Think about the wonders of the Gospel. It is so good that Luke 2 says that it brings great joy, and peace on earth. If somehow you aren’t experiencing great joy as lifestyle, and peace on the slice of earth you live on then maybe you’ve never really understood the Gospel. The message of the Gospel is actually very simple; “…there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” That’s it. You can’t be more simple than that, yet that simple statement carries more layers, and depths than any statement made in human history.
Because of the fall of Adam each of us were born lost. I don’t use the word “lost” in the limited sense of being shut out of Heaven, but I mean it in the most practical day to day sense. We were born separated from the life of God, and therefore separated from THE relationship, and resource necessary to fully live. Born broken on our own, and left to our meager human capacity to make life work, we unsurprisingly make a mess of things. Our situation was such that we needed more that a Savior whose grace was just directed at forgiveness, and a guaranteed ticket to Heaven one day: we needed a Savior who could change who we were, so we could change how we live. We didn’t just need deliverance from Hell one day; we needed deliverance from the daily Hell of fallen self.
Knowing this helps us understand the divine genius of the Good News of the Gospel. How could God forgive us, stamp our ticket to Heaven, and at the same time make us New Creations able to daily live out divine purpose and destiny? “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creature; the old things passed away;
behold new things have come.” That word “behold” is the word we get “horizon” from. The Gospel message is that you have a new horizon; life will never be the same again. The old past, old failure, old mess of a life has passed away totally, and a new day has arrived. A new you has appeared, with new supernatural resources, that has a new destiny, has arisen. How did God accomplish this miracle? He placed you into the death, burial, Resurrection life of Christ. His death and burial was your death and burial, and the old you’s sins were paid for in that death, and the old you who made a mess of lie was crucified and buried, and then the new you emerged in His Resurrection. His Resurrection life is you Resurrection life. You were in Him at the Cross, and grave, sharing His death, and you are in Him now, sharing His life, and living by His resurrection power daily. Ephesians 2:10 says you were created in Christ Jesus. That is the Gospel; you were created IN CHRIST JESUS. Because you have been placed into His very life, His life is yours, and He now daily lives His supernatural life through you, and telling His redemptive story. Good news of a great joy for all people. Romans 5:10 kind of sums it up when it says we are “saved in His life.” Saved from sins penalty, and saved from the monster old self that you once were.
