The Portraits of Christ

This is a paper I wrote for my New Testament class that I believe has some information that could be valuable to the study of the gospels, each one have a purpose and written to a specific audience painting the character and person of Christ for us

The Portraits of Christ in the Gospels

The gospels each have a very specific purpose and have very specific themes that are used by the authors to convey a message intentionally to a particular audience. The Gospels make up as a whole a universally true testimony about who Christ is. The four different gospels are carrying a portrait that is necessary in painting the whole picture of Christ as the messiah. It is the collective work that is so valuable to the church in giving us an understanding of who Christ the messiah is. Mark gives us the picture of Jesus as the suffering servant. Matthew gives us the portrait as Jesus as the universal Messiah. Luke gives us the portrait of Christ as the universal savior. John gives us the portrait of Christ as the divine man. The portraits can be seen by the recurring themes and ideas in the pericopes, pointing toward something that is an overriding principle or aspect that the author is working to convey. The Beauty of the literary workmanship in the gospels tends to be overlooked in society, it needs to be a resurrected understanding in understanding who our savior really is.

Mark is often considered to be the first gospel to be written. It was written, according to Dr. Watson's lecture, around 64-67 A.D. This is significant in regards to what is happening in the time that is relevant to the audience. The book is written in Rome, being sent to another place in Rome. Rome was an epicenter for persecution in the early Christian community. The Roman church was being decimated by the emperor of the time. Mark's portrait of Christ is that of the

suffering servant. Christ is shown as almost being rushed throughout the book to get to his ultimate end. Mark shows this by using the word “Immediately” all throughout the book, such as in Mark 6:45. Another reasons that the theme of suffering seems to be prevailing is because we see a reference to this often in the book such as in Mark 8:34-38, 38-40; 13:1-13. Christ was also generally telling those around him to remain quiet, including the demons, because it is for him to reveal himself as the suffering servant, and the victor in the end. This can be seen in Mark 1:32-34, and 3:11-12.

Matthew has a unique flavor to it in the sense that it is intrinsically Jewish. Matthew was a man who was well educated and a tax collector. He is the perfect individual to be able to write the gospel to the Jews and to paint the portrait as the Universal Messiah. He is intentional about making mention of old prophesies and the Old Testament in order to give credibility as to who Jesus is. One of the things that shows this is simply Matthew 1, the geneology of Christ that starts at Abraham. Another example of the Old Testament prophecy would be Matthew 2:17-18. This is quoting Jeremiah, confirming one of many prophesies concerning the messiah's arrival. The other significant part of Matthew conveying this to the Jews is the fact it includes Christ's messiah-ship to the Gentiles. He does so through for instance in the verses in chapter 27 referencing the temple opening up as well as 28:16 showing himself to be Messiah of all people.

Luke's gospel is giving the portrait of Christ being the universal savior of man. He is writing potentially to a member of Rome who has authority, Theophilus. Luke is showing that Christ is savior of all man, and is giving it potentially to someone who is sitting in the center of the known world and has influence. Luke gives recognition to all nations being under this new relationship in Luke 24:47. He shows Christ going to a plethora of different people groups all of

which would be considered the “sinners” of Jewish society. Through his kindness, and His love for all people Christ gives a way for the spiritually low to be redeemed and to be brought back into a place of honor. In Luke 1:51-52, 3:12-14, Christ is with the lowly in spirit. In Luke it even shows that the first person to enter heaven with Christ is a gentile in Luke 23:43. He has now opened the gate wide open to a people other than the Jews.

The Gospel of John is unique to the other three. John gives the portrait of the divine man. The man who is fully spirit as well. The very beginning of the book shows Christ's divinity John 1:1-5. John shows again his divinity and the connection to God through 1:18 as well. The book of John is very unique in that it calls the miraculous things signs that the other books call miracles. It could even be said that the first half of the book or section is the book of Signs, 1:19-12:50. All attesting to Christs divinity and his control of all the things humans struggle with. The last thing that Christ says is “It is finished' in 19:30 showing that He is the one in control of His death, no one else.

