The Good becomes Bad News

God created the heavens, the earth, creatures, and humanity and deemed them all good (Genesis 1:1-2). Humanity was living with God in harmony until man acquired true knowledge of evil by acting evil, by disobeying God’s command (Genesis 1:3). While man had all he needed in the Garden of Eden, man was duped into thinking that obedience to God was causing him to lack, yet, all he gained was a corruption for himself and his descendants.

This disobedience to God is called sin, and when man was corrupted, this disease spread throughout creation (Romans 5:12; 8:20-21). This disease had and has only one end – death (Romans 6:23). Humanity was separated from life as it was intended: walking with God, abundant living, and in harmony with other human beings. Without God, man continued to spiral into disobedience, and sin continuously introduced grievances such as guilt, shame, theft, and murder (Romans 3:10-18).

The entrance of sin had corrupted the once-good creation; the once-good creation was abused by its creatures who had committed treason against the gracious creator (Romans 1:21-25). And because God is pure, good, and just, he will punish man’s disobedience. If God did not punish the sin of man, then God would be negligent in bringing justice to his creation (1 John 1:5, Revelation 4:11, Romans 2:5-8).

The Bad News, but God’s Promise

That God is just is a comfort for all who have had injustice done to them, for all who have had someone sin against them, and for all who have felt the ripples of sin in their lives. Yet, the problem becomes apparent: All people, without exception, are corrupted by sin and will have to stand before the judgment seat of God (Hebrews 9:27). The scriptures state that All have fallen short of God’s perfect standards; all of us are naturally born alienated from God, hostile to God, and thus subject to just punishment (Isaiah 53:6; Ephesians 2:12; Romans 8:7-8). From birth, we all fail – day in and day out – to love God with our entire being and love others just the same. We crown ourselves gods and commit treason naturally (Genesis 1:26-28, Psalm 51:5, Romans 3:23; Ephesians 2:1-3).

Because God is good and just, we are subject to death and justice. We are in a land without water – dying of thirst – with no hope. Yet, as rain is good news amid a drought, God promised that he would bring an individual who would restore the kingdom of God and who would restore humanity (Isaiah 9:6-7; Micah 5:2). The people of God waited hundreds of years for this promise to be fulfilled, and prophets foretold the day when this day would come, and when all things became quiet and bleak, a child was born in the small town of Bethlehem (Matthew 1:21; Luke 2:10-11).

The Promised Savior

The promised individual had come, and more than this, this individual was God’s Son Himself, the Eternal Son of God, Jesus the Christ, who assumed a truly and complete human nature to live a sinless life that we had failed to obtain (John 3:16; Matthew 16:16; John 1:1-18; Philippians 2:5-11; Hebrews 4:15; 1 Peter 2:2). Where the first man, Adam, failed, Jesus Christ succeeded (Romans 5:19; 1 Corinthians 15:22; 45). Not only did he live a sinless life to fulfill the requirements of God on our behalf, but he died on the cross to bear the good and righteous punishment of God on our behalf (Isaiah 53:5; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 3:18; Colossians 1:19-20; Romans 5:6-8). On the cross, Jesus took our rightful place and our rightful punishment so that we may have forgiveness of sins, and live as we were intended to – in right relationship with God, with life, and in holiness.

The Son took on the punishment for our sins on the cross and died. At the cross, we have the good news of forgiveness, and at the cross, we have the punishment of death covered (Ephesians 1:7; Hebrews 2:9; 1 Corinthians 15:55-57). It was not only death for our sins that the Son accomplished on the cross, but also victory in the consummation of a life of perfect obedience that becomes our righteousness through faith (2 Corinthians 5:21; Philippians 3:9; Romans 4:5; 18-19).

The Restoration to Come

After the death of Christ, three days later, God raised him from the dead to confirm the work of Christ so that we could be raised with Jesus and have eternal life with new bodies untainted by sin (Matthew 28:5-6; Acts 17:31; Romans 6:4; 1 Peter 1:3; Philippians 3:20-21; 1 Corinthians 15:42-44). Not only did God send his Son to restore individuals to himself, but he brings about a restored creation where all of the ripples of sins will ultimately be removed (Revelation 21:5; 22:3; Isaiah 65:17; Romans 8:19-21).

When the proper time comes, according to God’s perfect plan, all people live with and love God as they were intended in right relationship with him and one another.  God is making all things new by the Holy Spirit, who applies the glorious work of Jesus to those who belong to God, leading them to love God and live for him. (John 1:1, 1 Tim. 2:5, Heb. 7:26, Rom. 3:21-26, 2 Cor. 5:21, 1 Cor. 15:20-22). The Gospel is good news because it brings us relief from the overbearing weight of the bad news. It brings us relief from the burden of our sin, guilt, and shame. It brings us relief from a life of death and emptiness, which is meant to be lived in a relationship with God.

