The Gospel of Jesus Christ - The Good News of Jesus Christ

1. Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Old Testament of the coming Redeemer.
2. Jesus Christ is the Messiah.
3. Jesus Christ lived a perfect sinless life for us.  He conquered sin for us.
4. Jesus Christ died for my sins, once and for all.
5. Jesus Christ rose from the dead.  He conquered death that I might have eternal life.
6. Jesus Christ ascended to heaven where He is interceding for me.  He tells me to stop sinning, yet if I do sin and repent, He is interceding his blood before the Father and will forgive me.
7. Jesus Christ is coming back to take His people home to heaven. 

Picture a battle being fought.  Your army is out there fighting a battle with the enemy.  The enemy is trying to destroy your city and take you, your family and loved ones into bondage and take your goods.  It's an all or none situation.  You are anxiously waiting for news from the battle front along with many others.

Then you see a runner.  He's fast approaching the city.  He's carrying a message in an envelope.  The city leader meets him at the gate.  He tears open the envelope and removes its contents as the people mill around him.  Excitedly, he holds up the paper for all to see.  It says in big letters:  Good News!   The battle has been won!

We are caught in a battle between the forces of the good and evil.  On the side of good is our Creator God (Yahweh or Jehovah), His Son Jesus Christ, and the angels that remained loyal to them.  On the side of evil is Satan (formerly Lucifer) who instigated the rebellion in heaven, and the angels who support him.  Humans have aligned themselves with one side or the other since Adam first sinned in the Garden of Eden, by disobeying one of God's direct commands.

It is Satan's avowed goal to bring as many people under his control as possible.   He does this through deception, fraud, ignorance, fear, coercion, apathy, pride, busy-ness, etc.; whatever method he finds that works.  His goal is to get as many people to deny God's sovereignty and right to be worshipped, and the right as our Creator to set guidelines for our happiness.  He wants us to reject God's Lordship in some way, in order to lose our right to eternal life and immortality.  And by doing so, to worship or honor him (Lucifer) instead.

And indeed, through temptations, environment, our sinful natures and our choices, we have all sinned.  The Bible says, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," (Romans 3:23).   "And there is none righteous.  No!  Not one."  As sinners, we have lost the right to an eternal life of happiness, love and peace, and are doomed to be destroyed at the judgment when our sins bear witness against us.  "For the wages of sin is death." (Romans 6:23)

But, God has a plan, a plan for our salvation, for our redemption from the consequences of our sins.  He doesn't want any to perish at the judgment, yet He must make a distinction among humans; a distinction between those who are to receive eternal life, and those who continued in Satan's rebellion and must be destroyed at the time of the judgment. "Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment." (Hebrews 9:27)

God sent His Son, Jesus Christ to become a man, a human like you and I.  To be born with all of the hereditary problems that you and I have, to be tempted in every way, just as we are.  And yet to live without sin.  He was to live in conformity to God's will, One who would obey God's commands.  Jesus was to demonstrate to us that we can live a sinless life.  Jesus Christ conquered sin, that we might be overcomers with Him.  He came to save us from our sins, not in our sins.

God gave prophets most of the details about the coming of Jesus Christ, so that Jesus could be clearly identified when He arrived.   In fact there were over 400 prophecies written in the Old Testament talking about the coming Messiah.  Early on, God also set up a system of annual festivals as well as a sanctuary service in which by symbolic elements, the story of redemption could be told.   The most important element in the temple was the Ark of the Covenant which housed the tablets of stone, an agreement or "covenant" containing the Ten Commandments.  The first set of stone tablets had the commandments inscribed on them by the very finger of God.  The Ten Commandments were Rules (not suggestions) to guide our relationship to God and to our fellow men.  The Ark of the Covenant was of the utmost purity and holiness, and was God's throne here on the earth.

For thousands of years, people looked forward to the coming of the promised Messiah, the one who would rescue them from their sins and the consequences of those sins.  Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of these prophecies!  Jesus was the long looked for Messiah!

Satan attempted to destroy Jesus, this Messiah, to get Him to worship Satan and doubt God, but he was unsuccessful.  So Satan incited the Jewish leaders of that day, and they held a mock trial and condemned Jesus to death.  The Jewish leaders drew the Roman government into the scheme and the Romans crucified Jesus in a most painful way.   Jesus died on a Friday, at the exact time of the day (3:00 p.m.), as the Passover lamb, a symbol representing Him, was to be sacrificed. 

