Revelation 1:7 Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of Him. Even so. Amen.
Mankind has now endured the rise and fall of empires, wars, adversity, and death. A new nation was formed by God through the faith of one man, Abraham. That nation was given God’s Laws, a land to live in, and the Promise of a Redeemer.
Within that nation a young virgin is approached by an angel with a message that according to prophecy she would conceive by the Holy Spirit a child and His name would be called Immanuel, which translated means “God with us”. She consented.
Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.
This child from the Virgin is the only direct creation from God since the first man and woman. The Seed of the Woman. The Child was the only begotten Son of God.
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𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈𝐬 𝐓𝐡𝐞 “𝐆𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐥”?
The word “gospel” is often said to be the “good news”. Ok, so what’s the news? The news was announced by angels to the shepherds watching their flocks by night: Luke 2:10-11 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
Good tidings is the good news. The gospel is that God has given to us His Son. The Savior is born. Immanuel, God is with us.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Jesus began His ministry announcing His arrival: Mark 1:15 “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”
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The Bible, ALL of it, is the Word of God. ALL of it is for our benefit. God’s Word finishes us as humans and makes us whole. God is the source of knowledge and revelation.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, fully equipped for every good work.
2 Peter 1:20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture comes from one’s own interpretation.
God exists in three eternal, individual personalities: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ), and God the Holy Spirit. Each is equally God. They are one essence, perfect harmony.
Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is One.
2 Corinthians 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
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Jesus Christ is the central figure and person in human history.
Jesus is God in human form. His Hebrew name, Yeshua, means “He saves.”
Titus 2:13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ…
John 1:1-2 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.
Jesus is eternal.
1 Peter 1:20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you.
John 17:24 Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
Jesus, born of a virgin
Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel (God with us).
Fulfilled in Matthew 1:22-23
Jesus is the “Good News”, the Gospel message.
1 Corinthians 15:3-4 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures…
Jesus is currently alive and at the right hand of God the Father.
Psalm 110:1 A Psalm of David. The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”
1 Peter 3:22 Who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to Him.
Hebrews 1:3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power. After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
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The church is not a physical building. The church is a body of believers in Jesus Christ.
Matthew 16:18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. -Jesus
Romans 12:4-6a For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them:
Ephesians 5:23 For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body.
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All of humanity who has physically died, all of the bodies will ultimately be resurrected. The question is the destination.
Daniel 12:2 And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
1 Corinthians 15:13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
Revelation 20:15 And if anyone was found whose name was not written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
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Pre Tribulation Rapture: At a designated point in time before the beginning of the seven year Tribulation or the Day of the Lord, the entire body of the church of Jesus Christ will be caught up into the clouds to meet Him in the air.
1 Thessalonians 5:1-5
1 Thessalonians 5:9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Psalm 27:5 For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; In the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock.
The church will physically return to earth to rule and reign with Jesus Christ during the Millennial Kingdom.
Revelation 20:6 Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection! The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.
2 Timothy 2:12If we endure, we will also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He will also deny us…
1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
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Believers can respectfully proclaim God’s truth and love people who disagree with or live outside of God’s laws and precepts.
Matthew 22:37-40 Jesus declared, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
1 Peter 4:8 Above all, love one another deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
Galatians 5:14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
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Human life is sacred from conception to its natural end. God is the Creator of life from before time.
Psalm 139:13-16 For You formed my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are Your works, and I know this very well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in secret, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all my days were written in Your book and ordained for me before one of them came to be.
Job 31:15 Did not He who made me in the womb also make them? Did not the same One form us in the womb?
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God sovereignly and purposefully creates each person biologically male or biologically female.
Genesis 1:27 So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Matthew 19:4 Jesus answered, “Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’
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Marriage is between a biological man and a biological woman.
Mark 10:6-9 But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate. -Jesus
Hebrews 13:4 Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled; for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.
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Humanity has inherited a sin nature from the fall of Adam. We are all in need of forgiveness and redemption from our individual sins.
Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all mankind, because all sinned…
1 John 4:9-10 This is how God’s love was revealed among us: God sent His one and only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. And love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
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Salvation is by Faith alone apart from works. One cannot work, earn, or buy their way into eternity with God. He will not accept the fallen individual’s effort or payment.
Ephesians 2:8-9 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.
Romans 3:28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the Law.
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Satan is a real personality and angelic being.
Jesus personally encountered Satan in Matthew 4:1-11.
1 John 3:8 The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the very start. This is why the Son of God was revealed, to destroy the works of the devil.
Zechariah 3:1 Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him.
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Hell is a real physical place. No one in the Bible teaches more about Hell than Jesus.
Revelation 20:14-15 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone was found whose name was not written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
Matthew 25:41 Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
So, what if Jesus was not raised from the dead? What’s the big deal about the resurrection? Who cares? We are wasting our time with Christianity and the Bible if the resurrection is not true. Without the resurrection, we physically die and our bodies are eternally buried. Death wins. We are dirt and worm food. Our bodies become the byproduct of worm digestion…
Job 21:26 Together they lie down in the dust, and worms cover them.
The gospel is not a New Testament phenomenon as some critics would have us believe. How many times have we heard, “The God of the Old Testament is a mean, cruel killer!” God is not an oppressive ogre who wants to crush you with His thumb. He has always been merciful, gracious, and forgiving. Honestly, if God smashed us like a bug any time we screwed up…would there be any humanity left? The good news has always been there. His redemption for humanity was promised from the beginning of time in the Garden of Eden. God delivered the “good news” to Satan.
Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.
Just in case anyone is wondering, the message of a sacrificial death for sin rings loud and clear in the Old Testament. The best example of the gospel in the Old Testament comes from the Prophet Isaiah about 700 years before Jesus Christ walked the earth. Look at the detail of these verses. It reads as a narrative of the events along with the accounts in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
Isaiah 53:3-12 He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away; and as for His generation, who considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due? His grave was assigned with wicked men, yet He was with a rich man in His death, because He had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in His mouth. But the LORD was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; if He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; by His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the booty with the strong; because He poured out Himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet He Himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors.
This book the Bible, says His Son, Jesus Christ, is physically coming back in the clouds to get His people the church, at the resurrection and the rapture. Then, He will return later to establish His kingdom on earth.
And that is good news. Jesus is the Messiah, just believe it.
John 20:31 But these are written so that you may believe Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and by believing you may have life in His name.
Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
Luke 1:19 “I am Gabriel,” replied the angel. “I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.
Clearly, Zechariah is not sure what to make of all of this. Gabriel attempts to make it crystal clear. My word is good.
First is his name. Gabriel means “man of God” or “strong man of God”. The message to Zechariah is simple. He is listening to a “strong man of God”.
Second, Gabriel tells the priest his domain is the literal presence of God. The Greek word used is παρίστημι/paristémi. It means: to place beside, to present, stand by, appear. The idea is Gabriel is close to God. He is in the inner circle if you will.
…and I have been sent to speak to you… Third, God Himself sent Gabriel to personally talk to Zechariah.
…and to bring you this good news. This is the Greek word that is synonymous with “the gospel” message, εὐαγγελίζω/euaggelizó. Gabriel is personally bringing “good news” from God to you.
Luke 1:20 And now you will be silent and unable to speak until the day this comes to pass, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled at their proper time.”
Zechariah is no different than any of us. He did not believe God’s message. And Zechariah was a priest serving God in the Temple at the time of these events. None of us are completely obedient. We all have times when we question or neglect what God has to say.
Because of his lack of faith, Zechariah would be silenced and diagnosed with Expressive Aphasia. This is a type of aphasia characterized by partial loss of the ability to produce language (spoken, manual, or written), although comprehension generally remains intact. In Zechariah’s case, his loss was not partial. https://www.aphasia.org/aphasia-definitions/
Luke 1:18 And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.”
It would appear Elizabeth was not pregnant at this time based on Zechariah’s comments in Luke 1:18. There would be no whispering of sweet nothings in Elizabeth’s ear. John the Baptist was conceived by an old man with expressive aphasia and a sterile, old, geriatric woman. What seems impossible to humanity is God’s reality.
