The Good News of Victory

Introduction

What is the Gospel?

You’ll recall a few months back Ben gave an excellent message about the Gospel, taking us to the Tanakh to explore what the phrase “Good News” actually means. The conclusion was that the Gospel is the proclamation of a kingdom - God’s kingdom to be precise. This is such an important theme for us that I wanted to build upon Ben’s message and explore it further.

As I’ve said before, if you ask someon on the street or in the pews, ‘what is the Gospel?’ their first reaction would likely be to respond something along the lines of, “Jesus died for your sins”. While this is certainly an important truth, it is an inadedquate and incomplete description because this statement is in fact a subcomponent of the broader description of the Gospel. It would be like someone asking, “what is the universe?” and in response someone says, “our solar system and all its planets”, where in reality the univese is a description of all space and time and our solar system is but one part of the universe. It may not be a perfect analogy, but the point is clear. In a similar vein, the Gospel refers primarily to a victorious king, and the fact that we have been forgiven of our sins is only one part of the overall kingdom message. Another way to put it might be like saying the Exodus story is the Passover. No, the Exodus story includes the Passover, Mt. Sinai, the Wilderness, and the Promised Land. Applying the blood of the lamb to the door is an important moment, but not the entire story.

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Verb: εὐαγγελίζω euangelizō proclaim good news; bring good news; proclaim the gospel

Noun: εὐαγγέλιον euangelion gospel; good news; good tidings

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What I’d like to do today is dig further into the Good News and see that:

The Good News is a political message

The Good News is Yeshua’s victory

The Good News is declared through the community

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The Good News is a Political Message

To better understand the political context of the term ‘good news’ we will look at the greco-roman context of the Apostolic Sciptures. Rome was of course the political power under which Yeshua and the disciples lived in the 1st century and the term good news was very familiar to the culture.

Pausanius was a Greek writer who flourished in the 2nd century A.D. and he wrote about an earlier war which occurred ca. 660–650 BC between the Ancient Greek states of Messenia and Sparta and we can see that he describes those bringing back news of this miliarty victory as those brining ‘good news’;

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So two of them went to Sparta, bringing the glad news that Aristomenes had been captured. (Paus., Gr. Descr. 4.19.5)

Vespasian was a Roman emperor who reigned from AD 69 to 79. This is the Vespasian that Josephus had predicted would become emperor. Here is the description about Vespasian accending to the throne and the event being described as good news;

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Accordingly Vespasian, looking upon himself as already intrusted with the government, got all things ready for his journey [to Rome]. Now fame carried this news abroad more suddenly than one could have thought, that he was emperor over the east, upon which every city kept festivals, and celebrated sacrifices and oblations for such good news; (Wars of the Jews IV, x 6)

Appian, who was a roman historian around 95-165AD, wrote about the ealier republic period where Octavian would ultimately become emperor. He describes a rumour that circulated claiming Octavian’s legions had deserted him, and this rumour emboldened the Senate in their efforts to stop him. The senate is described as sending someone to proclaim ‘good news’ in order to drum up victorious excitement;

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The same night they sent Manius Aquilius Crassus to Picenum to raise troops, and ordered one of the tribunes, named Apuleius, to run through the city and proclaim the good news to the people. (Appian, Bell. Civ. 3.93)

The point to make here is that the ‘good news’ or ‘euganelion’ is not a term restricted to the Bible. The biblical authors found themselves within a political context that already used this word, a word having very ancient ties to bringing news of political victory.

In 44BC Julius Ceaser died which soon after resulted in a dictatorship by three men led by his adopted great-nephew Octavian. Over the years, Octavian ultimately became the unchallenged ruler of the Roman Empire and in 27BC the ruling body (senate) declared him Augustus, which was a term loaded with singifcant religious overtones meaning illustrious or venerable one. With his position cemented across the empire, Octavian would be lord not simply of the Roman Empire but also, in some respects, of the whole realm of nature over which Rome governed.

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Holy Scriptures: Tree of Life Version (Chapter 2)

Now it happened in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus to register all the world’s inhabitants. Lk 2.1

Ocatvian’s rule commenced the Pax Romana which is Latin for ‘Roman Peace’ and represents a 200 year period of relative global peace. During this time the empire expanded to its largest size and contained an estimated 70 million people under its rule. The point to emphasize here is that the population viewed the roman empire as supreme and Octavian was the emperor who brought world peace. For the roman people peace in the world is a result of the roman empire; to further the empire is to further world peace, to further the emperor is to further world peace.

