How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.” The voice of your watchmen—they lift up their voice; together they sing for joy; for eye to eye they see the return of the LORD to Zion.—Isaiah 52:7-8
The Story of the Gospel’s begin with a hope. God’s people, Israel, are under Roman oppression. The Scriptures contained these wonderful promises of a coming King. And then Jesus shows up on the scene as that king. After being baptized by John and receiving the Holy Spirit, he preached repentance and good news to the poor.
He worked miracles as signs of the wholeness and blessedness his reign would bring. His campaign of preaching and demonstrating the good news of a gracious reign ended in death as the Messiah was crucified as a common criminal. What becomes apparent is that this death was no accident. This defeat was no failure. This end was just the beginning. Jesus died in solidarity with the weak. He died for sinners. He was raised for victorious for his people.
The good news of the kingdom is that Jesus took the punishment for our lack of repentance and gave the gifts associated with perfect repentance, repentance he made on our behalf. His righteousness for our sin, his blessedness for our poverty, this is the good news of the kingdom: Christ is a merciful king who accepts anyone who comes to him.
For this reason, the Christian life is oriented toward hope, not a hope that ignores suffering or pain, but a hope that looks to the crucified Christ who is the resurrected Lord. As the Prophet Isaiah said, “Your God reigns.” This is the good news of the kingdom.
Check out the video below for more about the kingdom of God by The Bible Project (Note: this video pictures Jesus.):