Chapter 15: The Good News: The Four Gospels
The Good News
The Four Gospels
The word gospel means “good news” and refers to the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Savior of the world. The four writers give us accurate and enriching accounts of the Master: what He said and what He did for us. As you study, you will find a “harmony of the gospels” to be very helpful. There is no greater message than what these four books contain.
The Gospel of Matthew
When the Holy Spirit took hold of Matthew the apostle, He led him to write a New Testament Pentateuch—the first seven chapters of his gospel. He built a bridge between the Old Testament and the New Testament to make it easier for his Jewish readers to transition from Malachi to Matthew: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ,” began Matthew verse 1. The word translated “genealogy” or “generation” is the Greek word genesis, which gives us, naturally enough, the English word genesis. Matthew 1 is the Genesis chapter of his gospel record. It is a genealogy of our Lord, starting with Abraham, the founder of the Jewish nation, and ending with Jesus Christ. These people are “living links” between the fall of Adam and the birth of our Savior.
In my early days as a believer, I usually skipped over the genealogies when I read the Bible; but I soon learned to appreciate them. It was very important that each Israelite be able to prove his or her lineage. If they didn’t, they could not share in the material and spiritual privileges of the Jewish people (Ezra 2:59–63). The Bible contains at least twenty-four principal genealogies, the last two being of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. His biological line through Mary is in Luke 3:23–34, and the legal line through Joseph, his foster father, is Matthew 1:1–17.
Chapter 2 is the Exodus chapter of Matthew: “Out of Egypt I called My Son” (v. 15). King Herod wanted to kill Jesus, so the Lord directed Joseph to take the child and His mother to Egypt, thus fulfilling the prophecy in Hosea 11:1. No doubt, the generous gifts that the magi had given to them covered their expenses (Matt. 2:11). Just as the nation of Israel went to Egypt for protection when Joseph was second ruler in the land, so the holy family found protection in Egypt until it was time to return to the land of Israel.
In Matthew 3, John the Baptist introduces the Leviticus chapter, for though he is remembered primarily as a prophet, he was born into a priestly home (Luke 1). He identified the Messiah to the nation of Israel and exhorted the people to believe in Him and follow Him (John 1:19–34). John’s baptism superseded the ceremonial washings of the Jews and prepared the way for their faith in Jesus. John the Baptist did not fret when Jesus’ disciples baptized more people than he did (John 4:1–2) for he had announced, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:22–26, and especially v. 30). The Jewish religious leaders were very jealous over their God-ordained religion and were suspicious of anybody who proclaimed any other message.
The Numbers chapter of Matthew is chapter 4, where we find Jesus in the wilderness facing temptation by Satan. While marching toward their Promised Land, the people of Israel were in a wilderness, being tested by the Lord. They had the opportunity to enter Canaan but did not believe the Lord would keep His promises and give them victory over the enemy. “Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” they said (Num. 14:3). They rebelled against Moses and Aaron, fell into the trap laid by Balak and Baalam, and rebelled against the Lord. “But they sinned … against Him by rebelling against the Most High in the wilderness. And they tested God in their heart …” (Ps. 78:17–18). God was testing them, seeking to build their faith, and they were complaining and rebelling. Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, but He defeated Satan by quoting and obeying verses from Deuteronomy. Satan tempts us to bring out the worst in us, but the Lord tests us to bring out the best in us.
Matthew 5 through 7, called the Sermon on the Mount, comprises the fifth part—the Deuteronomy section—of our Pentateuch, another version of God’s righteous law. God’s holiness never changes, nor is it compromised, but the expression of that holiness may be altered. All of the Ten Commandments are repeated in the New Testament to apply to the church except the Sabbath Day commandment. The first day of the week—resurrection day, not the seventh—was the day the New Testament worshippers used. Paul wrote to God’s people, “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths” (Col. 2:16). The emphasis in the Sermon on the Mount is on personal righteousness from within that honors the Lord as opposed to artificial “religious self-righteousness” just to win the applause of other people (Matt. 5:17–20).
The Gospel of Mark
His full name was John Mark. His mother, Mary, was a leading Christian in Jerusalem, and she opened her home to the believers (Acts 12:12). Mark was a cousin of Barnabas (Col. 4:10) and started out with Barnabas and Paul on their first missionary journey. But when the team arrived at Perga, Mark left them and returned home to Jerusalem (Acts 13:1–13). When Paul and Barnabas set out on their second missionary journey, Barnabas wanted to give his cousin another opportunity, but Paul protested. Paul questioned, “What can he do for the work?” while Barnabas asked, “What can the work do for him?” Both are important. The team split, with Paul leaving with Silas and Barnabas going with Mark (15:36–41).
Years later, Paul mended his damaged relationship with Mark, and they worked together again (2 Tim. 4:11). It was the apostle Peter who redeemed Mark and put him back into ministry (1 Pet. 5:13). Both 1 Peter 5:13 and 2 Timothy 4:11 indicate that Peter and John Mark were in Rome at the same time. What young Timothy was to Paul, John Mark was to Peter, and Peter called him “my son” (1 Pet. 5:13). Both Peter and Mark had failed the Lord—Peter by denying Him three times and Mark by abandoning his assigned ministry—so it would have been easy for them to bond.
