Get a map

The Ordnance Survey is revered as a British institution in the field of mapping the country.  It is renowned for the accuracy and clarity of detail in its publications.  There is also an on-line facility I like for plotting routes I am planning to walk, or recording those that I have actually done.  It is called "getamap".  When heading out onto the hills, it is vital to have a map, and the ability to read and use it.  Mountain rescue teams regularly bemoan the fact that people set off without the right clothing and maps.  Sadly, with the use of satnav devices in cars, map reading skills seem to be in decline.

Once the skills have been developed, map lovers can easily spend hours poring over them.  The symbols for the contours, the transport networks, the rivers and valleys, the woods and crags, and all sorts of land use and man made landmarks all create a vivid impression of an area, even if it has never been visited.  When out in the field, provided you can keep tabs on where you actually are on the ground, you can then proceed with certainty when confronted with a junction in the path or road requiring a choice or decision to be made.

Life is often likened to a journey.  Rightly, the Bible has often been likened to the map for life's journey.  God is a higher authority even than the Ordnance Survey.  If we can put our trust in man-made maps, surely we can even more securely trust the Word of God?  It shows where we go wrong and how things can be put right.  It presents the destinations that lie ahead of all people beyond death - either heaven or hell.  It shows precisely how to avoid the one and gain the other.    God presents His own perspective on what is right and wrong, and who are we to argue?  He defines sin and concludes that all have sinned and deserve hell.  There is a clearly signed crossroads at the heart of the route selection - the cross of Christ, the meaning of His death and resurrection.  God provides a Saviour and makes Him freely available to everybody, so that we can escape hell and be certain of heaven.  All we need to do is to recognise our need and accept God's provision.

All too often we want to take short cuts.  We may not realise that there is an obstacle or pitfall to be avoided, maybe a difficult river crossing, a bog, a crag.  Others only ever want to use motorways and refuse to explore the by roads and so miss out on many of the most special places there are to see.  In the journey of life too, short cuts can be dangerous, or simply doing nothing than following the crowd after entertainment or material gain.

To get right with God, there is no short cut avoiding the cross of Christ.  Jesus Christ is the key to the Bible. Just like maps, the Bible comes to life when we understand the key meanings of the message being conveyed.  God is not hiding things from us, but because the truth often hurts, we try to avoid or alter the message to suit ourselves.  We want to earn God's blessing, even when He says we cannot.  We want to choose for ourselves what is right or wrong even when He sets the parameters as is His absolute prerogative.  We prefer darkness even as God is providing us with light.  If only we allow Him to turn on the light for us, we will start to see the beauty and fullness of the message he has for us.  The person of Christ becomes precious, His death and resurrection become central to our life and purpose, and the destination of heaven is assured.  Our lives can be transformed and have totally new and real motivation and meaning.

When going out for a walk in a new place, nobody with an interest in the world around would set off without a map, and one which is reliable at that.  When journeying through life, likewise, we should not proceed without the one reliable guide from the Maker's hands, the Bible.  Life is too serious to make mistakes on the most important issues.  Don't just accept any old plan for life, get The Map.  Don't just make assumptions about its message, make sure you have a first hand understanding.

A good map satisfies the needs of multitudes of visitors with differing interests.  In the journey of life, we all have twists and turns that are individual to us, but the Bible is able to speak personally to each and every human life with truth and authority, with direct relevance and yet with grace and mercy too.  Don't relegate The Map to some dusty shelf in the corner.

First steps - the journey begins

Every family must have events which become landmarks of the family history.  They may not be really significant in themselves, but they become established as important moments for the collective family memory.  I must have been about four and a half years old when one such event in our family took place, and I am sure I actually remember the actual time as well as the retelling of it.  My brother was at about the average age for learning to walk, but had not shown much sign of progress.  He turned out to be one of those who suddenly just got up one day and walked right across the room with a look of absolute triumph on his face.  I was there, and I am sure of the memory.  My parents never spoke about my first steps, or those of my other brother - they must have developed more gradually, but those first steps of Iain have become legendary.

No baby is able to walk at birth.  No child has ever been born with an existing Christian faith.  True Christianity has always been within a generation of dying out, because mere outward tradition can never save.  Many children growing in Christian homes have trusted Christ in young years, as young as 4 or 5, and have little conception of life without knowing the Saviour.  But all have their first steps into new life, it is indeed described in the Bible as being born again, so definite is the fact of a new beginning.

