[Announcer] (0:00 - 0:16) Think about the Bible like you never have before! You're listening to Christian Questions. Experience more episodes, videos and Bible study resources at ChristianQuestions.com. Our topic: "Is the Gospel a Success or a Failure?" Here's Rick, Jonathan, and Julie.
[Rick] (0:16 - 0:31) Welcome everyone, I'm Rick. I'm joined by Jonathan, my co-host for over twenty-five years. Julie, a longtime contributor, is also with us. Jonathan, what's our theme scripture for this episode?
[Jonathan] (0:32 - 0:47) Matthew 9:35: "Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness."
[Rick] (0:47 - 1:42) Jesus was here two thousand years ago. His message was clear, as he had come to pay the price for Adam's sin. He preached, he healed, he called some to follow him, and he gave people hope. Jesus called himself "the way, the truth and the life" and announced that the "kingdom of God was at hand." Now fast-forward two thousand years and we have to ask, all right,
where are we? It's plainly obvious that the world has not come around to follow Jesus. To be blunt, it's also obvious that much of the history of Christianity does not reflect well on the principles that Jesus lived by and taught. What conclusions should we draw from all of this? Has the gospel message failed? Has the redemption that Jesus promised the world
just gone along by the wayside, or is the message of the gospel doing precisely what God had always intended it to do?
[Jonathan] (1:42 - 1:58) Let's start off right away by answering the question: The gospel of God through the teaching of Jesus and the whole Bible has, is and forever will be precisely the overwhelming success that God planned it to be.
[Julie] (1:58 - 2:21) That sounds very positive, but what exactly does "gospel" mean? Sometimes it refers simply to the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke or John. More deeply, it means the "good news" that Jesus preached--a beautiful message about God's plan for ALL people, which has many parts. Just a few of them are Satan's destruction, the earth's restoration, Jesus's sacrifice and God's future kingdom that will bless all of creation.
[Rick] (2:22 - 2:41) The context of the very first chronological mention of this word "gospel" in the New Testament is in the gospel of--in the book of--Mark. This use of the word both introduces the word and then it defines its breadth. First let's look at the definition, and we're going to start right at the beginning of the book of Mark. Jonathan, Mark 1:1:
[Jonathan] (2:41 - 2:58) "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of God." Translated from Greek, "gospel" is a noun meaning "a good message." The verb form of the word means "to announce good news; to evangelize; to bring."
[Julie] (2:58 - 3:31) A part of the word in Hebrew comes from the same word translated as "angel" or "messenger," so it means "to bring tidings." "Tidings" is an old-fashioned word for recent news. Here's one example of how it's used--Luke 2:10. It says: "But the angel said to them, Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people." Now we might be for more familiar with the King James Version:
"I bring you good tidings of great joy." The gospel is good news that needs to be announced!
[Rick] (3:31 - 4:02) That's what it means. Everybody probably knows that but it's important to define it so we can build on it. Along with the birth of Jesus came this heavenly proclamation that good news, that the gospel, would be joyous AND it would be for all of humanity. Now remember that little point as we expand this conversation; it's joyous news for ALL of humanity. At this point just let's pause for a moment. What is The Good News about the Good News?
[Jonathan] (4:02 - 4:10) God's messenger plainly stated that all of humanity would benefit from the gospel through Jesus!
[Rick] (4:11 - 4:25) Remember that thought. Let's go back to Mark 1 because it's going to show us the breadth of the basis of this gospel. Jonathan, let's read verse 1 again. Let's add verses 2-4. Mark 1:1-4:
[Jonathan] (4:25 - 4:57) "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet (Mark then quotes from Malachi 3:1 and Isaiah 40:3): BEHOLD, I SEND MY MESSENGER AHEAD OF YOU, WHO WILL PREPARE YOUR WAY; THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, MAKE READY THE WAY OF THE LORD, MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT. John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins." From this, we directly see that the gospel of Jesus Christ had its foundation in the Old Testament.
[Rick] (4:57 - 5:35) That's such an important point--its foundation is built in the Old Testament! You can't preclude the Old Testament by saying well, we've got the New, we don't need it. John the Baptist was essentially the last Old Testament prophet and it was his job to prepare the way for the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Old Testament gives you all the prep work and views into the future. John the Baptist was the one to turn it over to Jesus and that's why it becomes the gospel of Jesus Christ. It has all of that power and momentum and prophecy behind it. Let's pause again quickly: What is The Good News about the Good News?
[Julie] (5:36 - 5:56) It might surprise some Christians to find that the gospel message can only be fully understood when we include both the Old and the New Testament writings, because they outline God's plan in a unified fashion.
[Rick] (5:56 - 6:09) It is critically important to understand that; you can't have one without the other. With that thought, Mark gives us a basis. Let's stay in the first chapter of Mark but now let's overview how Jesus himself described and lived the gospel first. Let's look at how Jesus himself described it. Mark 1:14-17:
[Jonathan] (6:09 - 6:38) "Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel. As he was going along by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men."