Peter, led by the Spirit, gave John Mark the material found in his gospel. Note that Mark uses the name “Jesus” eighty-six times and “Christ” only seven times. Matthew wrote about Jesus the King and had Jewish readers in mind while Luke, which we shall explore next, wrote for Greek readers about the perfect and compassionate Son of Man. The theme of Mark’s gospel is “Jesus the Servant of the Lord.” There is no genealogy, for who cares where a servant came from? Mark wrote for the Gentiles, and you find him explaining Aramaic words and Jewish practices (3:17; 5:41; 7:11, 34; 14:36; 15:22, 34). The words they repeated in this book show that Peter and Mark understood the Gentile mind: immediately appears forty-one times and amazed nine times. Mark emphasizes Christ the teacher (thirty-nine references) as well as Christ the Servant of God and God’s people. Mark makes it clear that Jesus is the Son of God, but he also portrays Jesus in His humanity (3:5; 6:6, 31; 7:34; 8:12; 10:14; 11:12). He uses action, details, and descriptions, the kind of writing that would appeal to his Gentile readers.
Consider what it meant to John Mark to have Peter mentor him. (Paul was mentoring Timothy.) When I look back on my own life, I give thanks for the “veterans” who prayed for me and gave me counsel. I determined to follow their example if ever the opportunities came, and it has been a great joy seeing the young men and women I mentored serving the Lord today. There is a desperate need today for the experienced servants of the Lord to make themselves available to the men and women who are just beginning their ministries and need occasional enlightenment and encouragement—especially encouragement. As you read the four gospels, note how Jesus mentored the men He had chosen.
Mark’s focus on Christ as the Servant provides a model for us. All of God’s people today should be servants of the Lord and of others (Eph. 6:6). The apostle Paul saw himself as a servant and not a celebrity (Rom. 1:1; 1 Cor. 4:1; Phil. 1:1). When I was teaching seminary students, I made it clear that pastors were servants of God and of their people and not the “bosses” of their congregations. A quotation from Andrew Murray on my study desk reminds me of this: “There is nothing so divine and heavenly as being the servant of all.”
If the apostle Peter were available today to speak to us about Jesus’ life and ministry, we would consider ourselves privileged people. Well, we have that privilege when we read and study the gospel of Mark.
The Gospel of Luke
Look carefully at the world of nature around you and the people inhabiting it, and you will soon conclude that our great God believes in variety. Read your Bible carefully, and you will come to the same conclusion. Take the writers of the four gospels: Matthew was a tax collector, Mark was a young Jewish believer, John was a fisherman, and Luke was a medical doctor. Luke was also the only Gentile writer of Scripture. Notice that the word they in Acts 16:6 changes to we in 16:10. Why? Because the author of Acts (who also wrote the gospel of Luke) had joined the group. (Watch for us and we in Acts 16:10–18; 20:5—21:18; and Col. 4:14.) Finally, read Acts 27:1—28:16 and Philemon 24. Luke was Paul’s beloved friend and traveling companion as well as his helper in the ministry. I’m tempted at this point to get into a discussion about “Paul the friend” and the many people he named in his letters, but that would take us unnecessarily far afield. All I will say is that he took time to make friends, pray for them, love them, and greet them in his letters. In Colossians 4:14, Paul called Luke the “beloved physician.” He was undoubtedly speaking for the whole church.
Now let’s move from Luke’s history of the early church to his account of the life of Jesus Christ the Messiah and the Savior of the world. Most Bible students select Luke 19:10 as the key verse in the book: “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Matthew exalted the King, Mark the busy Servant, and John the Son of God, but Luke the physician wrote about the compassionate Son of Man who ministered to others and brought them eternal life. Luke tells us in the first four verses of his gospel that he carefully investigated the information available about the life, works, and words of Jesus and, led by the Holy Spirit, wrote his book.
The gospel of Luke tells us that words like must and should were often on our Lord’s lips, for He was a servant of God who had come to seek and save the lost. I have found at least eighteen “compulsive statements,” starting with the words of Jesus at twelve years of age—“Did you not know I must be about My Father’s business?” (Luke 2:49). Open your concordance and trace must or had to in Luke (depending on the translation you use) and discover the compulsive motivation of the Servant of the Lord.
Luke was a physician, so we can expect him to record our Lord’s healing of the sick and afflicted. See 4:18, 23; 5:17–26; 6:17–34; and 8:40–56. Read the three accounts of the healing of the woman with the issue of blood (Matt. 9:18–22; Mark 5:21–34; Luke 8:41–48) and see how the three writers differed in their description of the woman’s experience with her doctors. Luke, especially, described our Lord’s ministry to women, including widows.
