The Gospel

RV181-02

The apostle John has seen the future victory of Jesus Christ over Satan and his antichrist following the Lord's Second Coming at the end of the tribulation era. Jesus Christ takes the high ground in the battle, and stands, we see, on Mount Zion. There He is surrounded in this moment of victory by 144,000 Jewish men who have faithfully and nobly proclaimed the gospel during the seven-year tribulation. Jesus Christ at this point is poised to deliver the death-blow to the antichrist in the battles of Armageddon which are to follow.

We are in the large set of parentheses of the Revelation which began in Revelation 11:15, and will continue until Revelation 15:8. At that point, we will take up the final series of judgments in the form of the seven bowls of wrath which will be poured out upon mankind.

Another Angel Flying

He sees this angel flying in an area that he describes as mid-heaven. That is referring to the zenith – the high point. This refers to the fact that John sees in the first heaven. The first heaven in the Bible is the atmosphere around the earth; the second heaven is the interstellar spaces where Satan and his demons operate; and, the third heaven is the throne room and presence of God. So, we're talking here about the first heaven, that which immediately surrounds the earth itself – the atmospheric heaven. This angel is positioned above the earth where, by some supernatural means, all mankind will see him and will hear him. This is obviously a very special kind of event.

People in the tribulation will be in fear of going to any kind of meeting where they might hear God's Word preached. They will be in fear for their very lives during the reign of the antichrist and the rule of the false prophet. Yet, the events of the tribulation will undoubtedly cause thoughtful people to seek some reliable information about God and salvation. I can't see how you could possibly live through the terrible disasters that will hit the world, and the death that will be sweeping through mankind without stopping and asking yourself, "Do I have the perspective on this as an unsafe person?" You would probably wonder where you could find some information.

Well, some will have access to Bibles. Some will have access to various religious books. Some will certainly have access to tapes for doctrinal information. Most will have nothing. Those witnesses of God who are born again, who speak out, by and large, will be murdered by the forces of the antichrist. So, access to information about salvation and about what is going on is going to be very limited by the time you get down to the end of that seven-year period. For this reason, God sends one final message, so to speak, by an angel, whom all mankind can hear. He is before all to see, and all the here, and the antichrist cannot silence him as he will have silenced many believers.

The Gospel

The word "gospel" in the Greek Bible is "euaggelion." This is a word which was common in the Greek language even before the Christian era. It simply was used by the Greeks to refer to something that was good news. A guy would come in and say, I've got some "euaggelion" for you, and I've got some bad news for you. Which do you want first?" This is the word he would use. He would talk about "euaggelion" – the good news.

Evangel

The Eternal Gospel

The Endowment Rituals of Mormonism

The Masons

The main thing here is that the eternal gospel (the everlasting gospel) is not what Joseph Smith said it is. It is referring to that which is described simply in 1 Corinthians 15. This is what we call the heart of the good news, the evangel concerning salvation – concerning how one goes to heaven. In 1 Corinthians 15:1, the apostle Paul says, "Now I make known to you brethren the gospel." There it is the same word – the "euaggelion," or the good news: "Which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand."

Paul said, "I walked among you into your city, and there in Corinth, I stood in the marketplace, and I proclaim to a crowd that gathered around me the 'euaggelion.' I told these people, 'I've got some real good news for you. You've been down at the temple, involved in your sex cults, trying to get to your God through the illicit sexual action of the male and female prostitutes. You have tried to approach your God. You have tried to reach out to Him, but your heart is not at peace. You're in agony. You know that there's something missing. You know that this is not for real. Have I got good news for you?'"

So, Paul told them the gospel. He said, "I preached it to you," and they responded with positive relations, not because of any credit to themselves. Do not make that mistake. Nobody goes into the Christian life because you decide to do it. Yes, you're deciding mechanism is triggered, but it's only because God looks down, and out of the mass of us in the human race who deserve to go to the lake of fire, God said, "I want you, and you, and you. Holy Spirit, take the blinders off." And your blind eyes suddenly see your desperate condition (your hopeless condition). The lake of fire yawns before you, and you see the hope that is to be found in Christ alone, and you go for it. You trust in Jesus Christ to carry you through into heaven and to escape the destiny of hell. These people had the blinders taken off. Paul says, "You received the message of the good news, and now you stand in it, because once you're in the family of God, you're born into it. You can't be unborn, and you now stand in it.

