Why are the apostles commanded to repeat the proclamations of John and Jesus that the kingdom of heaven is at hand?

At first glance, the message with which the apostles are entrusted here in Matthew 10:7 may have seemed old news, given that both John and Jesus had repeatedly proclaimed the same (Matthew 3:2, Matthew 4:17). However, the proclamation that the kingdom of God is at hand is here repeated in new circumstances, with the repetition allowing people to realize that they have never really grasped the true meaning of this message. They may have been filled with expectation, yet the fact that the masses had not yet accepted, Jesus reveals that they failed to understand the message. As such the message is here once again proclaimed under new circumstances.¹

Both John the Baptist as well as Jesus proclaimed as their central message that the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Matthew 3:2,Matthew 4:17, Matthew 10:7). This entailed that the long-promised royal reign of God was about to be initiated and in fact had already been partially initiated through these miracles of healing (Matthew 10:8). While the apostles had not yet been equipped to teach people the deepest truths concerning the kingdom of heaven (like the substitutionary atonement of Jesus), they were now already sent out to witness concerning his power.²

The apostles therefore had to begin their ministry in the same way that John the Baptist and Jesus did, by preaching that the kingdom of God is at hand (Matthew 3:2, Matthew 4:17), so as to bring people to confess their sins and draw them towards the kingdom. For each and every new covenant believer, the arrival of the kingdom is, after all, very much a reality.³