The Eternal Gospel

(3 Minute Read)

There is a part of the Gospel that is rarely included when the Gospel is presented. Do you know the part to which I’m referring?

The word Gospel means Good News, and it refers to how man can be reconciled to his Creator.

Repentance

One part that is often left out of the Gospel is repentance for sin. To repent means to be sorry for sin and to determine to turn away from it as part of becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ and accepting by faith His death as payment for your sin.

Repentance is an important part of the true Gospel which is often overlooked when calling people to follow Jesus. Jesus Himself included it when speaking with His disciples after the Resurrection:
“Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” (Luke 24:46-47)

But repentance is not the part of the Gospel to which I’m referring. There’s another part which is almost never mentioned. Do you know what it is?

Resurrection

The physical Resurrection of Jesus is often skipped or downplayed because it’s hard to believe and some feel it makes the Gospel harder to accept. Yet the Apostle Paul considered it an essential part of the Gospel of salvation:
If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9)

But the Resurrection is not the part of the Gospel to which I’m referring. There’s another part which is almost never mentioned. Do you know what it is?

The Missing Part

The last time the Gospel is mentioned in the New Testament occurs in this passage:
And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people; and he said with a loud voice, “Fear God, and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters.” (Revelation 14:6-7)

The significance of this passage is that it identifies a part of the Gospel which many do not even think of as part of the Gospel.

Part of the Gospel is the identity of the One whom we are to worship and serve. The angel sent to preach the eternal gospel to earthlings in the last days identifies the One we are to worship as He “who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters.” The angel says as part of the gospel he is preaching that we are to worship the Great Creator.

The purpose of the Bible is to teach man about God and to lead him to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. Thus the Bible must introduce God and Jesus to man.

Why does the Bible begin by identifying God as the Creator?
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1)

Why does the Gospel of John begin by identifying Jesus as the Creator?
All things came into being through Him [Jesus]; and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. (John 1:3)

Why did the Apostle Paul introduce God to Gentiles as the Creator?
In Lystra on Paul’s 1st Missionary Journey, he identified the true living God as the One “Who made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them.” (Acts 14:15) In Paul’s “Unknown God” address to the Athenians on his 2nd Missionary Journey, he identified the true God as the “God who made the world and all things in it.” (Acts 17:24)

The answer to all three questions is that The Great Creator is the essential identifying description of God for mankind!

These cited verses (Genesis 1:1; John 1:3; Acts 14:15; 17:24) introduce man to God and to Jesus with the most awesome identification which men can understand, God the Creator.

Throughout the Old Testament God identified Himself to the Israelites as the Creator, Maker of heaven and earth. In both Lystra and Athens Paul was addressing a pagan culture which did not know the God of the Old Testament as the Jews did. He therefore introduced God to the people of that culture the same way God identified Himself to the Jews in the Old Testament — as the Creator.

Identifying God as the Creator and believing in Biblical creation is not a salvation issue. One does not have to be a creationist to repent of sin and follow Jesus Christ as Lord. But creation is a Gospel issue. To deliver an accurate gospel we must identify God as the Creator, just as the angel God sends to preach the gospel in the last days will do (Revelation 14:6-7).

The only true worldview, the Biblical worldview, begins where the Bible begins — with God as the Creator of the universe. We must introduce God to people of our day as The Great Creator, the One who made the universe. This is part of the eternal, unchanging gospel.

The true, eternal, unchanging Gospel presents Jesus of Nazareth as God and Creator as well as Savior. He is the sin-bearing, crucified, and resurrected God-Man who is the coming King of kings, Lord of lords, and Final Judge. The Gospel calls men to serve and worship Him.

Questions to Ponder

1. In your experience, what essential part(s) of the Gospel are sometimes omitted?
2. Has your Sunday School or Bible Study class ever assigned Revelation 14:6-7 as a memory verse? Will you memorize it today?
3. Have you applied the Eternal Gospel to your own life? Have you acknowledged Jesus as your Creator, Savior, and Lord?

Share your thoughts on these questions in the comments below. It could encourage or help another reader.

Soli Deo Gloria.

Read the sequels:
Is Belief in Creation Necessary for Salvation?
Wrestling with “Eternal”

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©William T. Pelletier, Ph.D.
“contending earnestly for the faith”
“destroying speculations against the knowledge of God”
“for the defense of the gospel”
(Jude 1:3; 2 Cor 10:5; Phil 1:16)
Wednesday September 26, 2018 A.D.

We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.
(2 Corinthians 10:5)