“Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God.” – Luke 8:1

The good news is not merely a pleasant report of reconciliation, though it is that, and in it we should and must rejoice. It is not merely a declaration of acceptance before Yahweh, though how extraordinary and wonderful it is indeed. It is not merely our statement of adoption by an awesome Father, now made his children.

The good news is all of these, holistically, all together; and also it is good news of a kingdom, a kingdom in which the infinite power that spoke out of nothing, ex nihilo, trillions of nuclear-fusion-energy-producing stars and galaxies, will be present with us. It is a kingdom that cannot pass away, an everlasting benevolent monarchy in which the True King, the True Ruler, Prince of Peace, King of Righteousness, will rule with a scepter that can never and will never be taken away by His enemies, because they will all be put under His feet.

It is a Kingdom that is already breaking through, by the Spirit, via the word of the gospel, into this old, broken down, corroding, decaying creation, that will all be made new at the utterance of a word. It is a Kingdom whose entrance by its subjects was made possible by the shedding of innocent blood, as of a Lamb, spotless, sinless in His humanity, on our behalf, who offering Himself to the Father in our place has secured our seat at the Banquet table of the great Wedding Feast of the Lamb; the One whose resurrection is but a foretaste of glory divine. Through His perfect keeping of the covenant from His subjects’ side, He has secured admittance to this Kingdom of the Father’s beloved Son and deliverance from the domain of darkness that was holding us in bondage.

This is the Good News of the Kingdom of God. This is Mount Zion, spoken of in the Psalms. This is the New Jerusalem in Revelation, a place of peace, comfort, joy, not in the mere fact that we’re made whole, no more to die, no more to experience pain and suffering, but precisely because the Almighty King of Glory will be there, in our midst, providing the very light that sustains and gives us eternal life, meaning, purpose, a life that before this we had never experienced, the very life in which we perfectly reflect back the image of our Creator. This Kingdom is one worth giving up all in this life for.

“Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.”

Martin Luther, A Mighty Fortress is Our God