[Rick] (6:38 - 7:18) What do we have in Jesus' description of the gospel? It was marked by the kingdom of heaven (being the kingdom of God) being at hand. It was marked by repenting, and it was marked by believing. He's describing. These are the aspects of the gospel that become very, very, very important and all tie in as the gospel message unfolds. Then we go a little further and Jesus shows us what this gospel would ultimately bring by living and giving its blessings. Now we're going to look at Matthew 9:35-38 and again, living and giving its blessings:
[Jonathan] (7:18 - 7:46) "Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness. Seeing the people, he felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest."
[Julie] (7:46 - 8:01) Now in the context of Jesus proclaiming this gospel message, we learn a little more. The gospel is marked by miracles and shepherding. It's also marked by the need for this harvest. There's a small amount of workers with these really ripe fields to pick.
[Rick] (8:01 - 8:30) We're seeing the gospel unfold because Jesus is telling us about it-- showing it to us and giving us examples and miracles and so forth; and there's this harvest thing. That's a part of it. Jesus also introduced what the gospel would cost. See now, here's the other part of things--what it would cost those who would become his disciples. We look back at Mark 8:34-35:
[Jonathan] (8:30 - 8:47) "And he summoned the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it."
[Rick] (8:47 - 9:29) "Loses his life for my sake" AND the sake of the gospel. You can see that when we're going through these ways that Jesus describes it, it becomes a motivational factor. It becomes a focus for every single follower. Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me for my sake and the sake of everything I'm teaching you, everything I'm showing you. The gospel would also require major self-sacrifice of those who would carry its message with Jesus.
It's much more than this feeling of relief. The gospel is a mission and it includes many, many, many different aspects. Thus far, what is The Good News about the Good News?
[Jonathan] (9:30 - 9:50) Jesus outlined the gospel as including the introduction of God's kingdom, repentance and believing. He gave examples of these blessings by healing the sick and shepherding those who were lost. Jesus also called for some to co-labor with him in a harvest kind of work that would be a self-sacrificing work as well.
[Rick] (9:50 - 10:14) At this point, what we have is, we're labeling things. We're putting things out there. Here are the words of Jesus. Here's what the gospel is.
Here's what it's about. We're going to have to go a whole lot further, but this is the foundation for us to begin to work with. At this point, the gospel certainly looks like a lot more than the typical Christian view of repent, believe, be saved and be blessed!
[Jonathan] (10:14 - 10:26) So far, we have a view of the gospel from Jesus' own preaching in life. Did it change once Jesus had ascended into heaven?
[Rick] (10:26 - 11:41) After Jesus paid the ransom price, his human existence ended and he was once again to become a spirit being, only this time he had been elevated to God's right hand of power. What would happen on earth through his disciples would dramatically show us what the mission of the gospel would look like in his absence. He set the gospel up. He lived it.
He preached it. He showed it. He was an example. He did all of those things and then you say okay, then he left and it's literally going to be handed off. For Jesus' final instructions to his disciples,
we have to look at just before he ascends. When he's giving those instructions, there are some very, very important aspects of the gospel. Now his last words to his disciples before his ascension to heaven are recorded in three places; in Matthew 28:16-20, in Luke 24:44-49 and in Acts 1:6-11. Here's what we want to do. We want to sum up all three of these sources together, as we see them fitting together into one narrative. We're going to take from all three of these and put them together and pull out some high points, some important points, as to defining the success of the gospel.
[Julie] (11:41 - 12:01) In order to follow along, this is going to be a great episode to get the CQ Rewind Show Notes. They're available every week on our website. We're going to have all the scripture references there to make it easy for you. We invite our listeners to ask questions by emailing [email protected].
RICK:
Let's get started by looking at the ascension of Jesus. We're going to start in Acts 1:6-7:
[Jonathan] (12:01 - 12:25) "So when they had come together, they were asking him, saying, Lord, is it at this time you are restoring the kingdom to Israel? He said to them, It is not for you to know times are epochs which the Father is fixed by His own authority..."
[Julie] (12:25 - 12:29) Jesus instructed them to not expect things to happen according to their own expectations. They were supposed to wait, listen and follow without jumping to conclusions.
[Rick] (12:30 - 13:05) Yeah. Now, how easy is that? I mean, that's a really hard thing to do! Especially when you have Jesus having been raised from the dead, and he's been appearing here and there and now he's telling you--okay, is it now? Is the kingdom now? Is the kingdom now? He's saying, wait. You're not supposed to know. It's like wait, wait, wait, what do you mean
we're not supposed to know?! You came back from the dead, you've got all of these things going on! No, you just need to understand that God's plan will unfold for you and before you. You need to be patient and allow it to unfold. Let's go back to Acts 1:8:
[Jonathan] (13:05 - 13:33) "But you will receive power when the holy spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth." Jesus unfolded their role in the work of the gospel; once they received God's power of the holy spirit, they were to preach what they learned to all. They would be his witnesses and do his work since he would no longer be visible as a man.