Octavian’s success lead to the inaguaration of what is called the imperial cult. The imperial cult essentially means the worship system directed toward the emperor.

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The Imperial Cult was the direct worship of the emperor by sacrifice and prayer in the context of priesthoods, temples, rites and festivals. And this direct worship of the emperor was embedded in complex religious, social, economic, and political systems.

So Octavian became viewed as the one duly appointed on behalf of mortals to interpret the will of the gods. And where the chronic instability of earlier years was a sign of the wrath of the gods, it now fell to Octavian to achieve Rome’s destiny by securing the pax deorum (“peace of the gods”) on earth.

To demonstrate how people thought of the emperor, we have writings from Nicolaus of Damascus, who was a Greek philosopher and biographer of Augustus and friend to Herod the Great, speaking to the significance of Octavian’s acquisition of the title “Augustus.” He writes,

“Because humankind address[es] him thus (as Augustus) for this esteem of his honour, they revere him with temples and sacrifices over islands and continents, being organised both by cities and peoples, repaying the greatness of his virtue and his benefaction to them” (trans. and cited in Hardin, Galatians, 27).

Further evidence of Augustus’s exalted status comes by way of decree issued from Mytilene (located just off the northwest coast of modern-day Turkey). The decree dates to a time between 27 and 11 BC and is found on an inscription set on two sides of a stele (an upright stone slab). The city of Mytilene apparently sent a delegation with this decree to Augustus in order to request permission to establish a cult for him. The civic leaders also requested that they be allowed to hold regular athletic contests in Augustus’s honor and to celebrate his birthday every month along with sacrifices of animals. Here’s one part of that decree:

For there is to be an oath … with the ancestral gods, and Sebastos … the image [eikona] of God.… That on the altar … every month on his birthday and … as the same sacrifices, as are offered to Zeus.… That is consistent with the typical greatness of his mind and takes note that there are those things which by fate and by nature are humbler and can never attain equality with those who secure a heavenly reputation and possess the station and power of gods. But if anything is discovered in later times more glorious than these decrees, then let not the zeal and the piety of the city come up short in those things that can deify [theopoiein] him all the more.

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So in various decrees we can see the people deified the emperor and worshipped him, presumably as the image of God, alongsdie the gods of Rome. But for our purposes related to the Good News, we get a real sense of the meaning in a decree from Prienne, 9 BC, we read as follows:

Since Providence, which has divinely disposed our lives, having employed zeal and ardor, has arranged the most perfect culmination for life by producing Augustus, whom for the benefit of mankind she has filled with excellence, as if she had granted him a savior for us and our descendants, a savior who brought war to an end and set all things in peaceful order; and since with his appearance Caesar exceeded the hopes of all those who had received glad tidings [euangelia] before us, not only surpassing those who had been benefactors before him, but not even leaving any hope of surpassing him for those who are to come in the future; and since the beginning of glad tidings [euangeliôn] on his account for the world was the birthday of the god. (trans. and cited in Harrison, “Paul,” 85)

The Good News involves Augustus as “savior” and the author of universal peace. His birthday is reckoned as the source of “glad tidings,” or “gospel.” Similar ascriptions and titles, including “son of God” and “God Sebastos,” (exlated) are not uncommon in other inscriptions and coinage. One inscription even states that Augustus has “outstripped even the Olympian gods” (trans. and cited in Hardin, Galatians, 29). Statues and temples dedicated to the emperor are found all over the roman empire. An augstan calendar was created with a start date of his birthday.

Saviour implies salvation and being saved is a political event with individual benefits.

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There are four major points to be mentioned here:

the term good news or glad tidings or gospel is not strictly a religious or biblical term

politics and religion are not easily separated.

the earthly leaders and the heavenly gods are intertwined.

glad tidings often means announcing political victory.

Messiah and the apostles were born into a world firmly under the political control of Rome and it is clear that the early beleivers on some level would have had to accommodate themselves to the often grim realities of Roman rule. We can now better appreciate the dissent and potential cost of proclaiming Yeshua’s death and resurrection as the risen Lord and Savior of the world. It is difficult to do proper justice to the Apostolic Scriptures without realizing that what is “good news” for the believers is likely religious and political deviancy for the Romans.

