The Bible from 30,000 Feet,
Soaring Through the Scripture from Genesis to Revelation. Turning your Bibles to the
Gospel of Matthew, chapter 1, and Mark, chapter 1,
and Luke, chapter 1, if you just put a marker in
all three of those gospels, we'll be off to where we want to
be this evening, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Last week I covered 400
years in 55 minutes. Tonight, we're going to look at
three separate books of the New Testament in the time that we
have, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. But the reason I'm doing
three, you will see, is because of their similarity. Hence, they're called
Synoptic Gospels, number one. Number two, you are
so familiar, probably, with these books more than
the other books in the Bible. The Gospel records, Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John are elements of the Scriptures
that most of you know well. So we're going to cover
it in one fell swoop. Now the Old Testament was
written over a long period of time, 1,400 years. The New Testament was written
in a single lifetime-- just for comparison's sake, long
period of time, Old Testament, a very short period of writing
time, the New Testament. And the New Testament
is the fulfillment of the Old testament. What the Old
Testament anticipates, the New Testament authenticates. What the Old Testament predicts,
the New Testament presents. Think of it that way. I love the formula of
Augustine, who said, the New is in the Old contained. The Old is in the New explained. It's a good way to look at
all of the Bible put together. The New is in the Old contained. It writes about it. It anticipates it. It predicts a new covenant. There are shadows of it,
foreshadows of it, types of it, examples of it. So the New is in
the Old contained. Then the Old is in
the New explained. We have the unfolding
and the fulfillment of all that was anticipated
in the Old Testament. All 39 books of
the Old Testament have been anticipating
this, the event of the coming of the
Messiah, the deliverer, the King of Israel. The predictions made in the Old
Testament are fulfilled here. Now we have been
looking at an overview of the Bible from 30,000
feet, beginning in Genesis, going all the way to Revelation. So we move rapidly. But I could even
move more rapidly. We could actually taken
and sum up the whole Bible in a shorter period of time. And I'm going to show you how. I was speaking in North
Carolina Monday and Tuesday to the staff of the Billy Graham
Organization and Samaritan's Purse staff, one on
Monday, one on Tuesday, and I made the statement
that the whole Bible can be summed up by saying this,
all 66 books of the Bible are about one person
and two events. The one person is Jesus Christ. The two events are
his two comings. The first time he
came to deal with sin. The second time he will
come to rule and reign with those who have
been cleansed from sin. So that's not the
30,000-foot view. That's like the
30,000-mile view. That's like from the
outer space view. Now the Gospels are
really not biographies as we know them to be. That is, none of
the Gospels give us a complete biographical sketch
or a complete historical sketch of Jesus' life. They even make that statement. Now I'm going to the
Gospel of John, where at the end of the Gospel
of John, in chapter 20, verses 30 and 31, John
writes, "and truly Jesus did many other signs in the
presence of his disciples which are not
written in this book. But these are written
that you may believe that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God, and believing, you may
have life in His name." Then in the very last chapter
of the Gospel of John, in verse 25, John
concludes by saying, "and there are also
many other things that Jesus did, which, if
they were written one by one, I suppose that even
the world itself could not contain the books
that would be written. Amen." So the Gospel records,
by their own admission, are not a disclosure of
everything about his life. But they're highly
selective portions of the life and ministry
of Jesus Christ. In fact, very little is written
about the early life of Jesus in the Gospels. The first 30 years
of Jesus' life, we have just a couple of
hints of what went on. The bulk of Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John focus on his ministry,
and in particular, the final week and the
last day of his life. More about that a
little bit later on. Each of the Gospels, rather
than being a biography, are a what I call
theological apologetic. It is a theological
statement, an emphasis of one of the character
traits of Jesus. And it's presenting
him to prove, to show, to demonstrate that he is
that thing or that emphasis. So it's a theological
apologetic. John, chapter 20,
what I just quoted, he says, I'm writing this
that you may believe. He's moving them toward faith. Our word gospel, the
English word gospel, comes from an old English
word, an old Anglo-Saxon word. Anglo-Saxons were like a
600-year period from AD 300 to AD 1000-plus. So the old Anglo-Saxon
word "godspell," godspell, that's
the word-- gospel comes from the
old word godspell, which means "a good
story," or the good news. So gospel means good news. The Greek word,
euangelion same thing. It means "to herald" a good
story or herald the good news. Now the first three Gospels
are called Synoptic Gospels. So usually the
Gospels are divided up that way, three and one,
the Synoptics, and then what they call the
fourth Gospel, John. Matthew, Mark, and Luke are
in a category all their own. Synoptic, those are
two Greek words, "soon" which means
with or together, and "opsis," which
means to see or to view. So the idea means you are
viewing something together or having the same viewpoint. So Matthew, Mark, and Luke
are seeing the life of Jesus from a similar, though
not exactly the same, vantage point or point of view. That is, Matthew,
Mark, and Luke follow the same outline, the same
synopsis of Jesus' life, different emphasis,
but same outline. So the first portion
of all three Gospels focus on his Judean ministry,
the second portion-- I'm sorry, his Galilean
ministry first-- then his Judean ministry
second, and then his final days on earth, including his death,
