In the first two installments of this new series, we have pointed out that at the time of the final revival of the ancient Roman Empire in Europe, God’s Church will be busy, with renewed strength, to fulfill its end-time commission to preach the gospel of the Kingdom of God in all the world as a witness, prior to Christ’s return. As the European power will only survive for a short time, so the preaching of the gospel will likewise be short-lived. Both the last revival of the Roman Empire [through the raising up of the ancient Chaldeans, and their subsequent defeat] and the preaching of the gospel are described as the Work of God.
In this installment, we will concentrate on God’s Work, as it relates to the preaching of the gospel.
We read previously in Acts 13:41 that the preaching of the gospel is defined as God working a work in our days. We also read in Romans 9:28 that God will finish this work and cut it short in righteousness, as He will make a short work upon the earth. The immediate context is salvation of a remnant of Israel and the warning not to despise God’s Word (compare Romans 9:25-27; Acts 13: 45-52; also note Isaiah 10:22-23). Salvation is of course an important part of the gospel message. We are told that we must endure to the end to be saved. And Jesus said to His disciples in Mark 16:15-16:
“… Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.”
That preaching the gospel is indeed the Work of God is confirmed in many passages in the Bible. While God is using men to do the preaching, it is not the work of man that this is being accomplished, but it is God doing His Work through human instruments.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:57-58:
“But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”
The ultimate outcome is victory over death (compare verse 54). The gospel message reveals that we can inherit eternal life in the Kingdom of God if we endure until the end. When we do the Work of God by preaching the gospel message, we do not do it in vain. It will produce fruit, even though it may not be obvious right away. Notice Isaiah 55:10-11:
“For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater, So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”
What the gospel message contains will be accomplished, in God’s due time. This is also confirmed in Jeremiah 1:12, where God says: “You have seen well, for I am ready to perform My word.”
In the last installment, we already referred to Ezekiel 12:22-28, showing that at the very end, God’s Word will come true swiftly and without postponement or delay.
Paul or Saul and Barnabas were set aside by God to accomplish God’s Work of preaching the gospel. We read in Acts 13:2-5:
“As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’ Then, having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away. So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. And when they arrived in Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. They also had John as their assistant.”
However, contentions arose between Paul and Barnabas, pertaining to their assistant John. We read in Acts 15:36-38:
“Then after some days Paul said to Barnabas, ‘Let us now go back and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they are doing.’ Now Barnabas was determined to take with them John called Mark (He was also called John; compare Acts 12:12). But Paul insisted that they should not take with them the one who had departed from them in Pamphylia, and had not gone with them to the work. Then the contention became so sharp that they parted from one another. And so Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus…”
John had departed from them, returning to Jerusalem, as described in Acts 13:13. We read later that John Mark worked with Paul as one of his “fellow workers for the kingdom of God” (Colossians 4:10-11), but we do not read that Paul and Barnabas ever worked together again.
We also read in 1 Corinthians 16:9-10, that doing the Work of God is associated with God’s opening a door or an opportunity to preach the gospel:
“For a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries. Now if Timothy comes, see that he may be with you without fear; for he does the work of the Lord, as I also do.”
The clause “he is doing the work of the Lord” is better translated as “… it is the Lord’s work that he is engaged on” (Revised English Bible), emphasizing the fact that it is not the work of man. Or, as the New International Version has it, “he is carrying on the work of the Lord,” emphasizing his continuing effort in this regard. The Luther Bible says, “he is driving the work of the Lord” (“er treibt das Werk des Herrn”).
We also read in 2 Corinthians 2:12:
“Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ’s gospel, and a door was opened to me by the Lord.”
In Acts 14:26-27, an important aspect of successfully carrying out the Work of preaching the gospel is mentioned, when it says:
“From there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work which they had completed. Now when they had come and gathered the church together, they reported all that God had done with them, and that He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.”
