The Two Messages
The Two Messages“He came unto His own but His own did not receive Him“. John 1:11
There is a great contrast between the early message of Jesus which was the same as John’s message of repentance and His later message which prepares the way for the great doctrinal utterances to be found in the epistles of Paul. There is a great difference between the Gospel of the Kingdom and the Gospel of grace. The Gospel of the Kingdom is a threat because of approaching judgment, men are warned to repent because the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. John’s ethical message was based on the nearness of the wrath to come. Men were warned to bring forth fruits meet for repentance. Those who had abundance of goods were to divide with those who had none. Petty officials were warned against betraying the public trust, soldiers were told that they were not to pillage, but to be content with their wages. This was not unlike the early ministry of the Lord Jesus. It was primarily an ethical message - "After that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the Gospel" (Mark 1:14-15).
This was far different from the message of Christ’s later ministry when He announced that He was come to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke 19:10), and that He came not to be ministered unto but to minister and to give His life a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28). This is the early announcement of that which we shall find stated so strongly by the Spirit of God through the Apostle, "Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation (literally, a mercy–seat, that is, a blood sacrifice) through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God: to declare, I say, at this time His righteousness: that He might be just and the justifier of Him which believeth in Jesus" (Romans 3:24–26). The essence of Christ’s teaching in the first part of His ministry, that in which He was offering the Kingdom to the Jews, His own people, is to be found in the Sermon on the Mount.
Dr. Barnhouse shows us that the early message of Christ and the later were all part of God’s plan for redemption. The Kingdom of God would be offered to Israel but be rejected. But this rejection led the way for redemption for Jew and Gentile through faith in His atoning sacrifice. We should rejoice in this work of grace.
Further Reading: Romans 11: 11-24