resurrection, and events that follow. That's the outline that
Matthew, Mark, and Luke take. John departs from
that altogether, and we'll see that next time. Why are there four gospels? Why four gospels? Think of it as a fourfold
picture of the life of Jesus. Think of it as a string quartet,
and they're playing together. They are not
contradicting each other. They are complementing
one another. And when you listen to a string
quartet, when they're tuned up just right, and they're
playing different notes but there's a sameness of
the tune, it is gorgeous. So you have a fourfold
testimony of Jesus. Or if you will, look at
it as a fourfold frame. Matthew, Mark,
Luke, and John are the sides of the frame that
perfectly portray who Jesus is. Or think of it as
a movie director, the Holy Spirit,
the movie director, setting up four
different cameras capturing the same
person, the same events, but from four different angles. And those four cameras will
notice crowds differently, facial expressions differently. They'll emphasize a
certain portion of what's going on in the story. Now Matthew, let me tell you
about the audience and the word to emphasize so you
understand each book. Matthew was writing, as the
Skip beautifully demonstrated, to a Jewish audience. He is picturing Jesus as the
prophesied King of the Jews. And the word to emphasize,
or the most important word in the Gospel of Matthew
is the word "fulfilled." This was done or written
that it might be fulfilled. So Matthew was
writing to the Jews. The word of emphasis
is the word fulfilled. Mark writes for
a Roman audience. Mark portrays Jesus as the
obedient servant of the Lord. And the word of emphasis
in Mark is immediately-- immediately. Luke and Acts, he
wrote both of them, were written for
a Greek audience. Luke will picture Jesus
as the perfect man. And the word of emphasis, or
the phrase of emphasis, in Luke is the Son of man-- the Son of man. And then finally John. John was written with
the whole world in mind, and the word of
importance is believe. He wants people to believe that
Jesus is the divine Son of God. Matthew emphasizes
what Jesus said. Mark emphasizes what Jesus did. Luke emphasizes what
Jesus felt. And John emphasizes who Jesus was. Let's just go through
those briefly. Matthew emphasizes
what Jesus taught. Matthew was written
around five speeches, five discourses, three
most important ones, three main ones. But the emphasis
is on the sayings, the teachings of Jesus. Mark leaves a lot
of those teachings out and emphasizes
what Jesus did. It's rapidly moving
like an action film. Luke focuses on what Jesus
felt. It describes his humanity more than the other
Gospels, his compassion. I'll explain a little more of
that as we go through that. John is about who Jesus
was, human but divine at the same time, the
divine Son of God, that you might believe that
Jesus is the Son of God and by believing,
have life in his name. The first three Gospels, the
Synoptics, I already mentioned, are vastly different
from John's Gospel. Here's how different. There are only two events
in the entire life of Jesus that the Synoptic Gospels
and the Gospel of John share together, and that is
when Jesus walked on the water and when Jesus fed the 5,000. Those are the only two
events, miraculous events, that the Synoptics share
with the Gospel of John. But together, Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John give us a complete
picture of the God man. OK, you're in Matthew,
chapter 1, right? Ready to go? So Matthew, writing for
the Jewish audience, wants the people of Israel
to know this, this man, this person, this
Christ, this Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah, the
one that the Prophets have spoken about, the one that God's
plan of salvation centers on. So he has a Jewish
audience in mind. He speaks about Jesus as the son
of David, the son of Abraham, fulfilling all the promises
to the kingdom, to David, and the covenant promises
that he made to Abraham. Now Matthew builds its outline
on five major discourses. Well, let me say five
discourses, three major discourses. Here's the three
major discourses. Sermon on the Mount, kingdom
parables, Olivet Discourse. I'll explain those
as we go through it. But there are five discourses
that Matthew shares altogether, and the outline can
be built on that. First of all, the Sermon on
the Mount, Matthew 5, 6, and 7. Second, the commissioning
of his Apostles in Matthew, chapter 10. Third, the Kingdom
parables, seven of them in Matthew chapter 13. Fourth, a discourse on child
likeness and leadership vulnerability in chapter 18. And finally, the Olivet
Discourse, that is, Jesus' speech from
the Mount of Olives to his disciples
about the end of days. That's chapters 24 and 25. Matthew probably wasn't
his original name. We know that he was Jewish. He had a Jewish name. And that was the name Levi. Lev-ee, that's how
they pronounce it. Lev-ee. We say Lee-vie. So he has a Jewish name. Probably Matthew was a name-- I'm guessing now--
given to him by Jesus. A lot of teachers, scholars,
et cetera would say that. The name Matthew
means a gift from God. Interesting to name
the guy who collects your taxes a gift from God. All I can say is
that Jesus named him, if he, indeed, gave him
the name Matthew, not based on who he was, but
on what he would become once Jesus got ahold of him. You're a tax collector? You're used to
taking from people. I'm going to make you
into a gift from God. You will be giving to people. That's what Jesus does. He takes them. He revitalizes them. You might say he renames
them, like he did with Peter, and then he uses them. He worked for the IRS. But Matthew chapter 9, he
records his own call by Jesus. Jesus walked up to him one day. He was collecting taxes
there in Capernaum. By the way, when
you go to Capernaum, they can show you the mile
markers where they collected the taxes, probably
where Matthew once stood collecting taxes in Capernaum. And Jesus walked by. And it wasn't a long speech. It wasn't a pitch. He just said, follow me. And it says, Matthew
left everything, and he followed Jesus. I'm sure Matthew had
heard our Lord speak on a number of occasions. His heart was touched, so he was
ready for a simple invitation, follow me. And he did. Matthew, chapter
