What is the gospel? Part 2
(Read Part 1 here)
What is the gospel?
The short answer: The truth about God as revealed in the life and death of Jesus Christ.
I believe that one of the clearest definitions of the gospel can be found in 2 Corinthians 4:3-6. Let’s study these verses together.
“If our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them… For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (NKJV)
Notice that it says that the gospel is veiled by those who are perishing. Do you see the importance of being able to know the gospel? Without a knowledge of the gospel in your life, you are and will perish. Another way to say this would be to say that you cannot be saved without knowing the gospel. And then it goes a step further; not only do you have to know the gospel, but you must also believe the gospel.
How does the gospel become veiled? What prevents us from knowing the gospel and believing? Our minds have been blinded by the god of this age, Satan. Satan is doing everything in his power to keep us from learning the gospel, and most importantly, believing and living in the light of that gospel, “lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.”
What is the gospel? It is the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
In Exodus, Moses asked God to show him His glory. God initially hesitated and told Moses that no man could see His glory and live. But Moses persisted and the Lord allowed Moses to catch just a glimpse of His glory. What Moses saw was God’s character; “merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth…” (Exodus 33:18; 34:6,7). The gospel is the truth about who our heavenly Father is. It’s the truth about His character, what He is really like. And this truth was shown most clearly to us through Jesus Christ.
“In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” (Hebrews 1:1-3 NIV)
From the time of the fall, God has been using his servants on earth to reveal the truth about Himself to a world covered in darkness and dying for lack of knowledge of the truth about Himself. And at the fullness of time, God sent His Son to this earth on a mission: To reveal the truth about who God really is through His life and death.
Listen to Christ’s prayer before He faced his final hours on earth: “O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:25-26 NIV)
The world is dying because they do not know and believe the truth about who our heavenly Father really is. The reason that an angel of heaven couldn’t come to earth and fulfill Christ’s mission is because only God Himself could give a true and completely accurate picture of who He really is.
The gospel is the truth about who our heavenly Father is – specifically, His character.
(continued in part 3 here)
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Pastor Jimmy Kim has been the youth pastor at Atlanta Korean SDA Church since May 2001, is a licensed Chiropractor, and the general manager/owner of a Real Estate Investment Company that has been in business since 2006.