The Big Picture

The Gospel brings us back to our maker, back to his excellent and glorious design, and the Gospel will bring us back to creation as it was intended. All sins are dealt with in the Gospel. All of the weight of our wretched past is lifted off of us and onto the shoulders of Jesus Christ. And it is only through Jesus that such a relief can be found, and only through Jesus can we be restored to God. It is only in union with Christ that we will be raised, freed from sin, and given an imperishable body.

Everyone will die. Everyone will enter the courtroom and sit before the judgment seat of God. When the charges are being read off – there is no good deed that will remove the proper execution of judgment of our crimes. Yet, Jesus has offered to step in and take that judgment, and so here we must look at ourselves and recognize every failure to live up to the perfect standard of Christ in loving God and loving others. We must recognize where we have made ourselves our own gods and abandoned our creator. We must recognize the price paid for these sins. But we must also acknowledge that as creatures, we were designed to live under the care and authority of God Almighty, in relationship with the triune God, and apart from that, we are sub-human, lost sheep, wandering for purpose and meaningful life. It is only through Christ that the bridge to this intended life is repaired.

Now is the Time

Now is the time to turn from ourselves in repentance, turn from our sins, and put all of our trust, that is, faith, in the perfect person and work of Jesus Christ. The Gospel doesn’t promise us a more manageable life here on earth, nor does it promise us all that we desire, mere self-help or self-fulfillment, but it does give us what we need. And it does help us realize that true fulfillment is found in our original designs as obedient creatures to the living and loving God. And it looks beyond this temporal dying old world and to the new world.

What do we do then? We consider and confess Romans 10:9-13. “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” We are told to confess and “believe in your heart,” which shows us this is much deeper than mere lip service. The Hebraic understanding of the heart was the whole man. This means this is a confession of real conviction in the reality of Christ as Lord, his death, burial, and resurrection. “For with the heart one believes and is justified” (v. 10), meaning they are declared righteous, their sin is dealt with, and “with the mouth, one confesses and is saved” (v. 10).

No one is too lost for our great Savior

Here, we recognize our sins, our hopelessness, and the necessity of God’s provision. We stand confessing the reality of the Gospel, the provision of a Savior. “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13). God is faithful to save, and he is faithful to account for the sufficient and perfect work of Jesus Christ on the cross on your behalf. In this, we are called to turn from ourselves, our works, our self-fabricated roads to salvation, and put our trust fully and wholly in the Lord and his work.

Believe in the perfect work of Christ and the promises of God. Peter tells us that God has given us everything for life and holiness through knowledge of God and his promises to us, given us communion with him and the power to escape the corruption in the world (2 Peter 1:3-4). No one is too sinful for the work of our Lord and Savior. And no faith is too small for the one we place our faith in. God beckons men to come and be prepared for the banquet at the King’s table.

The After

When we trust in Christ, we are placed in union with Christ, and we are united to his death, burial, and resurrection. In Christ, we are given every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3) and brought near to God (2:13). We are freed from the binding power of sin; it is no longer a characteristic of our identity, for we have died with Christ and live with him, and we await the day when we are likewise freed from the presence of sin that remains. In Christ, we are being made holy in what is called sanctification. Sanctification means that you have been set apart for service to God and are being conformed to the image of Christ; it is the result of the new life found in Christ provided through his perfect work (2 Peter 1:1-10). It is in Christ that we are no longer enslaved to sin (Romans 6; Galatians 5), made complete (Colossians 2:10), adopted as a child of God (1 John 3:1), made right before God (Romans 8:1; 1 Peter 2:24), sealed for redemption (Ephesians 1:4; Romans 8:28;30), and made a new creature (2 Corinthians 25:17). You are also now part of Christ’s body and covenant people, otherwise called the church (Ephesians 5:23-32). We are now called to live in this new life here and now, with God’s people, provided by the glorious Gospel.

Run to God

Run to God in prayer, recognizing your place within creation and your need for a savior. Prayerfully read through the testimony of John in the New Testament and Paul in Romans. If you don’t have a Bible handy, search your phone’s app store and pick up a Bible app for free and refer to a translation such as the ESV, or if that is a bit difficult to read, switch to the NIV. You likely won’t understand everything you read, but focus yourself on Christ and trust in what he has come to accomplish. Discover a local community of believers in your area, knowing that there won’t be a perfect community anywhere you look. We are all imperfect people seeking after Christ and looking forward to perfection on the other side of Heaven. There are many practical ways to locate solid churches, such as church directories online, [1]⁠ utilizing search functions on map applications, or even asking around. Still, as a Christian, it is important to be part of the community of God. If you have placed your faith in Christ and haven’t been baptized, seek out the initiation rite of the Christian religion through a local congregation.