[Rick] (13:33 - 14:00) Somebody's got to carry on the work. He's saying, You go bring the word to the remotest parts of the earth. It is your job. I put it in place, now I'm going to give you all this responsibility. Now let's continue a little further, going to the Matthew account of Jesus's ascension. We're looking at Matthew 28:18 through the beginning of verse 20:
[Jonathan] (14:00 - 14:20) "And Jesus... spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the son and the holy spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you..." Not only preach but find those who will follow me. This is the harvest work he previously spoke of.
[Julie] (14:20 - 14:32) Notice the phrase used is "make disciples of all nations," NOT "make all nations my disciples." This is a really subtle but important point.
[Rick] (14:32 - 16:16) It is and we need to build on that because it fits exactly with everything else that Jesus taught. We want to put that in our minds to say, let's build upon that thought as we move forward.
JONATHAN:
Let's continue our combined account from Acts, Luke and Matthew. Acts 1:9: "And after he had said these things..." Luke 24:50: "...He lifted up his hands and blessed them." Matthew 28:20: "...lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Luke 24:51: "While he was blessing them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven." RICK:
Let's pause here for a second, because if you want to talk about dramatics in scripture this has got to be one of the most dramatic scenes in all of scripture. Jesus has been raised from the dead. He's been on earth for forty days and now he's leaving them. He is blessing them and as he's blessing them the scripture says he's being lifted up and taken to heaven. You talk about drama! You talk about a change! You talk about, this is incredible!
I've never seen anything like this before! This made an indelible impression on their minds. They were witnesses of him literally being brought up to heaven. It's an incredible, incredible picture and it all has to do with handing off the work of the gospel. That's what was happening here. His final gospel preparation message to his disciples was an assurance of his presence with them even though he's being taken from their presence. He says, "...lo, I am with you always." Just because I'm not here, doesn't mean I'm not with you. That's a powerful, powerful picture of what would have to happen with the gospel to continue.
Let's look at The Good News about the Good News:
[Julie] (16:16 - 16:45) As you said, Rick, Jesus handed the work off of this gospel to his true disciples. Now they would have the responsibility of teaching, preaching, harvesting, finding followers with great effectiveness, once they were begotten by God's spirit at Pentecost. Jesus now unfolded the gospel and they would now spread it throughout the world But what does all that mean? We have to know what the gospel mission was. Was it to convert the world or was it to preach to the world?
[Rick] (16:46 - 17:27) It was not to convert the world. Not yet. Key phrase being, not yet. How do we know that? Jesus taught--Jesus specifically taught--that all would not have a fair chance at conversion. When did he say that? He actually said that several times, but we're going to focus on one specifically and that is the Parable of the Sower. Let's get into a couple of pointed parable observations. In this parable, a farmer sows seeds. Some fall along the path, some onto stony places, some into thorny places and some into good ground. Jesus and his followers, we believe, are pictured in the Sower.
[Jonathan] (17:27 - 17:38) The parable is recorded in Matthew, Mark and Luke. Let's start in Luke 8:11: "Now
the parable is this: the seed is the word of God."
[Rick] (17:39 - 18:23) When you think about the gospel, you think about the word of God, Old and New Testament, because that's already been established, being preached throughout the world. The parable says that the seed is the word of God. That's what is being put out there. Now we want to look ahead at one aspect of this parable's explanation that helps us see a selective calling. A selective calling; what does it mean to be selective?
You know what? It means not everybody's invited. You can look at this and say, What?! Hang on, stay with us, but not everybody is invited. Matthew 13:19:
[Jonathan] (18:23 - 18:45) "When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road." The Greek word for "understand" means to "comprehend." We often hear things we don't understand or comprehend. "Understanding" means we have something under us to stand on--a support or foundation. Stability comes from an appreciation and comprehension of the facts.
[Julie] (18:45 - 19:23) The gospel has a message that appeals to the heart. But emotion is a fickle thing. The head has to be involved, as well. Jesus says this first group had heart reaction, but they did not understand it. Satan (he's represented as hungry birds in the Matthew and Mark accounts) snatches away what's been sown. Throughout the time the gospel message has gone out, many have been briefly attracted to it, but they go no further. They have no desire to spend time reasoning on it or learning the deep things. They are successfully thwarted by Satan.
[Rick] (19:23 - 20:51) What we're gaining from this parable is that a simple lack of understanding, along with Satan's actions, keep some--keep many--away from the gospel. That's what Jesus is teaching us here. You look at that and say, well, wait, wait, wait, how is it that there's no personal rejection of the message given as a reason for being kept in the dark? Why is it just this idea that, okay, the heart is not in the right place and then Satan comes and ruins everything. See folks, if we just say, well, you know people's hearts aren't good and then they don't deserve the gospel--hang on! Hold on!
