It is written of Him: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning” (John 1:1). As “God with us,” Jesus became the full revelation of God expressed fully in human form, losing none of His divine characteristics. In the words of Scripture:
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth”
.
John 1:14
The heart of The Alliance is the Fourfold Gospel, which focuses on Jesus as Savior, Sanctifier, Healer, and Coming King.
Jesus Our Savior
The Scriptures tell us, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved” (Luke 19:10; Acts 16:31). Because Jesus is our Savior, we have been justified or made righteous in God’s eyes. We are forgiven (Acts 2:38), our guilt is gone (Romans 8:1), and we have peace with God (Romans 5:1). We also have eternal life—an inheritance that can never fade (John 3:16; 1 Peter 1:4). When we receive Jesus as our Savior, we become “new creations” (2 Corinthians 5:17), and nothing can separate us from His love (Romans 8:38-39). That truth, that promise, is at the core of who we are as The Alliance.
As our Savior, Jesus is not just one of many paths to God; He is the only way to know the Father and to experience eternal life. We read in Acts 4:12 that “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
Jesus Our Sanctifier
Jesus also is our Sanctifier. According to John 1:29-33, Jesus is the one who takes away the sin of the world and who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. Through Christ’s death on the cross, He not only delivers us from the penalty of sin but also from the power of sin. Therefore, we have freedom from death as well as freedom to live for Him. Jesus tells us in John 15 that He is the Vine and we are the branches. Because of our relationship with Him, we will “bear much fruit…and our joy will be complete.” This happens only through the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us; we can’t make ourselves holy any more than we can make ourselves saved. The Holy Spirit is given by the Father so that Christ will be glorified in the believer: “When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth…. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you” (John 16: 13,14).
The steps to a Spirit-filled life include surrendering fully to Christ (Rom. 6:11; Rom. 12:1-2), accepting Him as our Sanctifier (Col. 2:6; Gal. 2:20), and maintaining a continuous relationship with Him by abiding in Him and obeying His Word (John 15:1-11). This opens the way for God to equip the believer with power to serve Him effectively, leading others to Jesus.
Jesus Our Healer
Our founder, A. B. Simpson, knew from experience that Jesus is our Healer. Jesus’ wonderful, compassionate willingness to reach out and touch people’s physical needs demonstrates that salvation is not just future tense but present tense. Salvation starts now. Jesus heals in this life, in this moment, in anticipation of something much more complete as eternity rolls on. Disease is a result of a fallen world and therefore can be overcome only through Christ’s victory over sin by His death on the cross: “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). In the gospel accounts, Christ’s power to heal proved that He had invaded Satan’s territory, shackled him, and snatched from his grip those who were trapped by sin and its consequences.
Healings did not end with Jesus. He told his disciples they would do greater things than He did (John 14:12). The power to heal in Jesus’ Name was passed on to His followers. The first recorded miracle after Pentecost was the healing of a paralytic by Peter, when he said, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk” (Acts 3:6). Christ continues to heal the sick because He is the same “yesterday, today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).
The power to heal comes from Jesus, and the purpose is to bring Him glory. It is not to meet our needs, to make us feel better, or relieve us of pain—though those are nice side benefits. When the disciples with Jesus encountered a blind man, one of them asked, “Who sinned—the man or his parents?” Jesus explained that neither the man nor his parents had sinned but “this had happened so that the work of God would be displayed in his life” (John 9). Healing is all about glorifying Jesus. It’s not about us—it’s all about Him!
Divine healing is a blessing not to be taken for granted or automatically assumed. Like all other aspects of Christ’s perfect salvation, it is a mystery wrapped in the loving ways of a wise and good God, whose thoughts are as high above ours as the heavens are higher than the earth. Jesus performed many signs and wonders during His earthly ministry, but the greatest miracle He does is in the hearts of those who have been transformed through a relationship with Him. Jesus longs to see us restored—physically, emotionally, and spiritually. At times, our prayers for healing may not be answered exactly the way we expect. In those instances, Jesus often gives us deeper understanding into His character and person—all to His glory and praise.
Jesus Our Coming King
The final pillar of the Fourfold Gospel is “Jesus Christ, Our Coming King.” That expression captures the same passion exemplified by the apostles and millions of other devoted followers of our Lord throughout the centuries. It is, to use the words of the Apostle Paul, “our blessed hope.”
Belief in the Second Coming of Christ is rooted in the experience of Jesus’ followers who, a few days before Pentecost, gathered on a mountain to listen to the last teaching of the resurrected Christ. He commissioned them to be His “witnesses” to the entire world, and then, as they watched breathlessly, He ascended into heaven. While they stood gazing at the sky, two angels appeared and delivered this message: “This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way that you have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11b).
Christ is now seated at the right hand of the Father, waiting for that moment in time when He will come again. When will that happen? No one knows the day or the hour, but because Christ is coming, we need to be ready—living lives that are pure, steadfast, prayerful, holy, and reverent. We also need to finish the task He has given us: “This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14).
Taken from the writings of John Soper, former vice president for Church Ministries of the C&MA.
