Growth. Blessing. Prosperity. Heaven on Earth.

The gospel at its core is about restoring the blessing to mankind. This is clearly seen in God’s message to Father Abraham: “the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.” Galatians 3:8, NKJV. The importance of this verse cannot be overstated. In this verse, the Apostle Paul is clearly communicating what the gospel is, God restoring His blessing to the nations by and through Father Abraham. Yet, often, that vital point is missed, not understood, and disregarded by the Church. I don’t want to do that. I want to know what scripture teaches regarding what the gospel actually does. That’s what I’d like to talk about in this post.

When mankind fell into sin, we lost a great deal. We can see that Satan became “the god of this world”. 2 Corinthians 4:4, NLT. Further, Satan says something in Luke 4:6, Amplified Bible, which Jesus doesn’t refute, “I will give You all this realm and its glory [its power, its renown]; because it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.” Notice, he says, “it has been handed over to me”. The question, By whom? Certainly, God didn’t hand it over to him. Then, Who did? The obvious answer is, Adam. When mankind sinned, it ceded authority to the Devil. And that was Satan’s plan — he wanted authority over God’s creation. What we lost, Satan gained. And that’s why there’s such evil in the earth — the Devil.

What mankind lost, God had to recover. What did mankind lose? Authority over sin and Satan. What did Jesus recover? Authority over sin and Satan. Therein lay the gospel message. What Adam lost, Christ reclaimed. How did Christ reclaim what the first man, Adam, lost? By and through His death on the cross. The cross was the means by which God through Christ reclaimed what Adam lost — “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” Matthew 28:18, NLT. Notice, not just in heaven, but also on earth. Christ reclaimed the authority Adam lost by and through His death on the cross.

                                “What did mankind have in Eden?                                                                 Unfettered access to God’s blessing”—Scott Wallis

The cross, an instrument of cruelty, by and through Christ, was turned into an instrument of blessing. Only God could conceive of something like that. He took what Satan intended for the ultimate evil, killing a sinless man, Christ, and turned that act of ultimate evil into ultimate good. Death could not retain Christ, for only one who sinned could die. God’s word in the beginning still remained true, “in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.” Genesis 2:17, Berean Standard Bible. Jesus did not bite into the forbidden fruit of sin. Not once. As such, death had no legal right to hold Him. In doing so, Satan transgressed the boundary of death established by God. When Satan did that, he lost by his transgression what he unjustly gained through Adam’s transgression — authority and dominion. At the cross, Christ’s righteousness overcame Satan’s wickedness. 

The cross, and Christ’s death on the cross, became the crowning achievement of mankind. Jesus, as the Son of Man, overcame Satan and Satan’s means of holding mankind in bondage, the fear of death. That was what Satan had used for thousands of years to hold mankind in bondage. Christ, through His act of obedience, His death on the cross, overcame what Satan had used to hold mankind in bondage to sin — the fear of death. Death, in Christ, has lost its hold on men and women. Through His death on the cross, Jesus delivered humanity from the wages of its sin — death. Instead, He gave us what we didn’t deserve — grace and mercy. 

Much of what I have just shared has been known by the Church for many years. What hasn’t been clearly understood is the full ramifications of what Jesus actually did. The Church has made it all spiritual. But Christ made no such limitation on the power of His work at the cross. We’ve made the cross a message about our salvation from the consequences of our own sin. And as a result, have lost the true message of what took place at the cross — Christ reclaimed what humanity lost. The gospel is about the proclamation of the Good News of what Christ has reclaimed from the Devil. Christ recovered it all. All, as in everything. 

In Revelation 1:18, New Heart English Bible, Jesus states, “I was dead, but look, I am alive forevermore. I have the keys of Death and of hell.” Those keys represent the authority He holds. What Adam lost, Christ reclaimed. And in that reclamation process, He recovered everything — what mankind had in Eden (paradise). What did mankind have in Eden? Unfettered access to God’s blessing: His provision, His protection, His power, His presence — all that God created in the earth…everything! The Apostle Paul knew that, for he said, “All things are yours”. 1Corinthians 3:21, NIV. 

What does that mean? It means what it says. All things are ours. How? By works? No, but through faith in what Christ did. What did Jesus say about those things? “[Y]our heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.” Matthew 6:32, NKJV. What things? “[A]ll these things the Gentiles seek”.  The Church, rather than recognizing what is needed, has denied its need for things. In that process, many within the Church have adopted, in whole or in part, the poverty mindset. What is the poverty mindset? Lack disguised as self denial. The doctrine of asceticism and Gnosticism rolled into a seamless error of keeping believers poor, broke, busted, and disgusted. And the false spirituality of an unhealthy focus on heaven.

Jesus died to bring heaven on earth. Jesus taught His Apostles to pray — “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:10 KJV.  That is our message — Jesus died to restore what Adam lost on earth not in heaven. Jesus’s victory was on earth not in heaven. Jesus won the battle on earth not in heaven. That’s where the war was and still is. Though Christ won at the cross, the gospel is proclaimed to enforce what Christ did at the cross. The cross, when it’s preached, is pure power. The gospel, when it’s preached, is raw, unadulterated power. That preaching and proclamation releases all that Christ did at the cross into the lives of men and women bound by sin and Satan. The result: Satan’s kingdom is overthrown. 

We invade hell on earth to bring heaven on earth. Growth, blessing, and prosperity are all meant to be experienced by the Church and believers on earth. Through the message of the cross, we reclaim what Adam lost — mankind’s soul — his heart, his mind, his will, his emotions, and yes, his pocketbook, purse, or wallet. We must recognize the reality revealed in scripture: God is establishing His kingdom on earth not in heaven. In fact, neither this current heaven or earth will remain; rather, a new heaven and new earth is coming. Everything that is will burn in a blaze of glory. The only thing that will remain is the new creation. “If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?” Matthew 6:30, NIV.

I think we need a clearer perspective, a God’s eye perspective of reality. That’s what Jesus offers us. Understand, your little becomes much in His hand. That’s how God operates — by and through abundance. Satan operates to cause lack. That’s who he is — the devourer, the thief, the destroyer. Please understand who God is — Jehovah Jireh. God’s your provider. His abundance is yours. His blessing is yours. His prosperity is yours. Yours. That’s what Christ did, died for, and reigns to see happen in the earth today. The missing element? Faith in what He did. We only have access to this through faith. That’s why the gospel and the preaching of the gospel is so important — the substance of faith is released into the hearts of people to believe to receive what He died to purchase at the cross — everything. 

Now, don’t forget that!

Let us pray! 

—Scott Wallis