Participants:
Series Code: AU
Program Code: AU000061S
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00:01 - Have you ever wondered why when you open up the Bible,
00:03 you get four different versions of the life of Christ? 00:06 I mean wouldn't one gospel have done the trick? 00:09 Today, we're gonna take a look 00:11 at those four different accounts 00:12 and I'm gonna show you some fascinating details 00:15 that a lot of people miss. 00:17 [mellow music] 00:38 Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. 00:40 Those are names that fall pretty easily 00:42 from the mouths of Christian believers 00:44 because they're the most famous books of the Bible 00:46 or at least the most famous books of the New Testament. 00:51 They give us four different written accounts 00:53 of the life and ministry of Jesus. 00:55 Of course, some people say, 00:57 especially in the last few decades, 00:58 that we have more than four accounts 01:01 because a handful of Gnostic documents 01:04 surfaced in recent decades. 01:05 Books like the Gospel of Thomas or the Gospel of Judas, 01:10 both of which were discovered in the last century. 01:12 The the Gnostics were this ancient sect 01:15 that blended the teachings of pagan mystery schools 01:18 with some of the teachings of the Bible. 01:21 And most of their writings were composed 01:23 in either the second or third centuries, 01:25 which means they were written well after the event 01:28 you read about in the New Testament. 01:30 So, they were never ever included in the Christian Bible. 01:34 But the accounts that you do find in the Bible, 01:37 Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, 01:39 those are the works of people who were actually there. 01:42 They may have been written decades 01:43 after the crucifixion of Christ, 01:45 but they were written by people 01:47 who had firsthand knowledge of the events 01:49 they were writing about 01:50 or at least they personally knew people 01:53 who were actually there. 01:56 But some people still wonder, why do we need four of them? 01:59 I mean why didn't the disciples just get together 02:02 and decide on one authoritative biography? 02:04 Just one volume that gives all the important details. 02:08 I mean, if I go to my own library at home, 02:10 I have lots of biographies about famous historical people. 02:14 And quite often, 02:15 if we're talking about somebody from the ancient world, 02:17 I only have one version of their story, 02:20 one favorite author that I read almost exclusively 02:23 because that's all that exists. 02:26 But in the Bible, 02:27 we get four different versions of the Jesus story, 02:30 so you've got to wonder why. 02:33 Experience has taught me 02:34 that there really isn't any fluff in the Bible, 02:37 extra material that doesn't actually need to be there. 02:40 Everything in here is really important. 02:43 But at the same time, you'll notice that the Bible 02:45 can be occasionally repetitious. 02:48 For example, you'll find different Psalms 02:50 that actually repeat each other. 02:52 And when you read 1 and 2 Chronicles 02:54 and compare them to 1 and 2 Kings, 02:57 well, you will find a lot of overlap, 03:00 but you're also going to find varied details 03:03 and different nuances. 03:04 And they're all included in the final product 03:06 because having more than one perspective 03:08 can shed a lot of light on what you're thinking about. 03:13 I mean just think about real estate listings 03:16 like the kind you find on Redfin or Zillow. 03:18 What kinds of information do these websites provide 03:21 when you're shopping for a property? 03:23 Well, usually there's a series of photographs, 03:25 maybe 20 or 30, 03:27 showing you the different rooms of the house. 03:30 And you'll notice that some of them 03:31 will show you the same room from a different angle 03:33 so you can really understand the layout of the home. 03:37 Then right beside the pictures, 03:39 there's usually a printed list of facts with details 03:42 like square footage, the number of bedrooms, 03:45 the size of the lot, property taxes, and HOA fees. 03:49 It's another method of telling you about the same house 03:52 and it gives you details the photos can't provide. 03:55 So when you put all the information together, 03:58 you get a pretty good idea of what the property is like 04:01 even before you go and see it. 04:04 And that's kind of what's going on with the four gospels. 04:07 If we had only one account of the life of Christ, 04:10 it would be rather flat, like a two-dimensional picture. 04:13 But when you get four different versions of the same story 04:16 written by people from four different walks of life, 04:19 with four different personality types, 04:21 all telling the story for different kinds of audiences, 04:26 well, it suddenly becomes three-dimensional 04:28 and it also becomes more believable 04:31 because nobody really trusts eyewitness accounts 04:34 that sound completely alike. 