As with the epistles of Paul, the writings of the other New Testament writers reflect the same preoccupation with Jesus Christ and salvation through him. In the first epistle of Peter, we read: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." (I Peter 1:3-5) Moreover, Peter sees this message as having been anticipated by the Hebrew prophets. We read: "Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look." (Verses 10-12)
This Christ-centered message is also apparent in the first epistle of John. We read there: "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin." (1:1-7) Once again, the message is focused on Jesus Christ and salvation through him.
Likewise, in the anonymously authored epistle to the Hebrews, we read: "Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high." (1:1-3) And, after discussing in more detail the preeminence of Jesus, we read: "Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will." (2:1-4) Continuing in the epistle, we read about Christ's superiority to Moses, his role as our High Priest, and how the sacrificial system of Torah pointed to him. In other words, once again, the message is focused on Jesus Christ and salvation through him!
Moreover, as we will now demonstrate, Christ was also the focus of those prophecies which Herbert Armstrong loved to quote in his writings about the Gospel of the KINGDOM of God! In the book of Daniel, we are informed that King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had a dream, and that the prophet interpreted its meaning for him. After informing him that his kingdom would be followed by three more great empires, he said that the fourth kingdom would be replaced by God's eternal Kingdom (Daniel 2:31-45). And the contrast with those human kingdoms could not be any plainer. Once again, God's Kingdom would be the very antithesis of those human kingdoms. Later, Daniel wrote: "I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed." (Daniel 7:13-14) Now, that this passage is referring to Jesus is acknowledged almost universally by Christian scholars (even Armstrong believed it did).
That Jesus would be the king of that future kingdom was also underscored by the writings of Isaiah. In that book, we read: "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this." (9:6-7) A little later, in the same book, we read: "There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins." (11:1-5)
Now that we have established that both Daniel and Isaiah place Christ at the center of the Kingdom of God, what about the salvation that was to be achieved through Jesus? In that same book of Isaiah, the prophet predicted that Jesus would be despised and rejected when he appeared on this earth (53:1-3). In the same passage, his salvific work was predicted. We read there: "Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors." (53:4-12)
Thus, we have seen, in both the Old and New Testaments, that the Good News about God's Kingdom is inextricably linked to Jesus Christ and salvation through him. Likewise, we are forced to confront the absolute absurdity of the notion that the Gospel which Christ and his apostles proclaimed was focused on government and the establishment of a physical kingdom. Next, we will take a closer look at Herbert Armstrong's assertion that traditional Christianity has been preaching a false gospel for most of the last nineteen hundred years!
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