Then in verse 3 and 4, he gets very specific. This is the gospel: "For I deliver it to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures." Paul said, "At the heart of my gospel message is that somebody had to pay for your sins. The penalty of sin is death. Jesus Christ paid the penalty. Then that penalty covered all of mankind. God is no longer interested in your sins. That is not the issue. How bad you are is not the issue."

The gospel is based upon the fact that God has done everything that is necessary to take us into heaven. Our justification is based on that, not on a partial contribution on our part. The eternal gospel stresses a particular fact of this truth: that Christ has covered our sins. When he says, "eternal gospel," he is stressing the fact that God's good news, which has been provided through Jesus Christ, is a permanent piece of good news. Eternal gospel means the permanency of the gospel.

This is the gospel which was first pronounced, you realize, in Genesis 3:15 in the Garden of Eden to Adam and Eve. God told them, "You did a terrible thing. You have ruined life for all of your posterity for centuries to come. Everybody born into the human race henceforth, once he comes to an age where he can tell the difference between right and wrong, and face the issue of his moral guilt, will be sent into the lake of fire unless I do something about it. And there will come a birth down the line through a woman who will reverse this disaster that you have created here in the garden. And through that woman will come a Savior who destroy Satan, who tricked you into this terrible mistake that you have just made."

That was the gospel – that there was going to be an actual death such that the person had to be really buried, as Christ was. And the proof of the covering for the sin would be His resurrection from the dead. That same gospel is eternal, because when you get to the end of the tribulation, thousands and thousands of years later, after the Garden of Eden, that same gospel is what counts. Its permanence is based on the fact that Jesus Christ has died once for all for the sins of mankind to satisfy the justice of God. Jesus Christ has died once for all to satisfy the justice of God which demanded your death.

What an insult it is in all the fumes of the incense smoke that is now being poured out in the Roman Catholic Church someplace in the world in order to sacrifice Christ again on that altar to cover your sins just a little more, because it's not quite all covered. What an insult it is to realize that there are people in this world who sit in churches where they are told that if you do not behave yourself, and if you do not act right, you will lose your salvation, and what Christ did will all be undone. What a pathetic Savior that would be.

The book of Hebrews makes it very clear that Christ was sacrificed once for all. Nothing more is needed. You need to understand that. That's very important. I stressed this particular point, and the gospel as such, at a funeral recently. Then, yesterday afternoon, several people came up to me in the event that was taking place here, and total strangers said, "I was at that funeral, and you can't believe how much what you said helped me. I understand what it is between me and God." Now, that's the time to talk about the gospel. You have a dead person lying there, and the rest of them are thinking about when their number is going to come up. That's the time to talk about it.

A man who goes to another church entirely came up to me and said, "You must preach my funeral." I said, "Would you sign up here? I have a waiting list." So, I said, "You may count on me when the time comes. I'll be there to say something appropriate to honor both you and the Lord."

What are these people saying? Why should people have to suddenly realize how to go to heaven? Why should that not be common knowledge? And the people who were talking to me are not pagans out here. They're church people. But I knew that there was quite a number of them who I knew personally yesterday who were in exactly that position – that if they cross a certain line, they're out; and, they never know when they've cross that line, and when they haven't. What misery for a salvation like that.

You see how important it is when God the Holy Spirit says, "These angels are speaking about an eternal gospel – not a different gospel. It is not a gospel from the same one that you and I preach, but just stressing the eternal aspect of this gospel. It started in the Garden of Eden; it goes right on through to the end; and, it is never changed. And when it does its work in a human life, it is a permanent work.

