The Gospel: Genesis to Revelation

The Gospel: From Genesis to Revelation

The first thing that we see is that God wanted to create a new kingdom

Genesis 1:1–3 – In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ² The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. ³ Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.

Now God has a kingdom, but every King needs subjects for His kingdom

Genesis 1:27 – So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (INTRODUCING: ADAM AND EVE—THE MOTHER AND FATHER OF THE HUMAN RACE.)

So now God has His kingdom and His subjects

Genesis 1:31 – Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good/perfect/flawless. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

At this point, God addresses His subjects

Genesis 1:28 – [So] God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion [rule] over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (GOD, WHO HAS THE RIGHT TO RULE THE WORLD, BESTOWED THAT GREAT HONOR AND RESPONSIBILITY ON TO MAN.)

God gave further instruction in Genesis 2:15–17 – Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and keep it. ¹⁶ And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; ¹⁷ but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”  (ADAM AND EVE ARE GIVEN FREE WILL TO SHOW THEIR LOVE—GOD DIDN’T WANT ROBOTS WHO HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO LOVE HIM.)

So for an unknown period, God and man live in harmony together

“In the cool of the day,” God was accustomed to walking with Adam and Eve, (Gen. 3:8).  (THEY WERE PERFECT AND HOLY, SO GOD WHO IS PERFECT AND HOLY HAD NO PROBLEM LITTERALLY WALKING WITH THEM.)

Enter now in Genesis 3, another individual who wanted a kingdom and subjects of his own, Lucifer.  Lucifer is one of the most intelligent, powerful and beautiful angels God created.  His name means angel of light.

Being created himself, Lucifer couldn’t create a kingdom of his own to rule over, he set out to steal God’s.  (LUCIFER KNEW, A HOLY AND RIGHTEOUS GOD CANNOT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH SIN.)

(So we see in Genesis 3:1–5 – Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”

² And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; ³ but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”

⁴ Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. ⁵ For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (IN OTHER WORDS, GOD IS NOT GOOD.  HE IS HOLDING SOMETHING BACK FROM YOU THAT WILL MAKE YOU LIKE HIM.)

Unfortunately all of God’s subjects went for the bait

Genesis 3:6 – So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.  

Now Satan has successfully stolen God’s kingdom and all its subjects. 

Romans 5:12 –Therefore, just as through one man (Adam) sin entered the world (at the garden), and death (physical and spiritual death) through sin, and thus death spread to all men (without exception), because all sinned (Adam being the father of the human race).

Ephesians 2:1–2 – who were (spiritually) dead in (transgressions) and sins (against God our Creator), in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the present prince of the power of the air (Lucifer), the spirit who now works (rules) in the sons of disobedience,

Romans 6:23a – For the wages (sentence) of sin is death… (eternal separation from God in judgment—a place initially created for Lucifer and the other fallen angels.) Romans 3:23 – All (through Adam) have sinned and fallen short of the glory (the perfection) of God (now).  [NOW ADAM AND EVE HAVE AN APPOINTMENT WITH DEATH AND SPIRITUALLY THEY HAVE ALREADY DIED—THEY ARE SEPERATED FROM THEIR GOD AND KING]

God, now confronts Adam and Eve with their sin

Genesis 3:11b–13 – Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”

¹² Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”

¹³ And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

All of this Lucifer would not only expect, but would also count on.  Then God does something that Lucifer never could have expected.

Genesis 3:15 (NIV) – And I (God says) will put enmity (hostility, tension, conflict) between you (man) and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he (the Redeemer, Savior, Messiah, Jesus Christ) will crush your (Lucifer’s) head (signifying a death blow), and you (Lucifer) will strike his (Christ’s) heel (signifying being wounded).”  (LUCIFER NEVER IMAGINED THAT GOD WOULD EVER GIVE MAN AN OPPORTUNTY TO COME BACK TO HIM IF THEY CHOSE TO.)

We see here that God was going to create a bridge through which man could become His subject rather than remain Lucifer’s and die in his or her sin—if he or she chose to do so.

John 14:6 – Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

Acts 4:12 (NASB95) – “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”

Ephesians 2:8–10 – For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not of works, lest anyone should boast. ¹⁰ For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works (not by good works), which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (GOD AND LUCIFER ARE AT WAR NOW AND WE, THE HUMAN RACE, ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF IT.)

The world God created which was “good” has now been broken by man and is no longer “good” but filled with evil.  God is forced to excommunicate Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden.