The first steps are steps of faith.  Faith in a person, Jesus Christ, and what He did - died for our sins and rose again with the promise of forgiveness of sins and new, eternal life.  John's gospel consistently gets to the core of the matter.  The key word of his Gospel is "believe".  It is always good to read the context of the 99 or so references to the word and check out whether your own beliefs in (not merely about) Jesus Christ match up with the depth of experience that John writes about.  The first steps of any journey may be tentative, but they must be real in our experience, and so it is with the Christian faith.

Whether coming to faith as child, or when older, the first steps in the Christian faith are the start of the most important journey anyone can ever experience in this world.  The transformation is so dramatic that it is described in vivid ways in the Bible. It is a journey from darkness to light, from death to life - and the Bible is not prone to exaggeration.  But the journey has to have the first step.  "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved" are the simple terms.  The cross of Christ is the starting place, as Christian discovered in "Pigrim's Progress".  Yes, there are footsteps that first lead towards that point of the cross, but salvation is real when what was done at the cross becomes personal, so that we can say with Paul that Jesus is "the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me".  Without that clear personal testimony, any spiritual journey we may believe we are on is empty and meaningless.  We must not be content with knowing things about the Bible, or about Jesus.  We must be able to say with conviction "I know whom I have believed".  That alone will be sufficient to assure that we are truly on the Christian journey, where Christ is all in all for life, for death, and beyond.

I have written from the point of view of our own real life perspective and experience.  Trusting in Christ is an active step, involving our wills and the whole of our being.  But from another perspective, we see that God has also been at work throughout.  His Holy Spirit brings conviction of sin, and points to Christ as Saviour.  We read that that Lord Jesus seeks and saves those who are lost.  He finds us just as much, or maybe even more, than we find Him.  We can never properly express or explain the two sides of this salvation truth and the way they come together, but everyone who has truly taken the steps of faith comes to know without question the significance and reality of the new direction in their lives.  It is a journey full of wonder and excitement, but never ever an easy one - any message to the contrary is false and not Biblical.  There are many positive challenges from God to grow and test our faith.  There are many negative pitfalls to disrupt and discourage our faith because we enter into a spiritual battlefield of great intensity.  But Christ is with us all the way, one step at a time, and He only asks us to be with Him at this walking pace, a step at a time.  He promises too to be with us, a step at a time.

We meet Him and start the journey in many different ways, but always through an experience of the cross, what it meant for Christ, and what it must mean for every real Christian.  We cannot by pass the cross and join the journey at any later stage.  We must experience those first steps, or the journey cannot be valid.  A train journey is not valid without a ticket.  The death and resurrection of Christ is the only ticket on offer for a relationship with God and a journey to His presence in heaven.

Walking in Matthew's Gospel

I must admit that it was a surprise to find that there are only 7 references to the word "walk" in Matthew's Gospel.  However, we should realise that most of the travels that Jesus undertook, which were considerable in number and distance, were done on foot.  It was just the normal means of travel.  It was taken for granted by the writers of Gospels that walking would have been the means by which Jesus travelled throughout the Holy Land, and the occasional mention of donkeys and asses in the Lord's journeys are almost certainly exceptions deserving of their special mention.

Today, we would all assume that working people who travel as part of their work are going by car or train, or even regularly flying in the USA.  We would not always expect to refer to the means of travel, just refer to the places we had been for the meetings or business appointments.  These days we would certainly remark on it as an exception if someone was travelling large distances on foot.  This reminds us just how much life has changed in our usual experience of the modern world.

Simply, the fact that walking would be taken so much for granted helps to explain the lack of references, and the context of the references that are made.  We will look at them briefly, not in order.

The first is the call of Jesus to His disciples (Matt 4:18).  He was walking by the sea of Galilee when He called Simon (Peter) and his brother Andrew.  They were fishermen, and He was about to bring a transformation in their lives.  The record said that they left their nets and followed Him -  literally following in His footsteps as well as His teachings.  They were gradually to cease their lives based on and around the lake and boats and fish.  Later it was explained that they were to be fishers of men.  To follow Jesus would surely have involved walking greater distances than they were used to, visiting a much wider range of places than could ever have expected to see, and seeing far more people on their journeys than they were used to meeting and socialising with.

