Tuesday: The Eternal Gospel: The Message of Mission
Daily Lesson for Tuesday 10th of October 2023
Read Revelation 14:6-7. What aspects of God’s mission can you identify in the “eternal gospel” (NRSV) presented by the first angel of the three angels’ messages?
This is the only place in Scripture in which the words “eternal” and “gospel” are connected. The gospel is the good news of grace offered to all through Jesus Christ. He came into our world to show us “grace and truth” (John 1:14). He lived a sinless life and died on the cross as a substitutionary sacrifice to bear the penalty of our sins (Isaiah 53:4-5; 1 Peter 3:18). He rose to life, returned to heaven, was exalted by the Father, and today intercedes for us in the heavenly sanctuary (Revelation 1:18, Acts 2:33, Hebrews 7:25). He will soon fulfill His greatest promise—to return in majesty and glory and, ultimately, after the millennium to establish God’s kingdom on earth (John 14:1-4, Acts 1:11, Revelation 21:1-4). These are all essential realities of the eternal gospel.
Image © Lars Justinen from GoodSalt.com
Nevertheless, the fact that this message is eternal is remarkable. There is only one gospel that can save us. It will remain the same until the mission of God is fully accomplished. There will never be another gospel. Deceitful teachings and doctrines come and go (Ephesians 4:14), but the message of salvation, the eternal gospel, is unchanging, and those who believe and live it in obedience will be rewarded (see Deuteronomy 5:33, Romans 2:6).
The same commission given to the first disciples also is given to us today. We must continue the task of making disciples for Christ everywhere. But what kind of disciples? Good, honest, fully devoted, loving people? These traits are essential, but they are not enough. We must make disciples focused on all biblical elements of discipleship (Luke 9:23; John 13:34-35; 2 Corinthians 5:17) with an ultimate purpose: being prepared and preparing others for the second coming of the Master, Jesus Christ.
“The proclamation of the judgment [Revelation 14:6-7] is an announcement of Christ’s second coming as at hand. And this proclamation is called the everlasting gospel. Thus the preaching of Christ’s second coming, the announcement of its nearness, is shown to be an essential part of the gospel message.”—Ellen G. White, Christ’s Object Lessons, pp. 227, 228.
How is the concept of judgment linked to the “everlasting gospel” in the first angel’s message? Why must the gospel be central to the idea of judgment?
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A fair bit of our conception of "the everlasting Gospel" is associated with the future. It usually goes something like this: If we accept Jesus as our personal saviour then we will not face the judgment as sinners and will end up living forever in perfect harmony with Jesus and one another. And sometimes we get a bit frustrated because Jesus has not come and we are not living in heaven yet.
When I get that frustrated feeling, I like to go back and read the Gospels just to remind myself what the Gospel is all about. First of all, everlasting does not mean just a future lasting forever. I prefer to think of it rather as timeless. In physics, we do a lot of work showing how properties or phenomena change with time. We plot the property against a time base and then try and work out the relationship. But there are lots of other ways of relating phenomena together that are not based on time. For instance, the gravitational pull between two masses can be plotted against their distance apart. The phenomenon has nothing to do with time. One could say that it is "everlasting".
I think that the Gospel is timeless and that the only thing that changes with time is our understanding of it.
The next thing we need to understand is what we really mean by the Gospel. If the Gospel is timeless, then it applies just as much to the present as to the future. And if we read the Gospels, we find that Jesus spends a lot of time talking about the present. In the Kindom parables, what is the treasure hidden in the field, the pearl of great price, the lost coin, and so on? Are they just the discovery that there is eternal life in the future? I submit that these all point to a very practical Gospel in the present.
And that comes back to the premise that I stated at the beginning of this lesson series. If we live the believable now (the practical Gospel) then we will be believed when we talk about the unbelievable (future).
By this shall all men know ...
The gospel is simple; it summarizes the Love of God for us through the example of Jesus Christ! Those who accept this Love are free to be called children of God again and, by choice, be saved, transformed, and may live eternally with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. That's it. Everything else is a detail of knowledge, which can be helpful for growth in grace, but not more prominent than the essence, LOVE!
It is called the everlasting Gospel because it talks about the everlasting reward that believers have/will be given at the coming of Jesus. It is the everlasting Gospel because of what Christ accomplished for us from the beginning and forever. The focus is on Jesus who reigns forever.
Thank you, Maurice Ashton, you are always so full of spiritual and practical insight! I like to start my day by thanking God, The Father, for being who He is: Creator of the universe, the galaxies and especially the galaxy that has our earth as part of it. Then I thank Him for creating life in this planet (Plants, animals, and humans.) Then I thank Him for making humans in His Image. Then I thank Him for sending His Son to become a human and spilling His blood for all the sin of humanity past, present and future. Then I thank Him for His Son then taking back His life and now sits at His right hand to give us spiritual help via His Holy Spirit to live for Him and to be a blessing to others and also help them to also learn to live for Him and via His Holy Spirit too. This is the "Everlasting and Eternal Gospel" for the present for me. The Hour of God's judgement was when He allowed Jesus His Son to spill His blood at Calvary for all sin and will come to its end when He judges spiritual Babylon with the seven last plagues that are still future.
I would like to share a statement from Alistair Begg from his book Truth for Life."
If what you are saying is true, which by the way I believe it is, then Hebrews 7:25, has a lot of meaning, and full of message of the Everlasting Gospel. Of course the text hints, to the full context of the message, if your brain pulls in other text to get the full message. Such as Jesus saves those that turn to Him. Psalms elaborates on that. "You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore."
Psalms 16:11 NKJV. Good news.
Another text of Jesus Saves that comes to mind, goes something like this. I will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Me. That's not all of the message, because I Trust in Christ. For Christ is my everlasting strengh. Since He is our everlasting strength, He saves us if we let Him.
Isiah 26:3-4 NKJV. Also good news.
Begining with the New Testement,Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John is a good start with the good news of the everlasting gospel. I appreciate your explanation of everlasting gospel. By faith through the grace of God we will beable to participate in the everlasting Gospel now and forevermore.
Amen, John Hershcher, for Hebrews 7:25. Then Hebrews goes on to Heberews 10:19,20 This has been there even before 1844 to enter "The Holiest" by the blood of Jesus. And I will take it farther because even the Apostle Paul took it farther when he also said that we are of Jesus' "Blood and Bones, and to let Jesus mind be ours too," so I say that it is at the Heaven of Heavens and by faith because Jesus has been there even before 1844 for us to allow Jesus to be our flesh, blood, bones and mind now!
The gospel is called everlasting because it is founded in God's character, that is, love. The gospel is love everlasting. Good news indeed!