Monday: The “Everlasting Gospel”
Notice what Revelation 14:6, the beginning of the three angels’ messages, begins with: the “eternal” or “everlasting” gospel. If we fail to understand the depth of the gospel, we will miss the entire point of the three angels’ messages. We can never fully understand the issues in God’s judgment-hour message or the fall of Babylon or the mark of the beast if we fail to understand the gospel.
Read 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, Romans 3:24-26, and Romans 5:6-8. How is the “everlasting gospel” presented in these texts? What great hope is presented here for us?
Image © Lars Justinen from GoodSalt.com
The gospel is the incredibly good news of Christ’s death for our sins, His glorious resurrection, and His ever-present love and concern for us. By faith in His shed blood and His resurrection power, we are delivered from both sin’s penalty and power. Christ absorbed the apostle Paul’s thoughts and was at the center of his teaching and preaching. The crucified Christ redeemed him from the condemnation and guilt of his past. The resurrected Christ gave him power for the present, and the returning Christ gave him hope for the future.
Notice four points in these passages in Romans:
1. We are justified freely by grace.
2. Grace is a declaration of God’s righteousness.
3. Grace justifies those who by faith accept Jesus.
4. God’s love was demonstrated for us while we were yet sinners.
Christ’s grace is unmerited, undeserved, and unearned. Jesus died the agonizing, painful death that lost sinners will die. He experienced the fullness of the Father’s wrath, or judgment, against sin. He was rejected so that we could be accepted. He died the death that was ours, so we could live the life that was His.
Any wonder, then, that salvation must be by faith, and without the deeds of the law? What could we possibly add, what could our works, even the best-intentioned, Holy Spirit-filled works, add to what Christ had done for us at the cross?
And this plan, the plan of salvation, had been put in place even before the beginning of time (2 Timothy 1:9, Titus 1:2, Ephesians 1:4), which helps explain why it is called “the everlasting” gospel. Before the world was created, God knew what would happen, and so He instituted the plan of salvation to meet the crisis when it, eventually, would come.
(27)
I was in a foreign country with an unfamiliar cuisine and due to the circumstances I found myself in an eatery for my meal. There was a language barrier, making it difficult to work out what the various dishes were so I looked around the dining room to see what others were eating. Not far away from me there was a table of diners, probably a family, and it was quite obvious that whatever it was they were eating, they were enjoying it. There was laughter and enthusiasm, they were happy and eating with relish. When a waiter came to my table I explained as best I could, that whatever that table was having, I wanted some too.
My point is that for most people, their first/only contact with the Gospel is through our actions. The question is: Do we live the Gospel in such a way, that those around us who do not speak our "religious talk" want some of what we are experiencing too?
For a couple of millennia, Christianity has largely been presented like a medicine; you have to have it or you will get sick and die. Meaningful Christianity should be presented as something that is not only nourishing, it tastes good as well.
Amen. Please pray for me that I may live a life that reflects the beauty of Jesus to others.
According to my years of experience in taking part in street witnessing, evangelistic meetings, camp programs, pulpit and even church programs, we tend toward a) fulfilling approved annual itineraries b) adding another name to the church roll. We failed to preach the 'gospel' and let the Holy Spirit do his work.
Forbearance is the intentional action of abstaining from doing something. In the law context, it refers to delaying from enforcement of a right, obligation, or debt.
Christ does that for you and me. He is willing to save all of those who believe in Him, for He is the cause of us not being consumed. He took our debt and fully paid the price! Death. But because His sacrifice was perfect, He now lives. And because He lives, we can learn the deeds of love from Him.
The gospel is really God's story.
The gospel reveals God's character of love, mercy and holiness, manifested in the plan of salvation.
The gospel is everlasting! It was there before the foundations of the earth were laid, and throughout eternity the redeemed will experience an expanding appreciation of God's character and purpose.
Romans 1:16-17
The gospel is --- the power of God
It is the power of God unto salvation!
This power is offered to everyone who believes.
The gospel reveals the righteousness of God.
And this righteousness is received by faith.
Faith builds more faith, faith unto faith.
And those who by faith receive this power unto salvation, live just (righteous) lives by faith.
