Since the beginning, all of us have missed the mark that God set for us, to be his representatives here on earth.  Sin has corrupted us, as well as the rest of God’s creation.  In Eden, God warned Adam that the penalty for eating forbidden fruit would be death, and that has been the terrible consequence for him and all his descendants.   

The Bible is the extended story of God’s plan to fix the problem of sin and death, and redeem us along with all creation.  This was part of his timeless plan to “be our God, and we his people”, and to live with us forever.

When God sent Jesus, he was putting one of the final pieces of that plan into action.  Jesus would be Emmanuel, “God with us”, just as he had promised.  Jesus lived among us proclaiming “the kingdom of God is near”, healing the sick, and casting out demons.  Then he offered up his life, dying on a cross “according to the scriptures”. 

The phrase “according to the scriptures” is key.  Jesus completed all the Old Testament stories of redemption.  He delivered a death blow to Satan, just as God had promised in the Garden of Eden.  He offered himself to die in our place just as God had revealed to Abraham on Mount Moriah.  He became our Passover Lamb, dying at Passover so that death would not touch our souls.  He became our kinsman redeemer when he redeemed us from our own slavery to sin.  And he healed our sin-bitten souls and drew us to himself when he was “lifted up” on the cross, just as the Israelites were healed when they looked at the bronze snake Moses “lifted up” in the desert.

Jesus became our champion, fighting in our place to defeat Satan, just as David had defeated Goliath as the Israelites’ champion.   And if we accept Jesus as our own personal champion, then by faith we take our places “in Christ”.  And when we are “in Christ”, whatever is true for him becomes just as true for us. 

Jesus rose from the dead “on the third day”, the Jewish festival of First Fruits, just as he had told his disciples.  Then 40 days later, he ascended to God the Father, still as part of the human race, now our champion and our representative head within the Trinity. 

And that’s the Gospel, the good news.