The Gospel Will Be Preached.

He foretells the preaching of the gospel in all the world this gospel shall be preached, and then shall the end come. Observe here, It is called the gospel of the kingdom, because it reveals the kingdom of grace, which leads to the kingdom of glory sets up Christ's kingdom in this world and secures ours in the other world.

This gospel, sooner or later, is to be preached in all the world, to every creature, and all nations are to be discipled by it for in it Christ is to be Salvation to the ends of the earth for this end the gift of tongues was the first-fruits of the Spirit.

The gospel is preached for a witness to all nations, that is, a faithful declaration of the mind and will of God concerning the duty which God requires from man, and the recompence which man may expect from God. It is a record 1 John 5:11, it is a witness, for those who believe, that they shall be saved, and against those who persist in unbelief, that they shall be damned. See Mark 16:16. But how does this come in here?

It is intimated that the gospel should be, if not heard, yet at least heard of, throughout the then known world, before the destruction of Jerusalem that the Old-Testament church should not be quite dissolved till the New Testament was pretty well settled, had got considerable footing, and began to make some figure. Better is the face of a corrupt degenerate church than none at all. Within forty years after Christ's death, the sound of the gospel was gone forth to the ends of the earth, Romans 10:18. St. Paul fully preached the gospel from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum and the other apostles were not idle. The persecuting of the saints at Jerusalem helped to disperse them, so that they went every where, preaching the word, Acts 8:1-4. And when the tidings of the Redeemer are sent over all parts of the world, then shall come the end of the Jewish state. Thus, that which they thought to prevent, by putting Christ to death, they thereby procured all men believed on him, and the Romans came, and took away their place and nation, John 11:48. Paul speaks of the gospel being come to all the world, and preached to every creature, Colossians 1:6-23.

It is likewise intimated that even in times of temptation, trouble, and persecution, the gospel of the kingdom shall be preached and propagated, and shall force its way through the greatest opposition. Though the enemies of the church grow very hot, and many of her friends very cool, yet the gospel shall be preached. And even then, when many fall by the sword and by flame, and many do wickedly, and are corrupted by flatteries, yet then the people that do know their God, shall be strengthened to do the greatest exploits of all, in instructing many see Daniel 11:32,33 and see an instance, Philippians 1:12-14.

That which seems chiefly intended here, is, that the end of the world shall be then, and not till then, when the gospel has done its work in the world. The gospel shall be preached, and that work carried on, when you are dead so that all nations, first or last, shall have either the enjoyment, or the refusal, of the gospel and then cometh the end, when the kingdom shall be delivered up to God, even the Father when the mystery of God shall be finished, the mystical body completed, and the nations either converted and saved, or convicted and silenced, by the gospel then shall the end come, of which he had said before Matthew 24:6,7, not yet, not till those intermediate counsels be fulfilled. The world shall stand as long as any of God's chosen ones remain uncalled but, when they are all gathered in, it will be set on fire immediately. - Matthew Henry