Romans 6:3-7,22
Christ's death on the cross is the foundation of the gospel story. It is the means of salvation. It provides the means, both for the pardon of forgiveness, and for cleansing and living a life dead to sin and alive in Christ.
1 Thess. 1:5 Romans 8:14
The Holy Spirit brings the power of the gospel into the lives of those who believe.
The gospel is the good news that God has made a way through the sin problem. In order for that to be good news, an individual has to recognize that sin is a problem in their life. While the Bible says that God has written the law in our hearts, which means that we automatically know when we’ve done something that violates this moral and ethical code, there are many people who don’t have the right understanding of how sin affects them. They truly believe that they are inherently good and if there is a God, then he will save them on the basis of their good works. In other words, there is no need for a savior.
Only God knows what will work to penetrate the stony heart of man which means that we need to be constantly alert to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. In the meantime, to Maurice’s point, our individual lives must be a beacon of light so that those around us want to know what we have and eventually have what we have.
The word "everlasting" means forever, eternal, or perpetual. This means that "everlasting" covers the past, present, and future events.
In the past, our sinful states had always been foretold (Eph 1:4) and thus required an emergency exercise to reinstate our position before the heavenly court. Heaven emptied itself of its most precious treasure to redeem humanity. Our Saviour, who did nothing wrong, was condemned for everything so that we, who have done everything wrong, may be condemned for nothing (2 Cor 5:21). In the present time, the fact that we are now in Christ through His sacrifice, we are given the ability to overcome the world and its sins (1 John 5:4) because we can only do all these things through Christ who strengthens us (Phil 4:13). Through faith, we believe that we are dead to sin and alive to God in Christ (Rom 6:11). Only through our faith, we can allow God to do His will into our lives. The future event of the everlasting gospel lies in the promise of eternal life. This life is nothing but in Christ only (1 John 5:11).
In summary, the "everlasting" gospel is intimately related with God's promise to His people from the past, in the present, and unto the future. So, how does "everlasting" gospel help us to reach the salvation that God has promised us? Only through the process of justification (past), sanctification (present),and glorification (future) can we then be able to receive that heavenly divine assurance.
The Everlasting Gospel.
The Gospel of Christ.
Good News, Christ our Saviour.
The Gospel according to John.
The Gospel according to Mark.
The Gospel according to Luke.
The Gospel according to Matt.
Many different titles, all referring to the everlasting gospel.
Everlasting because Christ promised to be with us always. Matthew 28:20. And the story of salvation will live throughout eternity, because Christ always lives for us.
Now the plan of salvation, or the Gospel if you prefer, was planned before creation. 1 Peter 1:20-21. The Son of God and the Commander of the Universe did not plan for man to sin. Lucifer sinned against God without repenting, and became in contention with God's will. His tail swept a third of the Angels out of heaven. Then the Father and the Son of God laid a plan in case man sinned. And when man did sin, Christ pleaded with the Father in our behalf. The Father's love for His only Son made it difficult for Him to give in. Yet in love and mercy toward us He consented for Christ to die for us, thus saving all who believe in Him.
1 John 4:9-10.
John 3:16.
Our God never changes, and every good and perfect gift comes from Him - James 1:17-18. We readily acknowledge our spiritually based gifts of the Holy Spirit to be from God – Gal.5:22-23. But what about the all-encompassing, fundamental ‘gift’ we received – having been called and chosen to be among them who are freely justified by His grace?
Sometime I wonder if we take our salvation seriously enough as we are still sailing through quiet waters with a gentle breeze filling our sails; no observable dangers, no getting stranded in shallow waters. These circumstances are tremendous gifts to us which we also ought to humbly and gratefully acknowledge and appreciate.
The ‘Everlasting Gospel’ works its miraculous transformation in our life quietly and without fanfare – Isaiah 64:7; 1John3:1. As His children, “what does our heavenly Father require of us but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” – Micah 6:8
For the believer who loves God with all his/her heart, all ‘good' things, and everything we are given to have our life by, are unmerited gifts, given to us to manifest the true purpose of the ‘Everlasting Gospel’ – our salvation - His all-inclusive Gift which is based on the everlasting, forgiving, creative, pure love our heavenly Father has for His children.