Shalom friends,

Just what is the gospel anyway?

If you ask a typical eight-year-old child (in America) what the word "gospel" means, he/she will tell you that it means "good news."  But what, exactly, is the good news of the gospel?  The very first place that we find the word "gospel" is in Matthew 4:23 where it says:

And Y'shua traveled all over Galilee, teaching in the synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom...

Years ago I read Adolph Harnack's The History of Dogma where I found this amazing quote:

In proclaiming Jesus to be the Christ, men thereby ceased to proclaim the gospel.

In other words, the gospel of Y'shua the Messiah was replaced by a gospel about Y'shua the Messiah.  To put it simply: The messenger became more important than the message.

The gospel is the good news of the Kingdom of God.

Just what is the Kingdom of God anyway?

To most Christians, the Kingdom of God is some mystical entity made up exclusively of Christians.  But let's just do a simple word substitution here to put things into perspective.  Let's substitute the word "Nation" for "Kingdom".  The resulting phrase is "the Nation of God."  Can there be any doubt at all that "the Nation of God" is the restored Kingdom of Israel?  Israel was to be "a light to the nations," "a kingdom of priests," "a holy people."  Every Jew in the first century understood what the Kingdom of God was.  The prophets spoke of a time when Moshiach (Messiah) would rule over the reunited Houses of Israel and Judah.  This was to be the Kingdom of Elohim (God).

One thing that really confuses most Christians is Matthew's use of the euphemistic phrase "Kingdom of Heaven."  Matthew is the most "Jewish" of the writers of the New Testament in terms of Torah and mitzvot (commandments).  He chooses to use the word "Heaven" as a substitute for the name of God.  Even to this day many people use this same euphemism:  Instead of saying, "God knows" they will say, "Heaven knows."

So "the Kingdom of God" is the reunited nation of Israel.

Just what is salvation anyway?

To most Christians, salvation has to do with an afterlife.  But biblical salvation has to do with this life.  In the biblical sense, salvation is the redemption of the House of Israel and the restoration for the Kingdom of Israel.  This is totally lost on most Christians because they fail to understand Mathew 15:24:

He said, "I have been sent only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.

The House of Israel was cut off from G-d and they lost their identity.  Their return will be as if they had risen from the dead.  This is the meaning of Ezekiel 37:4-14 as explained by Yair Davidi.  In other words, it is like being "reborn" or "born again."

How does one know when he/she is "saved" or "born again"?  The answer is quite simple.  When a person is "saved" they begin to keep even the least of the commandment (Matthew 5:19).  One does not "keep the Law" to be saved.  Rather, one keeps the Law because he/she is saved (Jeremiah 31:31-34).

Kol tov,
Shomeir