is. Too many pastors and teachers have differing ideas about what exactly is the Gospel of The Kingdom of God. It reminds me of a kingdom related scripture from The Book of Judges.
Judges 21:25 In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
Surely this is an issue that requires some end time prophetic vision, for in Matthew 24 we see a prophecy as follows.
Matthew 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
As this must happen before the Lord returns, there must come a change or transformation of some sort to the church to enable this kind of preaching. Else how can we preach the Gospel of the Kingdom, if we are not clear as to what it is? Seeing how the Old Testament treats the subject will prove a tremendous aid to our understanding.
One approach is to focus on the word Kingdom, and it's synonyms; the other approach is to focus on the word Gospel, and it's synonyms. To preach the one is to preach the other, but using differing terminology. Typically the Bible repeats the same ideas over and over but it uses varying approaches and ways of explaining things. This is also a means of concealing things. Until by earnestly seeking the Lord, the Spirit reveals how seemingly unrelated ideas are connected together with a common meaning. The very phrase Gospel of the Kingdom is an example. In many places scripture speaks of the Kingdom of God, while in other places there is talk of preaching the Gospel or the Good News. Then as you read Matthew 24:14, as quoted above, you may see that these ideas are linked together. So that to preach the one is to preach the other, but using differing terminology. For this short essay, let’s look at first things first.
First Things First
In the quote above Ephraim says:
How was it possible that after 20 years of being a believer and singing that song, “Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God,” I could still be so totally ignorant of something so important?
In this we can find an important clue. In Matthew 6 we read:
Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
And then in Matthew 22 we find Jesus saying:
Matthew 22:36-40
36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
The question now is whether Jesus is teaching that two different things are most important or is he saying the same thing in two different ways? We know that God is not the author of confusion, [1 Corinthians 14:33] So here he, Jesus, is telling us the same thing in two different ways. Instead of confusion, we can draw a conclusion here. That is: to seek first the kingdom of God is the same as to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Now take that and add in the First Commandment. That is "I am the Lord thy God, Thou shalt have no other gods before me. This being the First Commandment is yet another way of saying the same thing. It lets us draw another conclusion. That is: to seek first the kingdom of God is the same as to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and the same as to have no other gods before him. It’s the same idea said three different ways.
This is all based on Old Testament verses from Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy, all found in the "Law of Moses" or the Torah.
Deuteronomy 6:5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
[Side note: Judaism tends to focus on Deuteronomy 6:4 instead of 6:5 and thereby misses getting first things first.]
Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
Here are the other verses in question,.
Leviticus 19:18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.
Exodus 20:2-3
2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
So if you are preaching from these scriptures, you are preaching the 'Gospel of the Kingdom' from the Old Testament!
The Good News is that there is a Kingdom Coming!
And beside that, the very idea that the Lord Jesus Christ is our God is Good News in itself!