Glimpses 10

Who Is He?

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G'day and welcome to Partake! We are now on day 10 of our series "Glimpses", looking at the story of the Bible in 30 days, from the time of creation through to the time of the fullness of redemption! We have looked together at the 8 Covenants in the Old Testament of the Bible, made between God and humanity. Now we fast forward to the time of the Gospels and the start of the New Testament. After the last of the Old Testament prophets spoke, Malachi around 444BC, there was a silence from God for about 400 years.  

During that time quite a few people came claiming to be the Messiah or saviour that Israel was waiting for and had been promised in the covenants we looked at.  They proved to be false messiahs because they could not back up their claims. Israel as a country is now occupied by the Romans. While some people of Israel were in the country, a lot were dispersed throughout the vast Roman Empire.  Into this world was a man of such significance that He splits history into two: BC and AD.  This man we know as Jesus Christ and He claimed to be the long waited for Messiah. But how was he different from those messiahs before that proved to be false? Let's start by having a look in the stories about His life - the Gospels of the New Testament.

What the Gospels are!

How do we find out about this Jesus? There are a number of sources outside of the Bible that make reference to this man. However, in the Bible and its section called the New Testament, we have four accounts of His life. They are Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. These are called Gospels, and they are called that because they gave substance to the Good News of God has promised in the New Covenant! We know that Jesus Christ during his time on earth wrote nothing, yet the stories about him were preserved and passed on by his followers. For the first thirty years or so, these stories were collated and stored together. That would explain the similarity in the four accounts of Jesus' life. They are not an exhaustive biographical detail of all that Jesus did. Similarly they are also not diaries reflecting a daily account of Jesus' life. Rather they are selective accounts of His life, and were probably factual illustrations used by His disciples when preaching about Him. Therefore they would represent the theology of the disciples, as each story about Jesus is told. That is why they are trustworthy accounts as well as rooting Jesus' life in first century Judaism and the Greco-Roman world.

Overview of the Gospels

The first three of our Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke are what are called the synoptic Gospels. This is based on their great similarity and possibly use of a common source. Mark is probably the first Gospel as it is shorter in length than Matthew or Luke and it would appear that Matthew and Luke used Mark as a guide and elaborated where required. Mark wrote none of the great discourses of Matthew (Mark 13 being the exception), such as the Sermon on the Mount, nor does Mark show the great parables that Luke recorded, such as the Good Samaritan. Surely if Mark had used either the accounts of Matthew or Luke, he would have used those two examples! Matthew is closer in similarity to Mark than Luke. Luke does share large portions of Mark and quite often verbatim, and with a greater use of the Greek language. John on the other hand, while still telling about Jesus' ministry, has vastly different story content. Whereas in the synoptic Gospels Jesus talks about the Kingdom of God frequently, in the Gospel of John, Jesus talks about himself much more often, as in the seven I AM statements. For this reason, John was probably written later than the synoptic Gospels.

The Gospels

Lets look very briefly now what each Gospel offers about the life of Jesus Christ. As we do so, think through how the covenants promising a messiah or saviour match up with Jesus Christ. Matthew: Matthew wrote primarily to Jews who knew the Old Testament. He wrote to present Jesus as the Messiah to Israel and to record Israel's attitude towards Him as Messiah. Matthew gives us the genealogy, presentation, and the authentification of Jesus as the Christ Messiah. Matthew then shows the nation of Israel's opposition to and rejection of Jesus as the Christ followed by Jesus' rejection of Israel due to her unbelief. He then records the death and resurrection of Christ. He concludes with Christ commissioning the disciples. Mark: Mark presents Jesus as Servant of the Lord, coming in fulfilment of the Old Testament.  Jesus offers His credentials, gathers His disciples, offers the Kingdom of God and its message. Jesus' teaching is seen in short parables, which hide the truth from those hardened against Him, yet prepares and instructs those responsive to Him. Overall Jesus calls those who follow him to serve others and to deny themselves by taking up their own cross, just as He took up His. Luke: Luke presents Jesus as the God-Man, as a saviour for the entire world, writing primarily to Gentiles. He does this from a broad vantage point that is compatible with the fact that he is a Greek. Luke traces the incarnation, Christ's introduction, ministry, rejection, subsequent teaching in view of His rejection, the cross, resurrection and ascension. Even though a Gentile, Luke emphasizes the kingdom program with Israel's place in the kingdom. John: John presents the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ so that mankind would believe in Him as the Son of God, Messiah, Saviour of the world. His selective argument portrays Christ as the God-Man. John records miracles and messages that affirm the deity and humanity of Christ. John builds his record around the public ministry of Christ, the private ministry, the cross, and the resurrection. As we go into the life of Jesus Christ, bear in mind what glimpses the Old Testament offered about a saviour or messiah figure.  Think through the 8 Covenants we looked at and how they looked forward to that figure portrayed as a saviour or Messiah. As you do so, think just how Jesus Christ was that person!

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