If you have been a Christian for any length of time, you have probably heard of ‘The Great Commission’ found in Mark 16:15, which in the English Standard Version reads, “And he said to them, "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” We need to note that Jesus spoke these words to the eleven after His resurrection. The Greek word kerysso, translated ‘proclaim’ means: to make a public proclamation of the gospel. ‘Gospel’ evangelion in the Greek means: the glad tidings of the Kingdom of God, soon to be set up and also of Jesus, the Messiah, the founder of this Kingdom (Thayer’s Greek Lexicon). Simply put, the gospel expresses a message of good news! Scripturally speaking, it is God’s good news of our salvation and redemption through His Son, Jesus Christ.

I would like us to focus on the word ‘proclaim’ today, so that we can get a much fuller understanding of what all we are called to '“proclaim” as followers of Christ.

What are we to proclaim?

Proclaim: His righteousness. Psalm 22:31a states, “they shall come and proclaim his righteousness. Righteousness, tsdaqah, as used in this verse means: his saving (delivering) righteousness, and ethically right and truthfulness.

Proclaim: His wondrous deeds and thoughts. Psalm 40:5, “You have multiplied, O LORD my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told.” Pala in the Hebrew means: wonderful acts or wondrous work. The Hebrew word for ‘thoughts’ is mahasaba, meaning: intention, plan, and purpose. How do we know these things? Through the Word of God! We are to share what the Word of God reveals to us concerning the Lord’s intention, plan and purpose for us. Jeremiah 29:11, tells us His plans for us are for our welfare, not evil to give us a future and hope!

Proclaim: The Kingdom of heaven is at hand! Matthew 10:7, “And proclaim as you go, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.'“ The kingdom of heaven is the kingdom over which God rules, the kingdom which is of heavenly or divine origin and nature. The phrase’ at hand’ according to Kingdom Dynamics in the New Spirit Filled Life Bible means: drawing near - “The rule of God’s King was about to overthrow the rule of all evil - both human and hellish. The kingdom was near because the King (Jesus) was here. The kingdom of darkness would be confronted and the death, deprivation, disease, and destruction leveled by satanic power would begin to be overthrown!” If ever there was a time when we need to be proclaiming this truth - it is now!

Proclaim: the Word of Faith. Romans 10:8, “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim).” ‘Word’ is Rhema in the Greek. Rhema means: utterance, a saying, a message. ‘Faith (pistis) means a conviction of belief respecting man’s relationship to God and divine things, trust and holy fervor. We need to speak about our faith in God and share what good has come into our life because we chose to have faith in God!

Proclaim: the Lord’s death, until He comes. 1 Corinthians 11:26, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.” This verse particularly refers to our taking communion and the symbolic meaning of partaking of the bread and cup. "‘Lord’s’ in the Greek in this verse is kyrios and means: Jesus as the Messiah. ‘Death’ (thanatos) means: the death of the body; separation of the soul from the body by which the life on earth is ended. This truth is vital to our faith. Jesus is the Son of God, come in the flesh. Jesus chose to leave His deity behind and come to earth to be the perfect Lamb of God, the perfect and only acceptable sacrifice, for the sins of mankind, so that man and God’s relationship could be restored. Once again, ‘proclaim’ (katangello) means to proclaim publicly and make it known. Do you have trouble or difficulty sharing about your personal acceptance of Christ’s death and resurrection? As you take the elements in church, you are making a public declaration!

Proclaim: Him, warning and teaching. Colossians 1:28 reads, “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.” When you proclaim Christ, you are admonishing, cautioning, and warning those you share with to the truth between life and death, light and darkness, and good and evil. The truth is, life without Christ is death!

Proclaim: the excellencies of Him. 1 Peter 2:9, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” The Greek word arete, translated excellencies means: virtuous course of thought, feeling, action, virtue, moral goodness, perfections, splendor and glory! He and He alone is worthy of our praise! Deuteronomy 10:21a states, “He alone is your God, the only one who is worthy of your praise.”

Proclaim: Jesus is the Word of Life and is eternal life. 1 John 1:1 and 2 (NLT), “We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life. 2 This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us.” We proclaim He existed from the beginning - He always was and is. Then, we proclaim that He is the Word of life and is eternal life! ‘Eternal, aionios, means: without end, never to cease, and ‘life’ is the Greek word zoe. Zoe is the absolute fulness of life, both essential and ethical which belongs to God.

Why is it so imperative that we proclaim the Kingdom of God and the gospel to the whole world? God, our Creator, the One Who breathed His life into us, desires that all of His creation would be brought to a place of salvation and redemption. Life without God is death.

Then, we read in 2 Corinthians 5:14-19, “For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. 16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.”

Jesus instruction is: “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.”

We will continue on the topic of ‘proclaiming the good news’ next week and will delve into how the early church was so effective in sharing the gospel. Looking forward to ‘seeing’ you then!

Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the English Standard Version.

NLT New Living Translation