Why are there four gospels? Why not one? The Holy Spirit wished to reveal four different aspects to Jesus.
Matthew ~ Matthew wrote specifically for the Jews, and his emphasis on the Feasts of Israel point them to Christ...the Messiah! Matthew wrote his gospel with Jesus as the King of the Jews.
Mark ~ Mark focused on Jesus' servant hood. Jesus washed the feet of His disciples, and showed all of us, that to live godly, we need to serve others.
Luke ~ Since Luke was a doctor, he focused on the humanity of Jesus. Luke is very precise in his descriptions of Jesus, as a doctor who dissects things.
John ~ John focuses on the deity of Jesus...the Son of God. It all starts with John 1:1 and throughout his account, we see that Jesus wasn't just a prophet or great teacher...He was and is God in the flesh.
As with the camp of Israel in the Wilderness and the four faces of the cherubim, these four aspects of Christ are revealed:
Lion ~ Jesus is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah...the King of Kings, and the LORD of Lords!
Ox ~ The Ox is used for work...servant hood.
Man ~ God became man in order to save mankind from eternal doom in hell
Eagle ~ The eagle is associated with deity, and Jesus is the Son of God, part of the Holy Trinity!
Matthew 1
(v.1) Since Matthew is writing for the Jews, he starts his genealogy with the first Jew...Abraham.
(v.16) Notice that Joseph is listed as the husband of Mary...this will be key when we look at Luke.
(v.20) The Holy Spirit made Mary pregnant, so none of Joseph's DNA was in Jesus...again, this will make sense when we look at Luke.
(v.23) Matthew quotes the Old Testament the most out of all the gospels, which makes sense, since he is preaching to the Jews who hold the Torah and Tenach as the Scriptures.
Luke 3
(v.31) When we compare Luke's genealogy of Jesus against Matthew's, we see an interesting difference...Matthew shows Jesus' bloodline through David's son Solomon...the next king in the Tribe of Judah. But in Luke's account, David's other son, Nathan is listed...why?
In Jeremiah 22:30 God proclaimed a curse on the royal line of kings...this seemed like God just nullified the only way the Messiah could come and save mankind. After all, Joseph was a direct descendant of Jeconiah, so Joseph's blood was cursed...no son of his could rule on the Throne of David.
However, in the book of Luke, we see how God got around that...He used the bloodline from David through his other son, Nathan. Mary is a direct descendant of Nathan, so Jesus has the royal kingly blood of David in Him, but not the curse!
That is the reason for the Virgin Birth...Jesus had to be both man and God at the same time, so without tainted blood, He fulfilled the Scriptures and the Law for all of us, and His death and resurrection made the way back to the Father possible!
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