THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST.
By T. L. Waters
"For I am not ashamed of the Gospel; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." Rom. 1:16, R. V. THE Gospel reveals to us the favor of God to sinful man through a Mediator. See Heb. 4:14-16. It comprises the birth, life and teachings, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ, His Mediatorship, and His second advent in glory. These comprise the things to be believed, and all connected truths are but concomitants growing out of belief in these. See 2 Tim. 1:8-10 and 2:8; 1 Cor. 15:1-4; 1 Thess. 4:13-18; 2 Thess. 1:7-10; 1 Peter 1:3-5, 11, 12; Rev. 14:6, 7. One of the most important truths of the3Word is thus declared by the apostle Paul; "Be not ashamed therefore of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner; but suffer hardship with the Gospel according to the power of God; who saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before times eternal, but hath now been manifested by the appearing of our Saviour Christ Jesus, who abolished death, and brought life and incorruption to light through the Gospel." 2 Tim. 1:8-10. The abolition of death and the destruction of him who brought it into this world, that is, the devil, forms no inconsiderable portion of the Gospel; indeed the good news would be incomplete without it. Says the prophet Isaiah, "And He [the Lord] will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of His people shall He take away from off the earth; for the Lord hath spoken it." Isa. 25:7, 8. The apostle Paul, in commenting upon this, writes: "So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." And, quoting Hosea, he exclaims: "O death, where is thy sting? O grave [hades], where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Cor. 15:54-57. Again, in his Epistle to the Hebrews, he says: "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." Heb. 2:14, 15. And the beloved John writes: "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil." 1 John 3:8. Putting these Scriptures together it is evident that Satan, sin, and death are to be blotted out of God's universe forever; and this constitutes the final triumph heralded by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.