So, even at the end of the tribulation, near the Second Coming of Christ, there is going to be available the gospel as the power of God for salvation for those who, even at that late date, will choose to trust in Christ to save them. The good news of a way to be forgiven one's moral guilt before God is always in effect. It's a permanent, eternal good news. The eternal fellowship with God, which Adam destroyed in the Garden of Eden, has been restored by Jesus Christ, and can never be terminated again. We realize, as we read the Bible and the epistles of Paul, that Paul on occasion says, "I can look back before I was saved. I was really out of it. I thought I was serving God by murdering Christians. I thought I was serving God by blaspheming Jesus Christ. But then, He pulled the blinders off, and He brought me into the family of God, and suddenly I knew better. Am I worthy? No, I'm even less worthy because of what I did to Christians." But then he says, "I am what I am by the grace of God" – that grace which brought me in, and that grace which has permanently placed me into Christ. Nothing can ever reverse that."

You will discover that beyond that point, the apostle Paul is never groveling in the dirt. He's never shuffling around, looking down in misery about his sin. He's never concerned or worried that the gospel he believed in is going to be lost to him. He understands it's an eternal gospel. He is never again intimidated by Satan. Is he sinless? Not by a long shot? You and I well know some of the things that he got into that would have been smarter not to have done. One of them was an act of legalism that cost him four years of imprisonment. But he knew how to handle his personal sin, and he knew the difference between eternal fellowship in the family of God for good and temporal fellowship. He knew that he could never lose his eternal fellowship; but, he also knew that he could lose his temporal fellowship by stepping out of the walk with the Father, and getting back in by confessing.

It's very important for us to understand that the apostle Paul, as a Christian, did not focus upon his sin in some fearful manner that he was going to be lost again. His agony was not over that. His agony was maintaining his temporal fellowship, and he knew what to do about that.

So, the eternal gospel is the inevitability of heaven for those who believe the gospel; and, the inevitability of hell for those who reject it.

The eternal gospel is in contrast to other aspects of the gospel. For example, you have another aspect in Acts 20:24. I want to stress this to you so that you understand that the gospel is one message. It's not a different gospel for different dispensations. Sometime we dispensationalists are accused by people who don't understand dispensationalism of teaching different ways of being saved. The Bible does emphasize different aspects of being save. In Acts 20:24, Paul says, "But I do not consider my life of any count, as dear to myself, in order that I may finish my course (complete his mission), and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God." Now, is the gospel of the grace of God different than the eternal gospel that this angel pronounces to the world at the end of the tribulation? No, this is the gospel indeed that you and I preach.

The Gospel is Absolutely Free to us

This gospel of the grace of God emphasizes that it's absolutely free, and that's the only way you get it. The free gift of eternal life, however, was paid for by Jesus Christ on the cross. It is free to us, but it was not free to Him.

Then you have another aspect of the gospel which is stressed in the book of Matthew. This is the gospel which is written to people of Jewish background. It tells about Jesus Christ in terms that are relative to a Jew, so that his attention is caught. Matthew 4:23: "And Jesus was going about in all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom." There you have another aspect of the gospel – the gospel of the kingdom. Is that a different gospel than the gospel of the grace of God, or the eternal gospel? No. The same core message that we read in 1 Corinthians 15 is the core of this gospel as well, but it is emphasizing a different aspect of that gospel. Here, it is stressing the good news in terms of the fact that God intends to set up on the earth a Messianic Kingdom in fulfillment of the Davidic covenant.

This is of interest to the Jews. The gospel that will bring you salvation; that will make heaven your destiny; and, the kingdom of God upon this earth is all tied together in Christ Jesus. It is the gospel of the kingdom. This is what the Jews were looking for. They missed the boat when Christ came, but this is what they were looking for. Jesus preached to them the gospel of the kingdom. That's the emphasis of the gospel that he made. He did not emphasize the grace of God aspect. He did not emphasize the eternal aspect of the gospel. But he did emphasize to them that this is how their kingdom could be set up, and they could become the leading nation of the world. This is going to happen in the future, but it is going to be based upon this same gospel.

Entrance, of course, into this earthly kingdom is going to be based on trusting in Christ for salvation. That's why immediately as soon as Jesus Christ returns to this earth, the first thing He does is cull out all (what the Bible calls) the goats from the gentiles – unbelievers. He's going to put them to death, and they're going to be out of the way. Then he's going to pull out of the Jews all the unbelieving Jews – those who have not trusted in Christ, and the Bible says that He's going to put them under the rod. He's going to put them to death. Suddenly, you have a world where everybody in it is born again. And that's how the Millennial Kingdom begins. You get into the kingdom of God on this earth by the gospel of the kingdom – trusting in Christ.

