Transcription
Now, check this out. Just let's go a layer deeper. Stay with me. We're going to Bible nerd out for a second.
When you read in your English Bible, the word gospel, it means good news. The Greek word that gets translated gospel is the Greek word evangelon. That word evangelon, not a spiritual word. It was a military term. You got to stay with me.
Here's how this word would get used. If a city in the Roman Empire heard that an enemy was coming and that enemy wanted to come and, and watch this, steal, kill, and destroy everything the city had. What the city would do is they would gather all the fighting men of the city, they would choose one guy, their best warrior, and they would send him forward as a champion to fight on behalf of the city. And it's like, you pick your champion, we'll pick our champion, fight to the death, and then watch this. The outcome of that battle would be watch imputed back to the city who did none of the fighting.
If they won the battle, watch on behalf of the city, they'd pick one dude from the unit, the fastest guy, and they would send him back to watch to herald the good news that victory had been won on behalf of the city. Guess what they called that one guy? They called him an evangelist. You're this city down in this little valley. Everybody every day wakes up and their eyes are on the horizon waiting to see did we win or did we lose. And then one day the evangelist crest the top of the mountain. You see him Romans 10. And the evangelist would shout the news of victory accomplished on their behalf down to the city. And he would say something like this. IT'S FINISHED TO TELL THE VICTORY HAS been accomplished. The enemy has been defeated. And instead of steal, kill, destroy, we get life, life, abundant life.
Now, are you picking up what I'm putting down? Now, let's go back to Jesus. Okay. When Jesus is on the cross and he hangs on those nail-pierced hands and he cries out these things, he was saying, "The debt for your sin is fully paid. The judgment for your sin has been fully served." And then he was saying this, and this is my favorite one. This is so great.
When Jesus goes to the cross and pulls up and and shouts to Telsty, that was a battle cry. And what he was saying was at the cross, Colossians 2 says that he went to the cross and he disarmed the rulers and authorities, the principalities and the powers, Satan, death, and demons. What he was saying is he was saying, "Enemy defeated, serpent crusher is here. I've stomped on his head. He's dead. Victory is is accomplished on your behalf. Life, life, abundant life to tell us die. It's finished." Amen, church. You didn't have to do anything. He did all of the work and we reap all of the reward. It is.