The Gospels are incredibly useful to know the portrait of in today's society. Mark's application is that in times of desperation and struggle Christ has gone through every struggle and does go through it with us. Matthew shows us that He has accomplished all the promises of God through the prophesies and that God is faithful. Luke shows us that there is no mortal sin too great that can keep us away from our creator any longer. Even the broken gentile is welcome into the kingdom of heaven if only he is willing to believe. John shows us that Christ really did come and walk as man. He accomplished the impossible so that man doesn't have to. He also gives us the strength to go on and continue the kingdom in His name. The Gospel portraits have significance to their audience and to the church as a whole.  

Spiritual Warefare

    I would like to bring to light a combination of the revelation that C.S. Lewis had through his book the Screwtape Letters, and Oswald Chambers’ book, Biblical Psychology. We will look at the logical supposal that C.S. Lewis makes about the way demons truly work against our minds in ways and thought patterns that are quite foreign to today's common teaching and preaching.

     So let us examine and digest the reasoning Oswald makes as to why demons and angels are the way that they are, and how they came to be; and then analyze Lewis' revelation on demons carrying out such a task that they have been given. Then we will look at scripture about how to combat these creatures and where we stand in the hierarchy with them.

     Oswald shows in Job 4:7 there are references to beings known as the sons of God. Nowhere in the Old Testament does the concept of man being "a son of God" appear. The first part of this verse shows that there was an entire universe before the earth was conceived; it fell in the first couple of verses of the Bible: "when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy."

This alludes to the fact that there was a time before time. It could be said: When all that existed was God and his first creations, the angels. The angels existed and fell even before man or earth was made a reality. Oswald in this book shows us a different kind of fallenness that the angels have than man has.

When man sinned, Eve was in ignorance and had a different kind of relationship with creation than Adam did. She was more of a caretaker and close to nature. Adam, on the other hand, was the responsible one who was not deceived. He was fully aware that God had commanded them not to eat the fruit – this is why the blame falls on Adam as a sin.

     This sin was recognized, and was not an act of rebellion. That is the difference between man and the angels. The angels choose an all-out rebellion, eternal condemnation in which they wished to overthrow God's glory and power. Being all spirit, they are eternally indignant and were of a different order than man. (This is another subject to be explored at a different time.)

     So, Satan is in total rebellion trying to bring mankind – a matter-spirit being – into the same line of rebellion as himself. Let's go to C.S. Lewis and examine a supposal on how they do so.

Because the demons’ fallenness gives them this desirous notion to take all man down with them, they use every tactic of folly to bring us down. That is not the revelation here; the revelation is the manner in which they use these tactics. Self pity, self loathing, and self deserving are some of the strongest weapons in the demonic arsenal.

     It’s the concept of how we use our time, and how we believe that the things we have are our own. Getting us to look at a person in the pew in front of us as just someone who wears goofy earrings, instead of a person who might need prayer. Or as an individual with the potential to be a powerful man or woman of God. These tactics keep us in a sense of complacency in sin, keeping us in a torrent of misery through influencing our own decisions.

     Another tactic that is prominent (even for Lewis in his day), is that demons try to keep you from realizing that they truly are that little voice in your head, and to keep reason out of your mind about certain topics. True reason leads from truth to truth about the reality that we live in, not the deformed idea that the demons are trying to get across.

In his writings, Oswald Chambers suggests that perhaps Satan even dislikes when we commit monstrous sins and fall all the way down because he knows that we will eventually seek a savior, or a redeemer. Rather Satan’s plan is to slowly, but constantly turn up the heat and boil us without our being aware. These ideas are not absolutes, but logical supposals evidenced in scripture and in our own lives. Also, as we can see in Job, the devil tries to not only corrupt our view of God, but also God's view of us, to his very face (Job 2:1-3).

