What Is the Gospel?

 

 

A question that needs to be addressed

Especially in our time

Since in pulpit practice

We see aberrations of every kind.

 

Some minor, some major,

Some totally out of sync,

Some so grossly misrepresentative,

It’s difficult to think.

 

But where do we begin

To address such a critical issue?

I would think via the Holy Scriptures,

Wouldn’t you?

 

And in this poetic discourse

There is no place better to start

Than at Romans, the very first chapter

Which is at the very heart.

 

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ,

Called to be an apostle,

Separated unto the Gospel of God,

Which he had promised afore by his prophets

In the holy scriptures.

 

In the holy scriptures

Therein is the full picture!

And now for the current feature.

 

 

 

In the Law or the Torah:

In the book of the beginning,

God dictated to his prophet, Moses,

What would be the ending.

 

The ending of the arch enemy

We’ve come to know as Satan,

Once regarded as Lucifer, son of the morning,

In the heavenly kingdom.

 

Cast down from heaven

Headlong into to the earth,

Disrupted communion and communication

Bringing about sin’s birth.

 

And with sin came death

Which in the first instance was spiritual

But not along after the Fall

Became physical.

 

The soul that sins shall die

Was the sentence given

Unless of course, a plan could be put in place

For that soul to be forgiven.

 

And thus came the first pointer

Of the lifesaving Gospel

Which having been fulfilled in Christ

Is available to all people.

 

Turn in the holy scriptures

To Genesis chapter 3

And there at verse number 15

You will clearly see.

 

The first verse of promise

Concerning the Gospel of God,

Yes, it is right there and then declared

Immediately after the Fall.

 

 

 

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman,

And between thy seed and her seed;

And it shall bruise thy head,

And thou shall bruise his heel.

 

Bruise is better rendered as crush

Signifying a fatal blow

And this would materialize at Golgotha

Which the scriptures show.

 

In this first ever court case

Sentences were given to three:

First to the serpent then the woman

Then to the man finally.

 

The serpent was the cause

Of the woman being deceived

And the man being an accessory after the fact,

A just sentence received. 

 

Thus, sin originated

And by way of sin entered death

And for both the man and the woman

Ended that Sabbath day rest.

 

For in it while God had rested

Man’s rest was disrupted

And on account of man’s disobedience

All else was corrupted.

 

 

 

Fast forward through millennia

To welcome a new born babe

Which was born of a virgin peasant

In a virtual cave.

 

She had known no man

Yet this maiden had conceived,

It was the incarnation of the Christ child

Though many did not believe.

 

He shall save his people from their sin

His very name had meant

And straight from the heavenly throne room

This divine babe was sent.

 

Sent by the Heavenly Father

To be the Gospel of God

For unto you is born, the angel did say

That night when they called.

 

They announced to shepherds

The arrival of the Saviour

That prophets had foretold of long ago

To fulfil God’s pleasure.

 

For it pleased God

To bruise his own begotten Son

That through his death and resurrection

Our salvation would be won.

 

 

 

So, what is the Gospel

If I may ask you again?

It is the power of God unto salvation

Paul stated unashamed.

 

Quite unlike the Galatians

Who had quickly turned away

From the path in which he had pointed

Back in that day.

 

Perhaps they were confused

Or maybe were ashamed

Of the power of God unto salvation

Paul preached in Jesus’ name.

 

 

 

For salvation is in no one

Other than Jesus the Christ

Who crushed the head of the serpent

In his once-for-all sacrifice.

 

Herein is the Gospel of God

Aka the Gospel of Christ

Who in his own body on a cruel cross

Paid sin’s ultimate price.

 

In the words of a sacred hymn

And worthy of review,

I now share its Gospel message

In a verse with you.

 

There was no other good enough

To pay the price of sin;

He only could unlock the gate

Of heav’n, and let us in.

 

“I am the door,” said Jesus,

“By me if any man enter in,

He shall be saved and shall go in and out,

And find pasture.”

 

So, what is the Gospel?

It is, God’s kingdom has come

And is made manifest in the work

And person of the Son.

 

In those days came John the Baptist,

Preaching in the wilderness of Judea,

And saying, Repent ye:

For the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

 

Spoken of by Isaiah the prophet:

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness,

Prepare ye the way of the Lord,

Make his paths straight.”

 

 

 

Thus, John seeing Jesus coming to him

Said, “Behold the Lamb of God,

Which taketh away

The sin of the world.”

 

From that time

Jesus began to preach and to say,

“Repent: for the kingdom of heaven

Is at hand.”

 

For some, at hand means

In another two thousand years

But for that 1^st Century audience it meant

Virtually here.

 

The king had arrived

And with him the kingdom had come

In the person and work

Of Jesus, God’s Son.

 

And thus, we have the Gospel

In a proverbial nutshell,

‘Tis the person and work of Jesus Christ

Which the prophets did foretell.

 

This is what the Gospel is,

How oft do you hear it?

I have some disheartening news for you,

Not in many a pulpit.

 

What the Gospel is not

Is mostly what is spoken

And there is a dire need to present

More than just a token.

 

 

 

The Gospel of God

Is the Gospel of Christ,

Is the Gospel of the kingdom of heaven

And eternal life.

 

How beautiful are the feet of them

That preach the gospel of peace,

And bring glad tidings

Of good things!

 

Stewart Russell © October 15, 2025