This Is Good News

LESSON ONE

"Knowing The Gospel"

Instructions:

1. Read the four (4) "This Is Good News" lessons.

2. Go to the question & answer index, select the appropriate question & answer form, answer the questions and complete the Student Information.

3. Submit the completed form by clicking on the submit button at the bottom of the form. Your Study Helper will review your lesson and send you the next lesson in the series if you qualify.

KNOWING THE GOSPEL

There are many religions in the world. Each of these faiths claims to be the best one. (If it did not, it could hardly keep its followers.) How do people get into so many different religions? Do they carefully look at many choices and find the best one?

For most people the choice seems to be made for them. They are born into their religious group. They are keeping old beliefs and traditions handed down by their forefathers. These beliefs are highly respected; yet they are still beliefs that happen to belong to the place of one's birth. What if one had been born in a different country, with different beliefs and traditions? Those other beliefs would be respected just as highly. Would that make them any better? Would that make them true? Surely there is a better way to know if a religion is right.

Perhaps some who claim to be 'Christians' may do so merely because it is the traditions of their parents and country. However, true Christianity -- the Christianity of the Bible -- should be followed for far better reasons. It should be followed because it is true, and can be shown to be true. We can recognize the truth of biblical Christianity by considering just four points. Each has a direction. So we may call these the "four arrows" of Christianity.

THE ARROW THAT FLIES FORWARD

The first arrow flies forward, into the future. The Bible calls this arrow PROPHECY. There is no book in the world like the Bible! The Bible is actually a great library of books from 40 different writers. Did all of these different writers have a great meeting to decide what to write? Did they discuss their plans, so that from beginning to end there is one continuing story?

No such meeting took place. It could not, for the Bible was written over a period of 1500 years. (The Bible has two major parts. The earliest collection of writings is called the Old Testament. The later collection is the New Testament.) The Old Testament's first lawgiver was Moses. He lived and wrote 500 years before David, the first writer who was a king. David wrote his famous psalms 300 years before the great prophet Isaiah. Isaiah was 300 years before the Old Testament's final prophet, Malachi. Malachi wrote 400 years before New Testament writers, such as John and Paul. How then do all their writings make such a united and complete history? How do their teachings fit together so well? Only God could have planned and brought about a book that took 1500 years to complete!

The Bible's long time span is unique. It gives the Bible a special advantage. Earlier writers looked forward and foretold what would happen in the future. Later writers saw those things coming true, and reported their fulfillments. Look at the way in which Jesus began to give His message:

“Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the Good News of God.

"’The time has come,’ He said. ‘The kingdom of God is near.
Repent and believe the Good News!’" (Mark 1:14 -15).

For many centuries God had spoken through the Old Testament prophets. God had promised the coming of His special King (called the "Messiah" or "Christ"), and His kingdom. Now Jesus announced that the time had arrived for those promises to be fulfilled! This message meets our needs so well that it is called the “Gospel," which means "Good News."

The Old Testament had several hundred prophecies about the coming King. The prophet Micah, for example, predicted that this Ruler would be born in the village where David had once lived, Bethlehem (Micah 5:2). None of us chooses where he will be born. How could anyone predict an exact place of birth? Yet, Jesus Christ, the King, was born in Bethlehem, the very place marked by Micah 500 years before. The arrow that had been shot forward had hit exactly on target!

Each time the Bible has shot the arrow of prophecy, it has hit its target. Of course, many religions try to predict the future. Sometimes they even have successes. The problem is that they also miss. When human prophecies fail they prove that their 'successes' were no more than lucky guesses. The only One who does not guess about the future is God. If we are serious about knowing the truth, this matter of prophecy is important. It gives us a sure way to see whether a religious message is from God or not. The arrow of prophecy that hits the target every time is not a human arrow. It belongs to God, who alone sees all that is past, present and future.

