The Bible sums up the Gospel in John 3:16. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." God is love and everything that He has done, is doing, or will do stems from this love.
In other words, the "Gospel" is the whole story of God's efforts to save us from sin and to rid the entire universe of sin. It's the story of how much God loves us. The heart of this story is about what Jesus did for us 2,000 years ago on the Cross of Calvery. It certainly does not stop there though, it includes what He is still doing for us today, and it goes on to tell us of what His plans are for our future happiness.
This story actually began long before Jesus was born here on earth, because Jesus was not created. He is the Creator of all created things. He is God. (John 1:1-18) In short, Jesus created the Earth as a totally sin-free place that was full of peace and joy, but sin came and all that peace and joy left. Jesus then left His peace-filled home to rescue us from the results of sin. He came and died the death we deserved to die so that we could live. He came to return the Earth to it's original sin-free joy, and to return to us the gift that sin had taken away, the gift of peace and everlasting life. The details are amazing! Below is a summary of those.
View the What is the Gospel? video (about 4 minutes long).
1) Satan had claimed that the Law of God was not good, that even God could not keep it. Jesus came to prove that it could be kept, and that it was not only good, but perfect.
2) Satan had so misrepresented God that Jesus wanted to show us (and the angels) what God was really like.
3) If left unchecked, Satan and sin would destroy the earth, and us. Jesus came and died so that we could live, and because of His death, He has a "legal" right to save all who believe (all who trust) in Him.
Today, because of what Jesus did, the whole universe knows that God really does love us and that the Devil was lying. Satan has proven how much he hates God when he killed His Son, Jesus, on the cross. (See "A Parable of Jesus" & Example of Job.) Satan, has also proven to the universe that his way is not better. In fact, he has proven that ANY deviation from God's Law (also known as "breaking the Ten Commandments" or "sin") would not only destroy the earth, but the whole universe. Still, God is giving him even more time to unwittingly demonstrate just how bad things would get if all were under his control.
After Jesus rose from the dead He returned to Heaven and according to the prophecy found in Daniel 8 & 9 has already started the judgment of all humans (both the dead and the living).
* Please note that this is the point in the above timeline where we are right now. According to Revelation 22:11 there will come a time when those that have been made righteous in the Blood of the Lamb will remain righteous, and those who are wicked will remain wicked.
When Jesus returns to rescue His people, all those who have died trusting in Christ will be resurrected (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17). The Bible calls this the "1st resurrection", those who are resurrected here will not have a part in the "2nd death" noted below.
The wicked are all resurrected and surround the Holy City and God's people (Revelation 20:5-9).
It is interesting to note that at this point in time everyone who has ever lived on this earth will all be alive at the same time. The wicked are all outside the Holy City while the righteous are all inside the City with Jesus.
What will those who have completely trusted in Jesus do for ALL eternity? Will we just "sit on a cloud and play a harp" as some would lead us to believe?
"And so shall we ever be with the Lord"
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