How the gospels depict Jesus

How the Gospels depict Jesus

Jesus can best be understood if we first understand how he is revealed in the gospels, because the four gospels represent the four characteristics of Jesus. In Matthew he is the ‘king of kings’. In Luke he is the perfect servant. In Mark he is the perfect man. In John he is God.

“They four had the face of a man and the face of a lion on the right side: and they four had the face of an Ox on the left side: They four also had the face of an eagle.” (Ezekiel 1:10)

“And the first living creature was like a lion, and the second living creature like a calf, and the third living creature had a face as a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle.” (Revelation 4:7)

“And every one had four faces: the first face was the face of a cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.” (Ezekiel 10:14)

Jesus is the King of kings

The gospel of Matthew presents Jesus as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, King of kings. It was written by a Jew to the Jews and begins with the genealogy of Jesus, which starts with Abraham who is the father of the Jewish race.  It includes king David to whom God promised that his seed would rule Israel forever (Romans 1:3).  This genealogy includes all of the kings of Judah and shows that Jesus is the legal heir to the throne of Israel through His legal (but not actual) father Joseph.  Because Jeremiah had pronounced a curse of God upon this line, (Jeremiah 22:30), it was necessary that Jesus be born of a virgin and that Joseph had no part in the birth of Jesus.  Jesus had no earthly father but only a Heavenly Father (Hebrews 1:5). Jesus, therefore, has a legal right to the throne of Israel (and Judah) through Joseph. It was to Joseph, from whom Jesus legally inherited the kingdom that the angels appeared.  Mary is hardly mentioned in Matthew since kingship is handed down through the male.  But, Mary was also a descendent of David through Nathan and therefore Jesus was the seed of David (Luke 3:31) which fulfills the promise of God that the seed of David would rule over Israel forever.

Matthew is the only book that tells us about the star that shown over Bethlehem and the wise men (Magi) from the east who presented Him with gifts “fit for a King”.  It also emphasized Harrods’s jealousy and his killing of the innocents, showing the political consequences of someone else proclaiming to be a king. 

The book of Matthew is the only one that mentions the Kingdom of Heaven (or the Rule of the Heavens) instead of the kingdom of God.  The difference between the two can be seen in the parables.  In the parables of the talents which is in Matthew 25 and refers to the “rule of the Heavens”, the unprofitable servant is cast into darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.  But in the parable of the pounds, which is found in Luke 19, the unprofitable servant goes to Heaven but loses his reward.  The reason for this is that in the “rule of the Heavens” there are lost people.  The Jews to whom the book Matthew was written were (and are) God’s earthly people, and most of the adults in the Jewish nation are lost (Romans 11:5) (Romans 9:27).  Therefore, the unprofitable servant is lost in the “rule of the Heavens”.  But in the book of Luke, which concerns the Kingdom of God, the unprofitable servant goes to Heaven because everybody in the Kingdom of God is saved.  Only the enemies of the Kingdom of God are destroyed. The new heavens and earth in Isaiah 65 describe this kingdom, among other things, as one where men live to an old age but still die and those who die early are accursed sinners. The new heavens and earth of Revelations 21 defeats and abolishes man’s greatest enemy, death. The kingdom of heaven therefore is the thousand year rule of Jesus Christ ‘the king’.

Jesus did not come at this time to be crowned as king and He said as much when He said “my kingdom is not of this world”, but He also did not deny His kingship. The sign above His head on the cross saying ‘king of the Jews’ was allowed to stay, despite Jewish objections, as a final confirmation of this truth.

We see the righteousness of Jesus’ kingship in the book of Matthew when we see He puts the intents and purposes of the law above the letter of the law without degrading it.  It is this king that will return to the earth to rule, judge, and heal it and finally bring it its longed for perfect peace and happiness. His sermon on the mount as well as his other teachings shows us the attributes, benefits and consequences of His rule.

Jesus is the perfect servant.

The gospel of Mark presents Jesus (calf, ox or cherub) as a servant of Jehovah. It was written to the Romans by a Roman. Mark, portraying Jesus as a servant, doesn’t need a genealogy or the story of His birth. The works of Jesus as a servant are recorded more in this book than the others and Jesus speaks very little. There is also more action in the first chapter of Mark than in several chapters of the other books.  That is because the Romans cared little for talk and more for action. Mark records in chapter 9: 34, 35 and in 10:44 that the greatest shall be a servant of all. Jesus  tells His disciples that He is the servant who came not to be ministered unto but to minister and give His life a ransom for many (Mark 10:45)
                                                                                                                                                                                                      Jesus must be a servant because there is more glory in serving than in being served (Philippians 2:5-11).  The ‘glory’ of God is the highest view of God possible, and therefore God must be a servant.  The Lord Jesus took upon Himself not only the creation of the universe, which was nothing in comparison to the Cross, but He took upon Himself the lowest of human nature (He was scorned for his looks) and made Himself a slave and died the death of a criminal (He was beaten to a point where he didn’t look human) in order to save people from their sins.  Moreover, He willingly was God-forsaken so that Christians would never be forsaken by God.  The greatest claim of Jesus was, therefore, that he was a servant. This may also explain why, of the four faces of the beast found in Ezekiel and Revelations, the face of the servant was shown three different ways to the one of the others. Furthermore, of these three, the cherubim like those on the ark which were called the "cherubim of glory" (Heb. 9:5), i.e., of the Shechinah, or cloud of glory; represented the visible glory of God by way of His servitude.