04:36 In a court of law, 04:37 witnesses that tell exactly the same story, 04:40 well, it seems a little fishy and it looks like collusion. 04:44 But in the gospels, we get real people 04:46 telling the same story from different perspectives 04:49 and they're naturally different narratives. 04:51 And what you'll find is that many of the details 04:53 provided by each author unwittingly confirmed the details 04:57 provided by somebody else, which makes you tend to believe 05:01 that these guys were telling the truth. 05:04 Let me give you an example 05:05 from a story you find over in Matthew 4. 05:08 It's the story of Jesus recruiting some of his disciples, 05:12 and I'll start reading this account in verse 18 05:15 where it says, 05:16 "And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, 05:19 saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, 05:21 and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; 05:24 for they were fishermen." 05:26 So now, we've got Peter and Andrew. 05:28 "Then He said to them, 05:30 'Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.' 05:32 They immediately left their nets and followed Him. 05:35 Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, 05:37 James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, 05:40 in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. 05:44 He called them, and immediately they left the boat 05:47 and their father, and followed Him. 05:50 So here, we have the first four disciples, 05:53 Peter, Andrew, James, and John. 05:55 And of course, that was Matthew's version of the story. 05:58 What I want you to notice 06:00 is that Jesus first calls Peter and Andrew, 06:03 and then he calls James and John 06:05 who were busy mending their nets. 06:08 Now, when you read the same story 06:10 over in the Gospel of Luke, 06:11 you find a detail that Matthew never mentions. 06:14 In Luke 5, we read that Jesus saw two boats on the shore 06:19 and he asks Peter to take them out fishing. 06:21 It says, "Launch out into the deep 06:23 and let down your nets for a catch." 06:26 And Peter, who was always impetuous, protests. 06:29 "Listen," he says, 06:31 "this is a complete waste of time. 06:32 We've already been fishing all night 06:34 and we didn't catch a thing." 06:36 But Jesus insists. 06:37 And so, they go out on the water and try again. 06:40 And this time, Peter started catching so many fish 06:43 that he called to the other boat to come out and help. 06:46 Here's what the Bible says now in Luke 5 06:48 and you really need to pay attention to the detail here. 06:52 It says, "And when they had done this, 06:54 they caught a great number of fish, 06:56 and their net was breaking. 06:58 So they signaled to their partners in the other boat 07:00 to come and help them, 07:02 And they came and filled both the boats, 07:04 so that they began to sink." 07:06 So now we have two boats, one for Peter and Andrew 07:09 and the other one for James and John. 07:11 And it says that were so many fish 07:12 that the nets were breaking, 07:15 which takes us back to Matthew's account where it tells us 07:17 that James and John were mending their nets 07:19 when Jesus called them, but it never tells us why. 07:23 This is something 07:24 that 19th century Cambridge professor of Divinity, 07:26 J.J. Blunt, would've called an undesigned coincidence. 07:31 A case where minor details 07:32 found in different parts of the Bible 07:34 just happened to corroborate each other 07:36 and he found hundreds of them. 07:39 Nobody planned for this. 07:41 There was no writing committee that sat down and said, 07:43 "Now listen, Matthew, you tell part of the story, 07:46 but don't give too much detail. 07:48 And then Luke, when you tell the same story in your version, 07:51 go ahead and fill in some of the little bits 07:53 that Matthew leaves out, 07:55 because we think that overall 07:56 that would just make for a better anthology." 07:59 This is not a work of collusion. 08:01 These were different people writing at different times 08:04 and in different places, 08:06 and they just happened to agree with each other. 08:08 The whole enterprise, no matter what you think of it, 08:10 exudes honesty. 08:12 And these seem like real historical accounts. 08:16 Having access to four different records of the life of Jesus 08:19 proves to be really important. 08:22 When you read them, you get this real sense 08:24 that these people were describing real events. 08:27 This is not a work of mythology. 08:29 And yet at the same time, 08:30 it's also not really a work of biography, 08:32 at least not in the traditional sense. 08:35 And I'll be right back to explain why. 08:41 - [Narrator] Here at the Voice of Prophecy, 08:42 we're committed to creating top quality programming 08:45 for the whole family, like our audio adventure series, 08:47 "Discovery Mountain." 08:49 "Discovery Mountain," is a Bible-based program 08:52 for kids of all ages and backgrounds. 