Why is the gospel good news?

Think about this question. Why do you think the gospel is good news? Many of us have a limited definition of the gospel, which centers on forgiveness. Actually, the gospel is good news for that important reason and some other amazing reasons.

The gospel is good news because:

• It means eternal life with God and His family. Importantly, every person on this planet needs the justification that Jesus Christ purchased with His perfect life and sacrifice.
• Every believer gets to be adopted into God's family and is given all of the rights, privileges and blessings.
• You get to live in your created purpose: To be in a relationship with God and to live a lifestyle that reflects the amazing attributes of God.
• It promises being changed from a sinner into a saint. It also promises that your sinful lifestyle also gets transformed into your saintly lifestyle. We usually call this sanctification.
• Jesus Christ gives you the right to be free from Satan, your past, sinful addictions, and unwanted spiritual guests.

The gospel brings a believer into the path of God's healing, which can be spiritual, mental, physical, and emotional. As the believer learns and engages with God's will, timing and Christ-purchased wholeness, he begins to experience freedom and healing.

The gospel is simple and it also is complex... Ultimately, the gospel translates us from the kingdom of darkness into the glorious kingdom of light. Here on Earth, we experience growing degrees of that light as we learn and trust in more and more of God's truth. After we die, we will experience in full God's presence, healing, and sinless perfection.

One of the marvelous missions of the believer is to share the gospel and its multitude of blessings with others. The gospel is simple, yet it is also deep. So deep that it takes a lifetime for a believer to study and apply the many, many truths of the blessings purchased for him by Jesus Christ. The process of learning and applying these truths is called discipleship, which is why Jesus gives us the privilege of going out to make disciples and teach them to apply all of His commandments in their saintly lifestyles.

Read this prophecy about Jesus Christ and look for the different aspects of the gospel: Justification, Wholeness and Healing.

He was despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. 4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows hat weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! 5 But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. 6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all. Isaiah 53:3-6

Read this prophecy about Jesus Christ. Do you see the good news of the gospel for emotional healing, restoration, righteousness, joy, purpose, God's favor, deliverance and freedom? 

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives,  and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, 3 To console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.” 4 And they shall rebuild the old ruins, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations. Isaiah 61:1-4

The gospel is good news because some of the blessings are given instantly at conversion and many are learned about, received and applied through sanctification. This is good news worth the intense spiritual warfare, time and relationships necessary for discipleship.