The gospel did not begin in the New Testament. It began in a garden, unfolded through four thousand years of covenant, and arrived in history as the fulfillment of every promise Yahweh ever made.
The Good News of the Messiah traces that story from its roots to its consummation - from the first whisper of redemption after the fall of humanity, through the covenants with Abraham, Moses, and David, through the voices of the prophets who saw across centuries what most could not see across a lifetime, and into its astonishing fulfillment in Yahshua of Nazareth, Jesus the Messiah. This is not theology imposed on Scripture. It is the story Scripture was always telling.
Written for readers of every background and every nation - Jewish readers for whom the God of Israel is the God of your fathers, Gentile readers encountering these Hebrew roots for the first time, and seekers approaching the gospel with honest questions - this book presents the Good News as the Hebrew Scriptures themselves present it: not as a replacement of what came before, but as the answer to every question the covenant had been raising for millennia.
Organized in thirteen chapters, The Good News of the Messiah follows the full arc of biblical revelation: the character of Yahweh, the Messianic promises in the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings, the Incarnation, the identity and ministry of Jesus, the Kingdom of God, the Cross, the Resurrection, the Ascension, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the Return of Christ, and the eternal life that the Father offers - beginning now, consummated at the resurrection - to all who receive His Son.
Throughout, the theological framework is anchored in the covenant God of the Tanakh. Every act of grace originates in the Father, the sole source of every good gift, and reaches the world through the Son and by the Spirit. This is the gospel in its full Trinitarian depth - and in its full Jewish roots.
If you have ever wondered why the New Testament makes so many appeals to the Hebrew Scriptures, or whether the God of Abraham and the God of the gospel are truly one and the same, this book was written for you. The Gospel of the Messiah: To All Nations has been promised. It has been fulfilled. And it is offered, freely and finally, to every reader who opens these pages.
Hegumen Abraam Sleman is a Coptic Orthodox priest, theologian, and author whose ministry spans biblical scholarship, pastoral care, and cross-cultural evangelism. He writes and teaches at the intersection of Hebrew covenant theology and gospel proclamation, with a particular heart for Jewish and Gentile readers alike. He can be reached at FrSleman@CopticChurch.net and at www.frsleman.org.