That makes no sense whatsoever. It says that Satan snatches it away. That means that whatever our condition is, whatever we're born into, we have no control over. When you're looking at eternity do you think God would leave it to such a fickle situation where, well this person is born into a bad life experience where there's no morality around them and they have some mental health challenges, but you know what, I'm not going to worry about them. That's not fair! That's not that's not what Jesus came to do! There is no personal rejection here, and we've got Satan being blamed. In fact, these individuals pictured, their free choice is not allowed to work because Satan interferes. How do we understand this? The answer lies in what Jesus explained to his disciples about why he spoke in parables. He told us why. Why did you speak in parables? As a matter of fact, that's the question they're about to ask him in Mark 4:10-12:
[Jonathan] (20:51 - 21:18) "As soon as he was alone, his followers, along with the twelve, began asking him about the parables. And he was saying to them, To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but those who are outside get everything in parables, so that (and next he quotes from Isaiah 6:9-10) WHILE SEEING, THEY MAY SEE AND NOT PERCEIVE, AND WHILE HEARING, THEY MAY HEAR AND NOT UNDERSTAND, OTHERWISE THEY MIGHT RETURN AND BE FORGIVEN."
[Julie] (21:18 - 21:55) There's another Old Testament/New Testament bridge that Jesus is giving us, but here's a piece of advice. If you want your message to be understood by all, a successful marketing campaign doesn't present it as an obscure puzzle that takes a major dedication of time and effort to figure out! The key again is understanding Jesus' mission. It wasn't to change the hearts of every person he met. He knew not everyone would be a follower; not everyone would try to understand. At this point in time, he was only looking for those whose ears, hearts and minds were open to the message. Most would walk away. But Rick, is that fair?
[Rick] (21:56 - 23:01) If you leave it at that and say most would walk away, is that fair? You'd say, it doesn't really make sense because everybody doesn't have a free opportunity. But we will see the scriptures unfold is that, just wait! It's not the only time for opportunity There's more coming for those who don't get it. That's why Jesus, in some of these scriptures we read earlier, talked about there's this harvest and pray that there'll be laborers. There will be a few. There will be some that are going out to do the work, but the harvest is not the complete harvest of the whole world yet. Jesus is making this point and, Julie,
you're right. He referred back to the Old Testament again because that's where the gospel has its founding, in the Old Testament. His point is this Isaiah prophecy is coming true. It's my responsibility to fulfill it so that everybody is not converted now. The gospel is not meant for everyone (at this time). Jesus continues along those lines when he's talking to his disciples after this parable in Matthew 13:16-17:
[Jonathan] (23:01 - 23:21) "But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it." Those who received and comprehended the message would change their lives and follow his teachings.
[Julie] (23:21 - 23:41) Yes, but Rick you said the gospel's not meant for everyone and here Jesus is saying some aren't going to hear it. Wouldn't that contradict the angel's message of, remember, "good tidings of great joy to all people?" If it's not good news, if billions of humans are lost somewhere, there has to be more to this.
[Rick] (23:41 - 24:04) That's the answer. There is more to this! There's a lot more to this. It doesn't contradict "good tidings of great joy to all people." It actually enhances it! You've got to be a little patient just for another minute, okay? It does enhance it. Let's sum this piece up and then we'll get to that enhancement. Let's look at The Good News about the Good News:
[Jonathan] (24:04 - 24:26) Jesus clearly taught different groups of listeners differently, as his message of the kingdom was meant to be heard by all but not yet to be understood by all. Combining this selective teaching with the fact that Jesus died for ALL humanity tells us that there has to be more to the gospel than many Christians may be aware of.
[Rick] (24:26 - 24:44) There has to be more to it--and there is!! There is more. There's a lot more! The deeper we go into how the gospel message works, the more complex it seems to become. Obviously, we need to keep digging!
[Jonathan] (24:44 - 24:53) For many, Jesus dying for everyone and yet only a few being given the privilege of understanding doesn't make sense.
How do we explain it?
[Rick] (24:54 - 25:51) The good news here is that we don't have to explain it. Instead, we can just go to the scriptures and let them do the talking. As we dive into this scriptural reasoning we will touch on both subtle explanations as well as blatantly obvious explanations. Let's begin with the subtle side of things as we connect the Old and New Testaments. We need to make that connection again and look at how they work together and then go into several New Testament scriptures that just verify things very, very plainly. The writers of the New Testament--and this is an important premise here-- were all unified in their understanding of the gospel blessing people differently at different times. Here in our first scripture, in 2 Corinthians, the Apostle Paul subtly builds on prophecy. Again, he's going to quote prophecy and we need to put things in perspective. 2 Corinthians 6:1-2:
[Jonathan] (25:51 - 26:19) "...we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain--for He says, (he next goes to quote Isaiah 49:8) AT THE ACCEPTABLE TIME I LISTENED TO YOU, AND ON THE DAY OF SALVATION
I HELPED YOU (He then explains when these things are). Behold, now is THE ACCEPTABLE TIME, behold, now is THE DAY OF SALVATION."
