I want to reply to a response and clarify my previous article “How Will Matthew 24:14 Be Fulfilled?”
Darrin made the following comments here:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/prewrathraptureview/?ref=ts (a prewrath facebook group I recommend.)
“The end of the age in the Olivet Discourse should be the end of the age in the great commission.”
I agree.
“The gospel that goes forth by the disciples in the Olivet Discourse should be the same gospel that goes forth in the great commission.”
Matthew 24:14 never says anything such as, “The gospel that goes forth by the disciples.” Who proclaims this particular gospel message is not mentioned.
“There shouldn’t be two end of the ages and two different gospels.”
i. I agree there is only one end of the age.
ii. There is one complex-whole gospel with multifaceted elements. Jesus and John the Baptist did not come preaching “Christ crucified” (see Matt 4:23; 9:35; Mark 1:15). And yet it was considered the gospel. They preached the good news of the kingdom of God: The righteous will be delivered and the wicked judged. The good news of the cross would later on enrich the complex-whole gospel.
iii. We see the gospel of the kingdom here:
“(13) But the person who endures to the end will be saved. (14) And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole inhabited earth as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.” (Matt 24:13–14).
Notice it says, “this gospel.” What is the antecedent? The cross is not mentioned in this context. Instead, what it points to is this gospel: “But the person who endures to the end will be saved [delivered].” Now that is good news!
iv. And there is a negative obverse to this kingdom gospel: the judgment of the wicked as seen especially in the angel’s warning Rev 14:6–7. (Most people do not think of God’s vindication of his holiness in the judgment of the wicked as “good news.” But that is what the Bible teaches.)
“The church is the vehicle for preaching the gospel, not angelic beings.”
It’s not either/or. The church is commissioned to preach the gospel. But an angel will do so in a unique way fulfilling Mt 24:14.
“[Cooper and Kurschner] are stating that this isn’t the church preaching the gospel during the great tribulation, it’s an angel. I think that’s serious if we are teaching people that we won’t be the ones preaching the gospel during the time when the earth needs it most.”
I think that is serious as well, which is why I don’t believe that. I believe the church should be zealously preaching the gospel during the great tribulation since the time will be short! But Matthew 24:14 does not teach this. We have to look elsewhere for the church’s mandate to preach the gospel until Christ returns: Matt 28:19–20!
Addendum – A Lexical Note:
The Greek word euavgelion is not a technical term always meaning the good news of the cross and resurrection. It simply means “good news.” In the Bible it frequently means “God’s good news to humans.” The particular context determines the specific content of that good news.
