The Gospel

MY ATTEMPT AT A BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE GOSPEL

Before anything else existed, the Triune God existed. The Triune God is three persons, revealed to us in the Bible as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We say there are three persons, not that there are three gods, but only One God. It is a mode of existence that is hard to visualize and one that is strange to us, but it will make sense for us to consider that since there is nothing in the universe quite like God, we cannot find a way to picture Him in our limited minds.

God created the universe, including man and woman, and designed everything in such a way so that His infinite perfection and beauty may be shown. God’s intention for mankind was for them to enjoy His perfection and beauty. This kind of enjoyment is called “worship”.

However, in the Garden of Eden, man was tempted to try to become God instead of fully depending upon Him. And so, by eating of the forbidden fruit, man disobeyed God and became enslaved to his own sin. To demonstrate His holiness and justice, God cursed the universe, and there has been death and suffering in the world ever since.

Because of sin, mankind became spiritually blinded and corrupt and could no longer find enjoyment in God’s glory; instead, man will hate and reject God for who He is. Although man could not find anything in the world that will truly satisfy his emptiness, he will continue to reject God because his sinful heart is hardened against God. As a result, man will also commit terrible acts of evil that oppose God’s holiness while he is alive.

The final destiny of such people is eternal separation from God and suffering of God’s wrath in hell. Such a judgment is fair because God is so infinitely great, that any sin against Him demands eternal wrath; this will only seem cruel to those who are blinded from seeing God’s immense greatness.

What does God do in response to such a condition? He does not simply let it be. Instead, professing love for the fallen world, God designed a way to redeem people from doom. God cannot simply ignore the sins against Him, because then He would not be holy and righteous, and it would show that His great, infinite perfection is not something honorable enough to fight for. Instead, God decides to provide a substitute to take the punishment. So, God the Father sends God the Son, Jesus Christ, whom He dearly loves and whom had always been with Him even before the beginning, to take the form of a human and live a sinless life and finally die a painful death on the cross, where He carried the sins of those who will be saved. Three days later, the Father raised Him from death.

Thus, when a person is saved and becomes one of God’s children, he or she is baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection, meaning that it’s almost as if we had died and come back to life like Christ had. This way, people are justified before God’s eyes, not because of anything good they’ve done, but because of what Christ had done and because their sins are punished when Christ was punished. It is in this “death and resurrection” of ours that we are given new life and a new heart. Because of this new heart, we may have true humility to confess our sins to the Lord, we are able to truly worship and enjoy God once again, and we may live a life that can reject sin.

This turning from away from sin and toward God is called repentance. Repentance is a sign that a person is truly saved, because it proves that he has a new heart and a new life. The doctrine of repentance is one that is frequently ignored and neglected in 21st century Christianity, because people want to be saved and go to heaven but do not want to obey and worship God. But according to the Bible, everyone who is God’s children will surely repent of his sins, and will ultimately give his life over to God’s control. A Christian will still be tempted and might sin at times, but will certainly gradually become more obedient to God's Word, and will strive to let God guide him every second of his life, even if it means that he will suffer enormously.

The Gospel reaches out to every person in the world, declaring itself to be the only truth and calling the world to repentance. The Gospel intends to restore mankind back to its original design and perfection, where the purpose of life is in God alone. And while offering a message of hope, it gives foundation to that hope by means of a warning that those who continue to neglect the truth will come before God on judgment day and will perish without Christ to atone for their sins.

The time is now; in the words of Christ, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near!"