An earthquake accompanied Jesus' death cry, cracking open the ground at the foot of the cross.  A Roman soldier pierced  side with a spear, causing  blood to run down the cross, into the crack and onto the mercy seat (atonement cover) of the Ark of the Covenant that had been hidden there in a underground chamber hundreds of years earlier during a Babylonian army invasion.  Thus a portion of the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) service in which a male goat's blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat to make atonement for the sins of God's people, was also literally fulfilled (see Leviticus 16). (see the Surprising Discoveries section of this website for more information on this find)

The blood of Jesus Christ atoned for our sins, yours and mine.  For "without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness." (Hebrews 9:22)  Jesus' blood was shed for the sins of all people that "come to the foot of the cross" and ask for forgiveness of their sins.  "God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)  Jesus became the atonement for our sins.

But Jesus did not stay in the tomb.  After resting in the tomb over the Sabbath, He rose on the third day (Sunday), just as He had foretold.  The stone that covered the tomb was enormous (13' 2" in diameter and nearly 2 feet thick) and was held in place by a iron chain attached to two ~2 inch diameter iron pins in the rock of the tomb.  The tomb was guarded by a large number of soldiers.  But it didn't matter.  The angel sent to release Him, tossed aside the tomb stone shearing off the iron pins, and called to Jesus to come forth.  The life inherent in Jesus as the Son of God, brought Him back to life.  Jesus rose from the dead.  He conquered death for us, for you and me, so that we also might have eternal life.

Jesus showed Himself many times over the next 40 days to His disciples and other followers.  Over 500 people saw Him at one time (1 Corinthians 15:6).  Then while all His disciples were looking on, He began to ascend to heaven.  And a cloud took Him from their sight.  Two angels gave them this marvelous promise,

"Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven."  (Acts 1:11) 

Jesus told  disciples,

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.  (John 14:1-3) 

What a beautiful promise!  Jesus has promised to come back to this earth and will take His people home with Him to heaven!

Many prophecies in the Bible (especially in the New Testament), give details of Jesus Second Coming.

Jesus' followers began spreading the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ; that through Him, we might have our sins atoned for and might receive the eternal life that had been lost when Adam sinned.  The good news that our sins can be forgiven, that they can be blotted out of the record books.

What a sinner has to do is to:

1. repent of (turn from) his sins, asking for God's forgiveness,
2. acknowledge Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah and accept Him as his personal savior,
3. be publicly baptized by immersion, symbolizing his death to sin and his resurrection with Christ into new life,
4. walk as Jesus would have him walk, in obedience to God's commands,
5. spread the good news of salvation to others, leading them to also be disciples (followers) for God.

Just before His ascension, Jesus gave His disciples this commission:

     Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Matt. 28:18-20.

The Bible says,

     "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23)  "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith --and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians. 2:8, 9) 

Salvation is a gift freely given.   It's not something we can work our way to.  We can't achieve it by our own merits.

However, we are not to confuse works with obedience!  Works to obtain salvation is impossible.  We can never work our way to heaven.  That is what all the pagan religions teach.  Good deeds to try to assuage some angry god is not what our loving Father asks for. 

What God does ask for is that, once He has forgiven us of our sins, is to stop sinning, i.e. to stop breaking His commands. (see John 5:14; 1 Corinthians 15:34; 2 Peter 2:14)  To stop arguing with Him or rebelling against Him and be willing to submit our lives to His control, to His guidelines for our own happiness. 

     1 John 2:4-6 says, "If any man says, "I know Him," but does not do what He commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.  But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him.  This is how we know we are in him:  Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did." 

Jesus says in Revelation 21:8, that all liars (including those who claim to love God, but who disregard His commands) will be thrown into the lake of fire.  Thus, following our acceptance of God's gift of forgiveness, obedience to God's commands as a lifestyle and a submission of our will to Him is imperative and a requirement for salvation.

God's commands are not difficult or burdensome to obey.  The commands have always been fairly simple, so that none may claim that they are impossible to follow due to their shear difficulty.  Adam's test was a simple one: "Don't eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil."  Captain Naaman's test was a simple one, go "bathe in the Jordan river 7 times and your leprosy will be gone."  Most of the Bible tests of loyalty were simple ones.  Yet few people chose to obey.

