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FOUR GOSPELS
(Matthew, Mark, Luke, John)
(Brief Study on the New Testament Books)
(MBC - Wednesday PM, April 3, 2024
There are four gospel books. Each of these four books describes the life and ministry of Christ.
Why God give us four gospel books? is one gospel book is not enough?
If you have a cousin in some provincial region whom you have never met yet or seen since your childhood days, who just correspond with you only through postal letters, which would help you to get to know your cousin better, if your cousin sent you one picture or four pictures? _________________
I – CLEAR INFORMATION OF THE SON OF GOD FROM THE GOSPELS God has given us four portraits of Jesus Christ through the four books of the Gospel.
The four accounts of the gospel are: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
Although one Gospel is could be enough for us but four gospel is so much better for us. Even though we have never seen the Son of God, Lord Jesus Christ, but it is God’s desire for us to know more His Son, so He has given us four gospel books.
I Peter 1:8 “Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:”
The prayer of Jesus is that people may know God and Savior Jesus Christ
John 17:3 “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”
The prayer of Paul is to know more the Son, the power of Christ resurrection and the fellowship of Christ sufferings.
Philippians 3:10 “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;”
As we get to know Jesus Christ more and more, who else will we get to know? ________________
John 8:19 “Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also.”
John 14:7 “If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. “
As we look into the four pictures of these gospel books, we see Christ clearer and clearer, so whom else will we see?
John 14:9 “Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?”
The perfect portrait of God is Jesus Christ. We have to look to the Son of God if we want to know what God the Father is really like.
Colossians 1:15 “Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:”
You can only see the Son of God as revealed in the Bible, but no one can see the invisible God.
Exodus 33:20 “And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.”
But the Lord speak to Moses’ face to face (Exodus 33:11); Man has not ever seen God but only see the Son (John 1:18).
Moses asks God to show him His glory (Exodus 33:18) but God responds in Exodus 33:19-23 “And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy. 20 And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. 21 And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: 22 And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: 23 And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.”
We hereby conclude that Moses never truly of fully saw God. Exodus 33:11 is saying that God and Moses spoke face to face, since God is spirit (John 4:24) and does not truly have a face, therefore it is simply saying that God and Moses had a close relationship. God and Moses were not literally face to face, but their relationship and communication was very much like two people who spoke to one another as close friends would.
While God can appear in human form if He wants to, He is, in His essence, not a physical being. People in the bible witnessed appearances of God (theophanies). No one, though, other than Jesus Christ (John 1:18) has seen God in all of His glory. Even the seraphim in heaven cover their eyes as they worship God (Isaiah 6:1-4).
Think of the pictures of Jesus Christ on the four books of the gospel. Would there be similarities of the pictures of Jesus Christ in each book of the gospel? Would there be some pictures of the Son of God that are common to all four gospel books? Would each picture of Jesus Christ show certain things that the other three gospel books did not show? Would each picture of Jesus Christ different from other pictures in some ways? Would it be possible to have three pictures very similar because the pictures were taken in the same room within a few minutes of each other, then the fourth picture was very different because it was taken in a different set of time when the person in the picture was out of the room and wearing different clothes and with different backgrounds? Maybe you would say that since the one picture is different from the other three pictures you would conclude it is possible that it was a different person. The same is true with the four gospel books. The book of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are similar to each other but are different from each other. The gospel of Matthew, Mark and Luke are very much alike in many ways although we can find differences on each other, while the gospel of John is very much different from the gospel of Matthew, Mark and Luke but with only few similarities. All of the four gospel needs to provide us an precise understanding about who Jesus is and What Jesus is like. II – COMPARISON OF THE FOUR BOOKS OF THE GOSPEL Some observation and comparison of these four gospels:
1. After you compare Matthew 24:32-36 to Mark 13:28-32, would you say they are same or different passages? ___________
Matthew 24:32-36 “Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: 33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. 34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. 35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. 36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.”
Mark 13:28-32 “Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near: 29 So ye in like manner, when ye shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh, even at the doors. 30 Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done. 31 Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away. 32 But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.”
2. After you compare Matthew 13:55 to Mark 6:3, give the difference of these two verses? __________________
Matthew 13:55 “Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?”
Mark 6:3 “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.”
In Matthew, the writer speaks of Jesus as the _________________ ‘s son
In Mark, the writer speaks of Jesus as the ____________________
Joseph was a carpenter ( ) yes ( ) no
Jesus was a carpenter ( ) yes ( ) no
Do you believe both Matthew 13:55 and Mark 6:3 are true? _________
3. After you compare Mark 6:38 to Matthew 15:34, did you find any difference, what is it? ___________________
Mark 6:38 “He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? go and see. And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes.”
Matthew 15:34 “And Jesus saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven, and a few little fishes.”
Who between Matthew and Mark did not have the correct counting? _________________
How can you solve this mathematics problem? _______________
Mark 8:19-20 “When I brake the five loaves among five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? They say unto him, Twelve. 20 And when the seven among four thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? And they said, Seven.” (same with Matthew 16:9=10)/
Matthew 16:9-10 “Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? 10 Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?” (same with Mark 8:19-20).
