Gospel's Purpose Not to Get People to Heaven, but to God
Why is the gospel, which has justification by faith at its heart, good news? Now this question is seldom asked, because being forgiven our sins and being acquitted in court for capital crimes and being counted righteous before a holy God is so manifestly a happy situation that it seems impertinent to ask, why is it good news?
But I believe we must emphatically ask this question. For the answer to it is infinitely important. Every person should be required to answer the question, Why is it good news to you that yours sins are forgiven? Why is it good news to you that you stand righteous in the courtroom of the Judge of the universe? The reason this must be asked is that there are seemingly biblical answers that totally ignore the gift of God himself. A person may answer, Being forgiven is good news because I dont want to go to hell. Or a person may answer, Being forgiven is good news because a guilty conscience is a horrible thing, and I get great relief when I believe my sins are forgiven. Or a person may answer, I want to go to heaven. But then we must ask why they want to go to heaven. They might answer, Because the alternative is painful. Or Because my deceased wife is there. Or Because there will be a new heaven and a new earth where justice and beauty will finally be everywhere.
All that is true. So whats wrong with those answers? Whats wrong with them is that they do not treat God as the final and highest good of the gospel. They do not express a supreme desire to be with God. God was not even mentioned. Only his gifts were mentioned. These gifts are precious. But they are not God. And they are not the gospel if God himself is not cherished as the supreme gift of the gospel. That is, if God is not treasured as the ultimate gift of the gospel, none of his gifts will be gospel, good news. And if God is treasured as the supremely valuable gift of the gospel, then all the other lesser gifts will be enjoyed as well.
Propitiation, redemption, forgiveness,
imputation, sanctification, liberation, healing, heaven none of these is good
news except for one reason: they bring us to God for our everlasting enjoyment
of him. If we believe all these things have happened to us, but do not embrace
them for the sake of getting to God, they have not happened to us. Christ did
not die to forgive sinners who go on treasuring anything above seeing and
savoring God. And people who would be happy in heaven if Christ were not there,
will not be there. The gospel is not a way to get people to heaven; it is a way
to get people to God.
God Is the Gospel
pp. 44-47
-PDF of introduction and first chapter here
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