Gospel in a Minute
On his first missionary journey, Paul the Apostle preached the gospel to Jews in Antioch of Pisidia. He assumed they were familiar with the promises God made to King David, that one of his descendants would sit upon the throne of Israel forever. (2 Samuel 7:12-13)
“And it is one of King David’s descendants, Jesus, who is God’s promised Savior of Israel! 24 Before he came, John the Baptist preached that all the people of Israel needed to repent of their sins and turn to God and be baptized. 25 As John was finishing his ministry he asked, ‘Do you think I am the Messiah? No, I am not! But he is coming soon—and I’m not even worthy to be his slave and untie the sandals on his feet.’ Acts 13:23-25 (NLT)
Principle: Frame the Gospel within the History of Israel
When we share the gospel with those who are not as familiar with the Bible, we must make the effort to explain how Jesus came in fulfillment of promises made to God’s people long ago. The gospel is not a philosophy that has meaning outside of real history. I have heard a serious lie regarding God’s Word phrased something like this: “It’s not true, but it’s the truth.” The meaning is that the gospel is not historically true, but it “contains” eternal truth. This reduces the gospel to “whatever works for you.” Nothing could be farther from reality. The gospel is historically grounded in fact. One day in the not so distant future, the actual risen Messiah King Jesus, the glorious Son of Man prophesied by Daniel, will return in the clouds with great power to judge all mankind. At that point in time, all the earth will come to realize that the gospel is grounded in historical fact. For now, we must help to convince people that…
the gospel is a narrative of God’s historical promises to Israel and their fulfillment in real time.
As such, a proper gospel presentation will frame Jesus’ coming, ministry, death on the cross, resurrection, ascension, and future Second Coming in light of those promises and prophecies. It is important for gospel communicators to familiarize themselves with the the Old Testament and how it points to Jesus and the glorious gospel. That is how the early church presented Christ, and so should we!
If you are inclined to learn better how to do this, I suggest Scot McKnight's masterpiece, The King Jesus Gospel. I wrote a summary, which you can access by clicking here.
