About 2000 years ago a unique announcement was made to some of the shepherds who were keeping night watch over their flocks in the countryside of Bethlehem. When we go through the wonderful message that was recorded in Luke 2:8-11 we learn that it comes from God, is meant for the whole humanity, brings great joy to every one and removes the fear of mankind forever. And most importantly we find that this GOOD NEWS is centred around Lord Jesus Christ. We call it as the Gospel about Jesus Christ who offers us a fulfilling life in its abundance.
We proclaim this Gospel as true because it came from God.(Rom.1:1) who is the creator of the whole universe and all that are in it (Gen.1:1).The creator or the maker alone absolutely knows the functioning , operation ,etc; of the created things. And God as maker has given us an owner's manual which is the Bible, to find answers and solutions for our life. It was given by God and is useful for every man (2 Timo.3: 16-17)
We know that there are people who are not familiar with the Bible but it says that the Nature stands as a good witness pointing towards a creator God (Rom.1: 19-20). However, since God is not part of the universe, by observing nature alone, we cannot find the characters of God. Science and Philosophy that study the created universe and the nature, are hopelessly incompetent to reveal the great features of God's character and will. But our creator God has graciously revealed Himself by speaking to mankind (Heb.1: 1-3). The Bible is the record of such revelations including His great programme of bringing eternal joy and peace to man who is plagued with fear, sorrow and death. As we learnt above , this wonderful programme is centred around Jesus Christ, the foremost revelation of God to mankind.
Before coming to know more about Jesus let us now consider why mankind requires this good news from God. As we are aware every man born on this earth faces problems in life and stands perplexed before many of the basic questions of life like where we come from, the purpose of life, our destiny, etc..
Several theories explaining the destiny of man, various philosophical and religious observations and practices, etc., have been propogated and followed by people in different parts of the world. But the failure of all these man made and earth-centric ideologies is reflected in the ever increasing tragedies of life like war, terrorism, suicide, tension, poverty, divorce and the like. . We may wonder why these systems failed? The answer lies in the fact that none of these could find or face the real problems of man. They all dealt with the symptoms rather than the cause of man's problems.
If we sincerely analyse the problems of mankind we find that SIN is the root cause of man's problems. The Bible declares that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God{Rom.3:23} an it underlines that there is none righteous not even one (Rom.3:10). In fact sin entered the world through Adam when he had committed the first act of disobedience. And the result of sin is death as is revealed in the Bible (Rom.6:23).Yes, sin brings fear of every kind ,worst being the fear of death. It generates insecurity, disbelief, selfishness and much more.
One may wonder what is sin? Simply it is breaking God's law(1John 3:4).One of the important revelations in the Bible is that our creator God is holy and righteous. He has given several commandments (Ten Commandments and many other moral laws) in conformity with His great standards. Jesus taught that all these laws contain in two most important laws which are first 'love God above all' and second ' love others as yourself'. When one keeps all the applications of this great law of love he becomes righteous. Unfortunately people fail to keep this law, instead break it in many of their thoughts and actions and lose their peace and joy, ultimately leading them to death and judgement. Since God is most holy he never takes any act of rebellion against Him lightly. A man dying in his sin is unrighteous and will be judged accordingly and be thrown out into the lake of fire(Heb.9:27,Rev.20:11-15).
But the great God of the Bible loved man so much that He sent His only Son to this fallen world (John 3:16) revealing His superb Programme that leads man to eternal peace, love and joy. Yes Jesus, the Son of God brought the fulfilling life to all who believe in Him. Though man is destined to hell due to his sin, God intends him to be with Him in heaven eternally. This is a really wonderful truth and a good message to us.
A sinful man always yearn for freedom from guilt; he seeks mercy and forgiveness and desires being loved and to have peace of mind. Since this is relevant in the life of every man on earth, the Good News brought by Jesus is meant for every individual. He stretches His helping hand to sinners with His unique love even while He hates sin. He forgives those who come to Him acknowledging their sins in repentance.
Then who is this Jesus to put our attention upon Him? This question is valid for a man who hears the good news. Bible says Jesus is 'Son of God'(Heb.1:3). This title is not in any physical sense. Bible explains it in the narration about His birth in the gospel (Luke 1:34-35). The title Son of God means that He has the character of God. Jesus is also known as the Word of God(John1:1,14). This expression reveals that He existed as God under the title 'Word of God'. John 1:14 declares that He became man and lived with us.
Jesus reveals God's nature in His person. This revelation is more complete, personal and clearer than the revelation of God through nature and prophets. God's loving nature is wonderfully acted out by Jesus in His life with us. His righteousness and justice along with His deep love and compassion was uniquely demonstrated on the cross of Calvary. His authority over the powers of nature was wonderfully exhibited in each miracle He had done. His victory over death was proved by His resurrection.
And most importantly Jesus brought us salvation, the ultimate solution for our problems. As we have seen already, none is righteous in this world and everybody is destined to the eternal condemnation in the hell. But Jesus came to this world to give us the fulfilling life of eternal peace and love. We receive it from Him absolutely free but He paid a great price for it, His very life (Refer Matt.20:28).