Lu 2:10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
What else could this good tidings of great joy be, but the GOSPEL of Jesus Christ?
What IS the gospel that the angel brings? How can we know if we have received this Good Tidings?
At first, the shepherds were terrified! They were out in the fields, in the darkness of night, when all of a sudden something unheard of happened. A stranger appeared as if out of nowhere, and all around them, the darkness gave way to bright light.
Listen closely to the message: “Fear not”! This is it, I repeat “Fear Not”. Why shouldn’t we fear? As if in anticiptation of this question the messenger of God goes on… “for…” because…”….Here is the reason you should not fear! Look! Behold! Observe! Give me your attention!
I BRING YOU GOOD TIDINGS OF GREAT JOY WHICH SHALL BE TO ALL PEOPLE!
Okay, three things here. No, Four! Good tidings; Great Joy; Shall be; To ALL People.
The news is good. This is not bad news. No bad news is mentioned here whatsoever. Todays “gospel” goe’s more like this. I have good news and bad news, but the Angel said, I have GOOD NEWS. Only good news, no bad news. How can I be sure the good news doesn’t include bad news?
Secondly, this GOOD NEWS is of GREAT JOY! I like good news of great joy, don’t you? One day, I received good news of great joy. Here's how I can be sure the good news doesn’t include bad news, because I believe Proverbs 10:22 The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it. Jesus is the blessing of the Lord in person, when we receive the blessing it brings great joy. Bad news doesn't bring joy.
Third, we find the clause, “Shall Be”. Shall be is opposed to "may be"; or "should be";or even, "has the potential to be". Shall be means, if it isn’t presently this way, you can be sure that it will eventually be this way. Shall be. In other words, this good news of great joy which the angel brought to the shepherds, must either now, or some time in the future, become good news of great joy.
Fourth and finally, “To ALL People”. The message that the angel brought to the grungy men out in the fields that night, must become good news of great joy to every single being who is classified as a person. To say otherwise, is to say the angel was a false witness, a deceiver. To say otherwise is to not believe this portion of the Word of God.
Lu 2:11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
If you were a mortgage holder and you had lost your job, and the bank came to you and said, I have good news for you which should bring you great joy! All you have to do is accept this micro-chip in your wrist or forehead and your house will be automatically paid off, along with two new cars and we will place $100 million dollars, tax free in your new account. However, if you don’t receive the mark, then you must be imprisoned for your debt, and you will never be able to get out. Would that be good news of great joy to you? Probably not. So this could not be honestly advertised as being good news of great joy to all people, but only to those who accept it. (Even though it was offered to all, you must accept the conditions to consider it good tidings of great joy.)
If you were a Muslim, living in the heart of a Muslim country, and the offer was made for Salvation through Jesus Christ, but it had to be attained before death, and you died never hearing of it and so missed it, would it be good news of great joy to you? Probably not, in fact, it might become a new source of bitterness to learn that you now have to suffer forever, never having heard of Jesus when it might have made a difference.
If you were an American who always heard of Jesus, but associated him with a bunch of illogical, kind of irrational sometimes hypocritical misfits who couldn’t agree on what Jesus was all about, as well as some ex drug addicts and some long faced suit wearing Bible thumpers, and so you wrote Him off, saying How could a God of love send anyone to eternal torment, that just doesn’t add up in my mind, it must be a fable of these “christians”, just like the mythological Greek gods. If this described you, as it does describe many, would the message of the angel be good news of great joy to you? Not likely!
In order to be good tidings of great joy to ALL people, it has to directly apply to each person. The Lord does not add sorrow to his blessing, and His blessing is for ALL people. Nobody deserves His blessing or ever can earn it! It is freely given. We also all need to be cleansed. The Jew as well as the Gentile, Ro 11:32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.
Contrary to the popular "good news", sinners are NOT separated from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus after death, (Ro 6:7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.) any more than believers are separated from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus after they die. (Ro 8:38,39 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, … shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.)
In this life, the majority will not find the narrow way, and will suffer the loss of much righteousness and peace and joy. They will be robbed of the love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, which are the treasures of the Kingdom given to those who believe, but they will not be separated from God’s love and mercy. That’s why we have the incredible testimony in the Book of Revelation, Re5:13.
And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, (Hades or Sheoul are under the earth), and such as are in the sea,(also called Sheoul by Jonah), and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.