08:54 Your family will enjoy the faith building stories 08:57 from this small mountain summer camp pen town* 09:00 with 24 seasonal episodes every year 09:02 and fresh content every week. 09:04 There's always a new adventure just on the horizon. 09:11 - The fact that we have four different gospel accounts 09:14 means that we have four different perspectives 09:16 on the life and teachings of Christ, 09:18 which is really, really important 09:20 because people with different temperaments 09:22 and different backgrounds 09:23 are going to be looking for different things 09:25 when they come to the pages of the Bible. 09:28 This is a book that speaks to different people 09:30 in different ways. 09:32 Some of us are wired to be strictly factual 09:34 and others have a passion for things like history or poetry. 09:39 Other people will be artistic or deeply relational. 09:42 So no matter how you happen to be wired, 09:45 you're gonna find some aspect of this story 09:47 that really speaks to you. 09:49 You know, over in the Book of Revelation, 09:51 it describes the new Jerusalem, the heavenly city. 09:55 And it says that the city has 12 different gates, 09:57 three on each side. 09:59 Above the 12 gates, 10:00 you find the names of the 12 tribes of Israel. 10:03 It also says there are 12 foundations 10:05 and each one of those is named for one of the 12 apostles. 10:09 Now, when you go back to Genesis 49, 10:12 you find the patriarch Jacob giving detailed descriptions 10:16 of his son's personality traits. 10:18 And of course, all of his boys were quite different. 10:21 The same was true of the 12th disciples. 10:23 They had widely diverging personality types. 10:26 So what some Bible students think is that the new Jerusalem 10:30 is telling us that God has made a way for every personality 10:34 to find Him. 10:35 There's an access point to the kingdom for everybody. 10:38 No matter what your individual mindset, 10:40 no matter what your personality quirks, 10:42 no matter how weird your friends think you are, 10:46 God values you uniquely and He's provided a path for you 10:50 to discover Him. 10:51 So when God gave us four different gospel accounts, 10:54 it's possible that He was opening as many doors as possible, 10:58 telling the story in enough different ways 11:00 that everybody can find Him. 11:02 And each of the four authors 11:04 appears to have a different audience in mind. 11:07 Matthew seems to be writing to brand new believers, 11:10 teaching them what it means to be a disciple of Christ. 11:13 Mark appears to be writing to unbelievers, 11:16 trying to convince them 11:17 that there's something really special 11:19 about this Jesus of Nazareth. 11:22 Luke was a Gentile 11:23 and he seems to be directing his message 11:25 at the non-Jewish world. 11:27 And John, of course, was the deep thinker, 11:30 the disciple who was closer to Jesus than all the rest. 11:33 And he appears to be writing to more established Christians, 11:37 people who have already been following Christ for some time. 11:42 But the structure of these four books 11:44 goes a lot deeper than that 11:46 and this is where things get really interesting. 11:49 If you dig through the writings of ancient Christians, 11:52 what you'll find is that many of them believe 11:54 that the four gospel writers correspond 11:57 to the four faces of the cherubim, 12:00 a special kind of angel that you find 12:02 in the books of Ezekiel and Revelation. 12:05 Well, let's take a quick look at Revelation 4 12:07 so I can show you what I'm talking about. 12:09 This was written by John, who was experiencing 12:12 a vision of the throne room of God, and here's what it says, 12:17 "Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal. 12:20 And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, 12:22 were four living creatures full of eyes 12:24 in front and in back. 12:26 The first living creature was like a lion, 12:28 the second living creature like a calf, 12:30 the third living creature had a face like a man, 12:33 and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle." 12:37 Now, when you compare that passage 12:39 to Ezekiel 1 and Ezekiel 10, 12:42 you discover that these strange looking creatures 12:44 are cherubim, the angels who stand 12:46 right next to the throne of God. 12:49 Their job is to proclaim God's glory to the universe. 12:52 So in this vision, you find them singing 12:54 "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, 12:58 who was and is and is to come!" 13:01 And they're singing this song with four faces, 13:03 the face of a lion, the face of a calf, 13:06 the face of a man, and the face of an eagle. 13:09 Now, what you find 13:11 in the writings of ancient Christians is this idea 13:13 that because there are four creatures 13:14 singing this song in heaven, 13:16 there should be four different writers 13:18 telling the story of Jesus on earth. 