What is the evangel of the kingdom? Perhaps the
reader is like the writer, who received the impression from reading the
Authorized Version, "the kingdom of heaven is at hand," that the gospel,
or good news, consisted in the mere fact that there will be a kingdom,"
for this word is first, which makes it emphatic by position. When revising
the version, however, the first word of the sublinear, HAS-NEARED
for THE KINGdom OF-THE
heavens, showed that the emphasis should be placed on the word NEAR, which
was emphatic by position. Just then there was great excitement in Germany,
where I was, over the fate of the Saarland. In their fervor the Germans,
who seemed not at all conscious of emphasis, instead of saying, "The
Saar is German," reversed it and said, "German is the Saar!"
This helped me to see that the point of the passage, and the kingdom
evangel, was far better expressed by "Near is the kingdom."