[Julie] (26:20 - 26:42) Rick, who is Paul talking to and when is NOW? The common belief of many Christians is that right now, in this lifetime, is the only day of salvation. The belief is, if one does not accept the gospel in this present life (even though, like we said, Satan snatched it away and some people weren't meant to understand it), that there would be no further opportunity for salvation for these people.
[Rick] (26:42 - 27:24) All right, so he says now is "the day of salvation." He's right because who is he speaking to? This is written to those whose lives were dedicated to serving God through Christ, who had given their lives in sacrifice. They were sacrificial disciples, footstep followers of Jesus.
He's writing to them and saying, it's your time. This is your time for salvation right here, right now. You don't have the future to wait for. You must be faithful here and now because that's what you're called to. He's exactly right in that. Now let's look at...let's read Isaiah 49:8 and then put the rest together. Jonathan, let's go back-- I know you quoted it-- but let's go back to the actual reading from Isaiah.
[Jonathan] (27:24 - 27:36) <Isaiah 49:8>: "Thus says the LORD, In a favorable time I have answered you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you; and I will keep you and give you for a covenant of the people, to restore the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritages."
[Rick] (27:36 - 28:04) In that prophecy now, let's think about what Isaiah is talking about. He's talking about Israel being restored to their land and that was "a day of salvation." That was their "day of salvation." That was, you've been punished, you've been in this difficult circumstance and now you're being released from that. You're being given salvation, being brought back to the land. Was that their "day of salvation," for that generation?
Yes, it was. Is today the "day of salvation" for those who are footstep followers of Jesus?
[Jonathan] (28:04 - 28:14) Absolutely!
RICK:
You look at the scripture and by just saying, well, this is the only one, you're contradicting the Old Testament scripture because it talked about a different type of salvation.
[Julie] (28:14 - 28:19) Oh, there was a different "day of salvation!" It then got moved forward to the New Testament. That's THE day of salvation. Okay.
[Rick] (28:19 - 28:31) And ... and that is also going to get moved forward again for the rest of the world, as we will see with the next scriptures that we will unfold.
[Julie] (28:31 - 28:32) Okay, I get it.
[Rick] (28:32 - 28:46) There's a powerful, powerful message here. In the same epistle, in 2 Corinthians, the Apostle Paul shows us what Jesus taught about some NOT having an opportunity now. Jonathan, 2 Corinthians 4:3-4:
[Jonathan] (28:46 - 29:01) "And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they may not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."
[Julie] (29:01 - 29:11) Who's the god of this world? Who's blinded the minds of the unbelieving? That's Satan. This sounds just like the Parable of the Sower, with Satan snatching away the seed before it could take root.
[Rick] (29:11 - 30:21) Exactly. Paul is saying exactly what Jesus said. He's saying that there are those who are blinded. Folks, they're blinded.
It doesn't mean...they're not saying, oh, please blind me. Let me please follow you. It's talking that Satan is the one making the decision and they are victims of his rule. It's not them saying, let me follow you (Satan).
It's him overwhelming them. That's what it's talking about. That's who the gospel is veiled to. Hold that thought. What do you do with all of those folks?
With that thought in mind, we just want to focus on several other scriptures that are very plain in their language in terms of what happens to those other people. Here's the theme of these scriptures; God's wisdom DEVELOPED A PATH to give the world salvation. That is salvation for ALL just like in the Luke scripture: "...glad tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people." These next several scriptures make it plain, simple, clear. Don't need a lot of explanation, because the scriptures themselves say it. Let's look at Romans 8: 19-21:
[Jonathan] (30:21 - 30:52) "For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God." There are two groups of people described; "the creation" (the world in general) who are waiting for "the sons of God."
[Julie] (30:52 - 31:09) It further describes that this creation will be set free from slavery because of these sons or children of God. That sounds really hopeful! Here's the secret; the big picture of the plan of God is bringing everyone back to a relationship with Him that was lost in the Garden of Eden.
[Rick] (31:09 - 32:13) You'll notice another detail of this scripture that's really important; because of Him (God) who subjected the creation in hope, God put them into that position of sin because He allowed them to be the generations after Adam. They're put into sin not because they wanted to be. They're put into sin as a learning experience. That's why it says they're put there "in hope" that they will be brought up out of it just like the "sons of God" will. You're right, Jonathan, two different groups of people. There's this great, great freedom and glory that comes later, afterwards. We've got that as a basis. Now let's go a little bit further. God's power gives everyone an equal opportunity to be included in salvation for all. How do we know this? Next is one of my...well, these are all my favorite scriptures... but this one is really one of my favorite scriptures. 1 Timothy 2: 3-6. Folks, listen carefully to the descriptiveness and the order of things. 1 Timothy 2:3-6:
[Jonathan] (32:13 - 32:49) "For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior; who will have all men to be saved, and come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time." The Greek word for "knowledge" means "recognition, full discernment." It is God's will that everyone will be saved by Jesus and come to the knowledge of full discernment, understanding. Of course, where there is understanding, there is also accountability.