13:20 And wouldn't you know it, 13:22 the four gospels just happen to have 13:24 the same characteristics as the four faces of the cherubim. 13:28 I mean just listen to this astonishing passage 13:30 written by the Church Father Irenaeus 13:33 during the second century A.D. 13:35 where he explains why we should only expect 13:38 to have four gospels. 13:40 Not three, not five, but four. 13:44 Here's what he wrote. 13:45 "As also David says, when entreating His manifestation, 13:49 You that sits between the cherubim, shine forth. 13:52 For the cherubim, too, were four-faced, and their faces 13:55 were images of the dispensation of the Son of God. 13:59 For as the Scripture says, 14:00 the first living creature was like a lion. 14:02 Revelation 4:7 symbolizing His effectual working, 14:06 His leadership, and royal power; 14:08 the second living creature was like a calf 14:11 signifying His sacrificial and sacerdotal order; 14:15 but the third had, as it were, the face of a man, 14:17 an evident description of His advent as a human being; 14:21 the fourth was like a flying eagle, 14:23 pointing out the gift of the Spirit 14:25 hovering with His wings over the church." 14:28 This was a pretty common understanding of the gospels 14:31 in the earliest days of the Christian Church 14:34 and it was taught for many centuries. 14:37 In fact, a few years ago, 14:38 Jean and I visited the Rock of Cashel in Ireland 14:41 where tradition says St. Patrick converted 14:44 the pagan king of Munster. 14:46 At the top of the hill, you find these old church ruins, 14:50 which date back to the 1200s. 14:52 And among the bits and pieces they've collected 14:55 in the neighboring museum, you find four engravings 14:58 depicting the four gospel writers. 15:00 Each one of them portrayed 15:02 as one of the four faces of the cherubim. 15:06 Now, when you study it carefully, 15:07 you discover they were right. 15:09 Each one of the gospels does connect somehow 15:11 to the four faces of the cherubim. 15:14 So for example, Matthews Gospel, 15:17 it was written for new believers 15:18 and he's trying to demonstrate how Jesus 15:20 really is the long awaited Messiah, 15:23 the lion of the tribe of Judah. 15:26 He establishes Jesus' official credentials, 15:29 which is only natural because Matthew 15:31 was a government official 15:32 so, well, official records would be important to him. 15:36 He opens his account by saying this, 15:39 "The book of the genealogy of Jesus, Christ, 15:41 the son of David, the son of Abraham." 15:45 He's demonstrating that Jesus 15:47 is the rightful heir to David's throne. 15:49 He's the Messianic King 15:50 they've all been waiting for. 15:52 Jesus was the prophetic branch 15:54 predicted in Jeremiah 23, where it says 15:57 that one of David's descendants 15:59 would be the ultimate king. 16:01 Here's what it says in Jeremiah 23:5, 16:04 "'Behold, the days are coming,' says the Lord, 16:06 'That I will raise to David a branch of righteousness,'" 16:10 Now, don't forget that title, the Branch, 16:12 because you're gonna see it again. 16:14 "A king shall reign and prosper 16:16 and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth." 16:19 What we have in Matthews Gospel is Jesus the Lion, 16:23 the Messianic King. 16:25 Then in Mark, we have a slightly different perspective 16:27 because he emphasizes the things that Jesus did. 16:30 Compared to Matthew or Luke, 16:32 Mark doesn't give us much in the way of what Jesus says, 16:35 Instead, he shows us Jesus, the patient worker, 16:39 the one who came as a servant, 16:40 kind of like an ox that works patiently in the field. 16:45 And of course, the Old Testament also predicted 16:47 that the Branch would be a servant. 16:49 This comes from Zechariah 3:8, where it says, 16:53 "For behold, I am springing forth 16:55 my servant, the Branch." 16:58 So now, we have the regal lion of Matthew, 17:01 and we have the servant Ox from Mark, 17:04 which are the first two faces of the cherubim, 17:07 a detail that was not lost on early believers. 17:10 And right after I take another quick break, 17:13 I'll come back to show you how the other two gospels 17:16 reveal the other two faces of the cherubim. 17:19 I'll be right back after this. 17:25 - [Narrator] Dragons, beasts, cryptic statues, 17:29 Bible prophecy can be incredibly vivid and confusing. 17:34 If you've ever read Daniel and Revelation, 17:36 then come away scratching your head, you are not alone. 17:39 Our free "Focus on Prophecy," guides are designed 17:42 to help you unlock the mysteries of the Bible 17:44 and deepen your understanding of God's plan 17:47 for you and our world. 17:48 Study online or request them by mail 17:51 and start bringing prophecy into focus today. 17:54 - All right, we're back from the break. 17:56 So now, it's time to take a look at the book of Luke. 17:59 You'll remember that Matthew emphasized 18:02 how Jesus was Messiah, the rightful heir to David's throne. 