Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Gospel

Good News  Mark begins his account with the following words, “This is the Good News about Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God. (1:1a) and few verses later, “Jesus went into Galilee, where He preached God’s Good News.  The time promised by God has come at last!, He announced.  The Kingdom of Heaven is near!  Repent of your sins and believe the Good News”!  (14b-15)

The word Gospel means "good news," and like we would with any other good news that has affected us, we need to be telling others.  Consider how much  good news is described in the verses just mentioned:

Jesus – His Name means, “God is Salvation.”   As Ron Hutchcraft puts it, “When we speak His name we speak His mission – “God Rescues.”  The cradle of Bethlehem is where heaven’s rescue mission began.   The cross of Calvary is where the rescue mission was accomplished.”

Messiah – “God’s Anointed One” meaning the One chosen by God to reign and rule justly on this earth and bring peace and paradise.  The Greek word translated Christ has the same meaning as the Hebrew Messiah.

Son of God – As mentioned in the previous posting – as a result of His unique birth Jesus came into this broken world of ours, but having been conceived by God through the young virgin girl Mary, He became the only God-Man – both fully God and fully a human man.  As such He was born sinless and is the only One uniquely qualified to mediate (represent) both God and mankind.

Kingdom of Heaven – there is something beyond this present life and creation over which Jesus the Messiah / Christ will reign as King.

Repent of your sins – the word “repent” means a change of direction.  We are to invite Jesus to become the most important part of our life – Our Savior.  Our Rescuer.  Our King.  Our Lord.   And making that decision involves receiving complete forgiveness of our sins and by His help, completely changing the direction of our life.  Now Jesus through His Word provides the direction.

Have you responded to this Good News?

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