The gospel of Jesus Christ is simply Jesus Christ Himself, with His person, His accomplishments, His attainments, His obtainments, and His work in this age, in the coming age, and in eternity, as the content. His person is multifaceted. He is the Creator of all things. He is God who is over all and blessed forever, the complete God, the Son of God, the embodiment of God, the effulgence of God’s glory, and the express image of God’s substance. He is a man, the Son of Man, who was born of a virgin, possessing the human nature, a human body, and the human form, and who lived a human life on earth; after His resurrection He is still a man, and in eternity He will still be a man. He is the Redeemer who died and shed His blood to redeem us outwardly, objectively, once for all by His precious blood. He is also the Savior who resurrected from the dead to save us inwardly, subjectively, day by day, by His divine life. He is Jesus, who is Jehovah God coming to be our Savior and our salvation. He is Christ, the Messiah who was anointed by God to accomplish God’s plan. He is also the Lord, who is Jehovah in the Old Testament, the very Triune God. After He died and was resurrected, men called Him Lord; hence, He is the resurrected Lord. When He ascended to the height of the heavens, as a man He was made Lord by God, that is, the Lord of all things, to whom are all things, and the Lord of all men, unto whom are all men. He is the life-giving Spirit who enters into His disciples to be their life and to be joined to them as one spirit. He is the life, God’s eternal life, entering into us to be our life. He is the resurrection and He has overcome death to be the resurrection life and the resurrection power within us. He was incarnated and born as a God-man; He passed through all the experiences of human life; He died to accomplish redemption; He resurrected to give life; He breathed the Spirit of life into the believers to be their life; He ascended to heaven, was made both Lord and Christ, and became the Head of all things and of the church; and He poured out the Spirit of power upon the believers, baptizing them into His one Body. In ascension He attained to the height of the universe, far above all; He also attained to the peak of the divine attributes with the human virtues, expressing what God is in His humanity in the universe through all eternity. Furthermore, in His ascension He has obtained the throne, glory, honor, the name which is above every name, the lordship, and the rulership. Today in the heavens He gives repentance and forgiveness of sins to save sinners for the building of the church and the establishment of God’s kingdom. Moreover, in the heavens He is also the Mediator of the new covenant, executing the bequests of the new testament; the Minister of the true tabernacle, ministering the heavenly life and the heavenly supply to the believers; the High Priest of the believers, interceding for them that they may be saved to the uttermost; and the Advocate of the believers, pleading for them before God to restore their interrupted fellowship with God. At His coming back He will redeem the believers’ body, conforming it to the body of His glory, and He will also restore all things and bring in God’s kingdom. In eternity He will be the Lamb who is one with God, the Husband of the redeemed, and the temple in which they serve God; He will also be the lamp shining in the holy city, the supply nourishing the holy city, and the healing of the nations on the new earth for eternity. The early apostles and believers preached such a Christ as the gospel. This gospel is not only called the gospel of Jesus Christ and the gospel of Christ, but also the gospel of the glory of Christ; moreover, it is called the gospel of God, the gospel of the kingdom of the heavens, the gospel of grace, the gospel of peace, and the gospel of salvation. Therefore, the gospel is called the glad tidings and is worthwhile for us to preach at every time and in every place throughout our whole life!
(This lesson may be divided into two sections and taught in two sessions on the same day.)