The Message of Reconciliation

First of all, the gospel is good news. It is the message of man being reconciled to God. Let's look at 2 Corinthians 5:18 it says:

"Now all things are of God who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing the trespasses to them and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ as though God were pleading through us, we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God for He made Him who you know sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."

So this gospel of good news is the gospel of reconciliation of man to God through faith in Jesus Christ.

Secondly, the gospel is a message that has to be declared. It says in Luke's Gospel, 24:46-48 it says:

"Then He said to them, thus it is written and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations beginning in Jerusalem and you are witness of these things."

Also in Romans 10:17 it says:

"Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God "

So faith for salvation comes by hearing and of course it is not just by hearing anything, but hearing the word of God. Those who hear the message and respond in faith are saved, that means they are eternally restored to God and they will live in perfect peace. Those who reject that message are eternally damned. That means they are eternally separated from God and subject to eternal punishment. (The scriptures pertaining to this are covered in John 3:18 and 3:36). Therefore it is absolutely imperative that the gospel is preached accurately because the eternal fate of people is at stake.

Have a look at 2 Corinthians 2:14-17:

" Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death to death and to the other the aroma of life to life. Who is sufficient for these things."

So the faithful preaching of the gospel is an aroma of life to those who believe and an aroma of death to those who reject.

Who was Jesus Christ?

Now the gospel message is completely centered on Jesus Christ and how all of God´s purposes from the beginning on into eternity are fulfilled in him. Jesus Christ came on earth born of the Virgin Mary, living as a man among men, subject to all the temptations, trials, and suffering that we are all subject to, yet he never sinned. He completely obeyed the Law of God in every thought, word and action. There was found no fault in him. He never ceased being God even while living as a man. He was Emmanuel, God with us, as was prophesied in the Old Testament. He declared himself to be "I am". He said for instance:

"Before Abraham was, I am" (John 8:58) and the Jews were very disturbed when he said that. "I am"(Exodus 3:14) was the word God used for himself. When God says "I am" what he means is I am the self existent one, I always was." Just as it says in Revelations 1:8, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End who is who was and who is to come, the Almighty."

So when he called himself "I am", he was declaring himself to be God, it was the name that God used to reveal himself to Moses. Jesus called himself:

"The living bread that came down from heaven…" (John 6:51) ´and that those who eat this bread would have everlasting life´

He meant by that that He was the one who would give life to those who would come to Him and that anybody who partook of this life would have everlasting life. And of course that was a major turning point for many of the people who believed in Him, they walked with Him no more and Jesus didn't chase them, He just told them exactly who He was, it was up to them to believe or reject.

The Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ died on the cross at Calvary to meet the requirements of God's law for the punishment of sin. But He didn't die for himself; He died for all who would believe in Him.

Looking at Hebrews 2:9. It says:

"We see Jesus who is made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor that He by the grace of God might taste death for everyone."

So Jesus was made a little lower than the angels, in other words He was made a man and man is lower than the angels. He tasted death on behalf of every single person. That death suffices as the payment for our sins. When he died for us, the righteous requirement of the law was met in his death, in other words the penalty due for sin was paid.

Then Jesus Christ rose from the dead. Death could not hold him; his resurrection testified that the payment for sin was sufficient. Death had been defeated for all who believe in Jesus Christ as their savior.

Have a look at Romans 6: 8-11

"Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we should also live with Him knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died He died to sin once for all. But the life that He lives He lives to God. Likewise you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. "

The death that he died, he died for all of us but the resurrection and the victory that he had over death is also the victory that we are to account to ourselves. In other words, because Christ was victorious over death, we will also be victorious over death.

The Gospel is Real and Living

Now, every single bit of this-all the facts about Christ-took place in an historical setting-it took place in Israel. It was not something that happened in a corner it was not something that was some sort of a spiritual or mystical happening that did not have real time and place history to it, it did. It happened in Israel and there were eye witnesses to it.

If you look at 2 Peter 1:16, Peter says that;

" We were eye witnesses of His majesty." They were witnesses of what happened with Christ and they testified to what they had seen. Now even in a court case we go on the word of witnesses to convict somebody. Here we have got eye witnesses to the sinless life, the death, and the resurrection of Christ and this testimony has been handed down to us. And this is the testimony that we declare. And this testimony is the gospel.

Have a look at 1 Peter 3:15. It says:

"But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you, a reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear."

We are always as Christians to be ready to testify to the wonderful gospel of Christ-that testimony that has been handed down to us which we have heard and believed and we are saved as a result of it. Anyone who changes that testimony, the historical testimony of Christ is not preaching the gospel.

In Galatians 1:9, Paul says:

"As we have said before so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed." so Paul says there is no other gospel, in fact if you go back to Verse 7 it says it is not another gospel that these people have believed in because there is no other gospel, "but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ."

The Indwelling of the Holy Spirit

When we believe the gospel we are born again. The spirit of God supernaturally comes to dwell in us. Day by day, He works in us so that God may be glorified in our lives. Christ living in us by His Spirit is our hope of glory and that is the gospel. The essence of the gospel is that our sins have been paid for by the death of Christ. We have victory over death through the resurrection of Christ and as a result of believing that, the Spirit of God dwells in us. Day by day, we have this power of Christ living in us which gives us power to live a daily Christian life. This is our eternal hope.

The gospel will be completed in us when we go to be with Christ. Then, we will see Christ as He is and the promise of scripture is that "we shall be like him." (1 John 3:2). As Christians, our eternal hope is in Christ. We have our ups and downs, good days and bad days. We go to the Lord with our troubles He delivers us and gives us strength to go through them. Eventually, all these troubles will be put behind us forever. Scripture promises us that indeed we will be like Christ. Christ has victory over everything in the world, and for us to realize that same victory, we must go to be with Him. The utopia that man has always dreamt of will be fulfilled when Christ returns.

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