Walking by the Sea of Galilee was one thing, but no less than three of the remaining six references are about walking on the Sea of Galilee (Matt. 14:25, 26 and 29).  Now there was some walking that really merited comment!  What is natural on land certainly is not on water - people literally sink or swim.  But Jesus did not sink or swim, He walked in a perfectly poised and composed manner on the surface of the Sea of Galilee.  This is one of the notable miracles displaying His glory as the Son of God.  It shows His physical and practical rule over the world of nature.  But seas and stormy waters in the Bible are also often intended as a vivid picture of the moral and political swirls and turmoil of the world in which so many people suffer and toil.  And all the toil and activity never really seems to lead to sustained healthy and peaceful progress.  How lovely, we think, it would be to sail calmly through life as though we were walking on the surface of the waves.  This is exactly the picture Jesus was portraying, which Peter picked up on.  He wanted to join Jesus, and he too briefly walked on the water, before his faith failed and he sank and had to cry out for help.  In this world we need help from the Lord if we are not to sink beneath the troubles.  By faith, He can bring peace, joy and contentment even in the midst of continuing turmoil that often continues to affect believers directly and seriously.

The remaining three references also concern miracles of the Lord - the healing of people who were lame.  When society relied so heavily on walking, we little appreciate how serious a problem lameness must have been.  Even today, with all the helps available, mobility can still be a very big issue for individuals trying to carry on a normal life.  Twice the fact that Jesus made the lame walk is mentioned by Matthew in general statements about the healing miracles he performed.  It is a central idea of this site that we should see how walking is likened to the journey through life.  Being unable to walk means a serious lack of being able to participate in the same healthy activity as others.  Leprosy speaks of sin, sight speaks of faith and our eyes being opened to our need of a Saviour and the way Jesus perfectly fulfils that role for us.  Lameness being healed speaks of a new direction in our lives, motivation, and a new ability to make progress and grow in faith and works as believers.

The reference I have left to last is a very important one, from Matthew 9:5.  I often think of it as the pattern miracle for understanding their spiritual as well as practical meaning.  Denying the miracles of Christ is a total denial of who He is.   It was a required sign of the Messiah that He would be a miracle worker.  In this instance we have a more detailed account of an individual healing of a lame man.  There were numerous eyewitnesses, as on many other occasions.  They are amongst the best attested facts of history.  If Jesus is who He claimed to be, there should be little question of accepting His ability to overcome forces of nature. After all, He created them in the first place.

When Jesus was presented with the man in all his obvious need, He said "Your sins are forgiven".  This is not to suggest a direct relationship between particular sins and illness or disease.  The Bible is clear that all have sinned, however outwardly healthy or otherwise we may appear.  The Lord's later question is the key, after he had healed the man with the impressive visual results.  He asked "Which is easier to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise and walk'?   For us we cannot say 'Arise and walk' with any authority whatsoever.  We know that we cannot merely speak and achieve such a transformation in someone's life.  It is the very definition of a miracle.  Yet Christ could achieve it with ease through the spoken word.  'Your sins are forgiven you' are words without any immediate visual signs of results or reality of achievement.  What does being forgiven look like?  It is an internal heart matter.  But Jesus knew that the reality of forgiveness was the most important need of humanity, far outweighing this man's need to walk.  He also knew it would be achieved at great cost.  He could speak the words, but the words alone were almost meaningless.  In that way they might be seen as cheap and easy to say.  However, He knew He would in fact have to die at the cross and rise again to achieve real grounds of forgiveness for this man and for us.  Jesus could easily speak the words to heal the blind, deaf or lame, and the results were immediate and clear.  For us to know the reality of forgiveness from God, Jesus had to do far more than speak a few words.  Let us always remember that the genuine offer of forgiveness to all of us, who are sinners in the sight of a holy God, was achieved at the cost of the cross.  Rejection of that true demonstration of love is a serious step when all that God requires of us is simple repentance, faith, trust and thankfulness for a work perfectly achieved on our behalf.  We can be the recipients of the greatest miracle of all, achieved at the greatest cost - forgiveness and eternal life in a loving relationship with God as Father through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Thoughts on writing

When walking in normal conditions, the tracks left are intermittent and indistinct.  Walking in fresh snow is quite different, you become very conscious that every footstep and stop and change of direction is being clearly marked in your wake.  Committing to paper is rather like leaving such a trail of footprints for others to see.  It can be difficult to go back and recover anything you might later come to regret.  In another way, committing to the written word can also feel like venturing onto thin ice.  It is all a little bit scary.  A thought may be quite clear to the writer but be lost or open to misinterpretation by the reader.

