Tom As we celebrate Christmas this year, let us revisit some questions a new believer might ask regarding Jesus and the Gospel message
About The Gospel
Question 1: You’ve mentioned the word “Gospel” many times. What does it mean?
According to Britannica, the word “Gospel” is derived from the Anglo-Saxon term god-spell, meaning “good story,” a rendering of the Latin evangelium and the Greek euangelion, meaning “Good News”.
But the word “Gospels”, with a “s”, refers to the first 4 books of the New Testament – the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. These books are called the Gospels because that is the start of the Good News – the birth of Jesus Christ.
Question 2: Who is Jesus Christ?
Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
Question 3: Why did Jesus have to come to earth as a baby? Couldn’t He just appear as a grown up man?
The birth of Jesus was the fulfillment of prophecies from the Old Testament such as Micah 5:2, which tells of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem and
Isaiah 9:6
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Not only did Jesus come to fulfill those prophecies, He came as a child, to spend 33 years on earth to experience what you and I go through. The joys, the sadness, the temptations, the anger – He would understand them all.
Question 4: What was Jesus’ purpose on earth?
This question goes back to the Good News.
The main purpose was the death on the cross (today we celebrate as Good Friday) and resurrection (today we celebrate as Easter Sunday). Through His death on the cross, He suffered on our behalf so that all we have to do today is to believe.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
During His time on earth, Jesus also performed many miracles and more importantly, shared many teachings to His disciples and followers. Many of these are instructions on how we can navigate our lives. As an analogy, when you buy an appliance, you would also receive an instruction manual on its usage right? Well, the Bible is our instruction manual to life itself.
Question 5: But why did Jesus have to die on the cross? Couldn’t God just forgive us of all our sins?
We have to also understand the other aspect of God, that He is righteous.
Because God is perfect, everything that we do – every thought against our friends, every action against the law, every unsavoury word spoken – they are unpleasing in His sight.
When we believe that Jesus died and rose on our behalf, it is as though Jesus’ life had been “copied” and “pasted” into our lives. When God sees us now, He sees Jesus and the perfect life of obedience He lived. So when God opens our “file” to see our life, He will more like than not say,
“Let’s see…Tom Lim…Hm…impressive.”
Question 6: What then must I do now?
In Matthew 22, there is a parable about the Parable of the Wedding Banquet.
It tells of a king who wanted to have a wedding feast for his son. After the feast was arranged, the king sent out invitations but unlike what you would see in Disney movies where the people would be so happy to be invited, these people actually refused to come. Some continue to work in the field while another continued with his business, still another, seized and killed the servants who went to invite them.
The king was angry and he sent his men to destroy the murderers and their city. Thereafter, he invited anyone, everywhere, who would want to come to the wedding – both the bad and the good. All they needed to do was to come in the wedding clothes provided by the King.
During the wedding, there was a man who did not wear the wedding clothes provided. He was then “thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth”. In this parable, the characters are
King – God
Son – Jesus
Everyone Invited – Us
Wedding Clothes – Faith in the Good News
For those who rejected the invitation, they would not have received the wedding clothes.
This Christmas, would you receive and believe this invitation that God has sent his Son, Jesus Christ to die on the cross for your behalf? There is a seat at the King’s table just for you. All you have to do is to accept His invitation.
Question 7: How can I accept His invitation?
By praying to Him
“Dear Lord Jesus, I thank you for what you have done on the cross for me. I believe in your death and resurrection for my sins. Come, Lord Jesus into my life till I see you again.
In Christ’s Jesus name I pray,
Amen.”
*Amen means “let it be so”. Let your prayer be so.