[Julie] (32:49 - 33:30) You told us, Rick, to pay attention to the order. It's not that all men come to the knowledge of the truth and THEN they are saved. Rather, it says all men are saved and THEN come to this full discernment of the truth! There's obviously going to be a lot of teaching and instruction going on after everyone is resurrected and then each can decide if they're going to continue along the righteous path in God's kingdom or not. We do have an episode to recommend; #1191. It's called, "Are Christians Supposed to Convert the World? Biblically Clarifying Why We Preach the Gospel to Others." It's a great companion episode to listen to.
[Jonathan] (33:30 - 33:43) This makes so much sense because Satan's influence during this time will not be permitted to interfere with the truth. Revelation 20:23 states that. It's education, not indoctrination.
[Rick] (33:43 - 34:39) Yes! Let's look at this. Let's just quickly go back to the 2 Corinthians 4 scripture where it says that "the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they may not see the light of the gospel." You compare that to what we just read where it says God "will have all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth." You see, in one circumstance--which is true--Satan controls, and the next circumstance--which is also true--Satan is not relevant. You see that now you've got the blinding, but then they are saved, they are ransomed, and THEN they're brought to a knowledge of the truth. This is remarkable! You say this is amazing, and the response is yeah, it is, and it's always been written in scripture for all these thousands of years.
It's always been there. Now how can we be sure?
How can we be sure about all of this? Let's look a little further. Let's go to 1 Timothy 4:10.
[Jonathan] (34:39 - 34:57) Listen for the two groups of people: "For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers." God is the savior for two groups; "all men," but "especially of believers."
[Rick] (34:57 - 35:11) You have again those who are blinded now and those who are called out now--two groups. How is God everybody's Savior? it is through His son, Jesus Christ. Let's look at 1 John 2:1-2:
[Jonathan] (35:11 - 35:34) "My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he himself is the propitiation (this word means satisfaction) for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world."
[Julie] (35:34 - 35:47) Again with these two groups; "our sins" (referring to the faithful followers of Jesus now at this time), and second, "those of the whole world" (meaning the 'everybody else') who will get their opportunity later.
[Rick] (35:47 - 36:32) You have this theme and you have the Apostle Paul writing it and you have the Apostle John writing it now. We're going to continue with the Apostle Peter. You've got the two groups and it's pretty obvious that the scripture is just again and again and again, not just stating in a way that you've got to say, hmm,
is this what it means? It's clear. It's plain.
It's a scriptural statement. We've got to ask the question now; all right, then what does our life look like or what's it supposed to look like if we're not tasked with converting everybody who's here right now in the world? Well, our life is supposed to look like one who is called and chosen to preach the gospel and live the gospel everyday. Let's go to 1 Peter 2:9:
[Jonathan] (36:32 - 36:45) "But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light."
[Rick] (36:45 - 37:22) Look at the descriptions there, "chosen race," "royal priesthood," "holy nation," "a people for God's...possession." A priesthood operates when they have the opportunity to help somebody. That's what you're called to do.
JULIE:
Even though we're not going to convert everybody, that doesn't mean you don't still preach the gospel.
RICK:
Absolutely, positively, unequivocally! You are correct! Keep preaching the word! You preach the word, you live the word--you're supposed to live a life-- you/we are supposed to live a life that reflects the grace that has been given to us as disciples. 1 Peter 2:10:
[Jonathan] (37:22 - 37:32) "For you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY."
[Rick] (37:32 - 38:08) He's writing to these gentile Christians. You didn't have God's favor--now you do. You weren't anything, but now God has called you and given you His spirit. You are in a privileged, wonderful position.
What are you supposed to do with that? Julie? You're supposed to preach. You're supposed to live the example. You're supposed to show the hope of God's plan and God's kingdom. Our living as examples of Jesus...here's what will happen.
We may not be able to convince anybody that's in front of us right now, but it will later bless those who may know us now in this life. How do we know that? 1 Peter 2:12:
[Jonathan] (38:09 - 38:25) "Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation."
JULIE:
What and when is this "day of visitation?"
[Rick] (38:25 - 38:57) The "day of visitation" is the Day of Judgment. It's the day where the principles of God, through Jesus, come to this earth and reign and rule. That's when that happens. The resurrection brings them to a point of remembering. I remember you. I didn't like you because you lived thus and so, and now I get it. Now I see where that brought...and now I can glorify God because here you are helping me, after all the things I said and did to you. That's what we're talking about. That's what the resurrection brings us to.
[Julie] (38:57 - 39:09) Those who slandered the faithful will glorify God during this time period. You certainly don't glorify God if you are in eternal flames of agony and torture. I'm just saying...
RICK:
That's right.
[Jonathan] (39:09 - 39:16) Remember, it's education, not indoctrination, during the "day of visitation."
[Rick] (39:16 - 39:42) You see that theme of education. We live in a world where Satan indoctrinates. There's not a choice. Education is a growth process. That's what the gospel brings everybody to, the growth process to love and understand and appreciate and follow the will and way of God. What's The Good News about the Good News?