1, verse 1 begins, The book of the genealogy of
Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. After that verse,
there is a genealogy. There are 39 begots after that. Abraham begot Isaac. Isaac begot Jacob. Jacob begot Judah
and his brothers-- 39 begots. The word "genealogy,"
the Greek word is [GREEK], genesis, genesis. The genesis of Jesus
Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham, so Matthew
begins by giving us a lineage. Why is that important? It is especially important
to a Jewish audience. They want to know what is
his background, his pedigree. What tribe does he belong to? How was he related
to King David? How was he related
to Abraham, the one God gave the covenant to? So Jesus Christ, the son of
David, the son of Abraham, verses 6 and 7 of chapter
1 tie back into David and explain that
because any claimant to the throne of Israel has
to show his lineage back to King David. Naturally, the Jewish
person is going to ask, what tribe
does he come from? Who are his parents? You remember when Jesus
showed up in Nazareth and he quoted Isaiah
61, close the book. And he said, today the scripture
is fulfilled in your ears. And they were all
mystified by that. Who does he think he is? They said, isn't
this Joseph's son? And in Galilee, in
another portion, when he was going
around from town to town and he made claims that
he is the bread of life, they said, hey,
wait a minute, isn't this Jesus, the son of Joseph,
whose mother and father we know? So they were very interested
as to who his parents were, what tribe he belonged to, what
is his genealogical record. That's important to them. And it should be
important to us. I'll never forget the
evening, midweek Bible study, guy came to the door
claiming to be Jesus. First question I asked him,
what city were you born in? Now, if he were
to say, Bethlehem, I would have listened further. But when he said, Pittsburgh, I
was done with the conversation. I showed him the door, asked
him never to come back. But I said, before you leave,
what authentication do you have that you're, indeed, Jesus? He said, the Third Testament. I said, now, wait a minute. I've read the Old Testament. I've read the New Testament. So that's one and two. What is the third testament? I said, who wrote that? He goes, I wrote it. I said, yeah, there's the door. Go ahead. Get out. So this is the ancestry
of Jesus Christ. This is the family album
of the King of kings. Go down to verse 17. So all the generations
from Abraham to David are 14 generations, from David
until the captivity in Babylon are 14 generations, from
the captivity in Babylon until the Christ
are 14 generations. So you have three sections
of 14 generations. We don't know why he decided
to group them that way other than for literary
symmetry, which was high in a Jewish mindset. You wanted symmetry. Why? Because the writer knew
that very interested people are going to memorize
the genealogical record of the Messiah. So to make it
easier, it is placed in this kind of symmetry. Verse 18, now the birth of
Jesus Christ was as follows. After his mother Mary
was betrothed to Joseph, before they came
together, that is, before they had any
relations at all, she was found with child
of the Holy Spirit. Now twice so far we have noticed
the name Jesus Christ written by Matthew-- chapter 1, verse 1, the
genealogy of Jesus Christ, chapter 1, verse 18, now of
the birth of Jesus Christ. Christ was not his last name. His name is not Jesus
H. Christ, as I've heard some people say as
sort of, I've heard it. I said, now, where
did you get the H? And they say, well,
that's got to be his name, right, Jesus Christ? That's his last name. No. His name, his original name
would have been Yeshua Ben Yusef, Jesus the son of Joseph. Christ is not a name. It's a title. Christos is a Greek word
that means the "messiah," the anointed one. The Hebrew word "moshiach"
means the anointed one, God's anointed Messiah. The term messiah, moshiach,
the root word means to smear, and it comes from
taking olive oil and smearing it on
somebody's face. So in antiquity, among the
Jews, the kings and the prophets were anointed with oil. They would pour or
smear oil on them, meaning they are marked
for special use by God. They are anointed. So the Messiah, the name
means to anoint or to choose for a specific task. The Jews had long awaited a
messiah, a deliverer, a king. The Jewish prayer that was
prayed daily by pious Jews was, I believe in the
coming of the Messiah, and even though he tarry, I will
wait for him every coming day. So they had been longing. They had been looking for
the Christ, the Messiah. So Matthew gives us Galilean
ministry, Judean ministry, suffering, death, and
Resurrection arranged around those five discourses,
especially the three main ones, including the Sermon on the
Mount, the seven kingdom parables, and the
Olivet Discourse. All of the teachings
of Jesus, since that's what he's focusing
on, what Jesus said, make Matthew the longest
of the four Gospels. It's longer because
it includes all of the discourses, the
teachings of Jesus, which takes us from Matthew
now to the Gospel of Mark. Turn to Mark, chapter 1. Mark is the shortest
of the Gospels. But here's the thing. If you take all of the
discourses out of Matthew, Mark is longer. The reason it's shorter
in comparison to Matthew is because Mark doesn't have
all of the teachings that are included in the
Gospel of Matthew. Now many people think that Mark
was the first Gospel written. I'm not so sure, personally. I'm not so sure because
that is a more recent view. For the first 19
centuries, Mark was not considered the first
Gospel written. In the last century,
century and a half, that's been the prevailing view. I'm going to explain,
if I have enough time, the Synoptic problem
before we close tonight. But I want to move on. Now tradition says that Mark
wrote the Gospel of Mark while he was in Rome. And the words of Mark aren't
an eyewitness account, but Mark is giving us
the testimony of Peter. So the Gospel of Mark is the
Gospel of Peter told to Mark. Mark wrote it down. So Peter dictated
it is the thought. Mark wrote it down
and presented it. Mark was not an apostle. His full name was John Mark. Mark, or John Mark, was
