Not all good news is the same. Yet few people adhere to this simple truth when they read in the Bible the phrase “the gospel” — which simply means “the good news.” They have been taught that “the gospel is the gospel” and “there is only one gospel,” but this is simply not so in the light of the Bible itself.

God has not proclaimed only one gospel, one item of good news, down through the ages, but many. He has qualified the word “gospel” by distinctive titles, whereby the qualifying words mean something.

Jesus’ “gospel of the kingdom” and Paul’s “gospel of the grace of God” are not the same, and certainly the “gospel of the circumcision (Israel)” and the “gospel of the uncircumcision (Gentiles)” are not the same… because words have meanings.

When we come upon the phrase “the gospel” without any qualifying title, we should immediately ask: “Which gospel?” and invariably the context will provide the answer. Luke 9:6, for example, simply states that the twelve disciples went about “preaching the gospel,” but Verse 2 of the same chapter explains how the Lord had sent them “to preach the kingdom of God” — not the cross, but the kingdom, since He, the King, was in their midst and not yet crucified. These disciples could not have engaged in “the preaching of the cross,” as Paul later did, for it was not until at least two years later that the Lord “began” to tell them how He must suffer and die (Matt. 16:21) and, not understanding, Peter “began to rebuke Him” (Ver. 22) and none of the twelve even understood what He was talking about (Luke 18:34).

But whereas;

• Jesus’ “the gospel of the kingdom” had been committed to the twelve Apostles while Christ was on earth, sending them only to “the Lost Sheep of the House of Israel,” with that racial distinction.

“These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: ⁶ But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matthew 10:5-6)

• The “preaching of the cross” (as ‘good news’) and “the gospel of the grace of God” was later committed to the Apostle Paul for “all men,” referred to as Gentiles (1 Cor. 1:18; Acts 20:24, Eph. 3:1-5).

Thus, during today’s age of “the grace of God,” we do not proclaim “the kingdom” to come to earth, rather… we proclaim the gospel that Paul, “the Apostle to the Gentiles” (Rom. 11:13) received directly from the ascended, celestial, Lord Jesus for “all men” (without racial distinction);

“redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Eph. 1:7).

Now we can understand why Paul tells us to “rightly divide the word of truth” in our studies. For, these two gospels are for two different people groups, having two different relationships with God, and two different eternal destinies.

- Israel will ultimately gain ‘the Kingdom on earth’ to reign with Jesus’ at His 2^nd coming to earth,

““And hast made us (Israel) unto our God kings and priests: and we (Israel) shall reign on the earth.” (Revelation 5:10)
“Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.” (Rev. 20:6)

- The church, “the body of Christ,” will co-reign Christ” and dwell “eternal in the heavens”;

“If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:” (2 Tim 2:12)
“For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” (2 Corinthians 5:1)

“For our conversation (home) is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: (Philippians 3:20 (KJV)