The same of course is true in conversation and in spoken ministry (especially if recorded) but people are usually much more forgiving of an exaggeration or lack of clarity in expression in the moment of speaking.  Still, there are lots of warnings in the Bible about the damage the tongue can do, but the damage of the pen can be even greater.  So it has been in a spirit of caution that I have from time to time ventured into writing on the internet, but also borne out of conviction about the issues tackled.

There are many areas of Christian doctrine and Bible study I feel ill-qualified to enter into.  A sad fact is that so many, whether in spoken or written ministry, feel that every issue and area has to be tackled with equal authority by the individual teacher, whether as writer or as pastor of a Church.  This is where the combination of a "one man ministry" together with a rigid "expository" approach can lead to pitfalls.  Commentaries and studies on specific Bible books, covering each and every verse and phrase in depth, are popular with writers and readers, and seem very orderly and proper, but this is not a direction I would feel able to travel.

There are important areas of the faith and our understanding of salvation and the Christian life that I feel I have been struggling with for years, and still would find it hard to commit to paper a "full, firm and final" position.  I still feel that for every Christian there is an ongoing journey or pilgrimage where the destination will never be truly reached in this life.  When I write, I would certainly wish to write with conviction and a clear presentation of the authority and clarity of Scripture.  It's just that the truths are so vast, and beyond even the  wonderful capabilities of the gift of language that we have to communicate.  In our speaking and writing, the human element can easily get in the way, leading to mis-communication between speaker and hearer, or writer and reader.  So I would also hope for an element of exploration, of seeking to discover, rather than having to express things as complete and final in their expression.

Writers have a great responsibility.  At the rate at which books, documents and on-line material is being churned out, I am increasingly aware of the unhelpful content and style of so much material.  People think that complete dogmatism is the only positive sign of maturity and understanding. I often find, that as soon as I write something down so that it appears in hard black and white, I immediately want to qualify it in some way.  I know that there are fundamental and definitive truths which cannot and must not be compromised or qualified.

The Lord, in His wonderful wisdom, was able to take each contact with a person on the individual merits of the circumstances.  He did not appear to have a rigid system or blueprint, although He never diverted from the absolute truth.  His flexibility of approach to speaking with people shines through in the Gospels.  We do not have the same insights into the hearts and needs of individuals, and usual have to resort to general rather than particular in any writing or speaking.  I find one to one witnessing and Christian counselling extremely challenging because of the lack of understanding of the real individual heart of the issues an individual is facing.  I know how evasive I can be if someone is advising me, even if I know I really do want some advice!

I would love to be able to answer every question with a blaze of clear, incisive text that would sweep up every reader into the fulness of the truths of God.  Probably most writers are seeking to do that as their ultimate and worthy aim.  I have a real feeling that is just not a realistic or even altogether good aim.  I would rather write as a pilgrim to other people who understand that they too are on a journey.  A journey with clear direction, yes.  A journey with a definite destination, yes.  One where the Bible is recognised as the sole and complete authority for life and faith, absolutely.  But a journey where, even for the believer with all the help of the Holy Spirit, we are still seeing things very much from the human perspective.  Even Paul admitted that at our best we still see through a glass, darkly.  The revelations yet to come in glory will no doubt be utterly overwhelming even to those who had the deepest and most spiritual insights into the Bible here in this scene.  So, sometimes a little more humility and a little less dogmatism (without falling into the awful trap of having no real convictions at all) is a balance I would seek to strike.

As far as God is concerned, whether we are walking through snow or not is of no consequence as far as His knowledge of our ways and motives is concerned.  He can see through any shroud of mist around our hearts, and any covering up of tracks we may be trying to achieve.  He also understands our weakness and frailty, and perseveres with us in grace.  He graciously allows a great variety of speakers and writers to say many things, and uses them to help and encourage other people in various ways.  It can be a help in our learning to read conflicting opinions on various teachings, to hone our understanding and grasp of the issues involved.  We must never be slapdash or knowingly contradictory or confusing in what we say, but perhaps I need not be quite as frightened at the prospect of committing to paper as I sometimes feel.  God may even be pleased to use my mistakes to help someone else see the real truth more clearly.  And, what through His grace may be rightly said, will too be open for the use in potential blessing to readers.  So maybe I should just be getting down to it, and leaving a few tracks in the snow of these blank pages for others to explore.

