Cnr Alice and Edward Sts Mittagong | Sundays at 10.30am
Isaiah 55 Acts 13.14-43
Its very easy to think that the Gospel is a new testament Gospel, since it is all about the arrival of Jesus as recorded in the new testament.
However what we understand is that the old testament inevitably leads to the coming of Jesus.
We cannot understand the new testament without the old testament background. What happens in the arrival of Jesus Christ is the culmination of what God had earlier said in the Scriptures.
Even the rejection of Jesus was spoken of in the old writings, including his terrible execution.
As well as his rejection God had spoken of His resurrection.
These two events were not contradictory but part of God’s whole program for rescuing His own people. God anticipated that rebellious mankind would reject His King and that in so doing would crucify Him. Yet this very method was always God’s plan.God would raise their King from the grave in which they laid Him. The Gospel spoken of in the old testament is fulfilled in the new testament, with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The consequence of this is outlined in Acts 13.38,9:
“Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through Him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses.”
This is the Good News, both old and new. Everything about God’s saving plan was coming down to this event of the death of Jesus Christ and His resurrection. It was always God’s great plan of deliverance intended for His lost rebellious people.
What makes it such good news is that God, dealing with believers on the basis of what He accomplished in Jesus Christ, is able to set us
free from every sin. It is this sin dilemma which separates God from His people. He has dealt with this in the person of Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection. Praise God!!