The Gospel and God's Story Pt. 1

Something that has been on my mind a lot lately is how Christians hear their pastors or authors say stuff about "the gospel"all the time, but they hardly ever make clear what they mean when they say "the gospel." So, in the next 2 blog post I am going to do 2 things:

1. Define the gospel
2. Tell the story of the Bible.

We are going to start by looking at what people are talking about when they say the gospel. The word gospel simply means good news, but this definition begs the question of what is the good news?  Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15 that the gospel is,"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." There is a problem though, this statement just leaves us with tons of questions like, "Who is Jesus?"and "Why is it good news that Jesus died?" This is where the second point of the blog comes because the gospel does not make any sense if we separate it from the God' s Story.

The Bible contains tons of stories from Abraham and Isaac to Paul at Mars Hill, but as you read the Bible closely you begin to see that all these stories are really just parts of one big story. This big story tells where we came from, what went wrong, what out hope is, and finally what the future holds for all humanity.

Creation: Where We Came From


The story begins with God speaking all of creation into existence including earth where he made a beautiful garden where the masterpiece of his creation man and woman would live. Adam and Eve were created in the image of God to reflect him, and their purpose was to worship God and enjoy a perfect relationship with him forever. God also tells them to be fruitful and fill the earth in other they are to have kids who worship God so the entire world would be full of people worshipping God. God's Creation was absolutely perfect,and Adam and Eve had a perfect relationship with God, each other, and themselves.

The Fall: What Went Wrong


Although God had given Adam and Eve all authority on earth he gave them one rule, which was that they could not eat the fruit from one tree. One day God's enemy a fallen angel, Satan, came to Adam and Eve and deceived them into thinking God was not good, and that he did not have their best interest in mind when he told them to not eat of the tree. Adam and Eve disobeyed God's command and ate from the tree, and in doing so changed creation and history forever.

Adam and Eve's sin had horrible consequences for all of creation.  It's through their sin that pain, suffering, and death entered the world. The Bible tells us that Adam and Eve's sin passed down to all of humanity, and we are all sinners (Romans 3:23). If everyone looks into their heart they see that they are sinners, and the Bible tells us that the consequences of sin is both physical death and spiritual death. So, the ultimate destiny for all of humanity is eternal separation from a loving God, in total misery, and unhappiness. This leaves us asking... What can be done? Is there any hope for humanity?

Well, God gives us a glimmer of hope in Gen. 3:15 when he tells Satan that one of Eve's descendents, "shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel."

Next post we will look at the hope, and the future for all humanity...


Sources:
The Story
Ashford, Bruce. Theology and Practice of Mission: God, the Church, and the Nations. Nashvile: B&H Publishing, 2011. Print.