At the heart of Christianity is what’s called the Gospel. Gospel means ‘good news’ – and it’s this good news about Jesus that shapes everything we believe.
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Is life meant to be this tiring?
Passage Matthew 11:25-30
Speaker Lawrence Braschi
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Keep scrolling for a more in-depth overview of what the Gospel’s all about, or click ‘next steps’ if you’re keen to think about how to respond.
God is described as being like light. Brilliant, perfect light, without even a hint of shadow. Light goes outwards, it spreads and affects everything it touches – and God is the same. The Bible tells us that God created the world and everything in it, and that the high point of it all is humanity. He created humans to be like him, to live with him and to live in relationship with him. But there’s bad news.
“For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.”
Romans 1:21-23
All human beings reject God. They don’t want him in their lives; they’d rather live on their own. So they swap him out. But what’s the alternative to light, what can you swap it for? The only possible alternative is darkness.
This has all sorts of implications; it means people are no longer like God and their lives are bent out of shape compared to how they should be. Their relationships with him, with each other, with the world, and even their own internal self-image becomes darkened.
This is what the Bible refers to as ‘sin’ – the rejection of God. Of course, there’s still lots of good in the world – glimmers of how things should have been, hints of God’s goodness and light. But it’s like a cracked mirror, the reflection is broken.
“I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.”
Isaiah 42:16
“The people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.”
Matthew 4:16
God himself came into the world, just like a great light dawning in a shadowy valley. Jesus preached that people were sinners, that they’d turned from the God of life and light – but that they could turn back, receive forgiveness and know God by putting their trust in him. He’d come to rescue people out of darkness. Some people reacted very positively to him and came away from meeting Jesus with transformed lives. Others reacted very negatively. So negatively, that they wanted him dead.
This is the heart of all that Christianity is about. Two big swaps. We swap light for darkness. Jesus takes our darkness so we can share in his light. There’s nothing humans can do about our situation; no heroic acts or good deeds can take us out of darkness. But if we admit our sin and trust in Jesus and what he’s done, we really can enter Jesus’ kingdom.
The Bible tells us that this is where history is heading. One day Jesus will return and God’s kingdom of light will fill everything. There won’t be a shred of darkness left.
“The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp... There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.”
Revelation 21:23, 22:5
This is the good news that God gives us in the Bible. The the forgiveness of sins; the restored relationship with God, each other, the environment, and internal self-image – all coming from faith in Jesus. Experienced in part now, but fully in the future. In the meantime, Christians have been given the Holy Spirit so that they can know God better and they can be transformed to be like him through listening to him in his word, the Bible.
But that day which means joy for Christians, is bad news for those who don’t trust in him. The Bible describes that one day those who are still set against God will be completely removed from his presence. They’ll be given over fully to the darkness they’ve chosen.
This means that sin is let loose to run its full course. Anger that was once under the surface will become fully-fledged, murderous rage. There’s no more truth, so little, white lies will become malicious deceit. People will be left in the darkness without any further chance to turn back to God. It’s not a threat, but a loving warning to turn to him now.
Next steps
Prayer
You might find it appropriate to pray to God in light of what you've just read. Here is a prayer you could say if you wanted to become a Christian:
Heavenly Father,
I’m sorry that I’ve lived my life loving darkness and hating light. I admit that I’ve not wanted you and that I’ve been living for myself before you and before other people. Please forgive me. Thank you that you came into my darkness in your Son, Jesus. Thank you that because of him I can enter into your light again and call you my Father. Please fill me with your Spirit help me to live as your child. Please help me to look forward to the day where I can live in your kingdom of light.
Amen.
Next steps
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We’d love to help you find out more by looking into what the Bible says for yourself. We can post you a copy of one of the first-hand, eye-witness accounts of Jesus’ life and we also run two courses to help you dig deeper in a group setting.
Real Stories
St. Andrew's is a family of people whose lives have been changed by the king who took their darkness and gave them his light. Click the videos below to hear some of our stories.
