Dr. Couch, what is going on in Luke 16:16?
ANSWER: I am glad you asked. This is a great passage proving that dispensationalists are right in our interpretation. The passage reads: "The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John [the Baptist came]; since then the gospel of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it." The "since then" was taking place while Christ was still speaking to the Jewish people on earth.
John brought a certain conviction to the Jews who were not exercising genuine trust in the Lord. There was a rush to try to get into the kingdom because the king had arrived. By the way, the "gospel of the kingdom" is not the gospel of personal salvation. It is the "good news" about the arrival of the millennial reign of the Messiah! "The kingdom of God" is always a reference to that earthly Davidic reign promised in the OT. Therefore that kingdom cannot be the church as the allegorical guys try to make it.
In the context of the passage, Christ is addressing the Pharisees. Verse 15 sets up verse 16. "And [Christ] said to them, ‘You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.’" In other words, the Jews did not want to miss the millennial kingdom and thought they would be its citizens simply because they were Jews.
The kingdom was then postponed. Yet someday in the future, the gospel of the kingdom will again be preached just before the finality of the tribulation. Christ said in Matthew 24:14: "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations, and then the end shall come." It will be preached in the tribulation worldwide!
I hope this helps. Thanks for asking.
Dr. Mal Couch
ANSWER: I am glad you asked. This is a great passage proving that dispensationalists are right in our interpretation. The passage reads: "The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John [the Baptist came]; since then the gospel of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it." The "since then" was taking place while Christ was still speaking to the Jewish people on earth.
John brought a certain conviction to the Jews who were not exercising genuine trust in the Lord. There was a rush to try to get into the kingdom because the king had arrived. By the way, the "gospel of the kingdom" is not the gospel of personal salvation. It is the "good news" about the arrival of the millennial reign of the Messiah! "The kingdom of God" is always a reference to that earthly Davidic reign promised in the OT. Therefore that kingdom cannot be the church as the allegorical guys try to make it.
In the context of the passage, Christ is addressing the Pharisees. Verse 15 sets up verse 16. "And [Christ] said to them, ‘You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.’" In other words, the Jews did not want to miss the millennial kingdom and thought they would be its citizens simply because they were Jews.
The kingdom was then postponed. Yet someday in the future, the gospel of the kingdom will again be preached just before the finality of the tribulation. Christ said in Matthew 24:14: "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations, and then the end shall come." It will be preached in the tribulation worldwide!
I hope this helps. Thanks for asking.
Dr. Mal Couch
