Monday, July 20, 2026

          The Bible is ultimately about the gospel.  And the gospel can be found plainly throughout the Bible.  The gospel, or good news, is not confined to the New Testament or Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.  The seeds of the gospel can be found in the law, prophets, history and writings of the Old Testament.  The gospel tells us that God made us in His image and loves us beyond our comprehension or ability to describe.  His love is consistent, constant and unfailing.  We, however, have sinned against Him—denied, defied and disobeyed Him.  Isaiah wrote, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way” (Isaiah 53:6).  Because of our sins, we have fallen far short of His glory.  Our sins carry the stiff price of death—we deserve death and judgment for how we have lived.  I certainly do and so do you and everyone who has ever lived or will live.  But while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  He carried our sins to the cross and died for them.  He, in fact, became sin in our place.  His death was the perfect full payment and the final sacrifice for our sins.  In addition, the perfect life that Jesus lived is credited to us by our faith and trust in Him and surrender to Him and Him alone for our forgiveness and salvation.  We are given a new life by His death and resurrection.
            I Corinthians 15 tells us that Jesus died, was buried and rose again according to the Scriptures.  What Scriptures?  Well, the New Testament did not fully exist at the time that Paul wrote I Corinthians so the Scriptures that he referenced meant the Old Testament. The plan for the cross was clear to see in the Old Testament.  Jesus’ death and resurrection were in keeping with Scripture and the fulfillment of Scripture.  Revelation 13:8 tells us that the Lamb, Jesus, was slain before the foundations of the world.  The Bible is telling us that God’s plan to redeem us through the death of His Son was formed and fixed before the earth was created. God knew we would fall into sin and He made a way to rescue us from that fall and failure.
            Psalm 49:8 shows us the gospel, “the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough.”  The atonement for sin is made by blood—the perfect and sinless blood of Jesus.  The animal sacrifices of Israel’s ancient days were but a prelude and foreshadowing of the perfect sacrifice that was coming at the cross of Jesus.  God does not overlook our sins or minimize them.  He demands justice for sins—all the sins of the world.  But He exacts that justice through the death of His Son who became our substitute at the cross.  We dare not lose sight of the cross.  Should we ever overlook or minimize the cross, then our preaching has no power.  Paul wrote, “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power” (1 Corinthians 1:17). 
            As Psalm 49:8 acknowledges, we have no capacity to buy back our lives or to ransom our lives from sin’s snare and penalty.  “No payment is ever enough” that we might dream up or attempt to make.  We cannot live righteously enough to offset or balance out our sins.  We cannot offer any sort of payment to God to win His favor or approval.  He needs nothing we could offer as a bribe or settlement.  The Bible says that the earth is the Lord’s and everything in it (Psalm 24:1).  So, we rest confidently and completely in the finished work of Christ at the cross—trusting fully in the sufficiency of His death and resurrection to accomplish our redemption and forgiveness.  We add nothing to the cross and take nothing from it.  The cross alone is the perfect payment and the required ransom.  As Paul so passionately wrote, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).  Have a great Monday!