The Good News?!

Now this is a question that has moved me quite some years now:

What exactly is the good news of the gospel?

Yes, Jesus died for my sin so that when I believe in him, I can come to the father and have eternal life.

Sure, okay, but I didn't really get what the good news is.

Until today.

I've seen this:

And I thought “No, that's not quite right. I don't believe that is right.” And then I had to think further – what does really happen to those who haven't heard of the “good news” of Jesus? Are they free, off to go? Will they inherit god's kingdom with me in the end but I was just unfortunate enough to have heard of Jesus and hence I had to decide whether I'd choose to believe in him or not? Honestly, that wouldn't make much sense.

So I remembered that book I had started reading but put aside cause the topic was too heavy for me at that point. I picked it up again - The book is called “What of the Unevangelized?” and it basically looks at “what does the Bible say about this matter?”

I'm pretty sure we all heard of some of the stuff like the Book of Life, Judgment day, Jesus talking about sheep and goats, darkness, the weeping and gnashing of teeth and so on. To sum it up – you can either end off in eternity with god (in God's kingdom), or in eternity without god (in “hell”).

There are some people who believe that god will redeem everyone in the end but that's not biblical.

So, what's the good news?

The bible says, that everyone has sinned and has fallen short of god's glory. Everyone has sinned. (Romans 3:23) God is holy, God can't stand sin, so we're all doomed. That's it? What about “God is love” then? Good, that's the point where Jesus comes in, the sacrifice for all of us. But before I get into that, back to “everyone has sinned”. Sure about that? And what exactly is sin anyway?

Let's see what Wikipedia says:

In Abrahamic contexts, sin is the act of violating God's will. Sin can also be viewed as anything that violates the ideal relationship between an individual and God; or as any diversion from the ideal order for human living. To sin has been defined as "to miss the mark".

Alright, so it's violating God's will or the individual relationship to God and missing the mark.

What is God's will? Well, we got the 10 commandments and everything God tells us through the Bible. But HOW ON EARTH should the people who have NO ACCESS to the bible or people who'd tell them about it know what God's will is????

Let's skip back to Romans. (I love that letter, it's so great for answering basic questions!) In Romans 1:20 it says “they are without excuse” - who? Everyone.

“For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.”

So how did they know God? Through creation. But they didn't honor him. There are many religions out there that worship creation, but not the creator. That is “missing the mark”. Nowadays many people, while not wanting to believe in the God of the Bible specifically, do believe in some greater being because of what they see – creation. God reveals himself through his creation. For example, look at the order in nature, the universe. Hardly believable that this came into being by accident. Order born from chaos? How probable is that?

So people know that there is a God. Now what about his will?

Let's look at Romans 2:14-15:

For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them (…)

I'd like to tell you a little part from the book I got to read here: 

A missionary went to a yet untouched tribe. He wanted to know about the moral standard of the tribe and asked through the interpreter, what they'd understand as “sin”. The chief answered: “Sin is murder, theft, adultery and witchcraft.”

So yeah, we know it, don't we? We do know what God's will is. Our heart tells us. Our conscience accuses or excuses us. So we really do know it, even without the bible. And that's why everyone is without excuse.

There are so many philosophers talking about how people should be and so on. But none could ever say that they themselves were able to live this way. Instead it's like Paul said “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. ” (Romans 7:19)

So people realize “there is a God” and they know what's right or wrong (conscience) and yet everyone has “missed the mark” and won't end up in God's kingdom.

“For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.” (Romans 2:12-13)

It is a great hope that God knows everyone's heart and will judge everyone righteously. But this is also a great responsibility. For that means that people who don't know more than what their heart tells them, so to say who don't have an insight into God's word, do not have as much responsibility as the ones who do.

Okay, but now, everyone has sinned and has no excuse – and that's it? Here we come back to Jesus. And that's the good news that Jesus paid the price of sin, which is death, in our stead. But here's the catchy thing – he died, yes. He rose again, yes. Jesus is alive. BUT!

I have to believe and accept this for me.

I have to realize that I have sinned and have no chance whatsoever to redeem myself but that only through God's grace in Jesus I am offered redemption. I have to repent. And I have to receive.

But how should I do this if I have never heard of Jesus?!?!

I won't get redeemed. I will be judged by my deeds and I tell you, I didn't always do what's right. I didn't always follow the path I knew I should go. I am guilty.

So that's it. That's the good news. That Jesus died for me, in my place. That he took MY blame and shame and guilt and set me free. I have accepted, no, not only accepted, I have received this and hence I am now a child of the kingdom.

But everyone who did not won't be spending eternity with God. Just look at John 3:16 and 18:

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 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.”

Whoever does not believe is condemned already – because they have already sinned. You see? Everyone who doesn't gets his or her life straight with God is condemned because of the sin they did. God can't let sinners into heaven. Heaven is a holy place. Sin cannot exist within holiness. Through Jesus we are made holy. And only through Jesus, nothing we can do ourselves to become holy. That's why we can come to God.

And that's why it is so important to tell people about what Jesus did for them.

It's not “believe this or die” but “you're already dead, this is a resurrection offer”.

And that is really Good News!