[Jonathan] (39:42 - 39:59) The gospel, the good news, truly is for all of humanity as the blessed end result of mercy and restitution, as it is written all over the New Testament. As disciples, we are bound to these biblical truths. The question is, are we preaching them?
[Rick] (39:59 - 41:04) What is the essence of my preaching? Is it built on scriptures or is it built on tradition? We have to ask ourselves because the scriptures here are very plain. Now the gospel has focused us on a level of good news that is rarely taught in any religion or belief system throughout the entire world! The remarkable truths that are revealed by simply reading and piecing together biblical scriptures are immense! How do we tie it all together?
Frankly, this tying of all these things together is a delightful challenge. We're going to focus on one more set of New Testament scriptures and then verify all of this by going back to the Old Testament and quoting just a few of the many prophecies that point us to the future of God's kingdom for all. We want to start again in the New Testament. Let's start with a very basic New Testament foundation. Jesus gave every individual who seeks after him the answer in the simplicity of the Lord's prayer. This is what every Christian learns as a child. Matthew 6:9-10:
[Jonathan] (41:04 - 41:17) "Pray, then, in this way: Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."
[Rick] (41:17 - 42:19) "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Is God's will being done everywhere on earth right here, right now? No.
JONATHAN:
No. RICK:
Jesus is saying look forward. Pray for this to happen. How does it happen? It happens through the plan of God. It happens through the unfolding of the details. "Your kingdom come" and "will be done on earth."
That is the thought. Now I know some try to separate that. You can't, because the kingdom is talked about dozens and dozens of times in scripture as being on earth. That's what Jesus...he's going back to Old Testament prophecies-- we'll go there in just a few minutes. Let's look at the good news of the gospel in action looking at a few more New Testament scriptures. We're going to start with 2 Corinthians 5:18-19.
Now as we read all of these next few scriptures, we're going to look at our role as Christians, as true Christians, and then we're going to look at the world's benefit and their role. Let's start with our role as true Christians. 2 Corinthians 5:18-19:
[Jonathan] (42:19 - 42:27) "Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation..."
[Rick] (42:28 - 42:40) We've been given the ministry of reconciliation. If you're given a ministry to reconcile there must be somebody who needs it. Julie, what is the world's benefit from this role?
[Julie] (42:40 - 42:48) Verse 19 <2 Corinthians 5:19>: "...namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them,..."
[Jonathan] (42:48 - 43:03) Back to our role: "...and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation."
JULIE:
Again with these two groups; you have those reconciled (the world's resurrected on earth) and the "reconcile-ers" working with Jesus (who are his faithful followers in heaven now).
[Rick] (43:03 - 43:22) See, isn't that the good news of the gospel in action? "Good tidings of great joy to all people!" You see how it begins to unfold but wait, we're just getting started. Let's move forward by presenting the clarity of the gospel and its application to every single human life. Again, we're going to start with the world's benefit from all of this.
[Julie] (43:22 - 43:48) The world's benefit: Jesus' sacrifice touched ALL who were touched by Adam's sin. We know this from Romans 5:15. It says: "But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one (Adam) the many (everybody) died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many (those who died)."
[Rick] (43:48 - 43:49) How many died?
[Julie] (43:50 - 43:53) All of them died. We all die; billions and billions and billions.
[Rick] (43:53 - 44:05) Yeah, nobody ever got away from that! You see that there's this equality that's being put in place. Now let's look at the role of true Christians as we move forward in Romans 5.
[Jonathan] (44:05 - 44:21) Here is a limited promise to the called-out ones! <Romans 5:17>: "For if by the transgression of the one (Adam), death reigned through the one (Adam), much more those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ."
[Rick] (44:21 - 44:47) You've got reigning "in life through the one, Jesus Christ." This is the privilege of those called out. Remember the royal priesthood that Peter talked about?
JONATHAN:
Yes.
RICK:
The Apostle Paul is referring to exactly what Peter said. They're in agreement. They're teaching it from different perspectives so we can see it and we can understand that's your role. That's your privilege. That's your job. What's the benefit of the world as a result of that?
[Julie] (44:47 - 45:03) Here's the universal application to all of the human race! It's found in Romans 5:18: "So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men." It's a clear equation. We all die because of Adam and we will all have life again--true opportunity for life--because of Jesus.
[Rick] (45:03 - 45:33) It puts the gospel in a light that you look at and say, wow! This is big and this is amazing! But there's more. Now let's go to Romans 8:19-22 with the same theme. We're going to start with our role, the role of true Christians, in this whole process of bringing people back around:
[Jonathan] (45:33 - 45:46) "For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope..."
[Rick] (45:46 - 45:51) You've got the subjection of the people, "in hope," by God.
[Julie] (45:52 - 46:13) Here's the world's benefit. It continues with Romans 8:21-22: "...that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now."
[Rick] (46:13 - 47:39) The scripture is very, very clear. The gospel works through Jesus' disciples for the benefit of the world. How did that happen? Remember when Jesus was ascending and he gave them the work? JULIE:
Right.
