What does it mean that Jesus is the Savior, the Messiah, which is at the heart of the gospel message? The Apostle Paul preached the gospel throughout his world, and this is what he wrote, “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). This is the heart of the gospel. It’s important for all of us to implant this deeply into our hearts and minds. Christ died for our sins, He was buried, and He was raised again on the third day. That is the cornerstone, the foundation of our faith.
But why? To answer this, we must go back to the beginning. When we look back to our origin story, we discover that we have been made in the image of God (Genesis 1:17). Humans reflect God’s divine nature in their ability to achieve the unique characteristics with which they have been endowed. As believers, we understand that we, through God’s Spirit, can be transformed in an ever-increasing measure into the image of Christ by growing in our ability to share His love, have His character, and join with Him in His mission. We have life because God created us and literally has breathed life into us (Genesis 2:7). I share this to emphasize that God created us with such intimacy because we exist to live in relationship with Him, which is good news.
In fact, we were even given a perfect place to live, Eden. The Hebrew word translated as “Eden” is taken to mean “pleasure” or “delight.” Eden was planned and planted by God Himself. It was mankind’s first home. Eden was a place where Adam and Eve could meet God. The Creator “was walking in the garden in the cool of the day” (Genesis 3:8), and Adam and Eve could be with Him and converse with Him. In the middle of the garden was “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:9), the fruit of which God had said Adam could not eat: “You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die” (Genesis 2:17). It was the one prohibition in the Garden of Eden. God had created Adam and Eve to be free, with a moral sense and the ability to make decisions and choose for themselves. The presence of a forbidden tree provided the opportunity for Adam and Eve to make a real, necessary choice to either obey or disobey. Unfortunately, Adam failed the test. The serpent in the garden, Satan, tempted Eve with a false promise of blessing, and the woman ate the forbidden fruit. She, in turn, gave the fruit to her husband, who also partook. Both were disobedient to the word of God, and the consequences of their sin were disastrous for them and all their descendants (Genesis 3:1-19), including you and me. They lost their fellowship with God, they lost their home, they were cast out of Eden, they lost their innocence, and this is bad news for all of us.
This left humanity east of Eden, unable to return but longing for intimacy with God and the home for which we have been created. Unfortunately, we no longer live in a place that can be described wholly as “pleasurable” or “delightful” due to sickness, wars, loneliness, strife, and loss. But, there is hope, even in the curse of the fall: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15). Genesis 3:15 points to the serpent’s defeat (Satan) by the future descendant of the woman (Jesus). The defeat is inspired by the serpent’s being bruised in the head, which is more serious than the offspring of Eve being bruised in the heel. For this reason, v. 15 has been labeled the “protoevangelium,” the first pronouncement of the gospel, which means good news (Col 2:6-15).
For thousands of years, God began to weave a sacred thread throughout history by creating a people, the chosen people, Israel, to be a light unto the nations. Unfortunately, just like Adam and Eden, they failed to be pure light. Time and time again, they strayed from God. God sent prophet after prophet to call them back to Him, and share prophesies of the coming Messiah. The Messiah or Christ, which means “anointed one,” is the promised deliverer mentioned in Genesis 3:15 and throughout all the Old Testament prophesies. Thousands of years came and went, then something happened, the Messiah came. Jesus came. God’s Son humbled Himself and took upon His divinity human flesh (John 1:14). The word incarnation means “the act of being made flesh.” It comes from the Latin version of John 1:14.
Jesus came with a mission: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). Jesus came to seek and save those far from God, from Him, but so close to His heart. Our problem is our sin: “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Due to sin, we deserve death. This is a debt we can’t pay. Only a perfect sacrifice, like those mentioned in the prophesies and foreshadowed through the sacrificial system recorded in the Old Testament, could pay the price of our sin.
The Promised One, the Messiah, the Anointed One is Jesus Christ, who demonstrated the most profound act of love of all time. We discover in Scripture: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). God did not just say He loved us but showed it by coming and dying on the cross. Jesus declared about Himself: “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). In Christianity, the cross is the intersection of God’s love and His justice. Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). Because of Jesus’ atoning sacrifice on the cross, those who place their faith and trust in Him alone for salvation are guaranteed eternal life (John 3:16), which is good news offering us a choice to receive Christ and salvation.
However, if Jesus had just died for us, it would have been a profound act of love, but we would still be lost in our sins and not have eternal life. Therefore, something more needed to and did occur. Remember what Paul wrote about the heart of the gospel (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). Jesus died on the cross. He lay dead and buried. I believe Satan believed he had won. The Disciples thought they had lost. But light pierced through in the darkest moment, and Christ was alive. This, of course, speaks of the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25), and in that statement, claimed to be the source of both. We have no hope of resurrection apart from Christ, no eternal life. Jesus does more than give life; He is life, and that’s why death has no power over Him. Jesus confers His life on those who trust in Him so that we can share His triumph over death (1 John 5:11-12). We who believe in Jesus Christ will personally experience resurrection because, having the life Jesus gives, we have overcome death. Death can’t win (1 Corinthians 15:53-57). The resurrection is the triumphant and glorious victory for every believer and good news to all who receive Christ as Savior and Lord. To receive this new life, salvation, and eternal hope, we must choose Him.
Way back in Eden, Adam made a fateful choice. But, like Adam, we all have made choices that reflect the same lack of trust in God. We all have fallen short and deserve death, but our debt has been paid in full through Christ’s loving and salvific act of dying in our stead on the cross. We have no need to live in our regrets or be consumed by fears, for as the grave could not keep Christ down, through His resurrection, He offers new life to each of us. Salvation is offered to all of us today, and its full effect will be experienced by all who come to Christ when in the unforeseen future, we spend eternity with Him in paradise. God offers to turn our lost lives around and experience His goodness. No one has ever found complete rest apart from Christ. Do you want rest, joy, peace, security, and abundant life? Come to Jesus and receive Him as Savior and Lord; surrender your life and heart to Jesus, the Messiah. Soli Deo Gloria (Glory to God Alone)!