a nephew of Barnabas. John Mark was born 10 to 15
years after the birth of Jesus, meaning the events
of Jesus' life took place when he was a
teenager or in his late teens. Probably Peter led
John Mark to the Lord. We do know that
John Mark's mother had a Bible study in her home,
or at least a prayer meeting. We know that because
in Acts, chapter 12, Peter is put in
prison, but it says the Church was gathered
together in prayer at the house of
Mary, whose son was John, whose surname was Mark. And that's when Peter
came after he was released from jail by the angel, came
knocking at the door and said, it's me. And they thought it was a ghost. They didn't answer the door. They didn't open the door. She, Rhoda, the girl who
answered the door after Peter knocked and said, let
me in, it's Peter, she didn't open the door, but
she went back and said, hey, Peter's at the door. And they said, oh, it must be
his ghost, which is funny to me because they're having a
prayer meeting that Peter would get released from prison. But they must not have
prayed with much faith because God answered
their prayer. Peter comes to the door
after the prayer's answered, knocks on the door and
says, well, I'm here. And they go, oh, it's his ghost. It can't be. Can't be real. But that took place
at the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark,
the author of this gospel. I mentioned he was the
nephew of Barnabas, which means he went on the very
first missionary journey that Paul and Barnabas
went on, but it was John Mark who left
and went back home to Jerusalem in the city
of Perga in Pamphilia. He didn't want to
go any further. He went back home. It was something that was a
point of contention with Paul. Paul did not want to bring
him on the second journey. It caused such a contention
between Paul and Barnabas that they split
company and had to have two missionary journeys. And eventually, toward
the end of Paul's life, he forgave John Mark, and
he became a close friend, and they reconciled. Something else about John Mark-- because it's only included
in the gospel of Mark. There is a record of a young
man in the Garden of Gethsemane who was wearing just a covering
over his naked body, just a tunic. And some young men,
Romans, grabbed him when Jesus was arrested. He wiggled out from them. They grabbed a hold
of his garment, and it says he fled from the
Garden of Gethsemane naked. It's an odd story. It's right in the Gospel. It's right in this riveting
account of Jesus' suffering at the Garden of Gethsemane. And then it's the
story of a naked kid running from the garden. It's like, OK, that's weird. What's all that about? This guy is streaking in the
midst of this passion story. It is believed that that
young man was John Mark. And it seems to fit. He's the only one
that includes it. He didn't include
his name, probably for a very good reason. But it seems like everybody
knew that that was him. OK. Matthew and Luke give us
snapshots of Jesus' life. John, as we'll see next time,
gives us a studied portrait of who Jesus was. Mark is like a motion picture. It is very rapidly
paced, and here's why. Mark's whole emphasis of Jesus
is that he was a servant. He's the one in chapter
10, verse 45 who includes what Jesus
said, the Son of man did not come to be served,
but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. So you see a very hurried pace,
like a servant would hurry to do the master's bidding. So Mark, chapter 1,
verse 1, the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, as it is written
in the Prophets, behold, I send my messenger
before your face, who will prepare your way
before you, quoting the last book of the Bible
Malachi chapter 3, verse 1. Verse 3, the voice of one
crying in the wilderness. Prepare the way of the Lord. Make his path straight. That's quoting
Isaiah, chapter 40. So immediately, Mark connects
the Old Testament predictions of John the Baptist and
immediately takes us into John the Baptist's ministry
in chapter 1, then Jesus' ministry, beginning
in chapter 1, verse 9. Here's what's
interesting to note. Mark gives us no genealogy. Matthew does. Luke does. Mark gives us no genealogy
in the Synoptics. Why? Well, we know why
Matthew gave a genealogy. Because he's writing
to a Jewish audience. He wants to portray the
King, the royal King having a royal lineage. A king needs a genealogy. But Mark presents
Jesus as a servant. A servant doesn't
need a genealogy. Nobody cares about the
genealogy of a slave. Servants don't display
their pedigrees. So in presenting
Jesus as a servant, he takes out a lot
of the teaching. There is less teaching
and there's more action than the other Gospels. In fact, he moves from
action, to action, to action, and he uses certain
words to point it out. The most common word is the word
"and," the little conjunction that we use a lot, and. 63 times the word "and"
shows up in chapter 1. And, and, and, and, and,
he just keeps using. He's just-- you're kind
of breathing fast as you read through the first chapter. He just keeps moving. And, and, and, 63 times. In the entire Gospel of Mark,
the words "and" and "now" appear 1,331 times. And there's a couple of
other words unique to him-- "immediately" or
"straight away." So look at verse 9, which begins
the life and ministry of Jesus. "It came to pass
in those days"-- and I'll emphasize
these words as we go-- "it came to pass in those days
that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized
by John in the Jordan. And immediately coming
up from the water, he saw the heavens
parting and the spirit descending on him like a dove. Then a voice came from heaven. You are my beloved Son,
in whom I am well pleased. Immediately, the spirit drove
him into the wilderness. And he was there in
the wilderness 40 days, tempted by Satan, and
was with the wild beasts, and the Angels
ministered to him. Now, after John was
put into prison, Jesus came to Galilee
preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God and
saying, the time is fulfilled. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe
in the Gospel. And as he walked by
the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and
Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea,