THE ARROW THAT FLIES DOWNWARD

The Gospel's second arrow flies downward, to the earth. The religions of the world try to climb up to God (or to some idea of Perfection). They recognize that God is great and exalted. Man, therefore, in order to reach God, must climb up to Him in some way. The 'ladder' upward has many rungs, that is, many rules and good works that must be kept. Thus people try to make themselves 'good enough' to come into God's presence.

But they keep having two great problems. Firstly, they have little way of being sure that their rules are the right rules. They fail to show any good proof that their rules come from God and lead to God? Secondly, people keep falling. The ladder is so high that sooner or later even the most skilled climbers slip and fall. They keep breaking rungs (that is, breaking rules). This ladder of rules seems to be the only way to reach God. So they keep trying; and they keep falling short of perfection. This kind of religion leaves people feeling sad, guilty and far from God. Such a way to God never works. Here is a simple test: Take hold of your foot and try to lift yourself off the ground. Try it. You cannot lift yourself even little! Then how will you lift yourself all the way to God’s highest home, heaven?

The Gospel is different from human religions. It makes us face just how weak and helpless we are. It proves that none of us is 'good enough' to come to the holy, majestic God. We cannot take ourselves to heaven.

“As it is written: ’There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one’”(Romans 3:10-12)”...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23.)

The only hope for all of us, therefore, is for God to come down to save us! The Good News is that God, in His great mercy, did this very thing! He came from heaven to earth in the form of "the Son," also called "the Word." Here is how John 1:1, 14 begins to tell the Gospel:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God . . . . The Word became flesh and made His
dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the
One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

An angel announced the birth of Jesus is these words:

“I bring you Good News of great joy that will be for all the
people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born
to you; He is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10-11).

More and more people saw the proofs of the Christ. Leading witnesses told others the Good News that the King had come.

“Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house,
they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the Good News that
Jesus is the Christ” (Acts 5:42).

“At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the
Son of God” (Acts 9:20).

The coming of Jesus Christ into this world is the arrow that flies downward.
No other religion has that arrow -- the coming of God as the Son in flesh.

To this some reply, "It is all very well for God to come down to us, for the Creator can certainly visit His creation. But why did He take on flesh?" God as Spirit cannot die. As flesh He could die for mankind. The Old Testament had prepared people to see the need for sacrifice. Laws of Moses had required the killing of the best lambs as sacrifices to 'remove sin.' Thus they pictured the giving up of an innocent life so that sinners could be forgiven. Jesus fulfills that old picture. He is the pure, sinless "Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). He was sacrificed by being nailed to a "tree," a wooden cross.

There, all the sins of every person went into His body. There, He paid the full punishment for all sins, so that we could be set free from sin's guilt and pain. Isaiah, seven hundred years earlier, had foreseen this suffering for the “iniquities" and "transgressions" (sins) of mankind.

“He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our
iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him,
and by His wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone
astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has
laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:5-6).

Peter, who saw Jesus die, reported the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy.

He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we
“might die to sins and live for righteousness; by His wounds
you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24).

We come to Him in deep sorrow for the suffering our sins have caused. We place our trust in Him and in the poser of His saving death. In a spiritual way, we enter into his death. There, in His death, or sins are washed by His sacred blood (more about this in Lesson Two). Thus we begin a new life full of joy and hope. Christ's death makes the way to our heavenly home clear and open. This is truly Good News! Our closeness with God does not rely on how perfect we are. Instead, we depend on the truly Perfect – the unfailing goodness, kindness and faithfulness of the eternal God (Ephesians 2:8-9; 1 John 1:9).

“He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done,
but because of His mercy...” (Titus 3:5).

The arrow that has come down has hit the target on man’s greatest need – the need to be forgiven. No other religion has the same arrow. Our Creator loves us and He has proved His mercy by the Savior who came down to rescue us!

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

THE ARROW THAT FLIES UPWARD

The Gospel's third arrow flies upward, from the earth. Every world religion has its great heroes. Long after their deaths these men are still honored. Their followers make long journeys to see the places where their heroes lived. They especially try to visit the burial place of their founding leader. When Communism was still popular, thousands used to go to Moscow. There lay the body of Lenin, looking almost 'alive' in its sealed glass box. Long lines of people used to go to see and honor Lenin. Their large numbers and their great speeches could not hide this one fact -- their leader was dead. So it is with the great men of the past. They are dead and buried.