A key to the four Gospels

Apart from pioneer exploration, it is always advisable to have a map when visiting a new area.  One useful feature of maps is that they have keys that explain the contents as laid out on the map itself.  The Bible can be likened to a map outlining the pattern for man's relationship with God.  For the newcomer or the casual reader it can be difficult to see an overall plan and at the same time fit in the many more detailed aspects.  Even committed Christians debate important areas of Bible truth with considerable variation in interpretation.

There is no doubt that the Lord Jesus is the key to the scriptures.  The Bible is clearly the written word, and the Lord Jesus is referred to as the Word, the living Word, the Word made flesh.  He fulfils the written word and all its promises.  He is in Himself both God and man, and so He can be the reconciler, the one who alone brings about the full level of relationship between God and man.  It has been well said that the Bible in a nutshell is as follows:  1) The Old Testament - Christ is coming.  2) The Gospels - Christ has come.  3) The rest of the New Testament - Christ is coming again.  

If asked to introduce people who are not familiar with its message to the Bible, I would use these thoughts to begin the exploration of its contents.  The four gospels are at the crossroads and are of crucial importance - not a random choice of words.  The fact that there are four gospels is itself of great interest.  Detractors seek to tease out contradictions and discrepancies, but have relatively little success.  The compass and the map have the four directions we are all familiar with.  The gospels fill out the scope and direction of the meaning of the life, death and resurrection of Christ.  

Each of the four gospels has a particular theme and approach, although of course they also overlap and blend perfectly.  The wonderful thing is that the four themes are boldly announced in certain verses in the Old Testament.  We will look at these in turn and trust we shall see that they do indeed serve as keys to the Bible and the person of Jesus Christ.  They are just staring points for much larger exploration of major themes of scripture.

MATTHEW - Christ as King.   "Behold your King...." - Zechariah 9:9

From the start, Matthew's Gospel is concerned with the kingship of Christ.  The genealogy traces His kingly line through David, establishing His right to the throne of Israel.  It traces his presentation as King and the rejection of the people.  Of necessity a King has a kingdom, that is, an area where he rules with power, authority and a display of strength where necessary.  Such a concept of Kingdom is a central theme of Matthew in a way not seen in the other Gospels.  It closely identifies with Jesus in His relation to the Jewish people.  Because a Kingdom signifies rule and authority, it is not particularly a term associated with the church, where the relationship is much closer and based on love.  The bride may be the bride of a King, but her relationship with the King is far different from that of the subjects and citizens. The "Kingdom of Heaven" is not speaking so much of heaven itself, but the rule from heaven over the earth and how it is worked out at different times.  It is clear that Jesus had rights as an earthly King, particularly in relation to the people of Israel.  However, Matthew clearly presents the rejection of the people for Him to take up that role.  Rather than being crowned King, He was crowned with thorns and put to death on a cross.  Does this mean that His right will never be exercised?  Absolutely not.  His earthly kingdom is postponed as other great purposes concerning Gentile nations and the gospel to all the world are worked out. One day the true King of Israel who is great David's greater Son will indeed rule over His people Israel and through them over the earth, as prophesied in so many Old Testament scriptures and confirmed in Romans and Revelation amongst other New Testament books.  

Much of the practical teaching of Matthew is in the context of behaviour under the authority of a Kingdom.  It is the Lord's manifesto for the His kingdom which was not accepted at the time, but will most certainly be in force in the Millennium.  There are of course many principles which are right for all times and circumstances.  However it is right to note certain differences of emphasis between, for example, the Sermon on the Mount and the epistles.  The epistles are pure Church teaching.  The church did not exist when Jesus was alive - He prophesied its formation no earlier than Matthew 16.  He was living amongst His Jewish people and teaching them principles of His kingly rule and their life as subjects to that rule.  There are many valid lessons for the church, but it is important to see the different contexts.  

This is already opening up a wide topic of debate and disagreement amongst Christians, but I believe it is necessary to present this as fundamental to a proper understanding of the Gospels and their place within the context of the whole word of God and the glories of the Person of Christ.  