Obedience has always been a question of the will.  Will I chose to follow God?  Will I chose to obey His commands?  Will I put my trust in Him?  Will I have faith in His words?  God gives us the strength to obey Him by transforming us, and by giving us the Holy Spirit.

     And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession --to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians. 1:13,14)

King David was called a man after God's own heart.  Why would that be?  Let's see what David says about God's laws, decrees, precepts, statutes, words (all meaning one and the same.).   These are all drawn from Psalms 119, the longest chapter in the Bible.

Psalms 119:9 How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word.
    ¹⁰ I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands.
    ¹¹ I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
     ¹⁴ I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches.
     ¹⁶ I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word.
     ²⁴ Your statutes are my delight; they are my counselors.
     ³⁰ I have chosen the way of truth; I have set my heart on your laws.
     ³³ Teach me, O LORD, to follow your decrees; then I will keep them to the end.
     ³⁴ Give me understanding, and I will keep your law and obey it with all my heart.
     ⁶⁴ The earth is filled with your love, O LORD; teach me your decrees.
     ⁷³ Your hands made me and formed me; give me understanding to learn your commands.
     ⁸⁹ Your word, O LORD, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens.
     ⁹⁴ Save me, for I am yours; I have sought out your precepts.
     ⁹⁶ To all perfection I see a limit; but your commands are boundless.
    ⁹⁷ Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long.
     ¹⁰⁵ Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.
     ¹¹⁴ You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word.
     ¹²⁵ I am your servant; give me discernment that I may understand your statutes.
     ¹²⁹ Your statutes are wonderful; therefore I obey them.
     ¹³¹ I open my mouth and pant, longing for your commands.
     ¹⁴⁶ I call out to you; save me and I will keep your statutes.
     ¹⁵² Long ago I learned from your statutes that you established them to last forever.
     ¹⁶⁷ I obey your statutes, for I love them greatly.
     ¹⁷² May my tongue sing of your word, for all your commands are righteous.
     ¹⁷⁴ I long for your salvation, O LORD, and your law is my delight.

Can you sense the passion and love for God that David felt?  God's laws, His commands were David's fervent desires!  Those same kinds of desires will also be found in the rest of God's people as they mature (grow) in the knowlege and grace of God and their Lord Jesus Christ.

So what are God's laws, precepts, statutes, etc.?

Jesus was once asked,

     "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?"   "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'  The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'  There is no commandment greater than these."
(Mark 12:28-31)

Can anyone see anything possibly wrong with those?  These two commands of love, to love the Lord and love our neighbor summarize the commands given in the unchangeable Ten Commandments written on tablets of stone by the very finger of God.  Read them carefully! (a movement is under way to produce a "compromised" Ten Commandments to post in the public schools.  Those are not God's Commandments, but based upon the traditions of men)

The Ten Commandments

Exodus. 20:1-20  And God spoke all these words: "I am the LORD your God . . .

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.  The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself."  Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.  And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. (Romans 13:8-11)

The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."  (Galatians 5:14)

As we compare ourselves to the golden standard, God's perfect law of love, we see our sins revealed.  It's as if we have had a spotlight and a magnifying glass turned on our souls.  We see where we have fallen short.  Perhaps it was in adultery.  Perhaps it was in covetousness.  Perhaps it was in the worship or adoration of graven images in a church we were raised in.  Perhaps it was the popular desecration of the seventh-day Sabbath (from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset).  Perhaps it was placing wealth above the worship of God.  Perhaps it was cursing or using God's name in vain.  Perhaps it was adoring the sun, moon and stars or the teachings of the spirit realm (Astrology).  Whatever it is, our deeds are opened up and revealed for what they are by God's perfect law of love.

Jesus took these Ten Commandments a step further by saying sin is not just the breaking of the law in deed (action), but by breaking them through our attitudes and thoughts as well (see Matthew 5:17-48).  Hate, lust, covetousness may remain in the heart, but are just as true a breaking of the law of love, as the deed.

We can see where we have failed to love.  We can see where we quibble and in our own stubborn way, refuse to love God as He commands. Yet if we repent and turn from our sins, God is willing in His generousity and mercy, to forgive us.