Since we are beings, as it says in Psalms (8:5) and quoted in Hebrews, (2:7) that are made slightly lower than angels, because we are also made of matter and spirit, we have the tendencies of the flesh, cultured by the spirit through the medium of transformation called the soul. As we come to acknowledge our full spiritual-ness being the very "form" of Christ, then we become something that the angels cannot even understand. Oswald states that our essence and ability to become "Christ-like" is where we become something greater than the angels. Christ came down, identified with us, and released his spirit onto Christians, and His authority onto the church (John 20:21-22) and (Luke 9:1,2) giving them power to cast out all devils, cure diseases, and preach.

     You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. (2 Timothy 2:1-4).

We are human, but we don't wage war with human plans and methods. We use God's mighty weapons, not mere worldly weapons, to knock down the Devil's strongholds, to break down every proud argument that keeps people from knowing God, to conquer their rebellious ideas, and we teach them to obey Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).

      These verses are good examples of how the early church fathers saw spiritual warfare, not as something to fear and should be worried about – including spirits – but as an area Christians can work in and thrive. Christians are the only ones who can bring the peace of God with them and let it rest on places (Matthew 10:13). God's grace to us is something we can bring and represent to others. We are to fight the good fight against principalities and powers through Christ alone. He is the One we draw our strength from. Through prayer and faith we can move mountains; however when our faith is lacking, a demon will not be moved. Not all spirits just bow to our whim, let alone any. You must be clothed in the armor of God and wielding the sword of the spirit.

 "I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." (Matthew 16:18 KJV)

We do know though, that there will be attacks against the church as the scripture above insinuates, that through all his might Satan will come against it, but will not prevail. It is our job as Christians to be ready and able to fight against the passageway of hell. It is our job to make our stand, stay awake and sober and fight the good fight. 

     ...now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts. (Romans 13:11-14 NKJV)

Knowing the Trinity

Christ Our Savior

   In order to offer others the chance at infinite bliss in the arms of a kind compassionate Lord and Savior, perhaps we should know personally who we are sending them to first. Our relationship with Christ and the entire trinity is crucial in our evangelism and discipleship. When we speak of Christ's love, it should be clear in our own lives by the way we live, speak, and act, that we KNOW our savior. If we truly know Christ, then we can honestly, and emotionally express to others what He is like. When Jesus says "Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." (Matt 11:29)We cannot learn how to truly be like someone "learn from someone" without understanding who they are, how they act, and how they believe. This makes it imperative for us to be able to genuinely understand Christ, and be filled with the overflowing abundance that he pours into us that others can't help but see his work in our lives. We can see that Christ is ever compassionate, and loving by our examination of him in the New Testament. Let us go back to the old testament and see how God has set up the entire essence of scripture leading up to the breakthrough that is the arrival of Christ. The completion of the law, the renewal of life, and because of him a redefining of death

Parallels   

 Looking at the old testament we can see the character of God, there is a verse that says that when you know the son you also know the father. Well it turns out to be just as true the other way around, there is no contradiction or friction between the father and the son's perfect character, old testament and new testament the same. Here we can see some of the comparisons easily seen in the way the father took care of His children even giving us insight as to the dominion of his son in later days.


Jehovah-Jireh

 Genesis 22:5 shows how God is Jehovah-Jireh, our provider. When God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son as an offering, there was a  Christ-like obedience there by his son, but even though his son was the very best, a promise kept to Abraham, he still wasn't good enough. He was setting up how we can see the love of God providing salvation and providing a way around man having to sacrifice, God sent an angel to stop the sacrifice, and then needed to provide the sacrificial lamb. This can bring revelation in showing him as our provider. This is a shadow of Christ, giving us example of the blemishless lamb God provided because we really couldn't cut it with our best. God had to come down and die for us.

 Jehovah-Rafa

Jehovah-Rafa is the name that shows how God is our healer. "We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose, because those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters." (Romans 8:28-29) In the bitter sweet times of life such as in Job 2 God makes all things work toward good. We can also relate this to the coming of Christ who turns all the burdens and pains of this world into what develops perseverance, and how Christ was given the commands and fulfills them with joy obeying the father's command to heal and bring the good news to the people "Then Jesus explained: "My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work." (John 4:34). 