MARK - Christ as Servant.  "Behold, My servant...." - Isaiah 42:1 and 52:13

In Mark there is no genealogy.  Who cares about the ancestry of a servant?  Most commentators highlight a key verse of the Gospel as being 10:45, "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many".  Mark has an almost breathless brevity and compactness - miniature portraits in words of Jesus in action.  This fits in with the regular use of words such as immediately, a key word of the Gospel.  Just read the first couple of chapters to get the picture.  Jesus was on a mission of active service.  He lived a humble life in humble circumstances.  He had nowhere to lay His head, and had to ask someone to show Him a penny.  

And yet we have only just been thinking of Christ as King....  And yet, both King and Servant are clearly presented in the Old Testament prophecies....  How can both be true in one person?  It requires the unfolding life of the Lord Jesus as recorded in the Gospels to show how both aspects are true of Him yet without contradiction to either.  He was of proven kingly line, but was not born in a palace and refused all trappings of wealth and ostentation, and was yet no less of kingly bearing and authority for all that.  He used the intrinsic authority of His person to serve, help and draw alongside people in all sorts of need and trouble.    Above all, Jesus was serving His heavenly Father, living out a life of such devotion that had never remotely been seen before.  Mankind should have been serving God faithfully and humbly, but failed in every case.  Jesus should have been hailed as King and served, but the powerful testimony of truth and grace only highlighted the rest of mankind's shortcomings and so resulted in a large measure of hatred and rejection.

Nevertheless, there is a particular greatness about a faithful and true servant of a truly great master.  God could at last look upon a life lived in this world and say "Behold, My servant", with the utmost delight and satisfaction.  As a nation, corporately, Israel had failed as His servant.  No individual prophet, priest or king had truly lived up to their calling.  Now, in one person, every role and title was being taken on and lived out in full perfection.  

One of our modern hymns delights in tracing the thoughts of Matthew and Mark in "The Servant King".  Jesus, and only He, fills out these titles as presented in the Gospels.  He is the fulfilment of the Old Testament prophecies, and they all coalesce in the one Person.  

In the  Old Testament, Isaiah writes vividly of the Servant Who Suffers in chapter 52 and 53.  All the Gospels lead towards detailed accounts of the last days of Jesus, and His death and resurrection.  A remarkable proportion of these already brief documents are concerned with those days and hours.  It should be impossible to read them without the impression that they are intended to be at the heart of the message.  

It was at the cross that the Servant undertook His greatest task.  It was there He showed the fullest extent of His devotion to the will of His Father.  It was there that He displayed His great act of service to sinners in need, by becoming their Saviour through His death as the only truly acceptable sacrifice for sin to a Holy God.  

LUKE - Christ as Man.  "Behold, the Man...." - Zechariah 6:12

Luke was a doctor, the "beloved physician" and deeply interested in all aspects of the human condition.  His genealogy, unlike Matthew's, traces the line right back to Adam and his unique place in creation as the "Son of God".  It is Luke who lingers over particular human details in His account.  He is also painstaking in his historical records, and expressly seeks to present an "orderly account" of "those things which have been fulfilled (or, which are most surely believed) among us".  

The Lord's own term in referring to Himself was "the Son of Man".  The humanity of Christ is central to the message of the Gospels.  He was not of some foreign distant material, unable to really appreciate what life as a human being is really like.  He truly took part of humanity, in all its wondrous combinations of robustness and weakness.  Scripture is at great pains only to emphasise that He remained apart from sin, unlike every other single human in history.  Jesus knew what it was to be tired, to be thirsty, to be amazed, to be sorrowful, to feel compassion, to feel rejection, to have friends and enemies.  He also knew in a deep way the motives and needs of the human heart, and Luke focuses on these in a special way throughout his Gospel.  

There is much overlap with all the other Gospels, and Luke in some ways is perhaps the most rounded, and yet most approachable of all the Gospels.  We get the little touches and details that we like so much, but that are often missing from Mark.  We get a connectedness with other people that is not there in quite the same way in Matthew.  Many have advocated Luke as the first Gospel for new Christians to read, or for those considering the claims of the Gospel message.  Readers sense they are meeting with the real Jesus, in the context of His life in towns, villages and countryside, and in a social setting that are all brought to life in a vivid way.  

