the gospel
Jesus. Who is He and why does He matter?
It all started at the beginning of creation. Adam and Eve had been personally handcrafted by God, made in His image. Unlike all other creatures, they received souls that will never die. God placed these two in a garden paradise and gave them one rule. "Do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." God was testing them to see if they would trust Him.
Well, they did not believe God. They trusted in themselves. Aided by the temptation of Satan, they both ate the forbidden fruit and broke God's law, In doing so, they broke the universe. They, for the first time, felt pain and guilt for what they had done. This guilt separated them from God. So when God showed up to talk with them in the garden. they hid in fear. But God, in His love, pursued them. When confronted they admitted their wrong and God offered up the first sacrifice on their behalf, killing some animals to cloth their nakedness. (Genesis 3:21) Tragically, they were forced from the garden paradise. From now on, life would be hard for them and their lives would end in death. Death is the consequence of sin. (All the pain we experience in this world and in our lives today is because we do not listen to and obey God.)
Even so, in the midst of this great tragedy, God made a promise. In his curse of Satan, God said, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” (Genesis 3:15 ESV) One of Adam and Eve's offspring would overturn the work of sin and death. Satan and death would be conquered. But not yet.
Many years passed by and people kept sinning. And that sin 
offended God and separated them from Him. To make things right, God instituted temple worship that included a sacrificial system. A perfect animal had to die so the sinner could continue to live. And this went on for many, many years. Generations passed and not one word from God. The Old Testament history ended quietly, with the prophets of God falling silence for 400 years. God's people began to wonder if God had forgotten his promise to Eve.
And that brings us to the New Testament. On a quiet, peaceful night in the small town of Bethlehem in Judea, a child was born to a rather insignificant 
couple. And yet, the pregnancy and birth was anything but ordinary. For the angel Gabriel had visited the young woman nine months prior and told her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” (Luke 1:30-33 ESV) And so it was. And the virgin got pregnant by God and then gave birth to the very Son of God.
That evening, shepherds came in from the fields telling of strange sight. Angels had appeared and declared, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:8-21)
Then the Gospel accounts fall mostly silent about Jesus until God awakened the prophetic ministry in a man named John the Baptizer. John would routinely preach a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins at the River Jordan, With it came a warning. “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” Luke 3:16-17 ESV) John's message was clear. Both salvation and damnation would come from the Messiah! It all depended on whether a person would come to Christ in a repentant spirit and be saved, or in an arrogant, self-righteous spirit and be condemned.
One day as the prophet was baptizing, he saw 
the Messiah coming, and proclaimed, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!'" (John 1:29 ESV) This statement reveals to us the mission of Jesus. He was going to fulfill the promise to Eve to destroy Satan and death! Unlike all humanity, who are born under the sin of Adam (Romans 5:12; 15) Jesus was perfect because His father was God Himself. While all humans have "sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23) Jesus, being God, remained perfect. So, while the "wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23) for sinners, Jesus' sinlessness meant he never had to die. Jesus came to do what the Old Testament animal sacrifices could never do, really pay the death penalty for sinners. As Paul clearly states in what is probably the greatest paragraph of hope ever written: "But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith." (Romans 3:21-25 ESV) Jesus would die as our legal substitute (propitiation) so that by faith in His work, we may be saved from the judgment of God.
Jesus would go to the cross and die in your place, taking your sins upon Himself to play your sin debt. As Peter says, "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed." (I Peter 2:24 ESV) He died in your place!
But Jesus did not stay dead. For God so loved His Son he raised Him from the dead. Besides the credible testimonies of the Gospel writers, the Apostle Paul writes, " For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: 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, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me." (I Corinthians 15:3-8 ESV)
Jesus is not dead! He is, at this moment alive. His resurrection proved He succeeded and defeated death and the devil at the cross! This is important because one day you will die for your sins. It says in Hebrews 9:27, "it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment," Are you ready or are you fearful to have all your sins, hidden and all, revealed? If you are scared, repent! He stands, arms open wide! He loved you enough to die for you! Run to Him while you still can! Heed the words of John, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (I John 1:9 ESV)
He will hear you and you will be saved! One day, Jesus is going to return in all His glory. The King of Kings coming back to earth to reclaim the fallen kingdom, And he will have great victory and put all his enemies under His feet. If you are saved, you have nothing to fear. But if not, please heed the warning of the Apostle John below...
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” (John 3:16-21 ESV)
FOOTNOTES
-