The Gospel - God's Reign

Isaiah 41:27

Throughout the book of Isaiah the promise of the Good News is declared over and again. In this verse the Father declares that it is He, not any gods or any man, who brings the Good News to Zion. This is still true. No god, no religion, no sect or denomination and no evangelist can really claim to be the bringer of the Good News. It is God, my Father, who declares the Gospel - it is he who sends the messenger of Good News - the evangelist. (see v17 - 20 for a declaration of what the Good News is in this case.)

Isaiah 52:7

Although it is God who declares the Gospel, He gives the task of carrying it to all nations to his evangelists. And the evangelists are especially a blessed people for God says, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the Gospel." It is important to see what the Good News is that the Father is declaring through the evangelist. It is:

News of Peace
Good Tidings
Salvation
The Government of God - Your God Reigns

What does this mean to anyone who aspires to be an evangelist? Graham Kendrik says that you cannot lead a people further than you have gone yourself. I must, therefore, know more of the reign of God in my own life before seeking to lead others into that sphere. May God, my Father, teach me what it means to be a good citizen in the Kingdom of God truly under the reign and government of the King that you have set on your Holy Hill of Zion.

Isaiah 61:1 - 3

This, of course, is the scripture that Jesus applied to himself in the Nazareth Synagogue. In making such an application Jesus declares himself not only to be the Messiah (the Anointed One), but also to be the ultimate evangelist. He is anointed to bring Good News to the poor - indeed to BE good news to the poor. But does he not pass onto his Apostles and Prophets and Evangelists this same anointing of the Spirit of the Soveriegn Lord? And is it not to the evangelist that he apportions the task to preach the Good News?

The amazing thing is that it is not just Good News of Salvation from sin, of Jesus dying for the world but it includes as a natural and integral part of the message:

The Healing of Broken Hearts
Freedom for those in Spiritual and Physical captivity
Sight for the Blind
Comfort for the mourning

And if it is Good News for the oppressed then it is equally bad news for the oppressor, for the Year of the Lord's Favour is equated with the Day of the Vengeance of our God.

The Gospel is a revolutionary Gospel which turns upside down the expectations of the world. The head that has been crowned with Ashes of Sorrow and Penitence shall receive a Crown of Beauty and be anointed with the Oil of Gladness. Praise will be the garment of those who had despaired and the brittle Weeping Willow will become and Oak of Righteousness which God himself has planted, displaying the very glory of God. All of this is part of the Gospel Jesus brought, Jesus preached and bought with his blood. Anything less is a watered-down, saltless Gospel. May we never preach less than the Full Gospel of Jesus!

Further references

Isaiah 11:2, Luke 4:18, John 1:32, Psalm 34:18, Hosea 6:1, Zech. 9:12, John 8:32 - 36, Leviticus 25:9, Malachi 4:1-3, Matthew 5:4, Psalm 30:11, Isaiah 60:21, John 15:8