Luke reveals more than this.  He reveals that, as a man, Jesus had a unique insight into the heart of the individual.  He could ascertain motives and reality hidden behind any mask or facade.  We can find it so difficult to read other people, and even ourselves at times, with all the conflicting pulls and emotions that make life both so rich and so complicated.  We are so defiled by sin that our understanding and appreciation is blurred.  Jesus, being without sin,  was painfully and starkly confronted with its reality and impact on human life, both individually and socially.  And yet He was prepared to interact with people involved in every kind of problem and failure, and bring comfort whilst fully upholding the truth.  Nothing was swept under the carpet.  

The real Jesus was compassionate, loving, and approachable.  The real Jesus was also scary, especially to those who were proud and would not acknowledge their own weakness and failings.  Readers today should allow the full sweep of the real Jesus to shine through the record of the Gospels, and not rely entirely on the image of "gentle Jesus" or the "good teacher".  We must get to the heart of the Gospels - the King, the servant and the man.  This man, like so many others, faced an untimely, cruel and painful death.  Unlike others, His death had a unique significance and meaning.  Of this, Luke writes with passion and clarity.  The account of the risen Lord meeting despondent disciples on the road to Emmaus is powerful.  The Lord spoke from all the Old Testament scriptures "things concerning Himself".  "Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things?" He asked, probing their understanding of the scriptures and their appreciation of who He really was.  These are the really important questions that continue to face the readers of Luke's Gospel. 

Anyone who has grasped the truths of Luke's Gospel can identify with the language of this hymn writer:

Behold the Man upon a cross,

My sin upon His shoulders;

Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice

Call out among the scoffers.  

It was my sin that held Him there

Until it was accomplished;

His dying breath has brought me life - 

I know that it is finished.  

JOHN - Christ as God.  "Behold your God...." - Isaiah 40:9

If we had an interesting tension yet unity between the thoughts of King and Servant in Matthew and Mark, here in Luke and John we have the ultimate in such a case.  Yet both are clearly there in the unique fourfold Old Testament cry of "Behold" in the books of Isaiah and Zechariah.  A four fold cry answered in the four Gospels.   And John it is who most emphatically and clearly answers to the cry of "Behold your God" in Isaiah 40.  No human genealogy in John.  Not this time because a servant is in view. No, John opens with majestic language, and we can do no better and ought to do no less than simply repeat it.  

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made."

John reveals that this Word "became flesh and dwelt among us".  Jesus is, and ever was, and ever will be, eternal God.  And yet, as we have seen in Luke, he was most certainly complete also in His humanity when here on earth.  There are mysteries we cannot fathom.  And yet the truth shines out through the Bible - Jesus, as the "God man", was a rounded individual without conflict or division in His personality.  It is John who focuses so wonderfully on the divine nature of the Person of Christ.  He lingers close to Jesus, not afraid or turned aside by a lack of welcome or approachability, but comfortable and at home.  At yet it is also John who inspires in the reader the greatest sense of awe and worship and "differentness" of Jesus in His deity.  The wonder is that human kind was created by God in such a way that he is in God's image, and therefore close to God.  And yet, as a creature of creation, he is at the same time distant and removed from God the creator.  And then there is the question of sin, which has brought in an incalculably greater gulf and distance between man and a Holy God. 

It is Jesus, the "God man" who has bridged the gap for us.  John had an express reason for penning his Gospel.  In 20:31 he writes "these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name".  

Although we have seen how Luke dignifies Adam with the title "Son of God", we know only too well how clearly humanity has defaced that image so that it is utterly untenable and unrecognisable.  God is utterly separate from sin, and an unforgiven sinner can never be allowed in His presence.  

It is through God the Son, come in flesh to this world, and primarily through the work of the cross, that sinners can be reconciled to God.  In a series of radiantly spiritual insights and messages, John traces through certain events and teachings of Christ to show how the relationship between God and man was being restored in love and grace by God, the offended party.  We are given special insights into who Jesus really is through the "I am" statements found alone in John's Gospel.  One of the most powerful of these can be overlooked, where in John 8, Jesus says "... before Abraham was, I am".  John uses the simplest of language to express the deepest thoughts ever to be conveyed or considered.  Jesus is The Way, The Truth, and The Life.  He is the true bread, the true vine, the door, the Good Shepherd, the Resurrection and the Life.  

And John spends longer even than any other Gospel writer to explain that such a One, the Son of God, was the one who suffered at Calvary.  Because of what he undertook there, He proved His ability and willingness to fill out another part of the message of Isaiah 40 - to gather, lead, feed and guide us, the ones who like sheep have all gone astray. 