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The Good News is Yeshua’s Victory

Armed with this understanding we might now view the language of the Apostolic Scriptures in a different light. Let’s walk through selections from the letter to the Epehsians and as we do let’s keep in mind the gentile audience who live in a society surrounded by the imperial cult that empahsises the glory of the emperor, rome, and the roman gods.

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Yeshua vs. Ceasar

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Paul begins Ephesians by saying:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Messiah. He chose us in the Messiah before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless before Him in love. He predestined us for adoption as sons through Messiah Yeshua, in keeping with the good pleasure of His will— to the glorious praise of His grace, with which He favored us through the One He loves! (Eph 1:3–6).

I’ve underlined the words here and compared them to the good news of Augustus.

Instead of Providence divinely disposing our lives, we have the God and Father of Yeshua who has blessed us.

Instead of Providence setting the plan, the Father works before the foundation of the world, predestines us.

Instead of Providnce granting us Augustus as saviour, the Father has granted us Yeshua as our saviour.

Instead of Ceasar’s seat in Rome, Yeshua is, for now, in heavenly places.

Instead of Julius Ceasar adopting Octavian as son to become emperor, we have been adopted as sons through Yeshua and share his inheritance. (adoption is inheritance language)

Isntead of Rome getting the glory, it is our Father who receives the glorious praise.

Instead of Pax Romana, the lion will lay with the lamb in the earth.

My point in this is to demonstrate the mixed political and religious context the audience would understand in these words. The good news of Yeshua’s kingdom and the good news of Ceasar’s are in direct competition, and we know how the story will end. So, knowing that the fundamental message of the glad tidings of Yeshua is that he has been made king of a coming kingdom, it should come as no surprise that Paul describes the Good News of our salvation with a focus on the coming kingdom benefits of beliving the good news.

After you heard the message of truth—the Good News of your salvation—and when you put your trust in Him, you were sealed with the promised Ruach ha-Kodesh. He is the guarantee of our inheritance, until the redemption of His possession—to His glorious praise! (Eph 1:13–14).

The word guarantee means down payment or deposit. In other words the full physical inheritance of the kingdom is still to come, because as we know the meek shall inherit the earth.

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Heavenly Victory

We know that the apostolic scriptures are anticipating an earthly kingdom, but they describe this as something to be found in the future. The time has not come to physically take the inheritance. If this is the case, is Yeshua really king? Wouldn’t good news of victory need to come with an actual ‘victory’? The answer is Yes! Ephesians 1:20-23 says:

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This power He exercised in Messiah when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in heaven. He is far above any ruler, authority, power, leader, and every name that is named—not only in the olam ha-zeh but also in the olam ha-ba. God placed all things under Messiah’s feet and appointed Him as head over all things for His community— which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. (Eph 1:20–23).

By raising from the dead and being seated on the trhone, Yeshua has achieved vicotry over the heavenly rulers. This is a topic we have grossly ignored in the West. Just as the earthly realm has kingdoms, kings, governors, soldiers, etc so too does the heavenly realm have similar structures and positions. In the book of Daniel agnels seem to have jurisdiction over earthly kingdoms and there is war in the heavens involving Persia, Greece, etc. In the gospels, Beelzebul is understood as the prince of demons. In Revelation, war breaks out in heaven between Michael, a chief angel, and his angel army against the devil and his angels. The scriptures teach us that the earhtly and heavenly realms are connected. Earthly leaders are influenced by heavenly leaders, earthly events are influened by heavenly events.

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For example, Paul specifically says in Ephesians 2;

At that time, you walked in the way of this world, in conformity to the ruler of the domain of the air—the ruler of the spirit who is now operating in the sons of disobedience. … But God was rich in mercy … And He raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Messiah Yeshua— to show in the olam ha-ba the measureless richness of His grace in kindness toward us in Messiah Yeshua. (Eph 2:2–7).

Although at one time the ruler of the sky had us walking in conformity to his ways, it’s as if God has raised us and seated us with Yeshua in the heavenly throne. We participate in Yeshua’s victory over the ruler in the sky. Victory over the spiritual forces and rulers is fundamental to the Good News.

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A Roman triumph was a spectacular celebration parade held by a military general or emperor after winning a victory. To have a triumph granted one needed to face 5,000 enemies of a foreign nation. … It was a lavish and entertaining propaganda spectacle which reminded the people of the glory of Rome and its military superiority above all other nations. The triumph of Vespasian and his son Titus in 71 CE for their victory in Judaea was notable for its flashy display of the riches from the temple at Jerusalem. Titus riding a four-horse chariot (quadriga) and shows him being crowned by Victoria god of Victory. The goddess Roma (personified rome) stands in front, holding the bridle of one of the horses. The two figures to the right of the chariot are personifications of the people of Rome (naked torso) and the Senate (wearing a toga).

