07.06. The Origin of the Gospel
The Origin of the Gospel
What is the gospel? This may sound like a question with an obvious answer. First, the gospel simply means, "good news." However, it all depends on whom you are talking too. Let me illustrate. Recently a professional skateboarder commented that his purpose what to spread the gospel. The gospel of skateboarding. Let me give you three fictious radio stations and what they may proclaim is good news. WDVL might say, "Good morning from the station that proclaim nothing is wrong and you should satisfy all your fleshly desires after all there is not such thing as sin. Our motto is, "if it feels good do it." Then there is station WRLG whose motto is that any religion is as good as any other. WRLG’s motto is "all religious news is good news, all roads lead to heaven." Finally there is WGOD. The good news according to God’s station is that Jesus loved us enough to die for us and He wants us to come to Him for forgiveness of our sins. The motto is, "What can wash away my sins, nothing but the blood of Jesus." Which radio station are you tuned into. Is it the lies of the Devil that you are alright or the lie of religion that says just believe anything or the truth of God that it is Jesus only.
I- The First Promise of the Gospel: Genesis 3:15
We must first realize that man has fallen and is now dead spiritually and is dying physically. The first promise of the gospel is found in the context of what God said to Adam and Eve. Genesis 3:15 "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."
Wycliffe Bible Commentary says, "…we have in this famous passage, called the protevangelium, "first gospel," the announcement of a prolonged struggle, perpetual antagonism, wounds on both sides, and eventual victory for the seed of woman. God’s promise that the head of the serpent was to be crushed pointed forward to the coming of Messiah and guaranteed victory. This assurance fell upon the ears of God’s earliest creatures as a blessed hope of redemption." (from The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1962 by Moody Press)
Lets understand hurriedly that who the Bible is talking about here. Genesis 3:14 makes it plain beyond a doubt that the word, "thee" is none other than Satan. The "I" is God the Father. Now who is "the woman" and the "it." The woman is the descendants of Adam and Eve as is plain. "It" could have been translated "he" and in fact is in every other English translation. The NJKV says, "And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head." So we can see without a doubt that the gospel of Christ was not something that is only a New Testament thought but has its roots in the very first part of Genesis and in the first part of mankind’s history.
II- Progressive Gospel:
Did Old Testament saints worship Jesus? We might see a few instance when we can say they did such as when the three men came across the plains to Abraham and then two more went on to Sodom while one we identify as Christ stayed behind with Abraham. But for the most part we can say the good news of the Old Testament was not the gospel we preach now. We can say that the doctrine of the Trinity was not well developed and that Old Testament saints worshipped Jehovah God. I concede that God has always been a Trinity but the revelation to man was only partial.
Notice what Hebrews 1:1-2 says. "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds." It is plain that the gospel or good news of the Old Testament was not complete until Jesus. To support this more look at Galatians 4:4 "But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law." So what was the good news of the Old Testament. The good news was a promise to Abraham. Genesis 12:3 "And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed."
The good news to Abraham was that all the nations of the world would be blessed through him. The problem was he as of then did not have an heir through which the promise could pass. He suggest his servant be that heir, he then had a son by Hagar called Ishmael but the son of promise was Isaac. Isaac was born when Abraham was 100 and Sarah was 90.
Through out the Old Testament we had types and pictures of the gospel. Colossians 2:17 "Which are a shadow of things to come…" Colossians 2:17 NASU "things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ."
Every time a lamb, a goat or a bull was sacrificed they pictured the perfect sacrifice of God which was to come. They were the shadow, Christ was the substance. Prehaps the greatest example of this was the passover. When the blood was put over the door the death angel passed over the children of Israel on the first night. Every year at passover this shadow gave the good news that was yet to come. Jesus or passover is sacrificed for us.
So the good news of the Old Testament was that a Savior was coming for the sins of mankind.
III- The Gospel:
So what is the gospel? What is the good news? Notice 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 "Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; 2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. 3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures."
Notice it says according to the scriptures two times. Beloved the gospel has it origin not in some religious thought of men but in the Word of God.
1 Peter 1:18-20 says, "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: 20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you." So which Gospel have you believed the lie of Satan or the truth of God?