The Gospel

I found another paper and thought it was of interest. This one I wrote when I was taking the class Pauline Epistles.



Hebrews 2:9, 10 "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour, that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation through sufferings."

Jesus was made a little lower than the angels. What does this mean? It means he became a man. (Psalms 8:3-6)

How do we know that He did indeed become a man? John 1:1-3, 14 tells us. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was  God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made. . . . .And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth."

Why did He come and suffer and die? Because He loved us and didn't want us to die. (John 3:16)

HIs purpose was to 'taste death for every man.' What would this accomplish? According to verse 14, 15 of Hebrews 2, he took part of our nature so that by dying he could destroy the devil, and deliver us from the bondage of fear of death. Death, to us, was the penalty of sin, (Romans 3:23) but He 'abolished death and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.' (2 Timothy 1:10b)

What is the gospel spoken of here?
Romans 1:1-5 "Separated unto the gospel of God (which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,) concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead: By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name."

So the gospel is about Jesus being sent to die, and resurrected again. Another good text that talks about this is 1 Cor. 15:1-4:
"Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures."

This is the gospel in truth. The gospel is Christ crucified for our sins, buried and risen again. Christ rose just as Adam died. (1 Cor. 15:22)

Verses 45-49: "And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural' and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy we shall bear the image of the heavenly."

Christ was a quickening spirit to bring life s Adam sinned and brought death. We are to be remade into the image of God! Jesus said in John 11:25, 26. "I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die."

Here He is speaking of that physical death, both temporal and eternal. But we don't have to experience either one! When we experience Jesus we experience life! The gospel is power to bring change to our lives, and to change us back into what God intended us to be.

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth: to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith." Romans 1:16,17

So the power of God when we believe reveals His righteousness and we live by faith. What does it mean to live by faith?

First of all, 'faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.' (Romans 10:17)

And it is the "Substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not see." Hebrews 11:1 That word 'substance' actually means 'support' in Greek. And 'evidence' means 'proof'. So faith is the 'support of things hoped for, the proof of things not seen.' Without faith it is impossible to please God, but faith believes on His promises so that we know that He will finish the work in us. (Heb. 11:6; 12:2; Phil. 1:6) We look for the unseen, eternal things by faith! Things not seen are eternal things like God, Jesus, His love and heaven.

2 Cor. 4:18: "While we look not at the things which are seen, but a the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal."

By faith we look at the eternal things that are not seen by the naked eye. What are the eternal things? Himself and life eternal.

"For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our heart, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." 1 Cor. 4:6

Chapter 3 verse 28 "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."

So Christ died to change us into His image, from glory to glory to bring 'many sons to glory.' (Heb  2:9, 10)

2 Peter 1:3,4 "According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust."

His divine power gives life through the knowledge of Christ who has called us to glory. He has also given us many promises that we can claim by faith and share in His diving nature. Faith, through knowledge of His Glory, which He shined unto us, believes His promises that He will change us and thereby we are 'partakers of the divine nature.' Without faith it is impossible to please Him, but we can claim by faith, His word that He will change us and His death and life as our own. When we claim His promises by faith, we are relying on Him. Thus without faith, we rely on ourselves which makes it impossible to please God.

So what is this 'divine nature', which we can claim as our own? It is Jesus own perfect life and death and resurrection. When we claim that life as our own, we are transformed into his likeness! (1 Cor. 3:18) Isn't that wonderful?

What does this have to do with the Everlasting Gospel of Revelation 14:6? The three angels messages bring forth the whole gospel in truth. The first angel as the gospel to preach to every one. The second identifies Babylon and the third gives a warning to those who follow her. There is a fourth angel who gives the loud cry. In Rev. 18:4, we read, "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." (Babylon, see verse 2) This message is for all the gospels plays a big part in aiding us in following that command.

When we claim Christ's life as our own we are covered by His righteousness and He changes us into His glory. As we are changed into His likeness we come out of Babylon as a result. God Himself leads us to one out as He reveals Himself to us. Thus we experience the life that He has to offer when He comes to dwell with us.

It is so wonderful that God will change us and we don't have to worry about being good and holy ourselves, because it will be a natural result of His entering into our lives.