RICK:
That's how it happened! It's the follow-through on what Jesus said you need to do for the sake of the gospel.
JONATHAN:
Rick, what does that freedom look like to the world?
RICK:
Oh, man! That freedom is beyond what anybody can imagine because it is a freedom from sin, a freedom from death, a freedom from the faultiness of all of our human reasonings that we are stuck in now. It's a freedom from sickness and pain and sorrow. It's the freedom to be responsible to step up because you can, because you have the capacity to. It is a remarkable, remarkable picture to look forward to! Let's get to some prophecies that help us understand that. We're going to start with some verses from the 22nd Psalm. In Psalm 22, it prophetically details the sufferings of Jesus on the cross. Remember it starts, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" and Jesus quoted those verses on the cross.
You read through the Psalm and it talks about the horrors of the cross experience. Most of the time, though, we don't read to the end of the Psalm because at the end of the Psalm there's a victory! These verses at the end of the Psalm show us the victory that follows the sacrifice of the cross. Psalms 22:27-29:
[Jonathan] (47:39 - 48:03) "All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations will worship before You. For the kingdom is the LORD'S and He rules over the nations. All the prosperous of the earth will eat and worship, all those who go down to the dust will bow before Him, even he who cannot keep his soul alive." "Thy kingdom come!"
[Rick] (48:03 - 48:38) It puts it into an earthly perspective. All the prosperous of the earth will eat and worship. Understand, this has been the message from the very beginning. We've just lost it in all of the tumult and the sin and the tradition and all of these things. We've lost the goodness the core of the gospel message, which is phenomenally successful once we look at how it unfolds. Let's go to another scripture that gives us a whole different perspective on what this looks like for the world of mankind. This is from Isaiah 45:22-24:
[Julie] (48:38 - 49:00) "Turn to Me (God) and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. I have sworn by Myself, the word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness and will not turn back, that to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance."
[Rick] (49:01 - 49:04) This message went through "all the ends of the earth." Let's be clear. That's where the picture is taking place.
[Julie] (49:04 - 49:15) Continuing with verse 24 <Isaiah 45:22-24>: "They will say of Me, Only in the LORD are righteousness and strength. Men will come to Him, and all who were angry at Him will be put to shame."
[Jonathan] (49:16 - 49:25) Education, not indoctrination. Education is "full disclosure," which brings shame.
[Rick] (49:25 - 49:39) And it brings opportunity! When you understand everything and you have a foundation to stand upon, you can now do something about it and be positive and be proactive and productive because God's will will be reigning in the earth.
[Julie] (49:39 - 49:44) You understand what sin is. You understand what you've done wrong, who's wronged you. All that.
[Rick] (49:44 - 50:02) How you've wronged others.
JULIE:
Right.
RICK:
You make up for that. You are accountable, like Jonathan said earlier. Let's go to another view. Folks, we're just jumping through just several little little tiny prophecies here. Let's look at Daniel 7:13-14:
[Jonathan] (50:02 - 50:27) "... And behold, with the clouds of heaven one like a son of man was coming, and he came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. And to him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations and men of every language might serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away; and his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed."
[Rick] (50:28 - 50:53) This is on planet Earth. A "glory and a kingdom" and "men of every language" will "serve him," and an "everlasting dominion which will not pass away." Do you understand? This is the gospel! This is the essence of the gospel as spoken in prophecy. One last small prophecy. Habakkuk 2:14:
[Jonathan] (50:53 - 50:59) "For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea."
[Julie] (50:59 - 51:26) Once again, that's the earth is filled. To summarize all this, for the true footstep followers of Jesus, their time to accept salvation is now. For the rest of the world, their time to accept salvation will be in the future, after the resurrection, after learning about the righteousness of God's plan for them (full discernment), after rehabilitation, and finally under conditions, without Satan, that will give them a fair chance at eternal life.
[Rick] (51:26 - 51:31) Do you understand folks? That's what the gospel produces. Jonathan, finally; The Good News about the Good News:
[Jonathan] (51:31 - 52:03) Based upon the volume of scriptures we have examined, there can only be one conclusion. The gospel, the good news of Jesus, is not only succeeding; it will provide life and blessing far beyond our imaginations! Humanity WILL be redeemed and will have the grand opportunity for eternal life on earth, just as God had intended from the beginning!
[Rick] (52:04 - 52:51) You have to ask the question, "Is the gospel a success or is it a failure?" Folks, look at the Bible. Look at how the Old Testament foretells what things would happen, both in the New Testament and in the future. Look at how Jesus put it all in order, how he handed it off to his followers and how their responsibility and their job will be to bring the world back to God. Why do they do that? Because that's how God created man at the beginning. We go back to the beginning because that was God's plan all along and that, my friends, is the gospel of Jesus Christ!
Think about it. Folks, we love hearing from our listeners. We welcome your feedback and questions on this episode and other episodes at ChristianQuestions.com. Coming up in our next Episode: "Why Did the Angel Say 'Fear Not?'"
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