The Gospel of Jesus Christ (Part I)

The gospel: God revealed in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

The recap: unpacking the revelation of God. The first posts dealt primarily with creation and the law, loose proxies for general and special revelation. The next posts dealt more carefully with general revelation, in particular highlighting the memorial name of God (Yahweh or Jehovah) and how Jesus Christ, God Incarnate, is the revelation of God to man. There are therefore three primary means of God's revelation to man.

I've dedicated most of the posts heretofore on the revelation of God in the Old Testament because of the obvious starting point in Psalm 19. It is sometimes tempting to begin with the New Testament when looking at the gospel and work our way backwards, but I have found it rewarding to look carefully at the Old Testament as well. I think this approach helps to clarify the gospel and unify the themes of the Scriptures.

The way we'll proceed here is to look at some of the passages in which the Septuagint speaks of good news. The rule of first use is not very helpful here. Ironically, most of the initial occurrences of the word "gospel" in the Septuagint are bad or bittersweet news. The first use of the gospel in the Old Testament is actually the news of Saul's death (1 Samuel 31:9, followed by 2 Samuel 1:20, 4:10), and the second use is the death of Absalom.

We are primarily concerned with the uses of the word as they relate to the New Testament. The main passages are:

• Psalm 40:9, "I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation; behold, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O LORD.
  
• Psalm 68:11, "The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it."
  
• Psalm 96:2, "Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day."
  
• Isaiah 40:9, "Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, 'Behold your God!'"
  
• Isaiah 52:7, "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, 'Your God reigns.'"
  
• Isaiah 60:6, "A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall bring good news, the praises of the LORD."
  
• Isaiah 61:1, "The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;"
  

Some of these passages are a bit different in the Greek reading than the Hebrew, but in the main they provide a good context for investigating elements of the gospel. For sake of space (and reader patience), I won't look at all of them. But I'd recommend that you consider them all when you have opportunity.

"I AM" and the Revelation of God (Part II)

Again, the ten-word summary: God revealed in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

The past several posts have dealt with the revelation of God, noting two principal ways he is revealed: through creation and his personal self-disclosure. We looked at the latter in the previous post, examining the commonly-used Old Testament phrase, "X shall know that I am the LORD." We see that God reveals himself by this covenant or memorial name and invests it with his personal and unique character.

In his high priestly prayer, Jesus implies that one of the purposes of his coming was to reveal God's name, to make it manifest:

I have manifested your name to the people you gave me out of the world. (John 17:6)

This little phrase carries the freight of the great many passages we have seen in the Old Testament. It is an astonishing thing to say and one of the incidental indications of the deity of Jesus Christ. Essential to the revelation of God by his name is the identification of Jesus Christ as the I AM. We see him make an explicit claim in John 8:58, of course, but others also exist.¹

The Incarnation therefore controverts Exodus 33:20. When Moses asks to see God, he is told that none may see him and live. Yet we have beheld the face of God in the person of Jesus Christ (John 1:14, 14:9; Hebrews 1:3,8). This revelation of God does not destroy us, neither does it crush us with the weight of our failure (cf. Isaiah 42:3).

This is our solution to the estrangement we find in nature and the antagonism of the law. While creation can tell us that God exists, and the law can tell us what God's standards are, neither one can bridge the insurmountable gap of human error and sin. All they do is reveal to us a God who is separate and other, one too holy for us to approach. They hold a mirror to our failure and devastate our hopes.

But Jesus Christ is also God revealed; he is the I AM. His life unifies God's justice and mercy and reveals God for who he is. His death, burial, and resurrection reconcile man and God, putting the question of sin to rest forever and guaranteeing the promises God has made to his people.

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[1] I'm not really concerned with defending the Trinity here, but those interested may want to look at another somewhat more obscure proof in Revelation 1:8.

"I AM" and the Revelation of God (Part I)

(The 10-word summary of the gospel: God revealed in the person and work of Jesus Christ.)

Having seen, then, that creation and the law reveal God to be judge and ourselves worthy of judgment, we are without hope. In both nature and the law, we have found no good news—only bad news.

I think it's important enough to say it again: the revelation of God provided by nature and our conscience is not good news for us. It offers no security and no consolation: the law is inflexible. Even those who are motivated to please God are bereft. They have no recourse but to cast themselves on God's mercy.

Now, then, once more, the ten-word summary of the gospel: God revealed in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

I want to take a moment to look at the name of God. It sets the theme for the next posts nicely, and I think it will help develop some undergirding supports in the Old Testament.

There is a key phrase involved in the revelation of God that we can highlight throughout the Old Testament: "X shall know that I am the LORD." I think perhaps our familiarity with the statement costs us a bit in understanding it, because this is not merely a phrase that says, "You'll know that I'm God," or "You'll know that I'm in charge." It is also not a bare statement of the sovereignty of God. It is rather a statement of distinction: you will know that I am the LORD, and not some other god; you will know that I am the LORD, and that there are no other gods but me; you will know that I am the LORD, and that this is my character. In other words, I will be revealed to you as I am.

