The Gospel: What is It?
Introduction
Below, I’ve included a short presentation of the Gospel (i.e., the Good News about what Jesus Christ has done for sinners). My prayer is that, if you are not a Christian, God will use it to draw you to Himself, grant you repentance from sin, and lead you to eternal life, which is yours in Jesus Christ! If you are a Christian, my prayer is that God will use it to remind you of how gracious and faithful He is to have granted you repentance from your sin and to have given you eternal life in Jesus Christ.
The Gospel
God, who is infinite, is infinitely good of His own being/nature, and, when He made mankind, He made them good (i.e., without sin). However, Adam and Eve (i.e., the first humans God created), being tempted by Satan, rebelled against Him, directly disobeying a prohibition He had given them (Genesis 2:1-3:7). The punishment for such rebellion had to be in accordance with the One against Whom the sin was committed. So, because the disobedience/sin was against an infinitely good God, the punishment for finite beings had to be one of an eternal scale. That punishment was death, both in a physical and spiritual sense. As a result of sin, men and women’s bodies began to decay, leading to physical death, and they died spiritually, too (Genesis 2:15-17; 3:19). Spiritual death is another way of saying that, because of sin, men and women have a severed relationship with God; they are under His wrath and will endure eternal separation from Him (Romans 1:18). Creation itself was also subjected to deterioration and death (Genesis 3:17-18; Romans 8:20-22). However, because of God’s grace (i.e., giving something that someone doesn’t deserve), right after they sinned, God promised Adam and Eve that He would provide Someone through a future descendant Who would destroy Satan (Genesis 3:15).
As the history of the world progressed, men and women continued to sin and be disobedient to God. However, by God’s grace, even though they were not sinless, as everyone is sinful before God because of Adam’s rebellion against Him, God chose an elderly, pagan couple, Abram and Sarai, who were descendants of Adam and Eve and whose names were changed to Abraham and Sarah, through whom to provide the promised Offspring of Genesis 3:15. When God revealed Himself to them and called them to Himself (Genesis 12:1-8), Abraham believed in God (i.e., had faith in Him), and God counted Abraham’s faith to him as righteousness (Romans 4:1-5). This story would become a model for future generations, including ours, as well. Because of sin, Abraham and Sarah (and all humans), within themselves, were pagans and separated from God. However, because of His grace, God revealed Himself to them and granted them faith in Himself, restoring their relationship with Him. Sin separates men and women from God, and He is the only One Who can provide a way for mankind to be restored to Himself. As God promised to Abraham and Sarah, He multiplied their descendants greatly, and eventually, after being enslaved in Egypt for hundreds of years, God freed His people, gave them His Law, which showed them how they were to relate to Him and to others, and led them to the land He promised to Abraham, namely Canaan, which would become Israel. Within the Law, which Abraham’s descendants were supposed to follow, God showed them that they would be unable to be obedient to Him on their own (Romans 3:20; Galatians 3:24); they would need His help. He also showed them how they were to atone (i.e., make payment) for their sin through sacrificing animals, which they had to do regularly. However, as stated before, since the punishment for sin was one of an eternal scale, this sacrificial system was never meant to be an end in itself; it was to point toward the One Who would crush Satan and provide lasting reconciliation between God and mankind (Hebrews 10:1-18).
After a couple thousand years, God kept His promise by sending His own Son, Jesus, Who existed in eternity past and is God Himself (John 1:1-3; Colossians 1:15-16; Hebrews 1:3), and Who was the promised Descendant of Adam and Eve and Abraham and Sarah, the One Who would crush Satan. Jesus was born of a virgin, Mary, and He kept the Law of God perfectly; He never sinned (2 Corinthians 5:21). He gained great influence because of His miracles and teaching. Many people became jealous of Him, had Him arrested, and sentenced Him to death by crucifixion. However, Jesus came to earth for this very purpose, and, ultimately, He Himself laid down His life of His own will (John 10:18). He did so because, being truly God and truly man simultaneously, He was perfect and was able to offer Himself as a once-for-all-time sacrifice for the penalty of sin for all of those who would put their faith in Him (Hebrews 10:12-14). While on the cross, Jesus endured the wrath that all of mankind deserves because of sin (Isaiah 53:4-6; 53:10; Romans 5:8-9; 1 Thessalonians 1:10). Then, he died and was buried. However, on the third day after His death, God raised Jesus from the dead, proclaiming Jesus’ victory over sin and death (1 Corinthians 15:50-56).
Because Jesus is alive and has conquered sin and death, if anyone confesses his or her sin to God, trusting that Jesus’ sacrifice is sufficient to save him or her from God’s wrath, and proclaims Jesus as Lord of his or her life, he or she will be saved (Romans 10:9-10). When one does this, God counts Jesus’ righteousness as that person’s righteousness, and the relationship between God and that person is restored (2 Corinthians 5:21; Romans 5:1; 5:8-9; Colossians 1:19-20). This is the same for those who, like Abraham, believed in God before Jesus’ time on earth; they looked forward to the coming One Who was promised to save them, and God counted that to them as righteousness (Romans 3:21-26). Further, when people put their faith in Jesus, God gives them His Holy Spirit, Who is God, to live within them, comfort them, help them live for Christ, and to make them more like Him (John 14:16-17; 14:26; 16:13; Romans 8:11-17; 8:26-27; 2 Corinthians 3:18). Then, when the end of time comes, Jesus, the promised Descendant of Adam and Eve, will ultimately defeat Satan (Revelation 19:11-20:10), and those who confessed their sins to God and put their faith in Jesus will get to spend eternity with Him, in Whose presence is fullness of joy and pleasures forever (Psalm 16:11; Revelation 21:1-22:5).
Questions?
If you have any questions about anything I’ve shared, please feel free to send me an email. I will be delighted to discuss these matters with you. You can reach me at the following address: beholdingchrist1@gmail.com.
