Who Is Jesus?

Christians are always talking about “the Gospel”. Well, what is the Gospel?

The Gospel is the good news about Jesus. But what is it that makes it good news? In the beginning, God made everything good with beauty and peace. And yet, it wasn’t long until humanity messed things up through rebellion and disbelief. The world became—and continues to be—fraught with pain, suffering, decay and worst of all — death. And yet, God did not give up on his creation, but promised to make all things new again. This brings us to Jesus.

Jesus lived, breathed, and existed as a human. He perfectly loved God and loved his neighbor, which is exactly what God wanted all along. Jesus lived a perfect life that we so often fail to do.

But why did Jesus die? Because this world is not as it should be. Because decay and injustice abound. And the truth is we are more complicit in the brokenness of the world. We love ourselves more than our neighbor and God. And this gives birth to evil.

God, being just, must not let wrongdoing and evil go unpunished. But he also desires to rescue us from evil. Therefore, Jesus came to take our penalty and the consequences for our selfish actions. He died in our place. But he also died to destroy the power of sin and death. Heb. 2:14 says, that through Jesus’ death, he destroyed one who has the power of death. So Jesus takes our place, but he’s also conquered our worst foe – death.

How do we know he beat death? He rose from the grave. The Resurrection shows us that not can we be forgiven for our wrongdoings, but more that God is going to remake all things – all things! Jesus is alive, and he is recreating all things in the power of his grace and love. This means marriages can be restored, relationships can be revived, hurts can be healed, priorities can be realigned, despair gives way to hope, fear gives way to peace, death gives way to life.

The cross of Jesus shows us that we are more broken than we care to admit. But the cross also shows us that we are more loved than we could ever imagine. And when you see what he did for you and you believe it, it changes you. You realize that Jesus knows you more intimately than you want but he does more for you than you could ever dream. You realize that Christ offers a different way—a way that doesn’t lead to death, but life everlasting. And that life begins now.