John 11:25-26 English Standard Version

²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, ²⁶ and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

In order to understand this is the oath that was given to justify mankind we must understand the plan and the process spoken to us by God the Father.

The first is that an oath is only as good as the ability of the oath giver to keep the promises of that oath. Considering the enormity of this oath to save us from death, the oath giver has to be God. Therefor one must believe that Jesus Christ is God, or at least the Son of God, One part of the Trinity of God. So things are not as simple as “it’s the good news”.

Secondly it is how we believe that matters.

Romans 10:9-10 English Standard Version

⁹ because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

We are justified if we believe with our hearts. That is not head knowledge, we cannot reason ourselves to believing Christ. We must take it to heart.

Thirdly and this point is also made in Romans 10:9 we have to confess Jesus Christ to be the Lord of our lives. God does not just wrangle us out of the heard, we must surrender to His Lordship and walk out of this life and into the next under our own power.

The does not mean we save ourselves. Justification and salvation are two different things.

See, it is never just as easy as saying it is the good news.

Galatians 2:21 English Standard Version (ESV) I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness^{[jusification]} were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

Let us skip over the fact that no one has ever been able to keep all the law and that sin is still present in mankind. Knowing that does not explain the purpose of the law. Here in Galatians 2:21 we find the purpose of the law.

If man could keep the law perfectly he was justified to stand before the living God. That we might call a right standing or righteousness. Since this verse ties directly into the death of Christ then it is reasonable to assume that His death changed the demands of the law for righteousness sake.

Righteousness or a right standing before God is no longer associated with keeping the law. Now that is good news. It is not all the good news because it is a little more complicated than saying I no longer have to keep the law.

What was it about Christ’s death that made this the game changer?

Hebrews 7:26-28 English Standard Version

²⁶ For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. ²⁷ He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. ²⁸ For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.

The word of the oath came after the law and replaced the law as a means of justification before God.

As we said before, the good news is more complicated than God speaking to us. Now we have to find this oath that replaced the law and what that means to us.