The Greek word transliterated gospel is euanggelion (pronounced yoo-ang-ghel-ee-on). It means good news. It is the source of the Latinised word “evangelium” from which we get “evangelist” and “evangelism”. As a noun euanggelion occurs 76 times in the New Testament. In biblical numerology 7 is the number of perfection, 6 is the number of man. 76 signifies the perfecting of man by God. The verb is euangelizo. It means to bring or announce good news. It occurs 54 times in the New Testament. In biblical numerology 5 is the number of grace, 4 is the number of the world. The number 54 signifies God’s dispensation of grace to the world. And so joy to the world! The gospel is therefore about the dispensation of grace to the world for the perfecting of man. Euangelium and euangelizo are derived from the noun, angelos which means “messenger”.
In classical Greek, euangelos is someone who brought a message of victory or other personal news that brought joy. As Christians therefore, we bring the message of victory on the cross to the world. We are messengers of joy. By the very definition of the gospel, threatening people with hellfire is NOT the gospel. It is not good news! Neither is the condemnation of the sinner the gospel. Jesus did not come to condemn the world. The gospel is so beautiful, so lofty, so inspiring, so fabulous, so marvelous, so wondrous, so complete!
This is the narrative of the gospel: There was once a man named Adam. He was the Adam of the human race. Adam had everything going for him until he disobeyed God and sinned. He tampered with the wrong stuff. In disobedience he ate from a tree with the code name “Good & Evil”. It was a knowledge programme. Code. His system wasn’t designed to handle it. Like a virus it messed up his operating system, altered his genetic code. His capacity became degraded. The sequence shut down his core – killed him spiritually. And it did psychological damage to him. He became paranoid – became afraid and accused God for his mistakes. As the prime man, his source code being corrupt the virus was transmitted down his lineage.
Adam was the first weapon of mass destruction. We soon see evidence of psychological damage in his genealogy as his first son Cain murdered his brother. He committed murder but was so damaged he even asked for state protection, with impertinence. Depravity, hatred, jealousy, murder, disrespect of divinity, blasphemy were symptomatic of the psychological damage. Instead of the higher consciousness promised by the Serpent, man became a malfunctioning biological implement. Adam’s spiritual death would eventually lead to physical death. And so the man died, twice – spiritually and physically.
The law of Genesis states that everything must bear after its own kind. A soul-dead Adam therefore gave birth to soul-dead children, and on and on it went. And that was how Adam, a life receiver became a death transmitter to his generations. Sin changed the NATURE of man. We therefore sin because we are sinners. We are not sinners because we sin.
But how to resolve the legal problem? Sin is a criminal offence with capital punishment. The wages of sin is death. The antidote to sin is blood. Without the shedding of blood there’s no amnesty for sins. (Hebrews 9:22). Vicarious liability is allowed in spiritual jurisprudence. An innocent 3rd party can take the rap on behalf of another. But that pretty much ruled out everyone. Everyone had a sin nature. There was no innocent man. The interim fix was the killing of innocent animals for blood to buy back some life. (Life is in the blood). Thus in the Old Testament there was a continuous sacrifice of innocent animals. Solomon sacrificed 142,000 sheep and oxen at the dedication of the temple. 142,000! That gives you an idea of the amount of blood needed if blood is animal grade.
The man/animal foreign exchange rate is hugely disproportionate. Animals can’t equate human life in value. And sin has a high inflationary rate. The value in the blood of animals thus suffered massive depreciation. The best the blood of animals could do was pare down insurance premium for one year. (Blood is spiritual currency). Fixing human nature thus became an impossibility. An out of the box solution was required. The truth is, only God could take the rap. Man could not die for man. Adamic bloodline was contaminated with sin. Neither could angels. They’re servants and helpers. (Hebrews 1:7). And they’re not primary source code. The Creator of Adam was thus designated as the giver of life, yet again. Jesus had to make the sacrifice.
But there was a problem: God has no blood. He’s spirit, he’s not human. To save man God had to become a man. But then there was the question of how to bypass the genetic stain of mankind – the sin nature.
The solution was a scientific secret called incarnation. Allowed God to take on human flesh without contamination. Jesus had to take on Adam’s nature and historic sequence- one of the reasons he’s called the last Adam. If Adam died twice Jesus had to die twice. He must die spiritually and he must die physically. And he must die as a criminal. Adam had committed a criminal offence. It’s why Jesus was crucified with criminals.
To bypass the sin nature of Adam Jesus cannot however be born of the seed of man – human sperm. It’s why Joseph could not impregnate Mary for the birth of Jesus. It was a bypass of Adam’s genetic stain. Incarnation was a novel scientific experimentation. Had never been done before. A young virgin named Mary was chosen for the experiment. She would be impregnated with the “holy thing”. But the holy thing must not co-mingle body fluid with her, or take on her cells lest it partakes of the sin nature. Now, how God grew a fetus without exchange of body fluid with the mother remains a mystery. Angel Gabriel just told Mary: “the power of the most high will overshadow you, the holy (pure, sinless) thing which shall be born of you will be called Son of God.” Luke 1:35 AMP.
And so was Jesus born. He donated his blood at the age of 33. Was sacrificed on the cross. The number 33 is significant. It refers to the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. And 3 is the number of divinity. Divinity spent 3 days and 3 nights in the belly of the earth. Divinity rose on the 3rd day. Jesus died twice, just like Adam. He died spiritually when all our sins were laid on him; and he died physically. He gave us new life through his death and resurrection. He died and died again. And so we’re born, and born again. He became our substitute on that cross, paid the wages of sin so we can live. This is the gospel. Thou shalt not smoke… Thou shalt not drink… That’s NOT the gospel! The gospel is Jesus crucified and resurrected. The gospel is victory over death on the cross. The gospel is healing for all our diseases. The gospel is peace.
Please pray this prayer: Father forgive me. I am a sinner. I know that Jesus died for me, that you raised him from the dead. I accept him today as my Lord and my Saviour. Amen!
© Leke Alder | talk2me@lekealder.com