What is the Gospel story? Many people believe that the Gospel story is the story of Jesus coming to earth to show us the way to get to Heaven. A once popular worship chorus put it this way:
“You came from heaven to earth to show the way...from the cross to the grave, from the grave to the sky...”
This is not the Gospel story. God didn’t create a good world only to make His main object to show people how to escape it!
The Apostle Paul sums up the end goal of the Gospel this way:
“For He (God) has made known to us his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan...to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth.” Ephesians 1:9-10
The plan is to reconcile the creation with the creator. This is why the Gospel is good news for the whole person and the whole planet. All things can be reconciled to God.