The Gospel from 35,000 Feet

The most common way that we look at the Gospel is from the ground up. Man is a sinner, sinners are unfit for the presence of God, Jesus came to earth to pay for our sin, and we can have his eternal righteousness and fellowship by faith. It's not a bad way to look at the Gospel - it's clear, accurate, and something we easily identify with. But ... I was wondering today what the Gospel looks like from the top-down. There are many ways to answer that, but one way that struck me as curious centers on the idea of the image of God.

In the beginning, God created man (man and woman, but "man" to refer to the whole lot of us). God had created many other things already - angels, stars, planets, plants, and critters. But He created man to be different that the rest. He created man in the image of God (Gen 1:27). Man is the "image bearer" - he uniquely has this thing called "God's image" imprinted on his being. That image is a reflection of God's glory.

Then, man sinned. Adam and Eve disobeyed God's design and God's clear word. When this occurred, that image of God was not lost, but it was "vandalized." We still bear God's image, but that image in us has been severely distorted, mangled, and disfigured. It can become so distorted that it becomes very difficult to recognize that image at all in someone. This, of course, is grievous to God - not only for our loss, but also for what has happened to a reflection of His own glory! He had image bearers that reflected His great glory, but now after the vandalization, instead of a glorious reflection, it is a tarnished, blasphemous semblance of His glory.

The Old Testament teaches us the futility of man trying to restore that image on his own. How can an inglorious reflection repair itself? It's not possible.

Then Jesus came. Jesus was unique in that first, He bore the image of God perfectly. That's something no one had done since Adam and Eve before the Fall. Second, He is the God whose image we bear! He's both fully God (the glorious One) and fully man (the perfect image bearer). He alone bore the image perfectly on behalf of the entire human race.

When He died on the cross and rose again on the third day, he defeated sin and death - the very things that marred the image of God in man. In other words, the mission of Jesus was to restore the image of God in us. That image can be perfected in us. It begins with salvation (putting our faith in Christ). It continues through sanctification (the process of becoming more like Christ). It is complete in glorification (when Jesus returns and completes the image of God in us).

The Gospel from 35,000 feet is that Jesus came to make us perfect image bearers again, fully glorifying God as we were intended. We can become perfect image bearers only by faith in Jesus Christ, the glorious One and perfect image bearer.

Scripture shows the Gospel from 35,000 feet in a couple of places:

Romans 8:29:  Those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.


1 John 3:2:  Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that whenever it is revealed we will be like him, because we will see him just as he is.


Perhaps this can be a fresh way for you to share the Gospel with others who do not respond to the Gospel from the ground up.