Jesus is the only provider in the universe for the deepest and desperately urgent needs of mankind.  These are not physical - the physical are symptoms of the disease, not the cause.  The real needs are spiritual, all the want and degradation and sickness of mind and body flows from the reality of sin and the broken relationship with God.  Jesus has come, full of grace and truth, to reveal that God somehow still loves us, and is prepared at great cost to Himself, a way back for us.  The offended party takes up our helpless case.  

This is a brief overview of the Jesus of the Bible and his relationship to God and to us.  The message of the Bible is unified and deep and wide in its scope.  It deals with one nation, Israel, and also the Gentile nations of the world.  It deals with individuals and their spiritual need.  In Jesus, the whole of history has its crux, and the purposes of God are unfolded and revealed in Him.  There are purposes still to unfold, but those who have the privilege of the closest and most precious involvement and relationship are those who "believe in the Lord Jesus Christ" and can say that He is the One "who loved me, and gave Himself for me".  

John, Luke, Mark and Matthew are among that number.  Paul was one who followed.  In God's estimation, time can be stretched in two directions - a thousand years as a day, and a day as a thousand years.  Just one of those allows us to consider the events of Calvary, 2,000 years ago, as happening the day before yesterday in the mind of God.  The Gospels keep the record of Jesus alive for us.  They are the Word of God, and when illuminated for us by the Holy Spirit, they bring the real Jesus, the Jesus we really need, to life for us.  May this serve as a helpful pointer and introduction to others who are prepared to meet and know and appreciate the real Jesus, our Saviour and Lord.

[Personal note.  I must have been in my early or mid twenties when I first heard a talk in which the outline of the gospels as above was unfolded, ie King / servant / man / God for the gospels in turn, plus the link with the "Behold" passages from the Old Testament.  I take no credit, but they made a powerful impact, and I am convinced of their validity and truth.  Thanks and appreciation in memory of John Flett of Bradford (originally a fisherman from the Moray Firth), and to whoever may have before him been impressed by this insight into the Gospels].  

Walking in the Bible - the first mentions

It looks as though walking in the Bible is going to be an even more interesting study than I was anticipating.  I realised it was an important word with both practical and metaphorical senses at the heart of human experience, and of a true relationship with God.  The first mention of a word is often significant in the Bible, a well known example being "love" - Abraham being told to take son "whom you love" and to sacrifice him; one of the most telling Old Testament pictures of what it would mean to God the Father to send His Son to bear our sins.

It struck me that the first mention of walking was also of interest.  Checking out confirmed that indeed the first mention of walking is the account in Genesis 3 where the Lord God was "walking in the garden in the cool of the day" after Adam and Eve had eaten of the forbidden fruit.  The animal creation comprised "creeping" things.  Walking seems to be regarded as something altogether more elevated.  The fact that walking is first applied to God Himself is important, because it must surely be pointing to something greater than the mere physical activity.  Indeed, people would probably argue about there being any real physical footprints of God left in the garden.  It does record that Adam and Eve heard the sound of Him walking, which certainly gives the sense of a real physical presence. I believe it could be a theophany, one of the pre-incarnation appearances in bodily form of the Son of God.

The other fact is that Adam and Eve were hiding from the presence of the Lord God.  They did not enjoy the privilege of a walk with Him.  There is a certain standard of life that is required to be seen to be fit to be regarded as walking with God and having a relationship with Him.  Almost at the start, Adam and Eve lost this closeness and were instead trying to hide themselves away and at the same time trying to cover their shame.  The Lord God is never spoken of as walking with Adam and Eve, or they with Him.

The next references to walking are also very significant.  Twice in the remarkably brief account of the life of Enoch, he is referred to as walking with God.  He seemed to have enjoyed a unique experience of a relationship with God, so much so that he was taken to heaven before the judgement of the flood - surely a clear picture of the New Testament teaching of the rapture of the church before the tribulation judgements to come.  The quality and reality of this link with God is simply summed up in the term "walked with God".

This link is what God sought when He walked in the garden, but sin had brought about separation, and the fellowship was no longer possible.  Even mature Christians will confess that their walk with God is often inconsistent and full of falterings and failures, but all will also testify to the faithfulness of their Saviour, the Lord Jesus, who never leaves or forsakes, and is an ever consistent guide and friend on life's journey.  The fact that He walks with us far outshines the marvel that He brings us to a position where we are said to walk with Him.