Fortunately for all mankind, Christianity is different. You can go to the place where Jesus was killed, Jerusalem. If you look for the grave of Jesus, you will be led to a tomb. But the body of Jesus is not in that grave. His body is nowhere to be found on earth! How can this be? When one carefully examines all of the evidence, there is only one sure explanation. The body of Jesus did not stay in the tomb because His body broke free from death.

God raised Him from the dead, freeing Him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on Him (Acts 2:24).

Paul was one of many eyewitnesses to the fact that Jesus' body was alive again after He died. Paul became a special messenger or apostle. He was "set apart for the Gospel of God -- the Gospel He promised beforehand through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures" (Romans 1:1-2). This Gospel is all about God's Son:

[The Gospel] regarding His Son, who as to His human nature was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by His resurrection from the dead (Romans 1:3-4).

Yes, Jesus is fully human. He is also far more. He is the Son of God. How do we know this? It is proved true "by His resurrection from the dead." No other religion has this arrow rising upward. The arrow that destroys the power of death strikes at the very heart of man's greatest fear. Death has always trapped and defeated people, even the very best. " . . . All their lives [they] were held in slavery by their fear of death." Now Jesus victory over death sets us free from that fear (Hebrews 2:15). The risen Christ shares with us His resurrection power (see Lesson Two). He assures us that He will also raise our bodies from the grave, never to die again (John 5:24-29; Romans 8:11).

Many religions offer some form of 'heaven' or 'eternal life.' That is easy to offer. It is much harder to prove that the promise will be kept. (Most religions do not even try to give real proof.) Christ has made the firm offer of eternal life. More than that, He has proven His power to give life beyond death.

THE ARROW THAT FLIES BACK

The fourth arrow flies back, into the past. The events of Jesus' death, burial and resurrection took place many years ago. You may be wondering how we can be so sure that these things took place. How do we know that Jesus actually died before He was placed in a grave? How do we know that His dead body came back to life? In answer, think of any important person or event of the past. How do you know facts about that person or event? You depend on reports and records from the past. All that we know of history comes from such sources. Every day all of us depend on such records. We rely on the reports of those who were there and who saw what happened. We call them "eyewitnesses." The reports they give are called "testimony." They are especially important when trying to find out important facts, such as when a person is on trial. This is the same reliable way we know the facts about Jesus Christ.

John, an apostle, was present at the death of Jesus. He saw Jesus breathe His last. He saw the Roman soldier drive a spear deep into the side of Jesus. He saw the blood and water gushing out of the body. Concerning this John wrote,

The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony
is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies
so that you also may believe (John 19:35).

There could be no doubt that Jesus was dead. Jesus' enemies never tried to claim that He had not really died. Roman crosses were for killing. There were many witnesses who saw that death at the cross. Yet, three days later, many witnesses also saw that same Jesus alive again. He was among them for a period of forty days (Acts 1). They saw Him and talked to Him. They touched Him. They could even place their fingers into the wounds He received on the cross (John 20). The reports and letters from those eyewitnesses and their helpers is called the New Testament.

Examine the characters and lives of the reporters. They were the kind of men who would be welcomed as witnesses into any good court of law. Look into how the New Testament has come down to us. There is no other ancient book like it. It has by far the greatest number of old copies. The best of these copies goes back very close to the time of the actual events and witnesses. There was not sufficient time for wild stories or legends to gradually develop around the man Jesus. The New Testament is the accurate arrow to the past, by which we are certain in our knowledge of Jesus. Now, none of us has to guess about how to prepare to meet God. Our religious 'faith' does not have to rest on the human traditions of a place where we happened to be born. As followers of Christ, our faith is real and our hope is sure. For we can know that the Good News is true.

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