18:06 And Mark emphasized how Jesus was a patient servant 18:10 by describing what Jesus did to help us. 18:14 And now Luke, the Gentile physician, 18:16 describes Jesus as the son of man. 18:20 What you find in the third gospel is a vivid contrast 18:24 between the perfection of Christ 18:27 and the broken fallen state of the human race. 18:31 And of course, to Luke's world, the Gentile world, 18:34 there was a lot of emphasis on physical perfection, 18:37 particularly among the Greeks. 18:40 So it seems highly likely that God would choose a physician 18:44 to talk to those people. 18:46 I mean, just go back and take a look 18:47 at all the ancient Greek statues and you'll see what I mean. 18:50 They were absolutely obsessed 18:52 with finding physical perfection. 18:55 So Luke describes Jesus as the ultimate person, 18:59 the epitome of what it means to be an authentic human being. 19:04 He shows us Jesus, the man, 19:06 which of course is the third face of the cherubim. 19:10 And again, this was foreshadowed 19:11 by the Old Testament with another prediction 19:14 about Jesus, the Branch. 19:16 This one coming from Zechariah 6:12, where the Bible says, 19:21 "Behold, the man whose name is the Branch! 19:24 From His place, He shall branch out 19:26 and He shall build the temple of the Lord." 19:30 Now, remember Matthew said the branch was a king, 19:33 the lion of the tribe of Judah. 19:36 Mark described the branch as a servant, an ox-like figure. 19:40 And Luke describes him as a man 19:43 and he gives us the story of Jesus as a human being, 19:47 God in human flesh, the Son of Man. 19:52 Which brings us to the gospel of John. 19:54 A document that reads quite differently 19:57 from the other three. 19:59 Bible scholars often called the first three gospels, 20:02 the synoptics, which means, 20:04 well, they kind of tell the story in a similar way 20:06 down a similar path. 20:08 They're really closely related. 20:10 The word synoptic actually means to see together 20:14 from the similar perspective. 20:16 But then when you get to John, 20:18 you get a completely different flavor. 20:20 The story opens by pulling back the curtain of the universe 20:24 to give us a glimpse into the very beginning of time. 20:28 And it describes Jesus not as the Son of Man, 20:32 but as the Son of God. 20:34 The narrative just kind of takes off with stunning language, 20:37 lifting us up to the heights and giving us 20:40 a glimpse of things that you can't see 20:42 from an earthbound perspective. 20:45 That's why the earliest Christians identified John's gospel 20:49 as an eagle. 20:50 And yet again, we have an Old Testament prophecy 20:53 about the branch that corresponds directly 20:56 to the way that John describes him. 20:59 Listen to what it says in Isaiah 4, 21:02 "In that day, the Branch of the Lord 21:05 shall be beautiful and glorious; 21:08 and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and appealing 21:10 for those of Israel who have escaped. 21:14 Matthew, Mark, and Luke describe Jesus from the ground, 21:17 which is where you find lions, oxen, and people. 21:21 But John describes Him as beautiful and glorious, 21:24 and he gives us, well, a heavenly perspective. 21:27 I mean, just listen to the way it opens over 21:29 in John 1, I think you'll see what I mean. 21:32 Listen to this stunning language, it says, 21:34 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, 21:38 and the Word was God. 21:39 He was in the beginning with God. 21:41 All things were made through Him, 21:43 and without Him, nothing was made that was made. 21:46 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 21:50 And the light shines in the darkness, 21:52 and the darkness did not comprehend it." 21:56 Right at the outset, John establishes 21:59 the deity of Christ. 22:02 So what we have in the four gospels 22:04 is a very detailed account of how Jesus answers 22:07 to all the Old Testament prophecies. 22:10 He is Messiah, the King of the Jews, 22:12 the rightful heir to David's throne. 22:15 He's the suffering servant of Isaiah, 22:17 the one who came to do the Father's will 22:19 and to serve the human race in order to save us. 22:23 He is the Son of Man, 22:24 the member of the Godhead who became 22:26 a real flesh and blood human being just like us 22:30 in order to identify with us completely. 22:33 The Book of Hebrew says, 22:34 "For we do not have a high priest 22:37 who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, 22:40 but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin." 22:44 Paul tells Timothy that, 22:46 "God was manifested in the flesh," 22:49 which means that Jesus really understands what it means 22:52 to live here. 22:53 And of course, Jesus is also the Son of God, 22:57 the one equal to the Father. 22:59 The one who was open the way for you and I 23:01 to come back to the throne of God 23:03 and to be remade in His image 23:06 like we were originally in the very beginning. 