Go into all the world
and preach the good news.
—Mark 16:15
What is the good news? That we get to go to heaven when we die? That God is a loving Father, not a hostile deity? That God’s grace, accepted by faith, brings his gift of salvation?
Those are marvelous truths; but they are the fruits of the good news, not the good news itself.
The good news is that the power of sin has been eliminated by the cross, and the power of death eliminated by the empty tomb. Apostle Paul said the things of most importance were “that Christ died for our sins . . . that he was buried, that he was raised . . .” (1 Cor 15:3, 4).
The good news is the cross—Christ’s death; and the empty tomb—Christ’s resurrection.
The cross and the empty tomb: we need
nothing more; we can get by with nothing less.