THE GOSPEL, A DIVINE REVELATION.
A simple definition of the term "Gospel" is "good news," "glad tidings of good things," but the Biblical definition is not quite so elementary. What is this good news? What are these glad tidings? To include all that the New Testament teaches as embodied in the Gospel is to take in the whole universe of grace. The seven prismatic colours in nature are all visible in the rainbow. The sevenfold character of the Gospel is revealed in the grace-bow of Divine promise.
I. What this Gospel Is. It is called-
1. The Gospel of God (Rom_1:1). It is the good news of God’s merciful attitude toward the world. "God so loved the world that He gave His Son" (Joh_3:16). He who declared, "All souls are mine," now reveals Himself as seeking to save all through the sacrifice of His own Son.
2. The Gospel of Christ (Rom_1:16). Paul declared: "I am not ashamed of the the good news; it is God’s power which is at work for the salvation of every one who be-lieves." Christ’s character and work, including His life, death, and resurrection is the brightness, or the flashing out, of the glory of Divine love and power.
3. The Gospel of the Grace of God (Act_20:24). Can we realise what grace really means as offered by the Almighty God? It is favour bestowed on us, with all the Almightiness of God in it. The grace of God is God’s power operating in love and mercy on our behalf. This grace was manifested in Jesus Christ, His Son. Surely this is "good news."
4. The Gospel of Your Salvation (Eph_1:13). Good news for your own individual soul. Something to meet our own personal needs, to call forth our own heart’s trust, thanksgiving, and grateful service. "Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth" (Jam_1:18). Thanks be unto God for such joyful tidings.
5. The Gospel of the Kingdom (Mark I. 14). The good tidings of a kingdom yet to come, when Jesus shall reign from sea to sea, and the uttermost parts of the earth shall become. His possession. Meanwhile this "Gospel of the Kingdom is to be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come" (Mat_24:14).
6. The Everlasting Gospel (Rev_14:6). This is the good news of the ages. Here is something that shall never lose its freshness. It is eternally good, and growingly precious to every believer. What a contrast to the delusive pleasures of the worldlings. Pleasures for ever more at God’s right hand.
7. The Gospel of the Glory of Christ (2Co_4:4). The Gospel is truly "glorious," but here it is the "good news" of the glory of Christ. The Christ who gave Himself to the "accursed death of the Cross" is now glorified, and has become our Mediator before the Throne of God. Glad tidings indeed, that our Lord is now "exalted above every name that is named."
II. This Gospel is a Revelation. Manifold and intensely Divine. It is a message from the Father of spirits to human spirits. The four evangelists never attempt to describe Christ, or even to give their own opinions of Him. They simply "declare Him." In this Gospel, then, we have-
Something that could not be invented by man, because the natural mind could never conceive what it is not able to receive, apart from the Holy Spirit.
Something that man could never discover, but by the revelation. This is the mystery of Godliness.
Something for which civilisation has no substitute.
Something amid all the advancements of the ages which can never be improved.
Something that neither God nor man will never be ashamed of.
Something which alone can solve the mystery of human guilt and the righteousness of God. This is the Gospel of peace (Rom_10:15).
Something that the "angels desire to look into," as a new manifestation of the Divine character (1Pe_1:12). Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by?
Autor: James Smith