23:09 And wouldn't you know it, when the Book of Revelation 23:12 describes the four faces of the cherubim, 23:14 the lion, the ox, the man, and the eagle, 23:18 well, it gives them in the very same order 23:20 as the four gospels. 23:22 Now, that might be a coincidence, 23:25 but after studying this book for such a long time, 23:27 I somehow doubt it. 23:30 The way these four gospels are structured 23:32 and the way they show us different aspects of who Jesus was, 23:36 well, the more you read it, 23:37 the more you start to discover that none of this 23:39 could possibly be just coincidence or accident. 23:43 Every nuance right down to the structure 23:45 of the narrative itself is carefully designed 23:48 to reveal something really important. 23:50 And the more you study it, 23:52 the more intricate it gets. 23:54 To the point where you really start to suspect 23:57 that this book might be covered 23:59 with the fingerprints of somebody much, much bigger than us. 24:03 I'll be right back after this. 24:09 - [Narrator] Life can throw a lot at us. 24:11 Sometimes we don't have all the answers, 24:14 but that's where the Bible comes in. 24:17 It's our guide to a more fulfilling life. 24:20 Here at the Voice of Prophecy, 24:21 we've created the "Discover Bible," guides 24:24 to be your guide to the Bible. 24:25 They're designed to be simple, easy to use, 24:28 and provide answers to many of life's toughest questions, 24:31 and they're absolutely free. 24:33 So jump online now or give us a call 24:35 and start your journey of discovery. 24:39 - Over the coming weeks, 24:40 I'm gonna look at each of the four gospels individually 24:43 because I want you to see how every one of them 24:46 is designed to show us something important, 24:48 something unique about Jesus. 24:51 These are not just four biographies. 24:53 In fact, I'm not even sure the word biography works here 24:57 because modern biographies tend to focus 25:00 on the events of somebody's lifetime 25:02 or maybe the achievements of some great individual. 25:05 And then near the very end, 25:07 you get a relatively quick description 25:08 of how that person died. 25:11 The focus in a biography is someone's lifetime, 25:14 and more often than not, 25:15 the author starts with the birth of the protagonist, 25:19 but that's not the way it is with the gospels. 25:21 I mean, they do give some details from Jesus' life, 25:24 but these are mostly restricted to the last few years. 25:28 Mark doesn't even mention His birth. 25:30 He just starts with the baptism of Christ, 25:32 which happens at the very beginning of His public ministry. 25:36 And for some reason, all four gospels 25:39 devote more space to Jesus' death than anything else. 25:43 It all comes down to the final week of His life, 25:46 when He dies the humiliating death of a criminal. 25:49 And then, these writers dare to suggest 25:52 that He actually came back from the dead. 25:56 That's not what you would find 25:57 in what we would call a biography, 26:00 which is why I say the gospels are not biographies. 26:03 They're gospels. 26:04 That's a compound Germanic word. 26:06 It's good spell or good news. 26:09 It's translated from a Greek word that was used to describe, 26:13 well, the news. 26:15 It was the word they used to describe a messenger 26:17 who came to your village 26:18 with earth-shattering announcements, 26:20 the kind that would change your life forever. 26:23 He would tell you about the death of an emperor 26:25 or the devastating loss on a battlefield, 26:28 or any other bit of news that meant that your life 26:31 was going to change. 26:34 And that's exactly what the four gospels are. 26:36 They tell the story of a man who healed the sick 26:39 and raised the dead. 26:41 He spoke with such profound wisdom 26:43 that He routinely stumped the smartest people in the room. 26:46 And the Apostle Peter summarized His life 26:48 by saying, "He went about doing good." 26:52 Yet for some reason, the same man was put to death, 26:55 tortured mercilessly like a common criminal. 26:58 And if that was the end of the story, 27:00 I doubt that these four gospels 27:01 would have such incredible staying power. 27:04 But then they say, 27:05 this man also came back from the dead 27:07 and countless millions of people claim 27:09 that He's still alive today. 27:11 In fact, they actually claim to know Him. 27:15 There is no other work of literature quite like this. 27:17 And if you've never actually read the gospels for yourself, 27:20 maybe it's time to give it a try. 27:22 Maybe start with the Gospel of Mark. 27:24 It's short enough that you can actually read it 27:26 in one sitting. 27:27 And I think you'll start to see 27:29 what all the fuss has been about for the last 2,000 years. 27:33 Thanks for joining me today. 27:35 I'm Shawn Boonstra and this has been "Authentic." 27:39 [upbeat music] 28:08 [upbeat music continues] |
Revised 2023-01-10