As humans, we are still prone to sin.  We live in a sinful world.   Satan, his angels and humans under their control, tempt us to do wrong, to rebel against God and His commands.   We may find ourselves making mistakes and sinning as we are tempted by our own desires.  But praise God, there is a way out! a way to become overcomers!

Jesus ascended to and entered the heavenly temple where He ministers as our high priest.  

"Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess." (Hebrews 3:1)  "Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess." (Hebrews 4:14)  

While there, Jesus pleads the merits of his blood for the people of the world. 

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."  (1 John 1:9)

By beholding we become changed.  By fixing our thoughts on Jesus, we become more like him.  As we spend time in prayer and the study of the Bible, our minds become renewed, stronger, our thoughts become more like Jesus'.  For most, transformation doesn't take place overnight.  The process of sanctification takes a lifetime; a lifetime of getting to know Jesus better.  For you see, Jesus won the battle.  By His life, death, resurrection and heavenly ministry, He's freed us from the sins that have enslaved us, and from the path that bound us to destruction.   Jesus has set us on the road to eternal life and is walking there beside us, helping us, guiding us, protecting us.  Isn't that Good News???

Soon, and I believe very soon, Jesus will come back to take us home to heaven.  He will take away our mortality and change us into immortality.  (see the compilation on Resurrection and Transformation).  He will reward with eternal life and happiness those who sided with Him and were saved according to God's plan. These will have passed the two-fold test of 1) love for Jesus and 2) obedience to God's commands (see Revelation 12:17; 14:12 as well as Revelation 6:9-11 and 20:4).  They have proven themselves to be God's people.

Heaven!  What a glorious hope.  But what is it like?  The apostle John recorded the glimpse he was given of the new heavens and earth, and the New Jerusalem, a phenomenal city whose builder and maker is God.  Let's look at two of the most beautiful chapters in the Bible, Revelation chapters 21 and 22.

A new heaven and new earth for the righteous

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
     He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then He said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."
     He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.  He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.  But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars --their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."

The Bride of the Lamb - The New Jerusalem

     One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb." And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.  It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.  It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel.  There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west.  The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
     The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls.  The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length [about 1,400 miles], and as wide and high as it is long.  He measured its wall and it was 144 cubits thick [about 200 feet], by man's measurement, which the angel was using.  The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.  The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass.
     I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.  The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it.   On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there.  The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it.  Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.

The river of life and the tree of life

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.
     The angel said to me, "These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place."
     "Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book."
     I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me. But he said to me, "Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers the prophets and of all who keep the words of this book. Worship God!"
     Then he told me, "Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, because the time is near. Let him who does wrong continue to do wrong; let him who is vile continue to be vile; let him who does right continue to do right; and let him who is holy continue to be holy."
     "Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
     "Blessed are those who wash their robes (keep his commandments-KJV), that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
     "I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star."
     The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.
     I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.
     He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon."
     Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
     The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen.

Isn't that marvelous?  Wouldn't you like to be there?  Wouldn't you like to meet Jesus who gave His all for YOU?  You can.  It's your choice.

I believe, that if you have taken the time to read all the way through this page, God is calling you to be one of His chosen people, to love Him and to obey Him.  Will you answer the call?

If you have not yet accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, or if you would like to renew your commitment to Him, will you do so now?   The Spirit and Bride say "Come!"  Jesus says "Come!"  If you will, then pray this prayer in your own words,

Good News!  Great News!  The Gospel of Jesus Christ!

You'll find lots of information on this website to learn more about our wonderful Savior, and the teachings of His word, the Bible.  You'll find surprising discoveries reinforcing the truthfulness of the Bible, such as the rediscoveries of Noah's Ark, the Red Sea crossing, Mt. Sinai, Sodom and Gomorrah, the Ark of the Covenant.  You'll find extensive collections of Bible texts on subjects like Repentance, Forgiveness and Salvation, and Heaven and the Kingdom of God.  You learn about end time events in the Revelation section of this website.  You'll also have a chance to sample the writings of a modern day prophet who's writings are consistent with the Bible, and who was shown in more detail end time events. 

Our prayer is that you will learn to love our wonderful Creator God with a passion and will share the Good News of Salvation with others.

Thank- you in advance for telling others about this website.

Until we meet in His heavenly kingdom, may God's richest blessing be upon you and yours.

ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDED READING

Pages in this website which will shed additional light on subjects touched on in this paper include: