A message of hope for a lost world
Believers are called and sent to preach the good news.
The word for gospel actually means ‘good message.’ It is well news for every generation.
It is also translated as glad tidings (Rom 1:16). The gospel is good and glad. It is given so that peoples’ hearts can be changed from rebellion to discipleship under Christ.
It is also a message of repentance. Jesus sent us out to preach repentance, but some have disregarded the basis and meaning of repentance. It is a turning, a change of heart and mind.
Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”
Mark 1:14-15
“Repent, and believe in the gospel!” Repent: metanoeō, ‘to think differently, to reconsider, to change one’s mind.’ We are to turn from our ways to God’s ways. We are to change directions from our own plan for life to His plan for our lives.
Jesus said, “Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand!”
It means that there is a dynamic and eternal change of heavenly oversight and direction which comes directly from the Throne of God, and we are invited to participate through a change of heart and direction.
His kingdom is in the midst of us and we need to run to it, to submit to it, to embrace it with all our heart.
The days of ungodly rebellion have been crushed by God’s love. The enemy of Christ is judged and found wanting (Jn 16:11).
Righteous kingdom
So, is His kingdom a place of dismay or discouragement? No. It is the kingdom of righteousness, joy and peace in the Holy Spirit (Rom 14:17). It is a place of blessing and promises (Gal 3:9). It is a household of deliverance, salvation, and wellbeing.
It is the kingdom of faith, hope and love, God’s three eternal essentials (1Co 13:13).
That is good news. That is wonderful news.
It comes to us personally because Jesus was sent as the Word made flesh to take our place at the cross. That cross, or tree as it’s sometimes called in scripture, was a place of cursing for the those who rebelled against God’s will and ways (Gal 3:13-14).
We deserved to be on that tree, but Jesus took our place so that we could be freed from the penalty for sin, which is death. Not just death–a dying in which we no longer exist, but death–a separation from God’s goodness forever.
We used to live under bad news–the news that we were cursed forever under a regime of sin and death, but Jesus came so that we could be released from the bad news to enter into the good.
So we preach the good news, that Jesus has made the way for us to be redeemed–bought back to God through the eternal precious blood of Christ, who sacrificed His life for ours so that we could be set free from the wages of sin which is death (Rom 6:23).
