Every alert Christian is aware that we are involved in a spiritual battle. We know there are different levels of reality and that the physical is affected by the supra-physical. However there is quite a difference in opinions on where the focus of the battle settles. Some are sure the devil and his forces are intent on aggravation. Little things go wrong. The dishwasher doesn’t work. The car breaks down. Traffic is clogged when time is already short. Others are more attuned to the scuffles among Christian denominations. They fight the liberals or the extremists. The issues of theology or politics within their particular expression of the church seem paramount and worthy of taking off the gloves for a real fight. If you are in the contemporary church movement, you might think the battle of battles revolves around church music. Too loud! Too edgy! Too much drum and not enough depth! Too many old people who still love hymns! There is a rather noisy group who has declared that the real spiritual battle is over the city of Jerusalem. Their method of biblical interpretation has led them to conclude that whoever controls the present, physical city of Jerusalem determines what happens in the whole world and affects the timing of end time events.
     I want to suggest that there is another battleground that is far more important than others. Aggravation, denominational differences, musical trends, and the temporary political status of a geographical site pale in importance to the fight over the one thing that determines the success of God’s plan on earth. It has always been at the center of the battle. Hell’s strategy has always been arrayed against it. The fact that many would not recognize its preeminent priority is evidence that Hell’s strategy has some merit. Of course I am referring to the nature of the gospel of Jesus the Christ and his kingdom.

     It is easy to understand why the enemies of God would attack the gospel. It is the key to the salvation that is the subject of history. It alone is the power of God unto salvation. 

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Romans 1:16 (ESV)

The whole scheme of the created universe balances on the success of the gospel. Why wouldn’t any enemy worthy of being an adversary try to distort this issue? The New Testament is replete with references to efforts to diffuse its power. Many of the letters of the early apostles deal with the attacks on the gospel as first proclaimed.

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel — not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
Galatians 1:6-7 (ESV)

The apostle Paul thought the issue was so grave he declared that a curse would be on those who would proclaim a different gospel.

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
Galatians 1:8-9 (ESV)

     I think it is interesting that some who speak often of curses and blessings seem to think the issue is political Israel, owing to their commitment to their definition of literal Old Testament interpretation. They would try to persuade us to support today’s Israel as a religious requirement sanctioned by the Old Testament promise to Abraham. They even point to certain natural and political dilemmas that have happened in the world and try to link them to national decisions that affected political Israel. For instance, was Hurricane Katrina God’s wrath on a public policy decision relating to Israel by this administration? 

     Paul thought the issue was the gospel. He believed that Jesus was the fulfillment of Old Testament promises and that faith in him alone brought the blessings of God. Failure to believe in him brought curses. 

     The effects of believing another gospel are fatal. At best the adherent has a sense of false security. When they have fulfilled the prescribed qualifications, however skewed they may be, they feel secure in their position with God. If they are told to simply obey and expect God to reward their obedience, they will trust their obedience however partial it may be. If they are led to believe that because God is love he will not reject any sincere person, they trust their sincerity no matter how faulty. If they are told they have a relationship with God in the spirit but that it doesn’t affect their physical lives, they are victims of a damning dualism that may connect them with some Jesus, but not the one who was the incarnate Son of God. Jesus spoke of those who would be deceived about their relationship to him.  

Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?'  And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.
Matthew 7:21-23 (ESV)

     Although the deceived might live in some measure of confidence and ease on this earth they will surely not know the eternal life Jesus grants to those who know him according to his gospel.
The other result of believing another gospel is hopelessness and all its spiritual and emotional cousins. Without believing Jesus’ gospel they have no answer to the central questions of life. What is history about anyway? Why can we expect the bible to give us an accurate account of history? Why is the Babylonian or Egyptian version not just as valid? What about evil being present in a world supposedly under the control of a good God? What is the purpose of humanity? Why should we care about the environment? Why shouldn’t all religions just back off and agree to be nice to each other? Why would a good God create something like the world and then destroy it with fire?

     There is not real worthwhile purpose to living if there is no redemptive theme to history. Trouble is too tough. Money is too temporal. Life is too fragile.

     In seeking to confront the purveyors of the false gospel in Galatia, Paul helps us delineate the essential aspects of the true gospel. He frames it in the mega-story of history. He reminds us that the gospel was preached to Abraham.

