THE FOUR GOSPELS OF JESUS CHRIST

The first four books in the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are called the Four Gospels of Jesus Christ.  In the portrait of Jesus Christ there are two simple questions:  Who is Jesus and why is He the good news?  There is only one Jesus.  Only one gospel.  However in God's providence, He gave us four gospels, each proclaiming who Jesus is and why He is "good news."  This is shared from the four perspectives of Evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.  Each Evangelist paints a unique portrait of Jesus, influenced by their own interests and audiences and by the Holy Spirit who directs them.  

Matthew portrays Jesus as king and Messiah, Mark presents Him as a suffering servant, and Luke shows Jesus as compassionate Son of Man.  Finally John reveals Jesus as the divine Son of God.  Matthew focuses on what Jesus said, Mark on what he did, Luke on how He felt, and John on who He was.  We need to examine and appreciate each portrait of Jesus so that we might know Him, follow Him, and share the good news about Him better.  Luke is the longest of the four gospels and offers the most comprehensive account of Jesus' life.  Luke writes to Theophilus, that he might know the certainty of those things in which he was instructed. (Luke 1:3,4.)

In chapter 19 of John, after Jesus died on the cross, Joseph of  Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus went secretly because of his fear of the Jews, to Pilate to ask for the body of Jesus.  Jesus gave up the ghost and said it is finished at about 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon.  Pilate gave him leave to take the body down from the cross and take it away.  According to Jewish law, a dead body had to be taken down before sunset.  When reading other accounts, I never realized Joseph had someone to help him with the body of Jesus.  Nicodemus, which earlier came to Jesus by night and believed, was with Joseph and he brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pounds (shekel) with him.  The two disciples took Jesus' body, wound it in linen clothes and spices, the way the Jews prepare a body for burial.  There was a garden near by, with a new sepulcher, which no man had lain (in other parts of the bible, it is said to be the sepulcher of Joseph's hued by Joseph) and they laid Jesus' body in  the sepulcher.  

It is early before dawn, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene arrived at the sepulcher to anoint Jesus' body.  On Friday before the Sabbath, Mary Magdalene and two other women prepared spices to anoint Jesus' body for burial.  They had to prepare the spices before sundown or they would be breaking the law of the weekly Sabbath.  So they didn't go to the sepulcher until after the Sabbath was over, early before dawn on the first day of the week.  John 20:1- The first day of the week, comes Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulcher and seeing the stone rolled away from the opening, she ran crying to Simon Peter and John, the other disciple with him whom Jesus loved the best, and said to them, they have taken away the Lord out of the sepulcher and we know not where they have laid him.  She then ran back to the sepulcher and looked in but did not see Jesus' body, for Jesus had already risen and came out of the grave.  Peter and John followed Mary Magdalene back to the sepulcher, John out ran Peter and came first, but did not look in.  Following him, Simon Peter looked into the sepulcher and saw the linen clothes, but did not see a body.  He saw the napkin, that was about Jesus' head, not laying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.  Next John looked in and saw the body gone, but saw the linen clothes Jesus was wrapped in, and he believed.  

Jesus had told the 12 and those that followed him that he would be crucified and die.  He would be in the tomb three days and three nights, before coming out of the tomb alive.  When Mary Magdalene went back to the sepulcher she stood at the door weeping, looking down she saw two angels in white sitting one at the head and one at the feet, where Jesus' body had lain.  The two angels said to her, Woman, why are you weeping?  Mary Magdalene said, because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.  She then turned back and saw Jesus, but she didn't know it was him. Jesus asked her why she was weeping, who are you seeking?  Mary thought Jesus was the gardener and said, Sir, if you have bourn him from the sepulcher, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.  Jesus said to her, Mary?  She turned to him and said, Rabboni (Greek), which is to say Master?  Jesus told her not to touch him because he hadn't yet ascended back unto his Father.  In another book Jesus told her to go to his disciples and tell them that he had risen, he was alive.  So she came to the disciples and said she had seen the Lord and that he had spoken to her. 

Christ came out of the sepulcher late on the Sabbath (Saturday) before sundown, so it wasn't early the first day of the week he was risen.  When the women got there early before dawn on Sunday, they found the sepulcher empty.  In scripture with a thorough study, you will find Jesus was put on the cross about 9:00 a.m.  He said it is finished and gave up the ghost about 3:00 p.m.  It would have been around 6:00 p.m. when his body was taken down off the cross.  This happened in the midst of the week, which would be Wednesday.  Jesus told his disciples, he would suffer many things.  He would be arrested for blasphemy, sentenced to die and put on a cross until death.  He also told them he would be in the heart of the earth 3 days and 3 nights.  You cannot get three full days and three full nights from Friday to Sunday.  He said he would be like Jonah who was  in the whale's belly three days and three nights.  Remember the days at that time started at sundown on say Friday until sundown on Saturday.  That is one day, 24 hours.  The cycle of the days and time has never changed.  Man, chose to change the day a 24 hour period starting at midnight to midnight.   I have heard some say it doesn't matter if it wasn't a full 3 days and 3 nights.  I disagree.  I believe it is very important.  Jesus told his disciples what would happed to him, he would be arrested, accused, judged and put on the cross to die.  He also told them he would be 3 days and 3 nights in the heart of the earth.  God does not lie and neither does Jesus.  You can be assured the Word of God is true and never changes.  All that was told to the people would happen, did.  

God did not command us to observe Jesus' birth nor his resurrection. I believe that is why the Word doesn't give the actual date and time of his birth.  You can calculate his birth for the time of the year, by the birth of John the Baptist.  John the Baptist and Jesus were born in the fall season of the year, not winter.  No where in scripture will you find a celebration of Jesus' birth.  It wasn't until about 300 years after his birth the celebration came about.  Man made.  

Thanks for reading, please if you have questions or comments, leave a post.  

*Starlight*




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