Dorothy Mae
Member
I have been thinking about this verse. It says the gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached to all groups of people or ethnic groups or gentiles. It cannot have meant political nations because that wasn’t a reality then.And then the end will come.
"This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come. Matthew 24:14 (NASB)
Some say the "end" hasn't come because this gospel hasn't been preached in the whole world. Paul writes otherwise:
First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world. Romans 1:8 (NASB)
but now is manifested, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations, leading to obedience of faith; Romans 16:26 (NASB)
the gospel which has come to you, just as in all the world Colossians 1:5-6 (NASB)
the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven Colossians 1:23 (NASB)
I wonder how Paul, called by Christ Himself, could've been so wrong.
Second, it was preached as a testimony, not to “get them saved” as I’ve commonly heard. What would have it been a testimony of?
If one accepts the preterism view, it’s easy to see that this was part of the gospel as given in Acts 2 whereby the days Joel predicted included judgement upon Jerusalem. If this was the testimony given to the peoples living around the mediterranean basin, the known world containing most of not all of the major ethnic groups, of the truth of the gospel of Jesus, then the destruction, which certainly became known, would have been a very powerful testimony indeed. Before the event, it would have predicted and after 70 AD, fulfilled. That’s a powerful testimony. Seems to make sense and fits what Jesus said.