Isaiah 51:12–61:11 Explained 

The word gospel is one of the most common words in all Christendom. But what does it mean, and where does the concept originate? Most Christian believers would doubtless assume that the concept of the gospel is a New Testament one? As we shall soon see below, the term gospel (Old English for good news) originates in the Tanakh (Old Testament or OT) in the writings of the prophet Isaiah.

The word gospel itself is easily enough defined, but what about the concept behind the word? This will take us into another, deeper dimension of understanding this concept. Gospel or its synonyms are used 132 times in the Testimony of Yeshua (New Testament or NT). The word gospel literally means “good news or glad tidings.” Two Greek words (euaggellion and euaggelizo) are translated into English in the Authorized Version (KJV) via the following words: as a noun, gospel and as a verb, preach, bring good tidings, show glad tidings, declare, and declare glad tidings. As we can see, the word gospel is easily enough defined, but what really is the good news? Let us begin to answer this by seeing how the apostolic authors of the Testimony of Yeshua used this term:

• Gospel of the kingdom or of Elohim (used five times, see Matt 4:23; 9:35; 24:14; Mark 1:14)
• Gospel of Yeshua the Messiah or Yeshua (used 15 times, see Mark 1:1; Rom 1:16; 15:19; 1 Cor 9:12; Gal 1:7; Phil 1:27; 1 Thess 3:2)
• Gospel of the grace of Elohim (Acts 20:24)
• Gospel of Elohim (used five times, see Rom 1:1; 15:16; 2 Cor 11:7; 1 Thess 2:2,8,9)
• Gospel of peace (Rom 10:15; Eph 6:15)

Besides these noun phrases just listed, in the majority of cases, the word gospel as found in the Testimony of Yeshua stands alone in its noun form as simply the gospel without any adjectival modifiers.

But again, what is the good news? One cannot read the Testimony of Yeshua without seeing that Yeshua the Messiah is at the center of this good news message. Thankfully, this same good news (or gospel) of “Jesus” has been at the center of the Christian message for two thousand years. This likely doesn’t comes as a new revelation to the reader. The famous passage of John 3:16 sums up this blessed message perhaps better than any other: “For Elohim so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” In brief, this good news of the Messiah (Acts 5:42; 1 Cor 1:23; 2:2; 2 Cor 2:12) involves understanding the spiritual significance of his death, burial and resurrection and how that relates to the redemption, reconciliation and salvation of sinful man through Yeshua’s shed blood at the cross of Golgatha. But is there more to the basic message of the good news that most have missed? There is more, much more as we are about to find out. Hopefully, this new understanding will activate and deepen your live for Yeshua the Messiah and for you Father in heaven who sent him to be a river of life to all those who will put their faith and trust in him!