for they were fishermen. Then Jesus said
to them, follow me and I will make you
become fishers of men. They immediately left their
nets and followed him. When he had gone a little
further from there, he saw James, the
son of Zebedee, and John, his
brother, who also were in the boat mending their nets,
and immediately he called them. And they left their father
Zebedee in the boat-- kind of a weird thing to
do-- and the hired servants and went after them. Then they came into communion
and immediately on the Sabbath, he entered the
synagogue and taught." I'm winded just
reading those verses. Mark-- and it's unique to Mark--
pictures this very hurried, harried pace of the servant
moving from event to event, item to item, person to
person throughout the book. Something else. Nearly one half of
the Gospel of Mark is devoted to the events of the
crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. From chapter 10 to the
very end of the book, it's about the final week. In fact, you could
even go to chapter 9, include that because
he announces his death and Resurrection to his
disciples in that chapter. So chapter 9 all
the way to 16 really deals with the events
of the final week. So Mark is making a
fast pace to the cross. That really is his emphasis. A Bible scholar from
England and Scotland, he ministered in both places,
his name was Graham Scroggy. He was a minister
there a century ago. He said this, and it's
one of my favorite quotes. He said, cut the Bible
anywhere and it bleeds. You can cut the Bible
anywhere and it bleeds. And you see, no
matter where you go, this scarlet thread
of redemption. I wrote the book Bloodline
based upon that concept. Cut the Bible anywhere
and it bleeds. And showing from to Revelation
how the atonement of Christ takes front burner,
front priority, front stage throughout the Bible. Mark emphasizes that final
week of Jesus' life, which include his crucifixion
and resurrection. It's important to keep in
mind that scarlet thread. Jesus, in Revelation
13, is called, the lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. So as you keep that
in mind, you realize, boy, that's in the
front of God's mind as he inspires by his
Spirit these authors. He is presenting Jesus
as the plan of salvation. Now let me give you the
stats on all four Gospels. I mentioned Mark is
crucifixion-heavy, final week-heavy. If you took all the
Gospels together, Matthew, Mark, Luke,
and John, there are only four chapters
that speak at all about his early life, that is,
his first 30 years of his life, very few. In fact, Matthew,
chapter 2 and Luke, chapter 2 have a few
verses, and that's about it. But there are four
chapters that even make mention of his early life,
the first 30 years of his life. So that's just four chapters. 85 chapters, compared to 4, 85
are about the last 3 and 1/2 years of his life. Of those 85 chapters, 29
of them are in reference to the final week
of Jesus' life. And of those 29, 13 of them
are the last 24-hour period of his life. So you see where all of the
Gospels are driving the reader, and that is the sacrifice
of Jesus on the cross. So the events of the last day
of Jesus' life in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John
total 579 verses-- 579 verses-- about the last
24-hour period of his life. Clearly, the cross is
the focus in the Gospels, and for that matter,
the New Testament, and for that matter, the Bible. Remember, it's about one
person, two events, one person, two events. And the first event, the
crucifixion, is key to that. When we get to the Gospel
of Luke, the Gospel of Luke is the most complete
narrative of the life of Jesus of the Synoptic Gospels. It has the fullest account
of the birth of Christ, the nativity of Christ. Now it was hinted at
tonight a little bit in the skit that
was done, but Luke has a style of
writing very different from Matthew and Mark. He has a polished style, a
polished, literary style. If you read the
Greek of John, it's very simple to get through. If you read the Greek
of Matthew and Mark, relatively easy to get through. When you get to Luke,
it's complicated. He was clearly educated. But here's something
that is interesting. 27% of the New
Testament was written by Luke, a Gentile doctor, 27%. Luke has more writing
in the New Testament than even Paul the Apostle. If you total up the Book of
Acts and the Gospel of Luke-- Luke wrote both of those books-- that's 27% of the New Testament. Here's the word count. Luke gives us 37,923 words, 27%. Coming in second is the Apostle
Paul with his 13 epistles. He gives us 23% of
the New Testament. His word count? 32,407 words. Coming in number three is John. He gave us 20% of
the New Testament in the Gospel of John, I
John, II John, III John in the Book of Revelation. His word count? 28,092 words. So the winner is Luke. He gives us more words,
more literary real estate, than anybody else in
the New Testament. And as I said, it's the fullest
account, the most complete narrative of the life of Jesus. 20 miracles are recorded
in the Gospel of Luke. Seven of those miracles
are unique only to Luke's reporting. He gives us 23 parables
in the Gospel of Luke. 18 are unique to Luke,
himself, including parables like the Parable of
the Prodigal Son, the Good Samaritan. Only Luke records those. Nobody else does. Luke also gives us some
of the greatest stories, like the two disciples
on the road to Emmaus after the Resurrection. Only Luke records that. And here's a feature of Luke. Luke tells us more about the
compassionate nature of Jesus, his compassion to Gentiles,
his compassion to women, his compassion to children,
his compassion to sinners. All of the marginalized
groups, the outcasts, Luke highlights them, and
probably for a good reason. He was a Gentile. He knew what it was
like to be marginalized by the Jewish nation within
the borders of the Holy Land. And so he makes note of the
compassionate nature of Jesus for all of these groups. Something else about Luke
that is particular to him, he includes songs of praise
that nobody else includes. The Magnificat of Mary, my
soul magnifies the Lord. When she sings that beautiful
song or that anthem of praise, he includes the Magnificat--
the Song of Zacharias, the father of John the