These are the voices of all people and they are filled with joy for the good tidings that they have now received. The Lord of Love has subdued all to Himself through the weapon that never fails. That weapon is Love, AGAPE.
There will always be those whose hearts are hardened against this message just as Pharoahs heart was hardened in the face of incredible evidence,just as the religious leaders in Jesus day had hardened hearts, but such is the will of God, that His glory is increased and when the time is right, in the fullness of time, everything in due time, the angels good tidings SHALL bring GREAT JOY to ALL people.
1Co 15:24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
27 For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him . . .
28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.
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1Ti 4:9 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation.
10 For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.
11 These things command and teach.
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3 comments:
Great Joy . . . the hope of salvation. Anyone can be saved. Without Jesus, nobody would be saved. I weep for joy to think of it
Now, how about some balance?
Your verses - 1Co 15:25-26 “For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.”... See More
All enemies . . . destroyed. The fate is the same, “under his feet”. When and how is “death” destroyed? Revelation 20:14 “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.” Revelation 21:8 “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” If sinners get out, so does death . . . if death is destroyed, so are the enemies.
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Here is a contradiction: “They will be robbed of the love . . . but they will not be separated from God’s love . . . “ So . . . which is it? If they are not separated from God’s love, then His love prevails and they are recovered at the end kept from even the purgatorial hell you envision. If they are separated from His love . . . then they are separated.
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Here is an interesting thought: Mark 1:15 “Repent and believe the Gospel” Repent and believe the endless unmitigated joy? No reason to repent . . . that is what everyone wants.
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The Gospel is all “Good News” and no “Bad News”? How about this? 2 Thess 1:8 “In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ” Flaming fire . . . furious vengeance . . . by the same God that anounced the "great joy" . . . on those that don’t obey the endless “good news”? Something is wrong here . . . somehow the joy is gone . . .
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Here is another one: Romans 2:16 “ In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.” The Gospel says that He will judge and expose secrets . . . so here is proof positive that the Gospel is not just “great joy”. The judgement is where the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth come in . . . according to the Gospel.
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1 Peter 4:17-18 “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?”
Well . . . what IS the END (the Greek word for conclusion) of those that obey not the Gospel? The implication is that it is not good. You say the end is love and mercy . . . hard to see that here. The saved ones are “scarcely” saved . . . The Greek is “hardly . . . much work . . . with difficulty . . . not easily . . . very rarely” If the ones who OBEY the Gospel barely make it . . . how to you get those the don’t obey the Gospel in there?
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Jesus coming . . . no end of joy. Joy that must be received . . . or there will be enless grief.
As usual you ignored what was said and proceeded to rant.
Would it be good news of great joy to you if you fit any one of the three scenarios offered?
Are you "all"?
Do you believe "all people" doesn't mean "all people"?
Why do you deny the power of the resurrection to raise sinners to life?
Why do you deny the Son the inheritance He paid for?
Why do you deny Jesus the accomplishment of the task His Father sent Him to do?
1Jo 2:23 Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father:
1Jo 4:20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
21 And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.
Of course, willing to justify yourself you might say, "who is my brother"? But Jesus made it crystal clear:
Mt 5:43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
45 THAT YE MAY BE THE CHILDREN OF YOUR FATHER WHICH IS IN HEAVEN: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?
48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
As long as you cling to your "gospel" of hate, you will never see the "balance" of perfect love or perfect forgiveness. You place far too much importance on man's righteousness in this life and totally miss the good news of great joy which shall be to ALL people, even you some day.
Joh 1:7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that ALL through him might believe.
Joh 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all unto me.
Ac 17:30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to THINK DIFFERENTLY:
31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto ALL, in that he hath raised him from the dead.
Jack: My responses are in every case saturated with Scripture . . . you may or may not like the Scriptures, but please don't accuse me of making unfounded statements.
Jesus is many things . . . He IS also light (1 John 1). . . why do you never give equal time to this crucial characteristic? He said is IS the truth (John 14) . . . Heresy is "truth out of balance".
If I say, "Amnesty is good news of great joy to all illegal aliens", am I exaggerating? If all can get it within requirements they are capable of, it is "good news of great joy to all". The good news turns to bad news of great sorrow for those who - for various reasons, including a desire to break the law - won't come, miss it, and get clobbered. I KNOW you can think more clearly than that.
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