What is the Beautiful News?

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How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of them that proclaim peace; that bring news of good things, that publish salvation; that say to Zion, "Your God reigns!"

This is part of a promise given through the prophet Isaiah, about 800 years before Jesus was born. In the ancient world, if your side was losing a war, or even if you were winning, as the death toll rises, you would long for peace. At a certain point, you may even become desperate. And just when it seems that all hope is lost, over the ridge of the mountain, you see the feet of the herald, waving a flag of peace, shouting, "The war is over! We are saved! Our God reigns!"

There is another battle that rages. It is a spiritual war, and your soul hangs in the balance. Like in any military conflict, part of the strategy of the enemy is to create confusion and propaganda to keep everyone blinded to the truth. But here it is:

God is real. 

He created man perfect and without sin. Man's purpose is to forever glorify and enjoy God, who is the source of all goodness, beauty, and truth. God gave mankind wonderful gifts and authority to rule. So, you might wonder, "where, then, did evil come from?"

Evil is real

Sometimes reality seems like a cruel joke. Just when you think you have figured it out, or gained a moment of peace, here comes the messenger of sickness, tragedy, hardship, and insatiable desires. How are we supposed to live? 

It doesn't take a moral philosopher to observe that everything good is tainted by some measure of corruption. That relationship that you thought was going so well suddenly hits a roadblock. You were healthy until you weren't. Happiness deceived you into thinking it would never leave. But its promises are short-lived. Injustice and cruelty mark every government and civilization. What's worse is that other people appear to be doing better than you. It is easy to become bitter about the whole thing. 

And it gets worse. You are going to die. After all is said and done, or even with many things left undone, unresolved, death will still come. So, what should we say to these things? 

Hedonism?

Some say hedonism is the only reasonable answer. "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." Let's just live for pleasure and happiness, and forget about the rest. Well, that is an answer. But it is really more of a distraction to your own internal conscience. The word conscience means "with knowledge." Something inside of you knows that there is a sort of dreadfulness that cannot be escaped. Hedonism merely dulls the senses to this intuition. And there are those fearful moments of sobriety when our senses return. Quick! Turn back to the pleasure! Or, is there something else?

Humanism?

More enlightened folk have discovered that this internal guilt and fear can be more than dulled. To some degree, it can be mitigated by moral righteousness. We can solve this problem of evil and death by being good! Social activism, philanthropy, even spiritual service provide a small salve to that old stab. We can sum up this view in one word, Humanism. With an ever-increasing sense of boldness, these humanists will often insist their way is better. They will even fight with one another about which path will lead us all to utopia. We've battled it out for thousands of years now, and yet, the old problems remain. Darkness, destruction, and death mock our foolish attempts. We can convince ourselves that we are getting better, or that we were once better long ago. But the truth is that we are fundamentally broken and deceived. So is there no answer?

Hallucination? 

Perhaps there is no answer. Perhaps there is no problem. Maybe there just is or isn't. Could we just be in a hologram or hallucinating all of this?  Animals don't seem bothered by sin. Aren't we just animals? Who are we to say that there is any such thing as right or wrong? "It's all relative," pronounces the post-modern expert. There is a recent experiment in our culture where many are living as if there is no fundamental truth or goodness. Things previously known to be "certain," are now seen as suggestions. Gender, sex, justice, morality and even evil itself, are just 'cultural constructs.' It's like the famous toddler's game where he deconstructs everything in your world with one, simple, repeated word: "why?" This path is self-refuting, for it argues that there is no path at all. Now, what will you do when your worldview tells you that the deep problem that is plain to all is really an illusion? 'There is no freight train coming your way.' How long can you let yourself believe that there is nothing really to believe? 

The Rest of the Story

What if I told you that there was more? Something true and truly beautiful. Let us first agree that there is a good God and that there is present evil. But how can this be? If God is good, He is not the Author of that which is not. Listen very carefully to what I am about to say:

John 1:1-4

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men." 

Everything that was created was created by God. But does that mean that God created evil? Only if evil is a thing to be created. But alas, like cold and darkness, evil is not a substance, but a lack thereof. Evil is a description of the privation of good. Thus evil was not created, but its presence is a consequence of something that God did bestow, freedom. Notice in the last verse, 'in Him was life; and the life was the light of men.' Now let us briefly go to another text, also by the same author, and also in the first chapter. But this time, in verse 5:

"This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all." 1 John 1:5

Do you see? There is no darkness, no evil, no deceit in Him. And God created man in His image. Man is not God, but man can choose to walk in God's presence. And God instructs man on the good creation and how to rule it. In man's freedom, he can choose to take good things and use them rightly, but he can also take good things and twist their purpose. He can pervert their use. Thus, evil is inaugurated by man choosing freely to wound himself with things never intended to wound. 

And Adam fell.

And the world was crippled by a single act of defiance. Now, man must needs be damned. He can no longer see God, for God dwells in "unapproachable light" (1 Timothy 6:16). 

Like a moth to a flame, man is helpless drawn to destruction. Evil is, as Augustine described, a wound. It is not a thing but a painful experience of something missing. We are lost and we cannot save ourselves. We are drowning and cannot swim. We are destined to perish in the darkness. The sound of death can already be heard in the distance. 

But...what about God, and this WORD? "The Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1)

"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." John 1:14

The Beautiful News

Remember the ancient battle cry? Those desperate for salvation are looking to the mountain. When someone is drowning, there comes a moment when you stop fighting the water because you have run out of strength. And right as you surrender, there is just a moment when you reach out your hand and hope for rescue. 

The Beautiful News is that God has come. Not in Judgment but in Redemption. He has come to rescue us! 

"For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." John 3:17

Jesus Christ came proclaiming peace to all those who would surrender. This peace wasn't free. Though sin came freely, salvation must be bought. Jesus must come in His goodness and do what none of us could ever do. He must conquer evil for us by paying the penalty of sin which is death. Jesus died so that you can live! What kind of love is this! That God would send His only precious Son into the world to be mocked and beaten, forsaken by mankind, for whom He came to save! And yet, Christ came and suffered the most fearful of deaths, the cross. Think about this. Only Jesus could take such a gruesome and wicked symbol like the cross and transform it into a perfect bastion of hope. 

There on the cross, the wrath of God in His holiness was settled. There, evil was vanquished. There, salvation was accomplished. There, death was defeated. And on the third day, Christ rose from the dead and secured our new life! 

Here is the beautiful news: "though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow" (Isaiah 1:18). 

Hear from the testimony of one who experienced this for himself, a man named Paul.

"But what says it? The word is near you, even in your mouth, and in your heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if you shall confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture says, Whosoever believes on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Gentile: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!" Romans 10:8-15

If you come to God yielded and waiting, without excuses. If your heart is open to Him and willing to surrender. If you turn away from your sin and come into the light, there is good news for you. The flag of peace is waving. And the messengers are everywhere. Look to the hills! See those who are shouting, "the war is over! We are saved! Our God reigns!"

Why do you linger?