Good News for All Nations

In Jesus, the creative word by which God made all things is manifested for all men to see . The  Gospel of John  identifies Jesus as the ‘ Logos ’, the word through which God made the Cosmos. This theme is prominent in John’s Gospel and is derived from the Hebrew Bible. God created the world, especially life, through His spoken word. Jesus of Nazareth is the living expression of that same creative word.

The Spirit of God imparts life, especially the everlasting life of which the Gift of the Spirit is the foretaste and guarantee . The Spirit of God is life-giving. “ God is Spirit ,” and where His Spirit is, there is life! By His Spirit God created all things, including the “ hosts of the Heavens .” In contrast, sin kills men, and it does so through the “ letter of the Law .” Death’s “ sting ” is sin, “ and the power of sin is the Law . ” However, God’s Spirit gives us life, and where His Spirit is, there is also “ liberty ” - (John 4:24, 6:63, 1 Corinthians 15:56, 2 Corinthians 3:6, 3:17).

Jesus is the herald who announces the Good News and inaugurates the Kingdom, the process that will culminate in the final harvest . Jesus proclaimed the imminence of God’s Kingdom and called men and women to repent and turn away from unrighteousness in response to this new reality. He is the Messiah who inaugurates the redemptive act of God, and this will conclude with the great harvest of souls when Christ returns “ on the clouds of heaven .”

After his baptism, the Spirit “drove Jesus into the wilderness… for forty days and nights.”  Like Moses, the Messiah of Israel was alone in the Judean desert confronted by the Devil. His only guide was the Word of God. Like Israel, he was “ tested .” Unlike that nation, he overcame every temptation and emerged victorious, for he was “ full of the Holy Spirit . ”

Jesus gives the Holy Spirit to his people, empowering them to proclaim the Good News of his Kingdom to the Nations of the Earth . The Messiah is identified in the  Second Psalm  as the Messianic King destined to reign over the Nations of the Earth. In the New Testament, he is anointed by the Holy Spirit at his baptism, equipping him to proclaim the “ Kingdom of God ” to Israel. He gave his disciples the Gift of the Spirit enabling them to announce his message and sovereignty to all nations.

Believers are the heirs of Abraham and the Covenant. The future possession of that inheritance is guaranteed by the Gift of the Spirit . Israel’s possession of Canaan was an earlier stage of God’s redemptive plan, which always envisaged something larger than Israel or a small plot of land in the Middle East. With the arrival of the Messiah and the outpouring of the Spirit, the covenant promises found their fulfillment in the true “ Seed of Abraham ,” and consequently, for his “ brethren ” and “ coheirs .”

The Spirit of God and the voice from heaven confirmed the calling and identity of Jesus - Son, Messiah, and Servant – Mark 1:9-11. Jesus first appears in the Gospel of Mark when John baptizes him in the Jordan River. The narrative identifies him with his hometown, Nazareth, a village of no consequence. Jesus is the Son and the Servant of the Lord, and the Messiah who does not conform to popular expectations.

Jesus is the quintessential man of the Spirit. His life and ministry are filled with the power and presence of the Spirit of God . The activity of the Spirit dominates the life, words, and deeds of Christ. He is “ Jesus, the one called Christ ,” the long-awaited Messiah of Israel. The angel informed Joseph that Mary carried a child “ conceived of the Holy Spirit ,” indicating that something more than just a miraculous birth was about to unfold.

By his Death and Resurrection, Jesus formed one covenant community - One New Man - based on faith in him  – Ephesians 2:11-22. The Apostle Paul is adamant. There no longer can be “ Jew or Gentile ” for disciples of Jesus. The old distinctions are inappropriate among the One People of God. By his shed blood, he “ dismantled  the middle wall of partition ” that separated Jews and Gentiles so “ he   might reconcile them both in one body for God through the Cross .” God is building both into one building,  one habitation of God in the Spirit founded on Jesus .

According to Paul, there is “ now no condemnation ” for anyone who is “ in Christ Jesus .” This happy condition exists because the “ law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set us free from the law of sin and of death .” Moreover, he links our salvation to the inheritance of Christ and the coming redemption of the creation. Adam’s transgression condemned the entire universe to bondage and death, not just humanity. However, “ much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus, abound to the many .”

In his Letter to the Romans , Paul presents his most detailed explanation of the Gospel. His purpose was to deal with conflicts between Gentile and Jewish members of the Assembly and prepare the ground for taking the Gospel to the West. In doing so, he touched on key topics, including death, redemption, the Law, resurrection, and New Creation. Believers are justified through his death and saved by his resurrection life.

Jesus revealed the proper form and location for worshipping the Father to a woman in Samaria. With the advent of the Messiah, concepts and traditions about holy space and holy time have become irrelevant. The presence of the Messiah rendered the historical debate over the location of the Temple moot. From now on, the worship of God must be performed  in truth and spirit .

The outpouring of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost signaled the start of the Last Days and the time of fulfillment . The application of Joel’s prophecy to the events of the Day of Pentecost links the outpouring of the Spirit to the last days. The death, resurrection, and exaltation of Jesus inaugurated History’s final stage before the Day of the Lord, and now, he reigns and bestows the gift of the Spirit on his Church.

The Gift of the Spirit is the First Fruits of the bodily resurrection and the Guarantee of our participation in the coming New Creation . The Apostle Paul presents Abraham as the great model of faith. God counted his faith as “ righteousness ” when he was uncircumcised, which means that God justified the Patriarch apart from the “ works of the Law .” Thus, he became the father of all men who are also “ from faith .” Circumcision was added after the promise as the confirmation of Abraham’s justifying faith.

The Son of God gives the Spirit to men and women, without which there is no enduring life. His words are spirit, and they are life . “ The Spirit gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The declarations I have spoken to you, they are spirit, and they are life. ” Christ’s statement echoes the biblical principle that life and the Spirit of God are inextricably linked – (John 6:63).

When an angel informed Joseph that the child carried by Mary was “ conceived of the Holy Spirit ,” it indicated that something more than just a miraculous birth was about to unfold. From the beginning, the activity of the Spirit dominated the life of Jesus of Nazareth. He was “ Jesus, the one called Christ ,” that is, the “ Anointed One ,” the long-awaited Messiah of Israel.

In the  Gospel of Mark , Jesus first appears when he is baptized by John in the Jordan River. The passage identifies him with his hometown of Nazareth, a small village of no consequence, though its very insignificance plays an important part in the narrative. He is the Messiah and the  “ Servant of the LORD ”  who does not conform to popular expectations even as he is anointed by the Spirit of God in fulfillment of Scripture.

The gift of the Spirit is part of the covenant promises made to Abraham, including blessing the nations of the Earth . The Gospel of Matthew declares that Jesus is the son of Abraham. Thus, this gospel account connects the Nazarene to the Abrahamic Covenant, for the Messiah of Israel came to complete the covenant and all its promises.

The gift of the Spirit is foundational to the New Covenant. It is the beginning of the New Creation and the gathering of the nations . The history of Israel includes descriptions of the sins that caused the expulsion of the nation from the Land of Canaan. God foresaw the failures of Israel, and therefore, He determined to make a new covenant, one that is energized and characterized by the Holy Spirit.

The gift of the Spirit demonstrates beyond question who belongs to the covenant community of Christ, and who does not . “ False brethren ” were preaching “ another gospel ” in the churches of Galatia, a “gospel” that requires Gentile believers to adopt circumcision and otherwise conform to the regulations of the Mosaic Law. Paul repudiated this false teaching in his letter to the Galatians and explained why circumcision is unnecessary for Gentiles.