I need not remind you that Satan, as always, is going to come up with counterfeits. The apostle Paul warned us about getting trapped into another gospel – another in terms of being totally different from the gospel that God has given to us. That would be the good news distorted by Satan. In 2 Corinthians 11:4, Paul says, "If one comes and preaches another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully." He is being a little sarcastic here, because these people were giving him a lot of trouble, and he is pointing out to them that they're not loyal to him.

These pastor-teachers / evangelists are not supportive of him, but they are willing to support those who are critical of him, and who attack the truth of the Word of God. He comes in with true doctrine, and they give him the back of their hand. But he says, "If somebody comes in with a spirit different from God the Holy Spirit, oh, you treat them so nice. If somebody comes in with a different gospel, which is not the truth of God, oh, you treat them so cordially and civilly."

What should we do if someone comes into our midst and preaches a false gospel? Should we just smile and say, "Well, that's a different viewpoint, and we all have our point of view?" No, you can do that. I can't. I have do what I've done from time to time as people come to the door, and I have to say, "Don't come back." That is because they're telling the congregation, and are going among the people, and they're preaching what is false; and, I mean seriously false. And sometimes you have to say, "That is a heresy, and we are not open-range for your heresy.

Paul also had to deal with this, of course, to one of the worst churches – one of the worst group of believers in the territory of Galatia, who had fallen completely into legalism as a way to reach God and to please God. In Galatians 1:6, Paul says, "I'm amazed that you are so quickly deserting him who called you by the grace of God for a different gospel?" Here again, the apostle Paul is pointing out that you can come up with a way into heaven which is totally unknown in the Word of God. It is totally false. This different gospel is based upon salvation by human good works and religious rituals. That's what he's talking about.

They're going back to the Mosaic rituals and saying, "This is how we get saved. We do circumcision. We use water baptism. We take the Lord's Supper." It is a perversion of the gospel of the grace of God, and what this perversion does is that it lulls people into a sense of false security. So, many people in so many churches are going to cross the river of life into death, and open their eyes in the presence of Satan. And they were so sure that the gospel they had was a true gospel. Only in the Word of God can you know what is a true gospel and what is not. This is why the Word of God is such an offense in our society.

A news item that I found recently pointed out that: "The Pennsylvania Supreme Court voided the sentence of a man who had robbed a 70-year-old woman of her Social Security money, and then beat her to death. The court acted because District Attorney H. Stanley Robert said to the jury, 'Carl Chambers has taken a life. As the Bible says, 'And the murderer shall be put to death.''" Can you imagine a lawyer quoting the Bible in a court of law? I mean, isn't anything sacred anymore? What kind of audacity is this? How low can you sink? Bible lawyers don't like Bibles in courtrooms. Do you know that? They don't like Bibles. They get uneasy, because some people are dumb enough to think that the Bible talks for God. Therefore, it makes your case overwhelmingly strong.

The article goes on to say, "Not only did the court void the sentence, it threatened prosecutors with disciplinary action if they dared invoke the Bible or any religious work in support of the death penalty." That's reasonable, isn't it? Who would want to quote the Bible to support the death penalty? What difference does it make that when Noah found the earth dried off, God came to him and said, "Now, Noah, we're not going to have the same conditions exist again that existed before the flood, where the earth was filled with violence, and every evil thought that came into the mind of man was easily executed, because there was nobody to restrain evil. From now on, Noah, you will make laws as my magistrate. You will base those laws on the laws of God. And at the top of those laws will be the fact that a man, who has been made in My image, cannot be killed except by constituted proper authority. If anybody takes a life without that authority, he is guilty of murder, and he will pay for it with his own life. If an animal should kill a person, that animal will be instantly killed."

"Prosecutor Roberts, according to the AP, correctly called the decision outrageous and completely ridiculous. I don't know of any God-fearing prosecutor that has not used some scriptural or some religious reference in arguing to a jury. God's law is the basis for Pennsylvania law, and all law."

