‘Gospel’ is such a common term and THE central term in Christianity, but what does it actually mean? Like what is the Gospel? And who is Jesus? And why did He have to die? And who did He die for?

This week was Gospel Week and all week long my heart has been captivated by the beautiful simplicity of the Gospel. The wonderful message that saved and changed my life AND is still saving and changing me today.

Eὐαγγέλιον or Euaggelion (yoo-ang-ghel’-ee-on) is the Greek word for ‘Gospel’. It literally means ‘a good message’. And more specifically, in Biblical contexts, means ‘the good news of redemption through Jesus’. ¹

This message starts with THE Holy, Perfect, Just, and Loving God who perfectly created the earth and every living thing in it. Who made man in His image to represent Himself in the earth and to live in perfect relationship with Him. However, everything changed when the one thing He told humans not to do, eating the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, happened. Not meeting God’s standard or sin² entered into humanity for the first time. This sin has had catastrophic implications for the rest of humanity, changing the very nature of people for every following generation. No longer do humans only have God’s good nature, but they also have inherited the sin nature of their first earthly parents, Adam and Eve. Just as God told them in the garden, it is still true today…sin causes death in every person; a physical one and a spiritual one, that eternally separates them from the Creator that they used to walk with in the garden (Gen. 1-3).

Now fast forward some 2,000+ years (through the increasing wickedness of humanity) God gave His chosen people group (the Israelites) the Law by way of Moses. Problem was…no one was or could perfectly keep the law, because of their sin nature, so God also had to outline how to atone³ for their sins. Problem is, until God’s greater plan was fulfilled, the sacrifices outlined in the law were (and still are) insufficient to be a complete sacrifice because they had to be done every year to cover the sins of the people.

So what was God doing giving us an incomplete method to be in right standing before Him? He was working EVERYTHING together so that at the right time He could be the one who saved us! Not of our own works and sacrifices, but by faith in His finished work!

Jesus, the Son of God, humbled Himself and entered into His creation. Making Himself the perfect sacrifice by living the perfectly sinless life so that He could give up His life to die for our sins to be covered (Phil. 2:6-8). Because He is fully God, He has the authority to forgive sins (Luke 5:18-25) and because He is fully man, He was able to stand in our place (Hebrews 4:15). Hence why Jesus had to die on a cross.

The plot begins to thicken when three days later, there was an empty tomb! As previously mentioned sin causes death (Romans 6:23). BUT JESUS DIDN’T SIN SO HE COULDN’T BE HELD BY DEATH! And when you put your FULLY PERSUADED faith in Him, neither can you! The Bible says everyone dies once (a physical death), BUT you don’t have to die twice (a spiritual death)!

Forty days later He ascended to the right hand of the Father where He has ALL AUTHORITY (Mark 16:19-20)! And it get’s better because HE IS COMING BACK! When He does, He will judge the world for a final time and to bring and end to suffering, torment and sorrow, and most of all our separation from God (Revelation 21:2-4, 20).

And that’s the Gospel. At a high level anyway.

The Purpose: To Know God.

I am so gripped by who God is and what Christ did on the cross. Because of WHO HE IS, HE IS WORTHY (Rev. 4:9-11)!!!

Where else could we go? Where else could you want to go?

Let me ask you some important questions … Now that you’ve been presented with the message, how will you respond? Who is Jesus to you? And are you living as though you truly believe He is who He says He is or even who you say He is?

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Weekend Update!

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Footnotes:

1. Euaggelion ↩︎
2. Sin ↩︎
3. Atone ↩︎