The Gospel originally meant the Christian message itself, but it soon came to be used for the books in which the message was recorded, which describe the life and teachings of Jesus. Now adays we use the term loosely to describe any teaching within all the Church beliefs. When it was used in biblical times it meant “good news”. It really doesn’t matter much that we use the word differently in our day (we have many words with multiple meanings) but it can lead to a big problem. That problem is we read our modern meaning into an older one while reading the scriptures and miss the point being made. When you read scriptures that were written in biblical times you should read the word gospel as “Good News”.
A prime example of The Good News is in Isaiah 52:7 “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!” tidings is not referring to magpies, it means “News” or “Information” In Isaiah 52 the Lord GOD is telling the “captive daughter of Zion” (v. 3) “Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money.” Their redemption is a “good tiding” what is their salvation from? Isaiah tells us (52:12- 53:12)
“For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the LORD will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rereward.” God states in this verse that it is not us but Him that shall perform this task.
“Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high. As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men: So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.”
This Servant is the one that publishes salvation to bring forth the Good news. Think as you read these verses, “What are these tidings of good?”
“Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.“
“Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. “
“He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. “
“Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”
The suffering of the Christ may hardly seem like Good News but he bore it for us and that is why it is good news. Alma taught this with several important questions that we should ask, “Do ye imagine to yourselves that ye can lie unto the Lord in that day, and say—Lord, our works have been righteous works upon the face of the earth—and that he will save you?” and “Can ye look up to God at that day with a pure heart and clean hands? I say unto you, can you look up, having the image of God engraven upon your countenances?” to which he responds “I say unto you, ye will know at that day that ye cannot be saved; for there can no man be saved except his garments are washed white; yea, his garments must be purified until they are cleansed from all stain, through the blood of him of whom it has been spoken by our fathers, who should come to redeem his people from their sins.” We are all in need of a redeemer because after all we can do we “cannot be saved”. Alma 5 clearly illustrates our need of a messiah (Alma 5:17,19, & 21).
This same exact Good news shows up in the Book of Mormon. Remember that the people are Israelites and as such they use language comparable to the Bible. Let us take a look at lehi in 1 Nephi 10:4-11
“a prophet would the Lord God raise up among the Jews—even a Messiah, or, in other words, a Savior of the world.”
“And he also spake concerning the prophets, how great a number had testified of these things, concerning this Messiah, of whom he had spoken, or this Redeemer of the world.”
“Wherefore, all mankind were in a lost and in a fallen state, and ever would be save they should rely on this Redeemer.”
That is a Good reason for Lehi to proclaim “Great and marvelous are thy works, O Lord God Almighty!” and, “Thou art merciful, thou wilt not suffer those who come unto thee that they shall perish!” in 1 Nephi : 14 after He has his first vision. Salvation is provided through the Messiah when we rely on him because we cannot merit it on our own. Let’s continue with Lehi’s thoughts.
“And he spake also concerning a prophet who should come before the Messiah, to prepare the way of the Lord— And after he had baptized the Messiah with water, he should behold and bear record that he had baptized the Lamb of God, who should take away the sins of the world.”
Though we are found sinners Christ died for us to take away our sins!
“And it came to pass after my father had spoken these words he spake unto my brethren concerning THE GOSPEL which should be preached among the Jews, and also concerning the dwindling of the Jews in unbelief. And after they had slain the Messiah, who should come, and after he had been slain he should rise from the dead, and should make himself manifest, by the Holy Ghost, unto the Gentiles.”
Paul teaches us this is true when he declares the Gospel 1 Corinthians 15:1-11
“Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you THE GOSPEL which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once… After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all he was seen of me also… Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.”
Lehi is not the only one in Alma 22:13-14
“And Aaron did expound unto him the scriptures from the creation of Adam, laying the fall of man before him, and their carnal state and also the plan of redemption, which was prepared from the foundation of the world, through Christ, for all whosoever would believe on his name.”
“And since man had fallen he could not merit anything of himself; but the sufferings and death of Christ atone for their sins, through faith and repentance, and so forth; and that he breaketh the bands of death, that the grave shall have no victory, and that the sting of death should be swallowed up in the hopes of glory;”