When Jesus began His ministry, He came preaching the good news of the kingdom. In Him the heavenly authority and sovereign rule of almighty God had arrived in human form. This is very good news indeed! In Christ, the Creator of all things came and walked among men. What a visitation from heaven! What a declaration of who God is and what He is like.
In Christ Jesus, God’s thoughts came to earth. The people found His words spellbinding (John 7:15). Even His enemies said, “Never man spake like this man” (John 7:46). And it was no wonder for words of the Father, full of grace and majesty, poured from His inmost being (John 7:16).
In Christ Jesus, God’s absolutes came to earth. Much to the annoyance of many, both then and now, Jesus was both exclusive and intolerant. He tolerated no way to heaven other than Himself saying, "I am the Way, the truth, and the Life: no man comes to the Father, but by me" (John 14:6). He excluded all doors to heaven other than Himself saying “I am the door”(John 10:9). And is it any wonder? For, “There was no other good enough To bear the price of sin He only could unlock the door Of heaven and let us in”
In Christ Jesus the saving power of God came to earth! Jesus presents Himself, not as one among many alternatives, but as the only one who is "mighty to save" (Isa 63:1). He is the only one "able also to save them to the uttermost; that come unto God by Him" (Hebrews 7:25). He is the only one who has lived, died and risen again as the sinless substitute. He is our only hope for He is the only one who has satisfied God’s just and reasonable demands for perfection and righteousness. Christ alone is God’s provision for ruined and lost sinners. What a shelter, what a Savior!
In Christ, God’s love came to earth. It is in Christ that we see God’s love for the helpless for He received sinners and ate with them (Luke 15:2). This should be of no surprise since He came to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke 19:10). However, the fullest demonstration of His love comes to us at the cross. God didn’t just say He loved us; He, as the representative man, went to the cross and was deluged by floods of wrath that should have come on us. What astonishing love! He who knew no sin became sin that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). What “amazing love, so immense and so free.”
In Christ alone we see the majesty of God as He rose from the grave triumphing over death. In Christ alone we see our perfect all-sufficient priest who ever lives to make intercession for us (Romans 8:34). In Christ alone is good news for all whose righteousness is insufficient to bring them to God. In Christ alone, God’s thoughts towards us are thoughts of peace and grace, not thoughts of fury and anger. In Christ alone there is goodwill toward man. In Christ alone, God’s undeserved, unearned and unmerited favor has come to us. In Christ alone we see that our salvation is not bound up in how much we love God, but in how much He loves us. In Christ alone we see that it is not our commitment to God which saves us but His commitment to us.
And That’s the Gospel Truth!