Matthew 24:14

The gospel of the kingdom, simply put, announces the soon coming of Christ as Messiah, His authority, and the resulting need to repent. John the Baptist had already announced the coming kingdom: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matt. 3:2). The Lord Himself preached the gospel of the kingdom (e.g. Matt. 4:23). Here the Lord told His disciples that this gospel of the kingdom would be preached again. It will not stay in a limited circle. It will go through the whole world, as a witness to all the nations. That global announcement of the coming king and kingdom will take place at the end, just before the Lord's appearing in power. Jews who join the faithful remnant of Israel will believe this gospel, and so will a large number of people from various nations (Rev. 7:9-17).

But in Matthew the "end" is the one the disciples had asked about — Christ's coming, and the end of the age. And before that event the gospel will be preached to all the Gentiles. It is not, however, the gospel of God's grace, but "the gospel of the kingdom." That term is never applied to Christianity. It announces the kingdom of the Messiah, and it goes out before His appearing. It goes not merely to all nations, but to all the nations, or Gentiles, as distinct from the Jews. Christianity erased that distinction. It matters greatly again when the Lord is about to set up His earthly kingdom.

The gospel of the grace of God takes your heart to heaven. The gospel of the kingdom, if believed, will eventually make a man very happy on earth, because it asserts the glory and rights of the Son of Man, who is about to come and purify the earth by His righteous judgment.

All the world shall hear of Him as the coming King. Thank God for that. Only a small part of the world has had "the gospel of the grace of God" preached to it in our day. But I comfort my heart with this. Within a very short time from tonight the Lord could come, the Church could be taken up, and this blessed company of what I may call earthly evangelists could appear. Then a wonderful change would be seen... Christ does not say or mean that all nations will be converted. Many will not be converted. But they will still hear a clear, distinct testimony.

Before the cross, the gospel of the kingdom was strictly confined to Israel: "Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans" (Matt. 10:5). But now, look — a devoted band goes out to the nations. They announce that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, and that the Son of Man will come in power and great glory to judge the world. Christendom will have given Christ up. It will be a marvellous thing that despised Jews then carry the fragrance of His name through the world!

The testimony must be borne worldwide, in the middle of every kind of trial, and the witnesses must fight the good fight in the power of faith; but "when this gospel of the kingdom" (not merely the gospel, but this gospel — that of the kingdom) "shall be preached in all the world for a witness (nothing more) to all the nations, then shall the end come." The preaching of this gospel of the kingdom, throughout the habitable world, is the immediate forerunner of the end.

In the first place, "the end" here is not the same as the Lord's coming for His saints, or the end of the church period. It is "the end" the disciples had just been asking about — "the end of the age."... The rejection of the Messiah broke off the course of "the age." When the church period ends, that age starts running again. Its end comes just before the glorious age of the Messiah. That is the "end" the Lord was speaking about.

How many earnest servants of Christ have gone to the far corners of the earth, thinking they were speeding the Lord's coming by carrying the gospel where it had never been before! The Master will no doubt accept such devoted labour and reward it richly. But as far as it rests on our text, it is based on a complete misunderstanding.