Weekly Blog

For decades, Christians have pored over the words of Mark 13, Matthew 24, and Luke 21, searching for signs of the end times. Books have been written, movies produced, and countless theories proposed about how these passages foretell future events. But what if we've been reading them all wrong?

In the Gospels, Jesus is taught the Gospel of the Kingdom. He does this in several ways:

In the Gospels, there are many titles for Jesus. However, there are three main titles – Son of God, Christ (Messiah), and Son of Man. I have already looked at “Son of God” and “Christ” so this week we will finish by looking at the title “Son of Man.” The most popular title for Jesus in the Gospels is actually “Son of Man.” The title of “Son of Man” is used 82 times in the Gospels – one more time than the total of Christ and Son of God combined! It is the most popular designation for Jesus in the synoptic Gospels, occurring 30 times in Matthew, 14 in Mark, 25 in Luke, and 13 in John (thus a few less than ‘Christ’ in John.)

In the Gospels, there are many titles for Jesus. However, there are three main titles – Son of God, Christ (Messiah), and Son of Man. Last time I looked at “Son of God” so this week we will look at the title “Christ” (or Messiah). Jesus is referred to as “Christ” even more often than as the Son of God. The word Christ occurs 54 times in the Gospels, almost always in reference to Jesus or to the Old Testament promise that the Christ would come. The word Christ appears 16 times in Matthew, 7 in Mark, 12 in Luke, and 19 in John.

In the Gospels, there are many titles for Jesus. However, there are three main titles – Son of God, Christ (Messiah), and Son of Man. We will look at one of these in each of the next three weeks. The Gospel refers to Jesus as the Son of God (or the equivalent phrase Son of the Most High or Son of the Blessed One) 27 times. The use of the title is fairly evenly spread among the Gospels: 8 times in Matthew, 5 in Mark, 8 in Luke, and 6 in John.

Last time we saw how the beginning of each Gospel draws heavily upon the Old Testament with quotes and allusions. Today I want to show that comparing the way each Gospel begins and ends shows how the story of Jesus is the fulfillment of key Old Testament themes. This is true for all four Gospels.

When we open our New Testament, we are greeted with four Gospels. Each Gospel gives a unique yet consistent and complementary picture of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The fact Jesus is the focus and fulfillment of the Old Testament may be seen in how each of the four Gospels begins with clear quotes or allusions to the Old Testament to show that the story of Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament.

Last time we saw that the Old Testament was divided into three sections in the Jewish Canon. These were the Law (Torah), the Prophets (Nevi’im), and the Writings (Ketuvim). The first letters of the Hebrew words for Law Prophets and Writings may be seen in the modern name for the Jewish canon – TaNaK. As Christians, the Scripture is not only the Old Testament – it is both the Old and New Testament. In fact, the New Testament is the fulfillment of the Old Testament. We see this a few ways.

The Old Testament was divided into three sections in the Jewish Canon. These were the Law (Torah), the Prophets (Nevi’im), and the Writings (Ketuvim).

In Christ, Bret