Jesus was the perfect man

The Gospel of Luke presents Jesus as a perfect man. It was written by a Greek to the Greeks showing them that Jesus was the perfect man because it was in the Greek culture to reverence the perfect man.
Luke, presenting Jesus as the perfect man, has a genealogy that goes back to Adam, the first man, because Jesus could not take upon Himself the sins of the race if He were not a member of that race. He had to be the one perfect man in deed or thought in order to redeem fallen man, therefore, Luke tells of His encounter with Satin where only He would overcome the greatest temptations of Pride, Possessions and Power that sinful man has failed to do.
The genealogy in Luke states that Joseph was the son of (not begat from) Heli which simply means that Heli was the actual father of Mary, the mother of Jesus and the father-in-law of Joseph. This, therefore, is the genealogy of Mary by way of Nathan; a different son of David.
The story of Mary as the mother of Jesus is enhanced in Luke in order to prove his claim of his being a man.  The wisdom, power and love of Jesus ‘the man’ were accented in Luke not only for the Greeks sake but for our sake when we see the perfect purpose for Him doing so. In Jesus, the perfect man, was found no sin or evil thing in order that he could be the perfect sacrifice, as the choicest lamb without blemish, on the cross.

Jesus was God

The gospel of John presents Jesus as (the eagle) as God. It was written by a Christian to the Christians. The miracles and religious discourses with the Jewish leaders and His disciples were accented more in John than the other gospels.

The book of John has no genealogy but begins by plainly declaring that Jesus is God, and with God there can be no genealogy. It was God the Logos (word) and not the God the Father who did the creating because God the Logos is the revealer of the Godhead and creation is the basis of natural revelation (John 1:1-4) (Colossians 1:15-20) (Hebrews 1:1-3) (I Corinthians 8:6).  The word “logos” means “the inward thought as expressed by speech”. Some say the “Logos” which is translated “Word” is the written word.  That is a big mistake.  The written word began with Moses and not with creation.  John 1:14 says: “The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.”  Jesus as the Logos is the person who gives people the true conception of God.  He is the revealer of the Father. Therefore He claims all the attributes a revealer of God can claim such as ‘the vine’, ‘the gate’, ‘the light’, ‘the way’, ‘the truth’, etc.

He is also the ‘I am’. (John 8:58). He and his Father are one. (John 10:30). The Jews sought to kill Jesus and finally did because He said He was equal with God. (John 5:18)  Jesus said: “I lay down my life, that I might take it up again.  No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself.  I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again.” (John 10:17,18) No mere human being can say that.  Only God can. John 3:13 says no man hath ascended up to heaven but ‘He’ that came down from heaven.  Eph 4:9 says Jesus descended before He ascended into heaven. 

The Bible also has many other passages that say the same thing. Phil 2:6 says Jesus came in the form of God. The word means ‘picture.’  The picture of George Washington is a picture of nobody else.  So also Jesus is the picture of God and nobody else.  In order that people might not mistake this with the fact that ‘man’ was made in the ‘image’ of God and after God’s likeness, (Gen 1:26). The Apostle Paul said that Jesus was the “brightness of the glory of God and the express image of His person”. (Heb 1:3)  The same passage says that Jesus made the worlds, is the heir of all things, and upholds all things by the word of His power.  In other words, Jesus is the source, support, and end of all things.  (Rom 11:36) says the same things about God.  Jesus is the Creator of the worlds. (Col 1:15-19)  No creature, much less a mere human being, can create. Jesus is God, the Creator. When the Devil tempted Jesus, Jesus replied:  “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God”. (Lk 4:12) (Deut 6:16) And the devil fled.  Apparently Satan knows Jesus is God even if his disciples on earth do not.  Also Jesus did not call Himself a man in the presence of Satan.  He called himself God.  The devil knows Jesus is God.

Hebrews 7:3 plainly says that Jesus was without Father, without mother, without descent, knowing neither beginning of days nor end of life.  This can only be true of God.  Hebrews 13:8 says: “Jesus Christ, the same, yesterday, today, and forever”.  This can only mean that Jesus was, is, and always will be immortal.  Rev 1:8 and 11 says that Jesus is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, the first and the last.  This can only be said of God and not a mere human being who came into existence 2000 years ago.  Rev 2:7 says this same Alpha and Omega is the God of those who are athirst.  Rev 22:16 says that Jesus is both the root and the offspring of David.  He is both a descendent of David in His humanity and the Creator of David in His deity. 
Every verse which calls Jesus “Lord” shows that Jesus is God.  The Hebrew word “Lord” means owner and Jesus can only be the “Owner” of the world because He created it.  Acts 17:28 says: “God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven and earth.”  There are hundreds of verses that tell us that Jesus is Lord. In the Hebrew language, the name of God is always plural. The thief on the cross next to Jesus called Him Lord and went to heaven.  Doubting Thomas said unto Jesus: “My Lord and my God”.  Jesus said unto him.  “Thomas, because thou hast seen ‘Me’, thou hast believed: Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” (John 20:28,29) Paul says all those who confess Jesus as Lord are saved. (Rom 10:9,10) 
The gospels of Jesus as a king, servant, perfect man (a lamb without blemish) and God lead the apostle Paul to say in Romans 11:36 that “Of Him, through Him and to Him are all things,” and
“For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning ‘and’ the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence,” Colossians 1:16-18.
One of the main purposes of the gospels is to show people that God is their Father (John 14:8) (John 6:45,46).  They show that Christians can know God through the Son and have a more perfect understanding of Him. The four Gospels are correctly named because certainly without the knowledge of the Fatherhood of God, which comes through the objective revelation of God in the Son and the subjective revelation of God in the Spirit, there would be no “good news”(Luke 2:10) in this wicked and lost world.