Baptist, the Christmas anthems, the angels giving glory to God
in the skies, the shepherds in chapter 2, the Song
of Simian as Jesus is presented in the temple. Now Luke was, as I
mentioned, a doctor. He was a Gentile doctor. And though he quotes
the Old Testament, he quotes more sparingly the
Old Testament than Matthew. Matthew writes for the Jew. He's going to quote the
Old Testament much more. Luke quotes it sparingly,
and when he does, he always uses the Septuigint
version, or the version of the Old Testament
Hebrew translated into the Greek language. The first three chapters
of the Gospel of Luke include two annunciations,
one to Mary, one to Elizabeth, two elect-mothers,
Mary and Elizabeth, and two anticipated births, John
the Baptist and Jesus Christ. That's particular to Luke. So Luke, chapter 1, verse
1, he begins, inasmuch as many have taken
in hand to set in order a narrative
of those things which have been
fulfilled among us, just as those who
from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers
of the word delivered them to us, it seemed
good to me also, having had perfect understanding
of all things from the very first, to write to you
an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus. Stop right there. The name Theophilus
rings a bell. You've read this
before, but it also shows up in the Book of Acts. He begins by saying,
the former treatise that I made to you,
oh, Theophilus, of what Jesus began both to
do and to teach until the time that he was taken
up, so Theophilus is mentioned in both accounts. Now before we get
into Theophilus, you notice the beginning. He said in verse 1,
many have taken in hand to set in order in narrative
of those things which have been fulfilled. It seemed good to
me, verse 3, having had perfect understanding
from the very beginning to write to you an
orderly account. So he's a researcher. He's pulling from
different sources. He writes a very
intellectual, polished account of the life of Jesus. Now I'm bringing this up because
this gives us a little insight into how inspiration works. Divine inspiration never
negates human cooperation. What I mean by that is
that biblical authors had their own style, their own
education, their own emphasis. They had noticed their
own sets of things in looking at an event. But that does not take away
from divine inspiration. God used the style
of those authors for his glory to lead to a
very, very specific outcome. He used their vocabulary. In second Peter,
chapter 1, verse 21, Peter says, holy
men spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. That's the doctrine
of inspiration. Holy men spoke as they
were moved, carried along by the Holy Spirit. It's a word from the
shipping industry. When a ship would
put its sails up and the wind would
take the sails and move the boat to the
destination usually determined by the wind, God
had a destination that he wanted the
author to land at, words he wanted them to say,
but he used their style, their vocabulary. They hoisted their literary
sails, so to speak, and they ended up at the very
place the Holy Spirit wanted them to go. Now back to the name Theophilus. Who was he? Answer, we don't know. But we can guess. Theophilus was perhaps
the master, the dignitary, the noble person who owned Luke. Luke was a servant, it is
thought, of Theophilus-- Theophilus, the master, Luke,
the servant or the slave. He's writing an
account for his master. That's one thought,
which is interesting because it's very different
from how doctors are today. Doctors in the first
century were owned. Now, you know what
it feels like. You get their bills. You feel-- feels like
they own you, right? But back in those days, they
were owned by dignitaries. So it could be that he was a
dignitary, that was his name. Or Theophilus is
a pseudonym, that is, a fictitious name
given to a dignitary, but he didn't want to
disclose his real name because Theophilus does
simply mean lover of God. So he's writing to a man who
has the name or the pseudonym, lover of God. And it could be, it is
thought, that perhaps he was a dignitary who worked
in Caesar's Palace, Caesar's household. And I bring that up because
in Philippians, Paul ends the book by saying, give
special greetings to brothers who are in Caesar's household. The family of God, Christians,
belong to Caesar's household, indicating that some
among the royal family had received Christ. It could be that
Theophilus was one of them. Don't know for sure. These are guesses. What we do know is
he was a Gentile. We do know he was a doctor. We believe he was
from Troaz originally. That's that little place on the
Aegean Sea up in Asia Minor. And it was a place
where he got a vision. I'll get back to
that in a minute. But he left Troaz,
spent time in Phillipi, and many scholars, if
not most, conservative, New Testament
scholars believe Luke was the man in the vision, the
man of Macedonia who said, come over to Macedonia and help us. Because Luke then
joins the party, and the narrative of the Book of
Acts goes from, they did this, they did that, to, we
did this, we did that. Luke joins the team after that. One of the notable
things about Luke's style of writing in the Gospel of
Luke is he writes like a doctor. He writes about healings
with graphic detail. He writes about,
like in the Book of Acts, his ankle
bones snapped into place and formed into the right place. The way the way he writes the
Greek, it's very anatomical. It's very medical. In fact, one New
Testament scholar said, Dr. Luke uses more
medical terminology than Hippocrates
did in his writings. Hippocrates is, of course,
the Father of medicine. So there's a lot of
medical words in this book. I want to show you something,
verse 2, chapter 1, just as those who
from the beginning were eyewitnesses
and ministers-- notice those two words. The word eyewitnesses,
the word he uses is [GREEK],, the
Greek word [GREEK].. We get our word autopsy from it. It's a medical term. Then notice the word ministers. That's the Greek
word [GREEK],, which means an under rower, like
a slave in a galley ship who would row it. But it is a medical term also. And when it is used in
medical terminology, it means an intern,
a medical intern. So when Luke, Dr.
