After about 400 years of no direct word from God, THE WORD --
(logos: thought, reasoning,
communication, expression) – of God, Who had been with God and existed as God from
eternity past (John 1:1-4) actually entered the world as a living human baby. The
Old Testament had been written as a foundation of the truth He would reveal.
The Pentateuch established His standards, the History prepared His people, the
Poetry sang of His perfection, and the Prophets foretold details of His first
advent and His second advent. He came as a human baby, born of a young virgin;
therefore He was born with no Old Sin Nature. He came as the perfect Lamb of
God to fulfill the whole plan of God, just as it had been proclaimed throughout
the Old Testament. The Old Testament believers knew about the Redeemer Who
would come and set all things in order, beginning with the hearts of the people
He came to save. What they did not know about was the New Creation He would
build “upon this rock” – His Church. Matthew
16:16-18 “Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood
has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you,
you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it.” “This
rock” is “the Christ, the Son of the
living God” and not Peter himself. Only those who believe in Jesus
Christ are Church, and all those who believe in Jesus Christ are Church.
That is the Gospel message. Gospel means good news.
Declaration of glad tidings. The good news is our Redeemer has come. He
purchased our salvation. He is building His Church upon the rock of faith in
His finished work of grace. More good news: He is coming back again to receive
us unto Himself. The gospel is the good news about the eternal salvation we
have through God’s uniquely born Son, Jesus Christ. We cannot do anything to
earn this salvation. He has done it all. We can simply receive.
I don’t need to coach any Bible student how to memorize the
titles of the 4 Gospels. I think most humans know those names, in their
published order: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. What we do need to familiarize
ourselves about are the perspectives the four writers of these books reveal
about the Son of God, and how they reflect His character as it was shown by
writers from much earlier times.
Matthew
had been a tax collector before he left everything and became a disciple of Jesus. His gospel was
written specifically for the religious Jews of Israel. He gives us Jesus’ royal
lineage as the King of the Jews. Then he presents the person, the preparation,
the public ministry, the program, the passion and the power of the King. In
Ezekiel’s vision (chapters 1-3), one of the faces of the living creatures was
that of a lion, representing kingship. J. Vernon McGee insists “you must know Matthew to understand the
Bible.”
Mark shows
Jesus as the Servant Son of God. The book is written for the Roman mind to
grasp. Its style is blunt and to the point. Rome ruled the world during the
time of the gospels, and maintained an enforced order over known civilization
by strong-man tactics. In this active gospel narrative, Jesus is presented as
the Servant of God. Ezekiel’s living creatures had a face like that strong
service animal, the ox.
Luke the Gentile
physician presents Jesus as the Son of Man. There was a man’s face on
the living creatures, as our Lord must become true humanity to purchase our
salvation. The physical and scientific aspects of life were the focus of the
Greeks. Jesus is the representative man, the last Adam, who would be born free
from sin, live 33 sinless years in human flesh, die under the penalty of our
sins, be buried, be resurrected and ascend to the right hand of the Father. In
so doing, He bought us back; redeemed us from the slave market of sin and the
dominance of Satan. Luke, the scientist, performed a thorough examination of
the facts regarding Jesus’ humanity and found Him to be the perfect man. The most
detailed account of Gabriel’s announcement to the virgin Mary and the
circumstances of the birth of Jesus is in Luke’s gospel. Luke is the one who
gave us the story of the rich man and Lazarus, the parable of the Prodigal Son and many other parables we love to
learn and remember.
John wrote
a gospel of the eternal being; God in human flesh. Supreme Authority,
represented by the face of the eagle on the living creatures in Ezekiel’s
vision. This gospel is different from the first three in its style and in the
information given. It is written for the understanding of all mankind. John’s
teaching concerning the person and work of Christ is profound, philosophical
and beautiful. In John’s gospel we find the plain truth expressions from our
Lord that just take our breath away as we read and study them. As we read John,
it is clear that Jesus is presenting Himself as God, and as the only hope for
mankind. John wrote his gospel for a specific reason: John 20:31 “…these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his
name.”
4 writers. 4 declarations of good news. 4 types of culture
represented. 4 personal characteristics depicted. 4 ways to learn about and
reinforce our knowledge of the humanity of Jesus Christ, the only Savior.
God the Father made the perfect plan. God the Son did all
the work in executing that plan. God the Holy Spirit covered all the bases in
giving the world the good news about the perfect plan and the finished work.
Good News: God’s policy is Grace.
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