Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, Books #37 - #40

Matthew the Apostle

Mark the Evangelist

Luke the Evangelist

John the Baptist

Back at the first of the year our Connect Group worked through a series and we were encouraged to read through the Gospels in chronological order rather than book order.  I have read the Bible through several years ago in chronological order and it makes so much more sense!!  It really is amazing to see how tied together everything is.  It was especially interesting reading just the Gospels and comparing/contrasting the versions of the miracles and events of Jesus' life and how the different writers saw things different ways.

For example, Matthew's main aim was to show that Jesus really was the Jewish Messiah.  In his book, of the 1071 verses, 60% are the spoken words of Jesus.  (That's a lot of red ink!)  Mark has often be referred to as the newspaper version of the gospel.  It is the shortest gospel but the most action packed one.  The word "immediately" is used over 40 times!  Luke, being a doctor, is more in tune with details and other people in the gospels, like women, children, and social outcasts.  He records the fullest life story of Jesus Christ as a way to strengthen the faith of the Gentiles.  It is the longest New Testament book. John the Baptist sees the bigger picture.  While he does not record any of Jesus' parables and carefully chooses from His numerous miracles, he does highlight the reactions of people to Christ; how they either responded in faith or, in unbelief, rejected Him.
(All of the information above I gathered from various sources while I was reading the Bible through chronologically in 2010.  If you are interested I can dig some of them out for you!)
 

I highly recommend reading the Bible through at least once in your life, and if you have the chance to read it through chronologically you will see it in a whole new light!!!

O:)
Melissa