#DailyDevotion It’s The Good News Charlie Brown!
1 Cor. 15:1-4 5My fellow Christians, I am telling you the good news I brought you and you accepted. 2You stand in it and are saved by it if you cling to the words I used in telling it to you —- unless you were trifling when you believed. 3I brought you what I received — something very important — that Christ died for our sins as the Scriptures said He would, 4He was buried, and He rose on the third day as the Scriptures said He would.
Paul is summing up the message of the Gospel which is the power to convert heart, change lives and give eternal life. This Good News of Jesus Christ of Nazareth has us stand in it and saved by if you continue in the words of St. Paul, i.e. rest of the Word of God as well. I don’t know why anyone would trifle about their faith in Paul’s day and time but apparently some did. Perhaps persecution hadn’t reached them yet concerning the faith. Now Paul had brought to him and to us something very important. He had received it from the LORD Jesus Christ himself on the road to Damascus and for a number of years in the Arabian wilderness. It is what Paul handed to them and now to us. Christ died for our sins as the Scriptures said he would. So the LORD said in Gen. 3:15, “He will crush your head, and you will bruise His heel.” Isaac’s sacrifice in Genesis foretold it. The Passover Lamb, the atonement sacrifices, the scapegoat, and sin offerings of the Torah all foretell Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice for sins.
The Suffering Servant Songs of Isaiah are very explicit concerning Jesus’ suffering and death and its purpose. He says in Isaiah 53, “4Surely He has taken on Himself our suffering and carried our sorrows, but we observed that God had stricken, smitten, and afflicted Him. 5And certainly He was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our sins; By His punishment, we were saved and by His wounds we were healed. 6We have all gone astray like sheep. Every one of us has turned to go his own way, and the LORD has punished Him for the sins of us all. He was oppressed and mistreated without opening His mouth.” Again he says, “…8Who in His time even considered that He was cut off from the land of the living and struck down for His people’s sins?” Again he writes, “By His experience My righteous Servant justifies many by taking on Himself the heavy load of their guilt.”
That he was buried, Isaiah also says in the same, “9They assigned Him a grave with criminals and with a rich man in His death, though He hadn’t done any crime or said anything deceitful.” That he would rise from the dead Isaiah 53 also says, “10…He will see those born to Him and will enjoy a long life.” Again he says, “12Because of this I will give Him many people as His share; and He will divide the spoil with the mighty because He pours out His life in death, lets Himself be counted with sinners, while He takes on Himself the sins of many people and intercedes for the wrongdoers.” Isaac being sacrificed and saved on third day foretold Jesus’ resurrection on the third day. Jonah’s rest in the belly of the big fish and vomited out on the third day foretold as Jesus tells us.
This is the core of the Good News, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus’ suffering and death won for you forgiveness of sins and the wiping away of your guilt. His resurrection from the dead is the promise of the resurrection to eternal life for all who put their trust in him.
Heavenly Father, always give us this good news so we may believe and receive the benefits of Christ’s suffering, death and resurrection. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.