The first time that God is revealed by his covenant name is Exodus 3:14: "And God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM.' And he said, 'Say this to the people of Israel, "I AM has sent me to you."'" This covenant name is shortened to the tetragrammaton, usually rendered "LORD" in most everyone's Bible and anglicized in a few places as Jehovah or Yahweh. God marks this as a special occurrence in history: "I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty {{ Heb. El Shaddai }}, but by my name the LORD {{ Heb. YHWH }} I did not make myself known to them" (Ex 6:3). (It is worth pointing out that El was a common name for God and apparently did not connote a specifically Jewish notion of God.)

This at first glance seems like a rather pointless observation, but it's a continuing theme in Exodus and the rest of the Old Testament. Pharaoh says, for example, "Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD" (Ex 5:2). This would quickly change. Two pertinent references follow almost immediately in Exodus 7: "The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt..." (7:5), and, "By this you {{ Pharaoh }} shall know that I am the LORD: behold, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water in the Nile, and it shall turn into blood" (7:17).

God is, in other words, being revealed to Egypt by his judgments against her and her gods. "Who is the LORD," Pharaoh asks. He is the one who judges your idolatry—an idolatry it must be noted that is focused very much on worshiping the creature rather than the Creator. (We may follow this in Romans one. While I'm developing this specifically and purposefully from the Old Testament, we shouldn't miss that this idea receives due exposure in the New Testament.)

The phrase "X shall know that I am the LORD" appears many, many times in the Old Testament and in a variety of situations. What follows is a brief list:

• to speak of deliverance and redemption (Ex 6:7, 10:2, 29:46; Nu 15:41; De 5:6; 1Ki 20:13,28; Ps 81:10; Is 43:3,11, 44:24, 48:17, 49:23,26, 60:62; Ez 12:16, 16:62, 20:5,42–44, 28:24,26, 29:16,21, 34:24–30, 36:11,38, 37:1–14, 39:28; Ho 12:9, 13:4; Jo 2:27, 3:17; Zec 10:6)
  
• to declare judgment on Israel's enemies (Ex 7:5,17, 10:2, 12:12, 14:4,18; 1Ki 20:28; Is 49:26; Ez 25 against Ammon, Moab, Edom, Philistia 26 against Tyre, 28:22,23 against Sidon, 28:26, 29:6,9, ch30, 32:15 against Egypt, 35 against Edom/Seir)
  
• to declare judgment on Israel, and reveal himself by judgment (Ex 16:12; Ez 5:13–17, 6:7–14, 7:4,9,27, 11:10–12, 12:15–20, 15:7, 20:26,38, 21:5, 22:16,22, 23:49, 24:14,24–27, 33:29, 39:6)
  
• to declare judgment on Israel's allies (Ez 17:21,24)
  
• to declare judgment on Israel's enemies' allies (Ez 30:8)
  
• to declare judgment on the false prophets (Ez 13:9–23; 14:8)
  
• to distinguish God from idols (Exodus in many cases; injunctions in Leviticus; Ju 6:10; Is 42:8, 45:5–7)
  
• to confirm God's sovereignty, including his role as Creator (Is 43:15, 44:24, 45:5–7,18, 51:15)
  
• to distinguish Israel from her enemies (Ex 8:22)
  
• to distinguish Israel as a covenant people (Is 42:6, 44:5; 16:62)
  
• to confirm the giving of the law (most uses in Leviticus, esp. 22:31; Ez 20:7–20)
  
• to demonstrate Israel's total dependence on God (De 29:6)
  
• to reveal God to the nations (Ez 36:23,36, 37:28, 38:23)
  
• to reveal God to Israel by his actions among the Gentiles (Ez 39:22)
  

This was not a quick list to assemble and explains some of the delay in writing this.

There are a few observations I'd make here. First, that God is revealed by his direct actions in the lives of those he discloses himself to. Second, nearly all of these actions are related to judgment (if they are not judgment themselves, they follow on the heels of his judgment). Third, they are concerned with eliminating any notion of alternatives to God: there is a sense in here of ignorant worship, as when the Israelites worship the golden calf and name it Jehovah (Ex 32:5). Their history is littered with examples of profaning the name of the LORD—that is, by misrepresenting the character of God.

This revelation of God is freighted almost always with judgment in the Old Testament. The promises of redemption and salvation are connected most often with the return of Israel to the land from which they were driven. Driven, it must be said, in judgment for their sins. The very notion of God's salvation, as I've noted before, is rooted in his judgment. He is powerful to save because he also is powerful to judge.

The character of God revealed in these statements is one of otherness, separation, and judgment. Only after he judges is it possible for him to restore, redeem, and deliver.

I don't want to conclude this without noting that this particular theme of the Old Testament (knowing that Jehovah is God—cf. 1Ki 18:21) is again a theme of the separateness of God. In his revelation to his people in the Law, he demonstrates to them that he is not reachable. The people persist in worshiping a god of their own devising, that is, in pursuing idols and calling them by the hallowed name of the Lord.

The themes of deliverance promise hope, though, in the face of this judgment, a restoration of the relationship between God and his people, and the promise of a changed character.