It is through faith or belief in God and in Christ’s Sacrifice and in the gospel of the Kingdom of God (compare Mark 1:14-15), that we can come to the point of baptism, opening for us the way to eternal life. In order to be successful in our commission to do the Work of God, we need to pray to God that He opens doors or ways for us to accomplish the task God has set before us—and that we have the faith and strength to go through those doors and proclaim God’s Word with power. We read in Colossians 4:2-4:
“Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving; meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains, that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak.’
In Philippians 2:25-30, we read:
“Yet I considered it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, and fellow soldier, but your messenger and the one who ministered to my need; since he was longing for you all, and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick. For indeed he was sick almost unto death; but God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. Therefore I sent him the more eagerly, that when you see him again you may rejoice, and I may be less sorrowful. Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness, and hold such men in esteem; because for the work of Christ he came close to death, not regarding his life, to supply what was lacking in your service toward me.”
Here the work of Christ is not only associated with the preaching of the gospel, but also with taking care of the needs of the brethren—in this case, Paul.
In James 1:22-27, a similar association is made:
“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does… Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.”
At the time of Paul and the early New Testament Church, we read that the Church was busy and energetic in doing God’s Work of preaching the gospel in all the world as a witness. Paul knew of course Christ’s command to preach the gospel to every creature, or, as other translations have it, “to the whole creation” (Mark 16:15), and so he even declared in Colossians 1:21-28:
“And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight– if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister. I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.”
The German Schlachter Bible translates verse 23: “… which was preached in the entire creation, which is under heaven…” Likewise the “Revised English Bible”: “This is the gospel which has been proclaimed in the whole creation under heaven.”
We see here that the gospel—the good news of the Kingdom of God—includes a warning message to encourage repentance and striving for perfection. He went even further, stating in Ephesians 3:8-10:
“To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places…”
But after the death of Paul and the other early apostles, the preaching of the gospel to the world would gradually stop, and so, as we have said many times, for over 1900 years, the gospel was NOT preached to the world, until God began to motivate His church and giving it the strength and opportunities to begin so again. This way, that worldwide proclamation would become the sign of the end—of the return of Jesus Christ. This proclamation would continue during the Great Tribulation as well—including through the preaching of the Two Witnesses. As God’s prophets (Revelation 11:3, 6, 10), they will of course warn the nations and proclaim what will happen—including, what has been written down in the Bible, as we discussed in the last installment, as all of this is also part of the Work of God. And God’s end-time Church has been given the commission to warn the nations, as will be discussed in more detail in the next installment.
We will also discuss the marvelous Truth as to why we have said that the more we are involved in God’s Work of preaching the gospel, the more we will overcome our sins and our human nature… which is necessary to be able to enter the Kingdom and Family of God.
For now, we want to conclude by pointing out that at times, preaching the gospel of God’s coming rule over rebellious mankind is not always an easy task, and without God’s help, strength and encouragement, it could not be done.
Jeremiah 20:8-9 expressed this challenge in the following way:
“For when I spoke, I cried out; I shouted, ‘Violence and plunder!’ Because the word of the LORD was made to me A reproach and a derision daily. Then I said, ‘I will not make mention of Him, Nor speak anymore in His name.’ But His word was in my heart like a burning fire. Shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, And I could not.”
In 1 Corinthians 9:16-17, Paul likewise pointed out that he had really no choice but to preach the gospel, saying:
“For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel! For if I do this willingly, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have been entrusted with a stewardship.”
In Revelation 10:8-11, John, as representative of the end-time Church, is given a little book to eat and to use it for a message of prophecy:
“Then the voice which I heard from heaven spoke to me again and said, ‘Go, take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the earth.’ So I went to the angel and said to him, ‘Give me the little book.’ And he said to me, ‘Take and eat it; and it will make your stomach bitter, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth.’ Then I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. But when I had eaten it, my stomach became bitter. And he said to me, ‘You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.’”
The book tasted good at first, but it became bitter, due to the events which were to happen to many peoples, nations, tongues and kings. It would not be pleasant to proclaim these events, but they have to be announced—otherwise, Christ could not return to this earth.
(To be continued)
Lead Writer: Norbert Link