Genesis 3:22–24 – Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—²³ therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. ²⁴ So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.

Throughout history we see the terrible consequences of Adam and Eve bringing sin into the world in the OT:

• Adam and Eve’s first born Cain, kills his brother Abel
• The world becomes so increasingly evil that God introduces multiple languages at the tower of Babble to divide the people up so they don’t have the strength of one united group.
• The world eventually gets so evil that God destroys the evil through a global flood with the exception of Noah’s family and some animals on the ark.
• God later selects a group of people out of the world to bring our Savior into the world; He calls them Israelites.
• God institutes the Law of Moses, a sacrificial system whereby man’s sins can be, not taken away, but covered by the blood of animals while waiting for the Messiah/Savior to come and take away sin.
• While waiting for the Savior, Israel eventually rebels against God ruling them and insists upon having a human king like the other nations.
• King David, a man after God’s own heart, gets involved in adultery, conspiracy and murder.
• King Solomon, the wisest man in the entire world, becomes immersed in idol worship.
• The kingdom of Israel is split into two kingdoms, the northern and southern kingdoms because of sin.
• The northern kingdom never has a single godly king, they are all evil.
• Many of the prophets that God sends to Israel with His words of instruction, encouragement and correction are scorned, persecuted and killed.
• The northern and southern kingdoms of Israel eventually become so evil that God has to send them into exile from the land of promise for decades to purge their evil.
• God brings the kingdoms back to the Promised Land, but they again soon return to their evil practices.
• Then, after the last book in the OT, Malachi, is written, comes 400 years, 4 century’s of complete silence; God doesn’t speak a single word.

After this, it is time to bring in the promised Messiah, the Savior to the world and the NT begins.

In order for the Savior to be able to forgive and take away our sin, He has to be free of our crime of sin, so He has to be sinless.

John 3:16 – For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

If God the Father is sending Jesus, God the Son, He, being God, is certainly sinless.

But, if the sentence of sin is death, and only someone sinless can offer their life in our place, how can this arrangement work?   God is sinless, yes, but how can God die?  He’s eternal.

God the Father can do this because He is going to send His Son Jesus to be born of Mary, a woman, in order for Jesus to obtain in addition to His deity, a human body that is able to die.

Luke 1:30–33 – The angel (Gabriel) said to (Mary), “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. ³¹ And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. ³² He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. ³³ And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”

But won’t Jesus then become sinful like the rest of us, as sin is passed on by human propagation?  Won’t Jesus now disqualify Himself from being the sinless sacrifice we need?  No, as Jesus won’t be conceived like any of us are.

Luke 1:34, 35 – ³⁴ Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”

³⁵ And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.

Isaiah 9:6a – For unto us a Child is born (Jesus’ humanity), unto us a Son is given (Jesus’ deity); and the government will be upon His shoulder.  And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

So we see that Jesus is sinless in His unique conception and birth.  But, does He remain sinless in living out His earthly life, prior to dying for us, in order to fulfill the sentence of sin?

Luke 4:1–2a, 13 – Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, ² being tempted for forty days by the devil/Lucifer…  Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time (having failed to cause Jesus to fall into sin).

Hebrews 4:15 – For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.

After Jesus’ teachings and His signs and wonders, verifying His Deity and message, He went to the cross to die for us.

 1 Peter 2:24 – (Jesus) who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the (cross), that we (the human race), having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose (wounds) you were healed.

Matthew 27:46 – And about the ninth hour (when the sin of mankind was laid on Jesus and God the Father had to turn His face from Jesus) Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”  (God the Father had to turn away from His Son, for the first time in eternity, because it was the first time Christ ever was tainted by sin, not His sin, but our sin)

John 19:30 – So when (our sin was applied to Jesus’ life and) Jesus had received the sour wine (on the cross), He said, “It is finished!” (all the sin of mankind, throughout the history of the this world was placed on Him) And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.

Now was the ultimate, definitive, moment of truth, would Jesus just be another lunatic whose body would decompose in the grave, or………….. was He really who He claimed to be and rise on the third day as He claimed He would?

Matthew 28:1–9 – Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. ² And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. ³ His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. ⁴ And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.

⁵ But the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. ⁶ He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. ⁷ And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.”

⁸ So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word.

⁹ And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, (the physical, living, breathing,) Jesus met them, saying, “Rejoice!” So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him.