So, it is no wonder that we have another gospel that is distorted and twisted, because people have no intimidation about coming up with their own viewpoints on the matter of going to heaven. And I guarantee you that Phil Donahue is not intimidated when you quote the Bible to him about being born-again or you don't go to heaven – about trusting in Jesus Christ or you end up in the lake of fire. He comes right back at you and says, "So, you think all the Jews are going to hell because they reject Christ? Do you think that Ayatollah Khamenei is in the Hades just because he rejected Jesus Christ?" That's unthinkable, isn't it? Well, that happens to be exactly where they are. All those who reject Christ are exactly there.

The perversion of the gospel of the grace of God lulls people into a false sense of security because people think that they can have a different viewpoint than what the Bible teaches. It denies the sufficiency of the grace of God alone to save, and to keep a person for heaven. They say that you must have yourself effort. Those who teach a difference and false gospel from that of the Scripture are under a divine curse.

In Galatians 1:9, Paul says, "We have said before, and so I say again now, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed." Now, what kind of talk is that for a preacher – putting people under the judgment and curse of God? It's exactly what Paul says: "If somebody comes and preaches to you a gospel by human works, then may the curse of God rest upon you. Have a good day."

This is the Word of God. And those who preach a gospel which is a perverted gospel are dangerous people. They should not be dignified, and they should not be viewed as authorities. They are under the curse of God, and it is smart to give them a wide berth, because you may come up under the whip of God upon them, and it may fall upon you as well.

The use of the Word "Gospel" in the New Testament

The Gospel of Christ

My Gospel

Our Gospel

The Gospel of Peace

The Eternal Gospel

The Gospel of the Kingdom

Another Gospel

All these gospels that the Bible refers to as legitimate gospels are not different gospels, but there are different facets of the same gospel.

What this angel does, John says, is that he flies through the mid-heaven between all men, and he pronounces his message – the eternal gospel. This is the truth that has always been there from Eden in: that sin is covered by a Savior that God provides. And he says that he pronounces this, "To those who live on the earth." He preaches to those who live on this earth. The word for "preach" is "euaggelizo," which means simply "to proclaim a message." Here it is the message specifically of the eternal gospel to all the tribulation humanity at that point in time. This message is from God to people now who have little access to the gospel in any other way.

This is, in effect, God's last call to the gentiles of the tribulation to trust in Jesus Christ, and to reject the antichrist before Christ returns. There will be hundreds, if not thousands of people who will have second thoughts about taking the mark of the antichrist on their forehead and on their right hand. Once you've taken the mark, you're out. It is irreversible. You can never be saved. But here there will be people who have resisted this. They have had clouds of conscience about doing that, knowing the allegiance that that indicated. These are the people to whom this gospel will be the revelation that they need. And they are the people who will now make their choice to turn against the antichrist, and to go with the Lord Jesus Christ.

This angel's action is the fulfillment of what Jesus promised would be done in Matthew 24:14, where Jesus says, "And this gospel of the kingdom." And that's what the eternal gospel is. It's a variation of the gospel of the kingdom: "Shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all nations, and then the end shall come." Some zealous missionaries like to use this verse and say, "You see, if we don't get out there and witness to every person on the face of the earth, and give them the gospel message, Jesus Christ can't return to this earth. The rapture can't take place." That is not what this verse is saying. This verse is talking about a condition after the rapture, when the Christians are already gone. You follow through the context, and you find that you're in Daniel's 70th week, long after the Christians have gone to heaven.

What this is telling you is that this gospel of the kingdom will be pronounced throughout all the tribulation world. There is a kingdom on this earth. It is not the antichrist. That is a false kingdom. But there is a kingdom ready to be set up. You can be part of it, but if you want to be part of it, you must accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, because that's the only way we can cover your sin. Your moral guilt has to be covered so that the justice of God is satisfied, and so that He'll take you into the kingdom.