  

Jehovah-Nisi 

     We see God as Jehovah-Nisi in Exodus 17. This is the famous battle between the Isrealites and the Amalekites, where Moses had to hold up his hand in order to win the battle between the two nations. When Moses' arms were raised the Isrealites would be winning. As long as we are holding God above all else and keep our trust in Him we will win the war. For us in the common day and age where actual battles and wars don't really seem to exist on an every day level, we can take to heart that this is relevant to the war that rages in us everyday between the flesh and the spirit. "So, I find the law that when I want to do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God in my inner being. But I see a different law in my members waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" (Romans 7:21). Christ Came into this world as our banner, regardless of what we go through and deal with and regardless of how our flesh rages against our spirit, Christ has made it to where we can only lose battles, because through him the war is already won. We can choose to raise up our banner and now have the authority to fight against the flesh in Christ our Lord.

Holy Spirit

     The Holy spirit could only come to dwell within us by Christ's sacrifice which gave atonement for man according to John 16:7.This next verse gives testament as to the entity of the spirit as not some ghost but a being just like the rest of the trinity.  "But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceeds from the Father, he shall testify of me:" (John 15:26) The Holy spirit comes and gives us the power which we see many of the apostles and disciples around Christ use to speak in tongues, heal, and even bring people back from the dead. "Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us…"(Ephesians 3:20)
We tend to forget that the spirit being the great comforter is with us at all times as Christians. He who teaches, and helps us remember all we learn in Christ (John 14:26). Oddly enough, it is that through the spirit, I believe, that we develop character we see in Christ  "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith," (Galatians 5:22).We should not take any part of the trinity lightly, for it is when we accept salvation that we may be empowered and have understanding of God's things. That we may encourage those who do not have Christ helping them understand that the ultimate comforter is what waits for them on the other side of salvation. The spirit is something we should make sure we are always aware of in our own walks.

Religion Vs. Church

     Society has put great emphasis on how religion is no good and church is "religious" therefore it is no good. Peter says that Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.^[b] For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.  (1st Peter 1:22-23). We have been born again and should be loving one another deeply, how can we love each other deeply if we are not allowing ourselves to commune in the body of Christ. Peter was righting to the Jews who had converted, this doesn't seem to be significant except for that they already have the law and a basis of religion with the Judaio-God, so they don't need to be taught fundamentals. Instead Peter is trying to help them understand the trials the church will face, and how to grow as individuals. 

     The prime difference between church and religion is that in Christ, we are the living stones, the blocks that of which the church is built out of. In religion, man is seen as being part of some legalistic group which must systematically follow laws and is not concerned with anyone except for himself and his own salvation. It's so interesting to me that in the book of James it actually defines how God sees religion. Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. (James 1:27) For us, this is one of the most significant verses in the Bible. It means that every single command about loving each other, is not part of our religion. We are part of the entity that is the body of Christ. As a matter of fact we are the living entity that composes the body of Christ. 

     When the temple of Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 A.D. it marked the finishing of the covenant that Christ had sealed with his sacrifice. Religion had been done away with and the church had began. As it says "Do you see all these things?" he asked. "I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down." (Matthew 24:2) The religious institution was brought down. This doesn't mean that we should tear down religion, once again as I showed above it has it's place for organized humanitarian necessary efforts even in the body of Christ. Christ laid down the framework for us to rebuild God's temple in such a way that is pleasing and glorifying to him, and that is through us as individuals being that temple collectively. Notice how as Christ prophesied the temple being brought down, Peter gives us the inspired word that we shall be God's kingdom rebuilt. As you come to him, the living Stone —rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house^[a] to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” (1st Peter 2:4-6). 
     The plan of God is being fulfilled by the church. We weren't a back-up plan, but the end result. The old ways of religion have been done away with, we do need community and congregation in order to be most effective and to become the building which is, God's Holy temple. We have been sanctified that we may be holy and do God's work. Let us not throw off and resist being a community. Praise God that we can be part of something greater. I'll end with this, that you may remember who we are, and what God has made us through Christ. 
      But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. ¹⁰ Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God;once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (1st Peter 2:9-10)

