CRYSTALLIZATION-STUDY OF THE GOSPEL OF GOD
in the Epistle to the Romans

Message Twenty-Six

The Announcing of the Gospel
(2)

OUTLINE

2. The commission of the Lord as the Christ of God:
   1. After all authority had been given to Him in heaven and on earth for the establishing of the kingdom of the heavens, the Lord as the King-Savior commissioned His disciples to go and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to observe all that He had commanded them, to make them citizens of His kingdom of the heavens—Matt. 28:18-20.
   2. In His resurrection the Lord as the Slave-Savior charged His disciples to go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to all the creation (of which mankind is the main item) to redeem and save God’s lost creation from the vanity and slavery of corruption back to Him to enjoy the freedom of His glory (Mark 16:14-15; Rom. 8:20-21) in His new creation (Gal. 6:15b).
   3. After the accomplishment of God’s redemption for man through His death and resurrection, the Lord as the Man-Savior charged His disciples to proclaim repentance for forgiveness of sins in His name to all the nations that the fallen men may be redeemed back to the way of peace that leads them into the blessing prepared by God for them according to His eternal economy—Luke 24:46-48; 1:77-79; 2:30-32.
   4. After the unveiling of the mysterious mingling of the Divine Trinity with the believers (John 14:8-11, 16-20), the Lord as the God-Savior charged His disciples to bear fruit for His increase that His mystical Body, which is signified by the true vine composed of Him and His believers as His branches, may be completed as His fullness—His expression—as the New Jerusalem in eternity— John 15:16a; 3:30; 15:1-8; Rev. 21:1— 22:5.
   5. After He had trained the disciples to know the kingdom of God, which, according to God’s New Testament economy, is different from the kingdom of Israel, and when He was ready to return to the heavens triumphantly in the presence of His disciples (Acts 1:2-9), the Lord as the Victor over Satan, sin, and death, the One who was to be made by God in the heavens both the Lord and Christ, charged His disciples to be His witnesses, especially of His resurrection and His ascension (2:32-36; 5:30-32), from Jerusalem unto the uttermost part of the earth, by the power of the Spirit (1:8), that is, to announce the gospel of the kingdom of God (8:12) for the establishment of the kingdom of God on the earth (1:3; 14:22; 19:8; 20:25; 28:23, 31; Rom. 14:17; Eph. 2:19; 5:5).
3. Peter’s reminding of the believers concerning the telling out of the virtues of God—1 Pet. 2:9:
   1. Corporately by a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and a people acquired for a possession of God.
   2. To proclaim abroad as the gospel the virtues (mercy, compassion, lovingkindness, love, grace, redemption, forgiveness, justification, regeneration, salvation, etc.) of God, who has called the believers out of darkness into His marvelous light for the testimony that the believers as God’s chosen race who are under God’s bright governmental dealing in His house (1 Pet. 4:17) do not live and walk in darkness but in the marvelous light of God (2:11-12).
4. The calling of the Spirit and the bride, who represent the New Jerusalem—Rev. 22:17:
   1. To the thirsty ones.
   2. To come and take the water of life freely for their enjoyment of the riches of the Triune God flowing out of the throne of God and of the Lamb as a river of water of life to be the rich supply with Christ as the tree of life to the New Jerusalem as the Triune God’s glorious enlargement and expression for eternity—Rev. 21:1—22:5.

In the previous message, we saw that Paul gives us the perfect example and highest standard in the announcing of the gospel. In this message we first want to see the commission of the Lord as the Christ of God for the announcing of the gospel. In each of the four Gospels and Acts, the Lord commissioned His disciples to carry out the gospel. In Matthew, Mark, and Luke this commission is at the end, but in John it is in the middle. In chapter fifteen of John, the Lord charged the disciples to go forth and bear fruit (v. 16). Then at the beginning of Acts, the Lord trained the disciples, before His ascension, to preach the gospel of the kingdom of God (1:2-9).

In each particular book, the Lord’s commission has a particular base. If we are to understand the Lord’s commission in these five books, we have to enter into the intrinsic contents of each book. The book of Matthew is on the kingdom of the heavens. The first thing the New Testament offers to us is the kingdom of the heavens. Mark and Luke also have their particular perspectives on the gospel. John is very deep and high, and Acts is on the kingdom of God.

After we see the Lord’s commission to us in Matthew through Acts, we want to go on to fellowship concerning Peter’s reminding the believers to tell out the virtues of God (1 Pet. 2:9). This telling out is a kind of preaching, and the virtues of God are the contents of the gospel. Finally, we need to see the calling of the Spirit and the bride (Rev. 22:17). Together they call people to come to drink the living water.