When Jesus Christ was born, the angels appeared to the shepherds in the fields notifying them of something great that had just taken place in Bethlehem of Judea. A prophecy had just been fulfilled. The day that the people of God have been awaiting for several centuries. A very notable event that would change the history of the nation of Israel and the rest of the world. The restoration of mankind to relationship and fellowship with his creator.

The angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid! I have good news for you, a message that will fill everyone with joy. (Luke 2:10, GW)

The sudden manifestation of the angel that brought the news to the shepherds got them startled. But there was nothing to be scared of because the angel came with great news. He came with GOOD NEWS which the host of heaven cheered for after the message was delivered. The savior had been born in a manger but it was still good news nonetheless. The shepherds took off immediately, following the direction of the angel to the location where the child was. After they had found the child, they went ahead to reiterate the GOOD NEWS they had received from the angel about the new born.

When they saw the child, they repeated what they had been told about him. Everyone who heard the shepherds’ story was amazed. (Luke 2:17-18, GW)

The shepherds repeated exactly what they had been told about the child when they found him and everyone was amazed. The birth of Jesus was good news and the good news was that the savior of the world had just been born.

The word ‘gospel’ means the same thing as ‘good news’. The birth of Jesus was no doubt good news but that was just the beginning of the whole story – a pathway to the ultimate good news. He was born for a reason – to die on the cross as atonement for the sins of the world and to resurrect on the third day to establish the kingdom of God on earth through men and women who would believe in him and receive him. His disciples were the first-fruits of those who would later come to salvation through the preaching of the gospel.

His Life

Jesus Christ grew from being a child to a man and began his ministry after his baptism at the river Jordan by John the Baptist. He went about announcing the good news of the coming kingdom of God.

Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. (Mar 1:14-15 KJV)

The kingdom of God had not yet come but was about to be birthed through his death, burial and resurrection. So he announced that the kingdom of God is at hand and men are to believe the gospel.

After three years of preaching, teaching and healing the sick, he went to the cross and died. Being buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, his disciples felt that everything had come to an end. They seem to have forgotten all that the master had told them about himself and all he would accomplish. They were downcast such that when the good news of his resurrection came to them, they found it hard to believe. They felt that the news bearer had seen a ghost or an angel until he appeared to all of them by himself.

Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen. (Mark 16:14 KJV)

The good news is finally here! The Lord has risen from the dead. The Kingdom that was at hand is now here and all nations can flow into it. Salvation from sin and the new birth has now been made available for mankind. Before his ascension he gave a charge to his disciples:

And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
(Mark 16:15-16 KJV)

The gospel we are told to preach is that all men can now be saved on the condition that they believe and accept the finished works of Christ.

The Good News That Saves

The Gospel comes with several benefits embedded but that is not what we present to men as the core message. The main message of the Gospel is eternal life and not necessarily the promise of a better life here on earth with loads of material possessions. There is the main benefit of the Gospel and there are other benefits. All these other benefits are also good news, but if a man decides to follow Jesus because of these other benefits, he may be disappointed and discouraged when those things don’t happen as expected. This has been the case of many professing Christians.

There are different kinds of Good news but there is a Good News that has in it the saving power from sin and the oppression of Satan. Every good news is gospel but not all good news has the ability to save man from sin and gives eternal life. The gospel that saves men from sin and gives eternal life is the Gospel of the Salvation. It encapsulates the reason Jesus Christ came and all he has done for us through his life, death and resurrection.

His birth was good news, the declaration of the coming kingdom of God was good news and his resurrection was the best good news, because through the resurrection of Jesus Christ men can now receive the life of God and become God’s children. The gospel was unfolded to mankind in two stages. One was through his birth, and the other was through his death and resurrection.

Repeat The Gospel

It is your responsibility as a true Christian to re-echo the message of the gospel. Every man who has had a true encounter with the gospel will want to share it. What is there not to want to share about the good news? Except it is not really good news. If it is truly good news then you will want to let it out. Good News will leave you naturally excited and stirred. The shepherds echoed it, the wise men were eager to tell it to King Herod, the woman at the well of Samaria was eager to share her encounter with the whole community. Several people whom Jesus healed went broadcasting the news of their encounter with him. Even the disciples said:

For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.
(Act 4:20 KJV)

This is the true attitude of anyone who has encountered the true gospel. You are meant to be a repeater of the gospel until it saves other men just as it saved you. Even when the disciples were persecuted for preaching the gospel, they continued to preach it after being released from detention (Acts 4:14-31).

Should I Preach The Gospel?

Oh Yes! You Should. It is your responsibility. That is the reason you were left here. You are an ambassador of Jesus Christ. Someone did the job to get you saved, you have to do the same for others.

God has done all this. He has restored our relationship with him through Christ, and has given us this ministry of restoring relationships.
In other words, God was using Christ to restore his relationship with humanity. He didn’t hold people’s faults against them, and he has given us this message of restored relationships to tell others.
Therefore, we are Christ’s representatives, and through us God is calling you. We beg you on behalf of Christ to become reunited with God. (2Co 5:18-20 GW)

Over the centuries men have been repeating the same message and it has been bringing many out of darkness. Allow the Gospel to be re-echoed through you today. Shalom!