Notice, the length of time of Zechariah’s aphasia is open ended. Gabriel does not give a definitive time. He was mute for at least 9 months. Zechariah will not talk until Gabriel’s personal prophecy is fulfilled.
Zechariah ultimately regained his ability to speak. This is observed later in Luke 1. And when he recovers, he has a lot to say.
Luke 1:64 And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God.
See Zechariah’s song and prophecy in Luke 1:67-79.
Jude 1:3 Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation…
Beloved… This is the noun form of the word αγαπαο/agapao or “love”. In this case, it is the Greek word Ἀγαπητοί/agapetoi. Per Strong’s Concordance, it can be translated as: beloved, esteemed, dear, favorite, worthy of love. Simply put, loved ones.
Jude is addressing “loved ones” in Jesus Christ. Believers in Jesus are loved.
…while I was making every effort to write you… Jude wants his audience to know he is focused. As a mindset, Jude has been continually intent to make it known to fellow believers. Jude also wants to communicate with σπουδή/spoude. The word can be translated as: haste, earnestness, diligence; earnestness in accomplishing, promoting, or striving after anything; to give all diligence, interest one’s self most earnestly. σπουδή/spoude is where we get the English word “speed”.
Jude is in a hurry to give it all he has to write and write and write to fellow believers.
Write about what??? This is the original, urgent intent of Jude’s letter …our common salvation…
Salvation or σωτηρία/soteria in the original Greek… Soteriology is the field of study of our “salvation”. Defined by Strong’s as: deliverance, preservation, safety; deliverance from the molestation of enemies in an ethical sense, that which concludes to the soul’s safety or salvation.
Messianic salvation as the present possession of all true Christians.
Future salvation is the sum of benefits and blessings which Christians, redeemed from all earthly ills, will enjoy after the visible return of Christ from heaven in the consummated and eternal kingdom of God.
A.W. Pink stated this is a fourfold salvation: saved from the penalty, power, presence and most importantly the pleasure of sin.
Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is our salvation. The Apostle Paul offers what many believe to be the definitive statement on the gospel. This is of the utmost importance as stated by the Apostle Paul. This is the priority. As believers in Jesus Christ we should draw a line in the sand and stick a flag in the ground over this issue. If a person does not get the issue of the gospel of Jesus Christ right, big time eternal problems.
1 Corinthians 15:1-4 Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures…
Jesus Christ died. He was buried. And He was raised.
This is the gospel message of Jesus Christ. The gospel is the ευαγγελιον/euaggelion. This is really “good news”.
Here is how Strong’s Concordance defines “gospel”. It is the glad tidings of salvation through Christ. This is the proclamation of the grace of God manifest and pledged in Christ. As the messianic rank of Jesus was proved by his words, his deeds, and his death, the narrative of the sayings, deeds, and death of Jesus Christ came to be called the gospel or glad tidings.
The resume of Christ is sequentially ordered in Strong’s definition of the gospel. The glad tidings of the kingdom of God soon to be set up, subsequently also of Jesus the Messiah, the founder of this kingdom. After the death of Christ, the term comprises also the preaching of (concerning) Jesus Christ as having suffered death on the cross to procure eternal salvation for the men in the kingdom of God, but as restored to life and exalted to the right hand of God in heaven, thence to return in majesty to consummate the kingdom of God.
The issue of the gospel is not an intellectual decision. The gospel is a moral issue. Does God exist and does He take the issue of sin seriously? If so, then there is accountability. The issue needs serious attention. Eternal life and eternal death are on the line. The destination of your eternal soul is at stake. This is about getting your heart, soul, and mind right with the Creator.
This good news is for everybody! God does not discriminate. The most brutal, unsavory character can be saved from eternal hell if they believe the gospel message. One can think up the vilest person in their mind and that person too can be saved with their belief in Jesus Christ. We are all equal at the foot of the cross. Even a barbaric Scythian can be saved by the cross work of Jesus…
Colossians 3:11 a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.
1 Thessalonians 5:9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ…
Write about what??? This is the original, urgent intent of Jude’s letter …our common salvation…
