The Simple Story of the Gospel
Before creation, God decreed all things that would come to pass. From His eternal good pleasure, and in His eternal counsel, He willed all things from the beginning to the end. In His providence, in time, He works all things after the counsel of His will.
All things were created and judged by God to be very good (Gen 1–2). The free will of Lucifer allowed him to make the responsible decision to rebel against God. The crafty serpent sowed the word of discontent and inspired Adam and Eve’s rebellious disobedience to God’s Word. Man forfeited his free will and became a slave to sin, Satan, and the fallen world (Gen 3).
Recognizing his mortal error, man resorted to his own contrived remedy…religion. Man-made religion has dominated the world scene for six thousand years. The lie of the serpent persisted, however, “You shall be like god.” Man-centered religion puts man in the position of controlling the god he has made in his own image (Gen 11).
The plan of the one true God was not thwarted at all. Opposition to His sovereignty was ordained, and the greater the antagonism, the greater the drama. God has made for Himself a worthy opposition. His purpose in doing so was to display His array of glorious attributes, which would have remained unrecognized by us, without this designed tension.
The pinnacle of God’s revelation of Himself was His plan of salvation. He chose a people for Himself, to be a people of His own possession, before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4–5). He planned to save His people from their sins (Mt 1:21). Not all people are God’s people, but only a remnant would bear His name (Rom 9:27).
God established a covenant with Himself (Gen 12, 15, 17). He promised to be God to His chosen people, and He promised they would be His people (Gen 17:7; Ezek 36:28). In His oath and covenant, He promised them His blessing in one singular descendant of Abraham (Gal 3:16). At the fullness of time, God the Father sent forth His Son to be the Savior of God’s elect people (Eph 5:25).
The advent of Jesus Christ manifested the God-man, who mediated the new covenant, cut with His own blood (1 Tim 2:5; Heb 8:6; 9:15). His name is Jesus Christ, and He is the fulfillment of the Old Testament Scriptures. He is the subject of the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. He fulfilled over 350 prophecies, and He alone serves as the anti-type of all types and shadows of Messiah in the Old Testament.
The Law of God came through Moses. The Law revealed the holiness of God and the total depravity of man. Even today, the Law of God reveals man’s need for a Savior. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (Jn 1:17).
In His death, Jesus Christ paid the entire debt of sin for His people from every nation, tribe, and tongue (Col 2:14; Rev 5:9). His one time, once for all His people, sacrifice of Himself on the Cross, is the only acceptable atonement for sin (Heb 7:27). It results in the forgiveness of sins for God’s chosen ones (Eph 1:7), who He has named, “Israel” (Gal 6:16).
The benefits of Christ’s death are appropriated by God’s Spirit when He baptizes an elect son (Mt 3:11), causing him or her to be born again, born of God (Jn 3:1–8; 1 Pet 1:3). It is the Spirit of God who is sending the Gospel to the utter most part of the earth (Acts 1:8), to be preached to all people (Mt 24:14; Mk 16:15). Indwelling each believer (Jn 14:17; Rom 8:9, 11), the Spirit also fills the preacher of the Gospel to proclaim the very message you are now reading. Faith in this message comes by hearing the Word of Christ preached (Rom 10:14–17).
When the full number of God’s people, both Jew and Gentile are born, converted, and added to the church, then the end shall come. The Lord knows those who are His (2 Tim 2:19), and He will lose none of them (Jn 10:26–30; Rom 8:35–39). The world will writhe in tribulation, and then, the Lord Jesus Christ, who died, was buried, who rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and who rules and reigns over all…will come again to judge the living and the dead, and all people will be resurrected — some to judgment and some to life, in glorified bodies, to live and dwell with Christ in God, forever, in the new heavens and the new earth (Is 65–66; Rev 21–22). The reprobate will be damned in eternal hell and the elect will reign with Christ in glory forever and ever, Amen.
This is the simple Gospel story, and it is glorious in our sight!
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
October 8, 2021