This message is going to be preached to the whole world. How can that be possible? How can you get every human being, even with our means of communication today? It's not possible. But once that angel is out there in heaven, and I don't care where you are in the face of the earth; if it's nighttime, he'll be all aglow, and you look up there, and all the world will stop. Can you imagine what a nightly news event that's going to be" They will look up there in daylight or darkness, and they will hear him speak like he was standing right next to you. And in one magnificent moment, in the language that you understand, the gospel, for one last time, will be proclaimed.

Do you see why we call Him the God of grace? Even at this late moment, unless you are stubbornly, deliberately, bullheadedly determined to take yourself in opposition to God and to the lake of fire, you will have a chance to escape.

John again, uses a sequence here that he has done before in this book to emphasize that everybody gets the message, because he says that this is going out to those who live on planet earth. And then to emphasize that he means everybody on planet earth, he says, "To every nation" – the "ethnos," which refers to every national entity – every country. And he says, "To every tribe" – the "phule," which refers to every clan of people within these national entities. Then he says, "Every tongue" – the "glossa," which refers to every language group upon the face of the earth. And then he says, "People" – the "laos," which means every race upon the face of the earth. This is a beautiful way that the Bible has of covering every possible human being, so that all here the message.

"And I saw another angel (different from the seven trumpeter) angels flying at the zenith of the atmospheric heavens (fully visible and audible), having a message which is the eternal gospel (the gospel of salvation that indicates that it is a permanent salvation, and it is a permanent good news), and he has this to preach (to proclaim)." He is an example of our Christian Service Brigade – heralds of Christ. This angel is truly a real herald. ... He is preaching (pronouncing) to those human beings who, at the end of the tribulation, are still alive on this earth. More than half of the world's 6 billion people will now be dead by this time. The death toll will be enormous. And to every human being of every category imaginable on the face of the earth, this message will come.

In the meantime, you and I have to do the job. In the meantime, we are the angels. Please remember that the Greek word "aggelos" refers to a messenger. And that's why, in the book of the Revelation the seven letters to the seven churches are addressed to the angel of that church – the "aggelos" of the church, referring to the pastor-teacher. You can refer to the pastor as Pastor Danish, or as Angel Danish, as you leave today, meaning "the messenger" – the "aggelos" of God. That seems to strike a humorous note, but nevertheless, it is true. We are angels of God. You are all angels, and, therefore, you are all messengers. God's angel is not going to execute this mission at this point. We are the angels who must tell the story.

The apostle Paul says, "There's a big problem with telling the gospel: You're inherently ashamed of it, and that is a problem." But Paul says, "When I think of the power of what this can do in a human life, and I think about a person going into the lake of fire, my shame quickly drains off, and I don't mind telling it. Your family members are the worst of all to try to talk to.

Yesterday afternoon I had a chat with a man. The last time I saw him was at a funeral service. He was part of the Mason group. I've known him for years. When I asked him, what he was doing now, he said, "Oh, I do this," and he told me about the work that he's in: "I do this, and I raise funds for the Scottish Right hospital, and my wife spends at least four hours a day making things that are sold for the Scottish Right Hospital of the Masons." He's a church member here, and he talks about the Lord. Yet what could I say at that moment? I was very uneasy sitting next to him for those few minutes, realizing that he's in in an occult organization that says that a life determines the character, and the character determines the destiny. If you're good, Masons say that you go to heaven. If you're not, you don't. What could be more false? That is another gospel.

Someplace along the line, I hope for an opportune moment to say, "Have you ever considered that you're walking a dangerous path in your association with Masonry, which is totally a gospel that is different from the one that the very church you sit in preaches. Have you missed making the divergence – the connection of how different those gospels are?

Those are the people we angels have to speak to now. Within the circle of you kids at school, there comes an opportunity to say something for the Lord. You're going to be the ones who are going to be the most ashamed and intimidated, but you should not be – wherever you are in your place of business, not on company time, but on your own time. In your social circles, your eyes and ears should be attuned to the person who needs the gospel of the grace of God. That's why we have written that evangelism brochure. Get them by the fistfuls. Give them to people and say, "Read it over. Tell me what you think of it." With that one little booklet, they'll have the whole story, and they'll have it straight. God help us to be His proclaiming angels in the final days of this age of grace.

Dr. John E. Danish, 1993

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