The good news about Jesus only makes sense in the context of Old Testament promises.
When we present the gospel, it is a good idea to give our hearer with some understanding of creation, the fall, and various Messianic promises. Then we can show that Jesus came as the fulfillment of those promises to rescue us from the catastrophe of sin.
Paul introduced his letter to the church in Rome with such an overview.
This letter is from Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, chosen by God to be an apostle and sent out to preach his Good News. 2 God promised this Good News long ago through his prophets in the holy Scriptures. 3 The Good News is about his Son, Jesus. In his earthly life he was born into King David’s family line, 4 and he was shown to be the Son of God when he was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. He is Jesus Christ our Lord. 5 Through Christ, God has given us the privilege and authority as apostles to tell Gentiles everywhere what God has done for them, so that they will believe and obey him, bringing glory to his name. Romans 1:1-5 (NLT)
One of the best ways to study the key components of a good Gospel presentation is to examine how the first apostles preached.
Due to attempts to streamline and mass market evangelism, we sometimes reduce the Gospel to a simple presentation of what some call the “plan of salvation,” or The Four Spiritual Laws, or perhaps the Roman Road. None of these are “bad,” and many people have come to faith using these. However, such short versions cannot possibly contain the full story.
The Gospel is a magnificent presentation of Jesus, the eternal Son of God, the Logos, the Son of Man, the Messiah King, Lamb of God and Baptizer in the Holy Spirit. When we reduce the Gospel to a mere explanation of how our sins can be forgiven, we short change our hearer.
When Paul preached to the synagogue at Antioch of Pisidia in Acts Chapter 13, he laid out a classic presentation of the Gospel. Let’s take it apart to view its critical parts.
After being asked to share a word of encouragement with the congregation, Paul began his speech by reviewing the history of God’s dealings with Israel. Paul began with the Exodus from Egypt and then mentioned how God gave them the Promised Land, raised up judges, and then gave them kings, specifically Saul and David. Paul’s goal was to get to David, because to this godly man God promised to raise up the Messiah.
And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’ 23 Of this man’s offspring God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised. Acts 13:22-23 (ESV)
Since he spoke to Jews, he presumed they fully understood this claim and needed no Scripture reference. When we share the Gospel, however, most of our listeners will need to hear the relevant verse or passage. The following will do nicely.
“When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 “He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 2 Samuel 7:12-13 (NASB)
This passage is acknowledged to be a Messianic promise. David’s son, Solomon, despite being a great and glorious king, eventually died. Neither he nor his kingdom endured forever. Therefore, in order for this promise to be fulfilled, another king had to arise, one whose kingdom will never end. Only one person fills the bill – Jesus, the glorious Son of Man, whose kingdom will destroy every other and endure forever! (Daniel 7:13-14)
Paul used the Old Testament historical context to show how Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promises to Israel.
Other verses can be used, too, such as God’s promise to Abraham that in his seed all the earth will be blessed (Genesis 22:18) or his promise to Moses that God will raise up a prophet like him to whom the nation will be accountable (Acts 3:22).
Each Gospel writer starts at a different place. Matthew begins with Abraham. Mark starts with a prophecy of Isaiah. Luke launches with an account of the births of John the Baptist and Jesus before giving us Jesus’ genealogy all the way back to Adam. John hits a home run by taking us all the way back to creation by the eternal Logos, who became a human being named Jesus!
Each Gospel narrative uses historical context to inform the reader who Jesus is.
These writings are called Gospels because that is just what they are. We should learn from how they present Jesus. Any disciple of Jesus, who wants to be able to share a strong biblical version of the Gospel, should familiarize himself or herself with the Old Covenant scriptural context of the good news about Jesus in order to properly show how our Lord came as the fulfillment of God’s specific promises to provide us with a Savior and Messiah King. Gospel “lite” is not Gospel right.
