The gospel of Jesus is a unique message in many ways, but one way that gets overlooked is that it is a past, present, and future message of good news. Oftentimes only one of these aspects is emphasized, but we must give equal weight to all three. God works – past, present, and future – to undo the effects of sin.
The past good news is that Jesus has satisfied God’s wrath against sin by dying on the cross and rising from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). The present good news is that God continues to cleanse us from remaining sin through his Spirit, who bears good fruit in us (Romans 6:1, 6-7; Galatians 6:22-24). The future good news is that Jesus will come back, bringing with him a new heavens and earth, free from sin where Jesus welcomes into his kingdom those who have faith in him in this life. They will be given brand new bodies (Philippians 3:21), and thus be completely cleansed from their sin. Being cleansed from our sin means will will be able to see God face to face (Revelation 21:4).
For people who really love God, it is not enough to have one third, or even two thirds of this message. What good is it if our sins are paid for if I can’t fight against it in the present and have no hope for being completely done with it in the future? What good is it to be cleansed in the present and the future, without my punishment being paid? Wouldn’t it be a giant tease if our punishment for sin was paid and we could be partially cleansed from it, but did not have hope of eventually being completely free from our sin someday?
The fullness of the gospel is on radiant display when we consider the good news the message holds past, present, and future.
