For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. (Malachi 4:1)

God's will shall yet be done in the earth.

But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inner parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. (Jeremiah 31:33)

These are the two parts of the Gospel of the Kingdom—the forgiveness of sin, and the cleansing of the earth and the establishing of God's will in the earth. Both parts are emphasized in the Old and New Testaments.

The angel of the Lord announced both dimensions of the Gospel of the Kingdom:

To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins, (Luke 1:77)

The above verse speaks of forgiveness of sins through the blood of the cross.

The angel spoke also of the rule of God in the earth:

He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. (Luke 1:32,33)

The theologians of the Christian Church have given careful attention to the first dimension of the Gospel—that of the blood atonement for our sins. They have explained the atonement thoroughly. The Lord's Christians announce to every creature the gift of salvation that God has given in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Perhaps it is time now to give that same careful attention to the second part of the Gospel, the rule of God in Christ in the saints in the earth.

Because the forgiveness of sins has been given so much attention (and it deserves the attention it gets), and the rule of God in the earth has been given so little attention, the preaching of today often proclaims that as long as we are in the world we are compelled to sin; but God has forgiven us and soon we will be transported to another world where sin no longer is a problem.

It is easy to understand that whoever believes this point of view probably will not exert enough diligence to overcome the enemy in this life. Why should he? If the purpose of the Gospel of the Kingdom is to take us to Heaven, and if God has made provision only for forgiveness, why become concerned over our conduct in the earth? However, this is not the position of the Scriptures. Rather, it is our tradition.

The Christian redemption is not primarily a change of location; it is a transformation of what we are, what we think, say, and do.

Through means of the first part of the Gospel of the Kingdom, that of forgiveness through the blood of the cross, we pass from the authority of the kingdom of Satan to the authority of the Kingdom of Christ. We have been "tagged," as it were, for salvation in the Day of Christ. We have been sealed to the day of redemption (Ephesians 4:30).

But after we have been "tagged" for preservation in the day of wrath, and have become a subject of the Kingdom of God, we are supposed to press into the Kingdom of God.

To be continued.