And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed."
Galatians 3:8 (ESV)

Admittedly that is a very short version of the story, but it gives the beginning and the end. The point is that the promise to Abraham was the key to God’s description of history. Everything in time and space has been leading up to the fulfillment of that promise. 

     Jesus spoke of Abraham’s connection to the gospel when he was addressing some Jewish leaders who were claiming that natural descent from Abraham made them children of Abraham and heirs to the promise. 

Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.
John 8:56 (ESV)

What did Abraham see? Did he see Jesus in a manger? Did he see the sermon of the Mount being delivered? The miracles? The trial? The crucifixion? The resurrection? He saw it all in a figure. He somehow knew by grace that Isaac was not the final seed. He knew that Isaac’s near sacrifice spoke of a greater sacrifice. He knew the provided lamb spoke of a final Lamb. He knew that getting his son back from the dead was a shadow of a resurrection that would change everything. Like a man who gets a check on a secure account, he had a promise and because he believed the account on which it was given was secure, he enjoyed the reality of all that the promise included. Old Testament saints are saved by the same gospel as New Testament saints. They had the promise, and since the one who promised is faithful, the full benefits of the promise are granted to the believer. It should be noted however that the New Testament makes it clear that once Jesus came as the fulfillment to the promise, their faith must acknowledge him. It is not enough for anyone since Christ to continue to look for a future fulfillment. 

     Well of course Abraham was glad. How could he not be glad when he had seen the purpose of history revealed in God’s promise? Finally life made sense. Sin would be dealt with by a severe death and miraculous resurrection. His own participation in history would be meaningful. He had a part to play in the great drama. Though there would be a great elapse of time, he could rejoice that the God who promises is the same God who performs. He saw Jesus’ day and was glad. The true gospel makes one glad at a level much deeper than emotions. 

     There is a story about a man who went west in the American expansion. He settled in the Northwest and claimed some land to cultivate. He had two sons. One son was very intelligent but spent any time allowed enjoying the pleasures money could provide. He loved fine horses and carriages, expensive jewelry, engraved guns, etc. He was respected by the neighbors but was judged as distant in demeanor. The other son seemed more attuned to his father’s dream. He spent any free time talking with his father. They discussed, laughed and planned together. When the father died and everyone gathered for the final disposition of the estate, there was great anticipation as to who would get what. Both sons were given some assets that would make life easier and fairly secure, but all in attendance waited for the big inheritance. The first son heard the amount he would receive and was surprised that it was more than he figured, since dad’s money would be divided between the two. The second son received a sealed envelope. All eyes were focused on him as he opened it. A collective gasp filled the room when he poured from the envelope a small mound of apple seeds. Was it a joke? The boy smiled and turned toward the door with an obvious sense of purpose and joy. He planted those seeds in the fertile soil his father had prepared. When the trees began to produce apples he took all those seeds and planted more. In a few years his apples were sought after by all in the industry. It is said that those apples affected all apples grown from that time on. 

     Is that story true? I don’t really know, but I do know a true one. God promised Abraham a seed. When it came up it was a singular son: Isaac. But Isaac had two sons: Esau and Jacob. (This crop was sure growing slowly.) Jacob had twelve sons who produced twelve tribes and in a few hundred years there were several million of them. But this was not the end of the promise. The promise included the redemption of all that had been affected by the fall of Adam and Eve. Out of these tribes came a king to rule over God’s chosen instrument: Israel. In the lineage of this king (David) came a single representative of Israel (and Adam) who was the fulfillment of the promise. He is the Seed of Abraham. He like a seed was planted in death but arose to produce 12, then 120, then several thousand, then believers like the sand of the sea and the stars of the heavens. 

     Abraham is still glad at the power and produce of the gospel. It will make anyone glad who sees it.