Luke, writes verse 2, he says, from the beginning
we were eyewitnesses, or they were eyewitnesses and
ministers of the Word delivered them to us. He's saying, we're a group
of researchers and interns of the great physician. Given Luke's background and
style of writing and emphasis, that seems to be
what he's saying. We are researchers and interns
of the great physician. I mentioned that Luke wrote
his book for the Greeks. The term Son of man shows up
a lot in the Gospel of Luke. The Greeks put a lot of
emphasis on humanity, and they talked
about the ideal man. All the way from The Golden Age
of the writings of Pericles, they spoke about the ideal man. And Luke presents Jesus as
the Son of man, the God man. As I mentioned, he shows stories
of the compassion of Jesus, includes a lot of the healings,
in fact, more healings than Matthew and Mark do. Look at verse 41 of chapter 1. And it happened when Elizabeth
heard the greeting of Mary-- this is when Mary came to
visit her cousin Elizabeth down in Judea-- when Elizabeth heard
the greeting of Mary that the babe leaped in
her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. This is something a doctor
would make a note of. The child leaped in the womb. I love this verse
because it shows me that the ministry
of John the Baptist began when he was
about nine inches long and weighed about
a pound and a half. And the fact that Dr. Luke
calls what is in her womb not a fetus but a baby
should answer the debate about when life begins. It's a baby in that womb,
and that baby leaped for joy at the announcement of Mary. It's just something I
wanted to point out. I think it's important that
Dr. Luke shows you that. OK. By the time we get to
chapter 3, he doesn't do it right away in chapter
1 like Matthew, but by the time we
get to chapter 3, Luke provides a
genealogy for us. Another genealogy, but
the names are different. Yes, he takes us all the
way back to King David, but he does not go through
David's son Solomon. He takes a left turn and goes
all the way back to David through another son
of David named Nathan. So you have two
different genealogies from different
ancestors of David all the way back to King David
taking two different routes. Why? It is believed that
Matthew's genealogy is the genealogy of Joseph, who
was the legal father of Jesus, though not the
biological father. And Luke's genealogy is the
genealogical record of Mary. Why? Why is that important? Why Joseph and why Mary? Well, I'm glad you asked. The Messiah was
predicted as one who will come through the royal
line of David, the royal line, the kingly line of David. But if you know
your Old Testament, you know that that
kingly line of David, God got finally so fed up
with the Kings of Judah that he pronounced
a curse on them, a blood curse, which kind
of ruins the whole, well, how is the Messiah going to
come if you got a blood curse on the royal line of David? Let me read it to you. This is Jeremiah 22, verse 30. The name is Jeconiah, that is
the King whose bloodline is cursed. He's in the royal line back
to Solomon, back to David. God says in Jeremiah 22,
verse 30, record this man, that is Jeconiah,
the royal heir, "record this man as if
childless, a man who will not prosper in his lifetime,
for none of his offspring will prosper, none will
sit on the throne of David or rule in Judah
anymore" end quote. And that happened. None of his, none of Jeconiah's
descendants sat on the throne. He was succeeded by his
uncle, not his offspring. So we scratch our head
and we go, now what? Do we have a contradiction? How is the Messiah going to come
through the royal line of David if the royal line ended? Answer, a virgin birth. That's the only solution to it. The only way to fix a blood
curse is a virgin birth. So you have Joseph's genealogy,
and Joseph is the legal father, though not the
biological father, because Jesus was conceived
by the Holy Spirit. But he is the legal father. So his genealogical
record, as given to us in the Gospel
records of Matthew, go all the way back to David
through the royal line, including Jeconiah,
including Solomon, all the way back to David. That bloodline is cursed. So the actual bloodline,
the biological bloodline through Mary, is traced
all the way back to David also from the same genetic
and household of David, but not through the
royal line, but back through his son Nathan
all the way back to David. So because of a
virgin birth, you can have the legal
right to reign, but a bloodline
that is not cursed. And that is the
only solution to how the Messiah can be
from the house of David with a cursed
bloodline in place. So if you're ever wondered, why
is a virgin birth important, that's why. OK, Luke follows
the same outline as the other Gospel writers,
the first two Gospel writers, Matthew and Mark. He does the Galilean ministry,
chapters 1 through 9, the Judean ministries,
chapter 10 through 19, and then the final week and
ensuing events, chapters 20 through 24. I'm going to take
you to chapter 19, and we're going to end in that
chapter, chapter 19, verse 41, because I want to
show you a snapshot of one of the hallmarks of Luke,
and that is compassion, Luke 19:41, "as Jesus
drew near," that is, drew near to the city of
Jerusalem, "he saw the city and he wept over it, saying,