Mark 8:5 “And he asked them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven.” (same with Matthew 15:34)
Matthew 14:17 “And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes.” (same with Mark 6:38)
If we have incomplete facts, it would appear there was a problem, but in reality, there was no problem at all.
We see that what Mark and Matthew had written concerning how many loaves and how many fishes are the same in counting and numbers. What we learne
on this account is that it is very important for us to read and read more of the gospels.
4. After we compare Matthew 27:37; Mark 15:26; Luke 23:38; John 19:19, find out if these four verses are similar to each other? ______________ Then find out if there are any differences with these four verses? ______________
Matthew 27:37 “And set up over his head his accusation written, This Is Jesus The King Of The Jews.”
Mark 15:26 “And the superscription of his accusation was written over, The King Of The Jews.”
Luke 23:38 “And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, This Is The King Of The Jews.”
John 19:19 “And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was Jesus Of Nazareth The King Of The Jews.”
Do all the four verses from the four books of the gospel provided us the correct and true information of what was
written over the head of the crucified Christ? __________________
Do all the four verses from these four gospel books provided us complete meaning of what was written? _______
Read John 19:20 then give the reason regarding some differences with these four verses? ______________
John 19:20 “This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin.”
5. After we read of some of the accounts of these four gospels, we discovered that there were topics that are common to the four gospels but there were topics that were only recorded in one gospel book.
a. Certain topics common to the four Gospels:
1. Ministry of John the Baptist ministry is recorded in all four gospels
2. Baptism of Jesus can be found in all four gospels
3. Feeding of the five thousand is written in all four gospels
4. Peter’s denial of the Lord can be read in all four gospels
5. Arrest and trials of Jesus can be learned in all four gospels
6. Crucified of Jesus is discussed in all four gospels
7. Resurrection of Jesus was proven by the four gospels
b. Certain topics that were only written in one of the four Gospels:
1. No Gospel speaks of the flight of Joseph and Mary into Egypt only Matthew (Matthew 2:12-23)
2. No Gospel speaks of the blind man healing which was done in two stages only Mark (Mark 8:22-26)
3. No Gospel speaks of the parable of the lost son only Luke (Luke 15:11-32)
4. No Gospel speaks of the raising of Lazarus from the dead only John (John 11:1-45).
Note: We need to read and read these four gospel books, in order for us to get complete details about the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, because not all the account mentioned in one of the gospel books can be found in other gospel books, and not all the accounts mentioned in three gospel books are mentioned in one gospel book. These four gospel books tell us who Jesus is and what Jesus is like. We have privileged to know more and more our Savior Jesus Christ through these four gospel books. The more and more, we know our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the more we see and know the Father. Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God. We see Him and His glory in Jesus Christ who was center subject of the four gospel books.
III – CONTAINED TRUTH IN THE FOUR BOOKS OF THE GOSPEL
Sometimes people used the expression “Gospel truth.” The gospel truth is that something that is most certainly true and that which we must accept and believe every word. The same is true with the four gospels. The Gospels contain nothing but gospel truth. Since the four gospels contain nothing but gospel truth therefore the gospels contain no mistakes and contradictions and errors unlike what people think and tell. Nowhere we can find errors and mistakes in God’s Word.
People may ask you a question, How did the gospel writers remember the things Jesus did and said, since the four gospels were written after many years after Jesus died? _____________________ Who guided and helped the four gospel writers have a perfect memory to remember exactly what happened in the past? (John 14:26)
John 14:26 “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”
What is meant by the word gospel? ____________________
The word “gospel” means “good news” or “glad tidings.”
Read I Corinthians 15:1-5 and describe the good news:
I Corinthians 15:1-5 “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; 2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. 3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: 5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:”
Gospel truth no 1: “Christ _____ for our _____ according to the Scriptures” – v.3
The Proof: “He was b_______________” - v.4
(People are not usually buried unless they are dead!)
Gospel truth no 2: “He _____ again according to the Scriptures” – v.4
The Proof: “He was s___________” - v.5 and following. (By many different witnesses)
Do all of the four gospel books present the good news that Christ died, He was buried, and He rose again the third day and was seen alive by many different witnesses? ____________________
God gave us the four gospels so that these gospels might lead us to Christ. Although they are four gospels but contain only one Christ and not four Christs or four Saviors. All these four gospels point us to the same blessed Savior Jesus Christ whom God desires us to know. In order to know better and to see what really Christ’s looks like, we need to see and study all four gospels together. We need to see the whole and not see only the part because knowing part alone would not give us a clear and true picture of the life and ministry of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
This Chart illustrated the four books of the Gospels point to that One, Blessed person, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior, the Son of God. Keep in mind that Jesus Christ was presented differently in each book as supported by the key verses, with designated color and represented picture of an animal according to the Scriptures. This chart provided us knowledge to whom each book of the gospels was especially written.
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