the gospel tagged posts

What is Jesus’ Message in the New Testament

Jesus’ first words recorded after His baptism, recognized as the “official” beginning of His ministry as the Messiah of Israel and Saviour of the world, and His retreat into the desert where Satan tempted Him with fame and power, were, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Mt :17; Mk 1:15) μετανοέω metanoeo, translated as “repent”, means a change of mind, or of perception, opinion, ideas. Jesus’ first call to the people was “change”; they were to change the way they thought. His reason: the kingdom of God was at hand. Mark added that He had told the people to “believe the gospel”, which means “good news”. What was that good news? That the “kingdom of God” or the “kingdom of heaven” was “at hand”; it was upon them...

The gospel – good news – of salvation is that Christ took your sins upon Himself when He went to the cross. He died the death in your place, effectively serving your sentence for your sins. He rose from death on the 3rd day, as recorded in Old & New Testaments, bringing resurrection and eternal life to all who will believe on Him.

When we stand in judgment at the end of our lives, whether by death or the rapture, we will first be judged according to our response to Jesus Christ. If we trusted Him for our salvation, we wear His righteousness before the throne of judgment; we are freed from the penalty for our wrongs because He served it on our behalf. He is described as our advocate; He both defends us and serves our sentence.

If we have refused Him during our earthly life, we will s...