God tells us in Ephesians 4:8a (NASB95) that after those 3 days in the tomb, That “When He (Jesus) ascended on high, He led captive a host of captives, And He gave gifts to men.” (THE MEN AND WOMEN IN THE OT WHOSE SIN HAD ONLY BEEN COVERED OVER BY THE BLOOD OF ANIMALS, NOW HAD THEIR SIN TAKEN AWAY, ALLOWING THEM TO GO HOME TO HEAVEN.)

Now when a Gospel believer dies, because his or her sin is taken away, God says in 2 Corinthians 5:8, We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.

Jesus verified his resurrection over and over again by being physically seen by hundreds of people after His resurrection.

1 Corinthians 15:4–7 tells us that Jesus “rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, ⁵ and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. ⁶ After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. ⁷ After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles.”

1 Corinthians 15:20–22 (NLT) – Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died.

²¹ So you see, just as death came into the world through a man (Adam), now the resurrection from the dead (eternal life) has begun through another man (Jesus). ²² Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life. …Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits (the first of many) of those who have fallen asleep (died). ²¹ For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. ²² For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.

Forty days after His resurrection Jesus goes back to God the Father in heaven.

Acts 1:1–3 – All that Jesus began both to do and teach, ² until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, ³ to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

Jesus leaves, but He also behind the Holy Spirit to indwell, protect and enable all those who choose to transfer their subjection to Jesus rather than remain as Lucifer’s.

John 14:16–18 – And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—¹⁷ the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. ¹⁸ I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.

Acts 1:8 – you (gospel believers) shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

The Gospel believers are to tell the world of what Jesus has done for them and then at the rapture, Christ returns for all His subjects still living on the earth just prior to sending 7 years of God’s wrath upon the world, which is called The Great Tribulation.

1 Thessalonians 4:16–17 –The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ Then we who are alive and remain (on the earth) shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.

1 Thessalonians 5:9 – For God did not appoint us (gospel believers) to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

Matthew 24:21 – For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.

During The Great Tribulation, Christ will take back the title deed to the earth from Lucifer.  At this time, Lucifer loses his kingdom and many more of his subjects.

Revelation 5:2, 6-9 – Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll (the titled deed to the earth) and to loose its seals (of judgment upon the earth)?”…

⁶And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth. ⁷ Then He (Jesus Christ) came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.

⁸ Now when He had taken the scroll (the title deed), the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. ⁹ And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,

The scroll represents Christ’s “title deed” to all that the Father promised Jesus because of His sacrifice on the cross.

“Ask of Me, and I shall give [You] the [nations] for [Your] inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for [Your] possession,” (Psalm 2:8).

Adam surrendered the scepter of dominion over the earth to Satan (Gen. 3:6), and Christ is the one who gains it back in Revelation 5.

Christ wraps up The Great Tribulation and condemns Lucifer, all the other fallen angels, and all those who remained under Lucifer’s subjection, dying in their sin, to judgment.

Revelation 19:15 – Now out of His (Jesus’) mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations (of the world). And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

Revelation 20:1–2 – Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. ² He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;

The 1,000 year reign of Christ begins where Christ literally rules the world from Jerusalem

Revelation 20:4 – And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

At the end of the 1,000 year reign of Christ, Lucifer is let loose and stirs up a huge rebellion against Christ, which Christ Himself immediately completely crushes.  Lucifer is now permanently cast into torment.

Revelation 20:9b–10 – Fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. ¹⁰ The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

The Great White Throne Judgment of God follows this battle and all of the bodies of those who remained Lucifer’s subjects, are formally judged and sentenced for dying in their sin, forsaking the salvation God had offered them through Jesus, His Son.

Revelation 20:11–15 – Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. ¹² And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. ¹³ The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. ¹⁴ Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. ¹⁵ And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

After this, all who changed from being a subject of Lucifer’s to Christ’s, enter into the eternal prefect state of eternity.

Revelation 21:22–24 – I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. ²³ The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. ²⁴ And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it.

Revelation 21:3–6 – ³ And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. ⁴ And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

⁵ Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”

⁶ And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.

1 John 5:13 – These things I have written (the Scriptures) to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know (for certain, without question) that you have eternal life (that you have chosen to return to your God and Creator), and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.  

• Confess and repent of our sin
• Accept that Christ is the only One who can forgive our sin
• Ask Christ to place the value of His death to our sin account and forgive us
• Believe by faith that He will do so
• Take your first step as His subject now, in following your Savior and King.