     We cannot afford to play fast and loose with the gospel. There is too much at stake. Maybe we should take a serious look at what the proponents of the false gospel were saying to the Galatians. There are at least two points of attack: They tried to mix the Old Covenant with the New rather than see them fitting into a continuous story. And they yielded to a man-centered gospel. First, they refused to see Jesus as the final and full purpose of redemption. They continued to place the Law and their natural relationship with Abraham on the same level with Jesus. They did not reject Jesus but they would not allow him to occupy the place of preeminence alone. They made much of the bloodline, the ceremonies (especially circumcision as the mark of covenant people), the Law, and the temple. They interpreted the descendants of Abraham through Hagar as rejected people while the sons of Sarah were chosen. Paul throws a wrench into that thinking with his divinely inspired interpretation in Galatians 4. Hagar represents the Jews and their system, including their Law and temple worship, who had rejected the final Seed of Abraham. Sarah’s seed are from the New Jerusalem; the children who have believed the promise fulfilled in Christ. It is not about natural lineage. It never was. The Law was given to prepare people for a Messiah who would pay the penalty of broken Law, fulfill the Law and grant a life capable of living according to the purposes of the Law. The temple always pointed to God’s presence with his people. Jesus now had come to be with his people and through the Spirit actually live in them. 

     There was no room for holding on to shadows when the substance had arrived. Those who try to mix the eras of history miss the point. It is not Jesus and Law, Jesus and temple, Jesus and Israel. It is Jesus alone. He is the Seed of Abraham and the only way to join in the inheritance is by believing the promise that is fulfilled only in him. Any so- called “gospel” that seeks to place in the spotlight with Jesus any other entity is a false gospel. 

     The other point of attack is the tendency to reduce the gospel to a man-centered affair. Mankind, in trying to understand his own spirituality, will always try to fit God into his own thinking. Paul makes it very clear to the Galatians that he did not receive his gospel from men; not even the pillars of the church. He is sure that the story of God’s redemption through the Messiah could never be conceived by man’s mind. He echoes the elevated thoughts of the prophet Isaiah. 

    From of old no one has heard
        or perceived by the ear,
    no eye has seen a God besides you,
        who acts for those who wait for him.
Isaiah 64:4 (ESV)

     History is replete with evidence that mankind will bend God’s message to fit his own felt needs and miss the transformation that God intended. We recoil at the idea that we are so flawed that we need total transformation. We want to get better. There are “peddlers” of the word of God who make careers out of telling people they can be better by more commitment and better thoughts. It seems we are content to create Jesus over in our own image—just better. He is like us, just nicer. Abandoning the mystery and majesty of the simple but radical gospel, religious leaders look for a niche in Christian marketing that will attract masses. The hope to be better people without having to die is huge. Tap into that and you will have a following. “Just quit thinking negatively and smile,” they say. “Do what you know is right and God will see it and reward you. God is love and has many good things to give you. He wants you to have a raise and be healthy. He knows your hurts and will take them away.”

     You know what? All of that is good advice…if you have experienced the cross and resurrection of Jesus. But if you leave out the sad verdict of our sin and the cure, you are promoting a hope that is false. We are so infected by selfishness and pride that death is the only cure. We can learn to hide it better, but we can never eradicate it apart from union with the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. To leave the impression that we can be accepted by God or that we can improve ourselves without faith in Jesus alone is cruel, and ungodly.

     I flinch when I hear popular Christian leaders being interviewed on national media say that for them, Jesus is the way to God, but maybe not for everyone. I almost heave when they declare that they are preaching hope while excusing their failure to mention sin, trials, suffering, and judgment. “I’ll leave that to others,” they say. How convenient! It is as if these preachers think these issues are not part of the gospel. Life doesn’t make sense if these realities are not addressed. Sin is real in every life. The gospel offers a solution and it is not denial. Trials come. They are overcome by the power of a resurrected life. Judgment means that God vindicates someone. That someone is his Son who took the entire wrath for his own. The failure to deal with these issues through the lens of the gospel may reflect a superficial understanding of the message. Sure God is good. He is so good he is holy. That means he is in a category alone. His goodness cannot be compared to any concept we know in the natural realm. His goodness goes beyond raises, health, fun, new cars, and fulfilling the American dream. He desires that we know him as the Son knows him and enjoy the love he has for the Son as much as the Son does. 

     We cannot afford a therapeutic application of moralistic teachings that leave hearers with a hope limited by their own ability to believe or behave. We need a gospel that assures us that our representative has come, lived, died and been resurrected, and that in him we are joint-heirs. We cannot mix the message with Old Testament requirements nor can we syncretize it with other religions in an effort to attain a unity outside of Christ. We need a hope founded on the power of the gospel to save all who believe, Jew and Gentile.