Society today

     We become so exhausted and rushed in our society today, we forget to slow down and thank the one who made us. We have been created in an image of a perfect being, not that we are made like him, but in the likeness of him. This means that we are not perfect as he is, but may strive toward that perfection. We can and are creative, have desires and are able to love. Man cannot evolve consciousness, although we do have a desire to seek something higher, man is not the ultimate authority and we tend to forget that. When we try to make God in our own likeness in our minds we forgot his true nature and authority. We can't help but to curse him when we are in trouble, and forget him in our times of plenty. He does not change, just because we change and our circumstances change does not mean that he does. Evolutionists try to explain away God with Christianity's "lack of proof" when in reality Christianity doesn't claim that we can "prove" God. However, atheists cannot prove their own THEORIES (not laws) and attempt to hold religion to the same standard, even though it does not claim it. This does not discredit creation theory, but weakens evolution's foundation. Once again though, we become so absorbed in culture and society that we tend to forgot our purpose and what brings true joy and peace. Knowing God, alone can give us such a sense of meaning. If this wasn't true, not that Christians don't sin or make mistakes, but even the people who reach near god-like positions in their own minds, such as professional athletes, artists, or politicians will not feel the hole inside their being filled with such vain pursuits. I cannot help but to think that we are eternally blessed every moment we take a breath and are allowed to exist in a universe where we can know our creator.

     Something to think about, if you ever met someone who was extremely famous, or had an untouchable amount of power would you not listen to their every word and attempt to learn all you can from them? How much greater is the one who gave knowledge and power to them.
-Be blessed.

Surmounting insurrection

     Where do we get off? This is Easter Sunday, and I can't help but recognize the "religiousness" of this day. I keep seeing how churches and business promote themselves using the [Easter] slogan. How do we know that People want to believe in a God, that absurdists are few and far between? From what I understand, Easter has the largest percentile difference in Sunday church attendance. We cannot deny the fact that people are seeking some kind of purpose and eternal life. Why would evolution evolve in us a desire for religion, wouldn't the law of religion restrict us in our innate need to survive? Creating a "Fair" playing field instead of the "fittest" surviving? What I hate more then anything is that one of the biggest bold face lies is told on Sunday mornings all over the country and across the world. That is that Christ died for the sole purpose of getting us the option of taking a get outta' hell free card. This isn't true at ALL. He died so that we may know the father, just check out John 17:3..People have this distorted vision of Christianity being a one and done, acceptance and back to the way I live my life, and living how I want. I have a verse for you people that just think we can go on sinning once we are saved and repent later to..well more then A verse. ¹ What shall we say, then? 

     Romans 6: Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? ² By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? ³ Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

 ⁵ For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. ⁶ For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with,^[a] that we should no longer be slaves to sin— ⁷ because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.

 ⁸ Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹ For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. ¹⁰ The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

 ¹¹ In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. ¹² Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. ¹³ Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. ¹⁴ For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

     Be careful what you believe and teach, for we will be judged more harshly if we teach. Be warned, be aware, be alive in Christ. 

We are the Salt and Light

We are those born of a greater purpose, of a higher calling. Not a simply evolved being or, a being able to find inner godhood. We are chosen for the task of bringing the glory of god to this place in all that we do. “Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”(1 Corinthians 10:31 NIV). So understanding our purpose, we must also know that there are others who do not understand, who have complex philosophical quandries, and should be able to defend our faith soundly. To not be swayed like chaff in the wind.  " See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ." (Col 2:8). This is why it is so important to understand the fundamentals of what we believe, also that when we teach or speak, that it may be in truth, for those who teach are held to a higher standard. "Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly." (James 3:1). I want to help bring up a group who can go out and spread truth, for truth we try to find in the world will be in vain. Come and be a part, for we are Salt and Light.

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

   14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven." ( Matthew 5:13-16).

I wrote this for a Bible study group I'm starting. Follow me, if you have questions or like how I think.