if you had known, even you, especially in this
your day, the things that make for your peace but now
they are hidden from your eyes, for the day will come upon you
when your enemies will build an embankment around you,
surround you, and close you in on every side, level
you and your children within you to the ground. They will not leave
in you one stone upon another because
you did not know the time of your visitation." We've covered that in
depth so many times. Jesus was fulfilling, though
date predicted by Daniel the prophet that from the
going forth of the commandment to restore Jerusalem
until the Messiah the Prince would
be 173,880 days. This happened to be
the 173,880th day from the prediction of Artaxerxes
March 14, 445 BC, to this day, April 6, 32 AD. Boom. Jesus shows up, weeps over
the city because they didn't recognize what they
should have recognized because it was predicted. But that's the compassion. He weeps. He didn't go, told you
so, now you're dead meat. He weeps. He's moved to compassion. But I want to take you to-- I said chapter 19 is the last. Go to chapter 24. Last chapter, we're
ending the Synoptics here. Luke features a story
that has caused me much yearning over the years. It's the story of
the two disciples walking to Emmaus a village
not far from Jerusalem. They're walking alone. They're talking about the
events of the crucifixion. They're conversing
back and forth. They're at the very lowest
point, most confused point. Jesus comes walking
beside them incognito-- they do not recognize him-- starts having a conversation. Verse 17, he said to them,
what kind of conversation is this that you
have with one another as you walk and are sad? And then the one whose name
was Cleopus answered and said to him, are you the only
stranger in Jerusalem? Have you not known
the things which happened there in these days? And he said to
them, what things? So they said to him, "the things
concerning Jesus of Nazareth"-- they were talking to him-- "who is a prophet,
mighty indeed, in Word before God and all the people." Verse 27, after
this conversation, continues, "and beginning at
Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them
in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself." Verse 31, "and their
eyes were opened. They knew him. And then he vanished
from their sight." Verse 32, "and they
said to one another, did not our hearts burn
within us while he talked with us on the road and while
he opened the Scriptures to us?" Every time I read that
I go, oh man, If there is one Bible study I wish
Luke would have recorded, this is the one. I'd love to hear Jesus
interpret Old Testament Scripture in this ongoing
display presentation. Notice something about
this Bible study. Number one, it was a
prophetic Bible study. He wasn't afraid of prophecy. Number two, it was
expositional Bible study. He expounded all these things. And number three, it
was all about him. It was all about him. In Hebrews it says, "I come
in the volume of the Book. It is written of me." And then they said
to one another, "didn't our hearts burn within
us as he spoke with us?" Not "didn't our hearts burn
within us as we spoke to him" or "didn't our hearts
burn within us as we gazed into those eyes." "Didn't our hearts burn
within us as he spoke to us?" What did he speak to them? What the Scriptures in
the Old Testament say, he expounded Scripture to them. He expounded to them the
Scripture they grew up with, they knew from their youth. But boy, to hear him
explain what it means, their hearts burn. You want biblical heartburn? You want your heart to burn? It doesn't happen
when you talk to him. It doesn't happen when
you just sit around and talk to one another. It happens when the Holy
Spirit speaks to you the words you have
read many times before, but breaks them
afresh to your heart. It leaves you-- it sets
your heart on fire. Well, I wanted to talk
about the Synoptic problem, but we're out of time. So I can do that next time
when we're doing just one gospel, the Gospel of John. I'll talk about
that and finish up the four Gospels with the
Gospel of John next time. Let's pray. Father, thank you
that we're able to, week by week, look
at these large swaths of scriptural text. And tonight, Lord,
these glorious accounts penned by Matthew, one of
your followers, John Mark, who interviewed a follower
who is near and dear to your heart,
Peter, and then Luke, one who brought in a lot
of different sources, and spoke about these events,
and added his own flavor and details, especially
the compassion toward marginalized people,
three different perspectives following similar courses of
outline, but very different perspectives and
emphases that speak to us of our loving Savior,
who was the King of kings, the King of the Jews, who
was the servant of the Lord, and who was the ideal God man. Lord, I pray that as we go
back to reading these Gospels that we would see not
only their emphasis, but we would see
Jesus more clearly and fall in love
with him more deeply. We ask in his name, and
everybody said, Amen. We hope you enjoyed this message
from Skip Heitzig of Calvary Church. For more resources,
visit calvarynm.church. Thank you for joining us for
this teaching from The Bible from 30,000 feet.
