GOOD NEWS / BAD NEWS

I have good news for you, just in case you have never heard. The God of the Bible promised to send "the seed of woman" to defeat Satan (Gen. 3:15). That is a strange phrase, in that the woman does not bear seed, but receives it from the man. Since there was only one individual who was born of a virgin, Jesus had to be the fulfillment of that prophecy. The good news is, he did not inherit the nature of Adam, the theory being that the sin nature is passed down through the male. Since the "Father" of Jesus was Almighty God, unlike us, He was not inclined to sin. And, because He remained sinless, He was able to suffer death for the sins of others, and provide eternal life to those who place their trust in Him (Heb. 4:15; Rom. 6:23; Jn. 3:15). It is interesting that the phrase "eternal life" does not appear in the Old Testament. Perhaps that is why some refer to the Old Testament as the "bad news," and the New Testament as the "good news" (Lk. 2:10). The Old Testament revealed how desperately man needed a savior, and the New Testament revealed the identity of the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God (Matt. 16:16; Jn. 20:28).

Following His death, burial, and resurrection, Jesus made many appearances during the forty days He remained before ascending to the Father (Acts 1:3). Among them was a visit with two men leaving Jerusalem who apparently had not heard of His resurrection (Lk. 24:13-32). During His conversation with them, He explained what had happened and why. He taught them from "all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself." Israel had mistakenly understood that their hope for the future rested upon the offspring of David becoming the King over the entire world. To them, the good news was that the King was coming. Jesus explained to the two men that before He would fulfill the prophecies concerning the Messiah saving the nation of Israel from domination by world empires, He needed to die to save the world from sin. It does not say it, but it is highly likely that He informed them that He would return to rule the world. After all, isn't that the message given to His apostles? "I am going...but I will come again" (Jn. 14:3). The good news is that by placing our trust in Jesus Christ, our sins are forgiven, and we become the adopted children of God (1 Jn. 2:12; Jn. 1:12)!

The bad news is that not everyone who hears the good news will accept it. Although the offer of forgiveness is for everyone, many will not accept salvation as a free gift (Eph. 2:8-9). They believe nothing is free, that everything has "strings attached." That is why there are so many religions. Man has the false impression that by works of righteousness they may somehow earn a favorable standing with their idea of god. Religion is the biggest obstacle to salvation, because it falsely offers ways to make one worthy. The Word of God says that no one can have access to the Father except through faith in Jesus Christ (Jn. 14:6; Rom. 10:8-13). Religion leads to a false sense of pride and down the wide road to destruction (Matthew 7:13-14 - Note: that road has to be wide because there are thousands of religions that share it). The bad news is that not everyone has heard the good news, and unfortunately, most of those who have heard it have rejected it.