He also emphasized prayer. Jesus prayed when He was baptized (3:21), and He prayed all night before He chose His disciples (6:12). He prayed alone (5:16; 9:18), but He prayed with the disciples as well (9:28–29; 22:40–44). Finally, He prayed while on the cross (23:46). Luke’s gospel contains numerous mentions of prayer in a general sense, including 5:16; 6:12, 28; 9:28; 11:1–4; 18:1–14; 21:36; 22:40–46; and 23:34, 46.
Since the Lord Jesus came to seek and save the lost, salvation is an important theme (6:9; 7:50; 8:12, 36, 48, 50; 9:24; 13:23; 17:19; 18:26, 42). Note in the hymn by Zacharias that salvation is pictured as the opening of prison doors and the granting of freedom through redemption (1:68), the cancellation of a debt through the remission of sins (vv. 76–77), and the dawning of a new day (vv. 78–79).
Jesus came to earth to serve, and He obeyed His father perfectly. “I have glorified You on the earth,” He said to His Father. “I have finished the work which You have given Me to do” (John 17:4). I hope all of us can say that to the Lord when we get to heaven, for we who have trusted Christ are also here to serve. Paul called himself “a bondservant of Jesus Christ” (Rom. 1:1), but all believers are to be His servants, using our spiritual gifts for the glory of God and the good of others. In this way we can emulate Jesus as the compassionate Son of Man. What we all want to hear Him say is, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matt. 25:23).
The Gospel of John
Whenever unbelievers ask me, “Where should I start reading the Bible?” I usually suggest they begin with the gospel of John. This book’s purpose is to prove to readers that Jesus is the Son of God and to declare that faith in Jesus will save them. Those who put their trust in Him are born again and become the children of God (20:30–31). The word life is used thirty-six times in John’s gospel. There are many “overviews” of the gospel of John. Some students outhne the book with an emphasis on our Lord’s miracles or the “I AM” statements He made. My overview focuses on three crises of our Savior:
If you compare those three main points with John 14:6, you find an interesting parallel. Jesus is the way, but they would not walk with Him. Jesus is the truth, but they would not believe in Him. Jesus is the life, but they crucified Him. Yet He arose from the dead!
Another characteristic of the gospel of John is attention to people’s spiritual blindness. When Jesus spoke in figurative language, His listeners took Him literally. Here are several examples of such moments:
In the first chapter of John’s gospel you find several names for our Lord Jesus Christ: The Word (v. 1), the true Light (v. 7; see 8:12), the only begotten Son (v. 18), the Lamb of God (v. 29), the Son of God (vv. 34, 49), the Messiah (v. 41), the King of Israel (v. 49), and the Son of Man (v. 51). The emphasis in this gospel is that Jesus is the Son of God (20:30–31; 1:34, 49; 3:18; 5:25; 9:35; 10:36; 11:4; 19:7). Besides John (20:31), the witnesses in this gospel that Jesus is the Son of God are John the Baptist (1:34), Nathanael (1:49), Peter (6:69), the healed blind man (9:35), Martha (11:27), Thomas (20:28), and Jesus Himself (5:25; 10:36).
John often mentioned what Jesus had in His hands: a whip (2:15), loaves of bread (6:11), mud (9:1–7), a towel (13:4), and wounds (20:24–29; see Ps. 22:16). The apostle John included in his gospel Jesus’ words to His disciples in the upper room (chs. 13—16) and our Lord’s prayer to the Father (ch. 17), all of which are saturated with spiritual truth. He also provided facts about Judas, the traitor (6:66–71; 12:1–8; 13:2, 26, 29–30; 14:22; 18:1–5).
He also emphasized people who believed on Jesus: Nathanael (1:50), the disciples (2:11), the Samaritan woman and her friends (4:39), the nobleman (4:50–53), the blind beggar (9:38), Martha (11:27), and Thomas (20:28). One reason John wrote his gospel was so lost sinners might believe in Jesus and be saved (20:31).
The final chapter of John’s gospel, chapter 21, gives us four pictures of the Christian life. We are “fishers of men” (vv. 1–11), but our toil is in vain unless we obey the Master (vv. 1–8). We are shepherds caring for the sheep (vv. 15–19), we are disciples following the Lord (vv. 18–23), and we are witnesses declaring the way of salvation (vv. 24–25).
John tells us much about Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus. We are first introduced to her and Martha in Luke 10:38–42 where Mary gave Jesus her attention as she listened to the Word. In John 11:28–33 she gave Him her affliction as she shared her sorrow over her brother’s death, and in John 12:1–8, she shared her affection as she anointed the feet of Jesus with the precious ointment and wiped it with her hair. Little did Mary know that the accounts of her ministry would be written down in the Scriptures and shared with countless people around the world!
ADVENTURE ASSIGNMENT #15
Choose one of the gospels, read it carefully, and make a list of the individual people mentioned in it—the people who came to Jesus. Why did they come? Did Jesus minister to them all the same way? Did He help them all? Did any reject Him? Make a separate list of the people who opposed Him and how He responded.