What Was The Gospel of the Kingdom Jesus Preached?

I stumbled across an old very well-done book explaining the nature of the kingdom of heavens that Jesus preached. George Nathaniel Henry Peters in his work The theocratic kingdom of Our Lord Jesus, the Christ (Funk & Wagnals, 1884) Vol. I at 269 explains:

Jesus preached " the gospel of the Kingdom" (Matt. 4 : 23 and 9 : 35, etc.), and for this, He tells us, He was sent (Luke 4 : 43). Therefore we cannot receive as well grounded a principle enunciated by Hagenbach {His. of Doc, vol. 1, p. 45), that " The office of the Saviour was not to propound doctrines, or to set forth doctrinal formulas, but to manifest Himself, and to reveal His unity with the Father. His person was a fact, and not an idea," etc. Cheerfully admitting that Jesus was thus to manifest Himself as an essential part of His mission, He at the same time was commissioned to propound doctrine, and, above all, the doctrine of the Kingdom. Without such doctrine it would have been impossible to exhibit Himself as the Messiah, for doctrine and the Messiahship are inseparably connected.

It is painful to notice how many works, which ought to contain it, omit this distinctive preaching, as e.g. Luther's Smaller Catechism (Pub. for Gen. Synod, 1840) asks (p. 54) the question, " What were the chief subjects of Christ's preaching to the people?" and answers by giving six things, but fails to mention the principal subject of all, the preaching of the Kingdom. The reader can readily find hundreds of similar illustrations.

Thus, Peters is saying that it is an error to claim Jesus did not come to preach the principles of the kingdom. According to many today, like Hagenbach he quotes, they believe Jesus did not come to preach a Gospel but only to die for our sins and rise again, and that is the only Gospel to preach today. Peters aptly reproaches such an idea.

CRITIQUE OF REPLACEMENT THEOLOGY

Peters goes on to explain that while the Gentiles were now a principal player in the kingdom of God, this did not replace Israel, or replace "Gentiles" for the word "Israel" in reading the promises of God toward Israel. He explains at length at page 416:

Obs. 11. The Kingdom thus given to these elect ones does not remove the. election of the Jewish nation as a nation. This, aside from the covenants and the Theocratic ordering allied with the nation, is seen from the fact, that this seed gathered out is virtually regarded as part and parcel of the nation (is a continuation of the election, Prop. 63), and when the nation is nationally restored will be so recognized in the inheriting with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Again, let any one compare Deut. ch. 32, Rom. ch. 11, together with various predictions relating to this elect Jewish nation, and he will find the following succinctly stated: (1) The Jews an elect nation (Prop. 24); (2) this nation can render itself unworthy of the Kingdom by disobedience; (3) by its own conduct it will bring upon itself terrible evils and a temporary rejection as a nation; (4) the Theocratic rulership will be, for a time, withdrawn; (5) during such a period of rejection, God still continues His work of gathering out of it, and out of the Gentiles, the elect; (6) but the nation itself, for a time under the most severe tribulations, will, owing to this very election (being "beloved for the Father's sakes"), again—as the covenant to be fulfilled demands—be restored to the favor of God. This nation, therefore, now under trial, is still the chosen nation, and this will be manifested in due time (see Props. Ill to 114). Hence the preference (Luke 24 : 47; Rom. 1 : 16; Acts 3 : 25, 26; Rom. 2 : 10 ; Acts 13 : 46, and 19 : 21), showed to this nation even after the day of Pentecost in preaching the Gospel—a preference based only upon this election, the Jews being, by virtue of their relationship to Abraham, " the children of the Kingdom, and the descendants of those who once enjoyed this Kingdom in its initiatory, incipient form. The natural seed must not, therefore, be ignored; and only upon their refusal to accept of the proffered gospel of the Kingdom were the apostles, and even Paul, authorized to seek after the engrafted ones. One of the darkest pages in the history of Christianity is that which records the tendering of insult, wrong, and death instead of the precious message of hope and peace to this covenant favored people.

This already gives us the clue to the literal fulfilment of the covenant promises, confirmed as they are by the oath of God, and therefore unconditional. Thus e.g. the promise of making Abraham's seed a mighty nation (which has specially excited the ridicule of infidels in comparing the feeble Kingdom of Israel with the mighty empires of the earth) will be realized when this elect nation will all be gathered and stand associated with the restored Theocratic Kingdom. It does not require much reason to see, that when God's Plan is carried out and openly manifested, it will exceed the highest eulogies that the Prophets have given, and most amply vindicate God's Word. Let all the seed of Abraham be brought together at the appointed time, and language fails to express the might and grandeur of the nation. The world will be astonished at the sublime manifestation.