The Beginning of the Gospel

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Jesus was baptized at the age of 30 and began preaching the gospel.
Jesus was baptized at the age of 30 and began preaching the gospel.

The beginning of the gospel dates from the time when Jesus was baptized. Through His baptism, He began His public ministry, fulfilled the laws of the Old Testament, and established the new covenant, opening the way for the forgiveness of sins and salvation for all humanity.

The End of the Age of Old Testament Law

The beginning of the gospel marks the end of the Age of the Old Testament Law. Broadly speaking, the content of the Old Testament can also be regarded as the gospel, since they are the words of God given for the blessing of His people. However, the gospel in the New Testament specifically refers to the teaching of forgiveness and salvation that Jesus Himself preached. John the Baptist was the last prophet of the Age of the Law, which had continued for about 1,500 years after the Israelites received the Ten Commandments from God on Mount Sinai.[1]


“The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it.”

Luke 16:16


John the Baptist brought the Age of the Old Testament Law to a close and, at the same time, fulfilled his mission of revealing and testifying about God who came in the flesh,[2] thereby ushering in the beginning of the Gospel Age. The Christ about whom he testified was Jesus.

John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’ ” . . . The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.”

John 1:23–34


The Arrival of the Gospel Age of the New Testament

Jesus’ Baptism and the Beginning of the Gospel

According to the prophecy of David’s throne, Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist at the age of thirty. After fasting for forty days, He began to preach the gospel.[3]


When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. . . . Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry.

Luke 3:21–23

From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." . . . Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom.

Matthew 4:17–23

The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Mark 1:1


From that time until His death on the cross, Jesus preached the gospel for three years, observing and teaching regulations such as the Sabbath[4] and the Feast of Tabernacles.[5][6] These were practiced as worship in spirit and in truth, no longer through the shedding of animals’ blood.[7] In particular, the last Passover that He kept with His disciples before His suffering on the cross was observed with bread and wine, symbolizing His flesh and blood. At that time, He declared, “This is the new covenant in My blood.”[8][9] Because Jesus came as the reality of all sacrificial offerings, including the Passover lamb,[10][11] He opened the way to complete forgiveness of sins through spiritual sacrifices offered with the precious blood of Christ, not with the blood of animals.[12] This demonstrates that Jesus did not abolish the Law of the Old Testament, but fulfilled it completely.[13] He also taught that all His teachings were the gospel of the kingdom of heaven, and that they would continue until the end of the world.[14]

Apostles Devoted Themselves to Preaching the Gospel

Even after His crucifixion, Jesus reaffirmed the teachings He had given before the cross, saying, “Teach them to obey everything I have commanded you.”[15] Therefore, the apostles followed the example of Jesus, preaching the gospel exactly as He had taught before His death.[16]

The teachings of Jesus were completely different from the traditional sacrificial rituals that the Jews had practiced for generations. Because of this, most of the religious leaders regarded the gospel that Jesus preached as heresy. However, for those who were disheartened by the corruption and hypocrisy of the religious establishment and longed for true salvation, the gospel of Christ was like refreshing rain—the water of life that quenched their spiritual thirst. Wherever the apostles went and preached the gospel, multitudes came to believe—about 3,000 people in a single day, and even 5,000 on another.[17] The gospel that began in Jerusalem spread throughout Judea and Samaria, and eventually to the Gentile nations.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Matthew 11:13".
  2. ↑ "John 3:27–30".
  3. ↑ "Matthew 3:13–4:23".
  4. ↑ "Luke 4:16".
  5. ↑ "John 7:2, 37".
  6. ↑ "John 13:15".
  7. ↑ "John 4:23".
  8. ↑ "Matthew 26:17–28".
  9. ↑ "Luke 22:7–20".
  10. ↑ "1 Corinthians 5:7".
  11. ↑ Chapter 32 The Passover and the Last Supper, THE MYSTERY OF GOD AND THE SPRING OF THE WATER OF LIFE, Ahnsahnghong, Melchizedek Pub. Co., Ltd
  12. ↑ "Hebrews 9:12".
  13. ↑ "Matthew 5:17".
  14. ↑ "Matthew 24:14".
  15. ↑ "Matthew 28:20".
  16. ↑ "1 Corinthians 11:1, 23-26".
  17. ↑ "Acts 4:1–21".
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