For most of us, our first introduction to the gospel is visual. It begins with the pictures we associate with Jesus’ birth, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension.
Jesus’ Birth
Most Israelites expected the Messiah to arrive leading the armies of heaven, and to put the world right. Sneaking into the world he created, as a human baby, shows God’s eternal commitment to the human race. Jesus truly became Emmanuel, “God with us”.
As John says in the prologue to his gospel,
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. … The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:1-5,14 NIV
Nothing could have demonstrated God’s enduring will to “be our God” and for us to “be his people” more completely than his willingness to become one of us. It has always been God’s desire to be with us.
Jesus’ Crucifixion
Visually, the good news may be best represented by the picture of Jesus dying on the cross, to “take away the sins of the world”. Knowing and believing that Jesus died for your sins so that you can have eternal life is the beginning of redemption. This visual appreciation of the good news has been captured in art and music for centuries. I’m convinced these pictures can be the foundation that leads a person to seek God and find redemption. Jesus’ crucifixion is a stark visual contrast between the kingdom of God and what Jesus and the Bible call the world or the kingdom of darkness. Jesus spent his years of ministry healing, casting out demons, teaching, and raising the dead. When we see him on the cross, arms outstretched in a symbol of invitation and welcome, we are either drawn to him or not. Just as Jesus said,
“And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
John 12:32 NIV
We have to look up to see Jesus on the cross. This places him between heaven and earth, symbolizing his position as the bridge between God and humanity.
Jesus’ Resurrection
The empty tomb is a powerful picture that symbolizes Jesus’ defeat of death. It reminds us that sin and death are evils that God refuses to tolerate. In the resurrection, we have a concrete reason to hope for our own resurrection with Jesus, and for the new covenant age where “death will be no more”.
Jesus’ Ascension
After 40 days on earth in his resurrected body, Jesus ascended to his Father. The important part of this picture is that Jesus did it as a man. Human flesh wasn’t something Jesus put on and would simply take off when it was no longer useful. Jesus’ humanity wasn’t just a form that he assumed for a moment in time and would cast aside when no longer needed. No, Jesus ascended and is now seated at the Father’s right hand as a human being, still fully God and fully man. In that process, God forged a link between humanity and the Trinity that will last for eternity. God has guaranteed that “He will be our God, and we will be his people”. If one man is now and forever a member of the Trinity, we can be certain that God has a future stored up for humanity. This represents a total victory over Satan.