When Yeshua died and rose, he publically displayed his victory over the various spritual rulers.

After disarming the principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in the cross. (Col 2:15).

And of course Paul tells us in Ephesians 6 to;

Put on the full armor of God, so that you are able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the worldly forces of this darkness, and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Eph 6:11–12).

We tend to gloss over these descriptions as if they are not real or unimportant but we have to account for the role of these powers in the world. When we don’t, or when we follow the world that makes fun of this aspect of our faith, or when we think it is just a story of us and God, we downplay or dismiss God’s word and the Good News of Yeshua’s victory. The forces of wickedness and darkness are real but our Lord has conquered them.

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The Good News is Delcared Through The Community

Every kingdom needs citizens. So who are the citizens of Yeshua’s kingdom? Paul answers that throughout Epehesians:

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Ephesians 3:6 TLV

This mystery is that the Gentiles are joint heirs and fellow members of the same body and co-sharers of the promise in Messiah Yeshua through the Good News.

The fact that Jew and gentiles are joint heirs to the inheritance is central to the Good News. Why is that? It is because Yeshua’s kingdom is made up of those who have spiritual citizenship. No longer is citizenship to be thought of primarily as ethinic descent, but rather spritual descent. A citizen is one who pledges unreserved allegiance to the king. Did any of you pledge allegiance to your country growing up? As a youngster, the kids in school heled their hand to their chests and pledged allegiance to the flag and to the commonwealth of the Bahamas. I now believe this is wrong and unbiblical. Our pledge is be in allegience to our king alone.

That the gentile beleivers are fellow heirs with jewish believers is described by Paul as a mystery. It was a mystery that has not be made known until Yeshua came as king, and now as both groups come together in community as equals, it is this reality that reveals the vastness of God’s wisdom and skill. That is improtant - it is the coming together as a multinational and multiethnic community, together pledging allegiance to Yeshua, that reveals God wisdom. And who is this revealed to? It is revealed not just to humans but to the demons and their leaders!

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Ephesians 3:10–11 TLV

The purpose is that through Messiah’s community the multi-faceted wisdom of God might be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places, which is in keeping with the eternal purpose that He carried out in Messiah Yeshua our Lord.

Our world and the heavenly world are close, connected, and permeable. This is why it is so destrucitve to the Gospel when messianic congregations act as though believing non jews are second class citizens; beucase it immediately diminishes the victory messiah has won. He has conqureed the world - all nations and their gods. His diverse community is a sign that the gods are losing power of their citizens whom are defecting to the side of the Lord. He is demonstrating to the principalities and powers that he is taking over their territory - his kingdom is invading theirs and their fortified gates won’t prevail!

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Conclusion (Lk 2:1-14)

Do you recall the scene in the Passion of the Christ where they are flogging Yeshua, the romans conducting their routine duty for the glory of rome, the jewish leaders looking on satisfied that their status in the eyes of men would remain unchallenged, and in the background as the scene slows down, there is Satan walking amongst the crowd. The devil and his forces influencing the jewish and roman forces markign them out as the sons of disobedience.

In closing, I’m simply going to read a passage from the Gosepl of Luke. As you listen, try to process the passage through the lense of what we’ve discussed and consider how your new perspective on the meaning of the good news might change the way you live and proclaim the gospel.

Now it happened in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus to register all the world’s inhabitants. This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Everyone was traveling to be registered in his own city.

Now Joseph also went up from the Galilee, out of the town of Natzeret to Judah, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was from the house and family of David. He went to register with Miriam, who was engaged to him and was pregnant.

But while they were there, the time came for her to give birth— and she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped Him in strips of cloth and set Him down in a manger, since there was no room for them in the inn.

Now there were shepherds in the same region, living out in the fields and guarding their flock at night. Suddenly an angel of Adonai stood before them, and the glory of Adonai shone all around them; and they were absolutely terrified.

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid! For behold, I proclaim Good News to you, which will be great joy to all the people. A Savior is born to you today in the city of David, who is Messiah the Lord. And the sign to you is this: You will find an infant wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger.”

And suddenly a multitude of heavenly armies appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest,

and on earth shalom to men of good

will.” (Lk 2:1–14).