We have four inspired accounts of the life, death and resurrection of our Lord. Each of the four evangelists presents these great matters from a different standpoint. Matthew presents Jesus as the Messiah, the King come in fulfillment of the promises of God to Israel. Mark describes the life of Jesus as the Son of God, the perfect Servant carrying out the will of God. Luke gives us the Manhood of Jesus in its holy perfection. John presents Him as the Word become flesh and brings into relief His deity as well as His humanity, His eternal personality and His divine sonship.
Let us briefly review Luke’s account. From chapter one it is clear that the light of the knowledge of God had not been entirely extinguished in Israel, for we have a beautiful account of certain pious persons who looked for the fulfillment of these divine promises which at this time found their answer in the advent of Jesus.
Luke describes the visit of the angel to the virgin Mary with the stupendous announcement, “Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favor with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a Son, and shalt call His name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David ... Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:30-3530And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favor with God. 31And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. 32He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: 33And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. 34Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? 35And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. (Luke 1:30‑35)).
The inspired historian tells us of the census decreed by Caesar Augustus which, according to Roman custom, took Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem that their names might be enrolled in the records of their native city, thereby fulfilling the remarkable prophecy of Micah: “Thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto Me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting” (Micah 5:22But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. (Micah 5:2)).
Luke alone of the inspired historians gives us that glimpse of the boyhood of Jesus when found by His parents in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking questions, and His answer to their pained inquiries, “Did ye not know that I ought to be occupied in My Father’s business?” (Luke 2:4949And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business? (Luke 2:49) JND).
Thirty years were spent in humble obscurity, living the lowly life of a working man in the despised village of Nazareth — little noticed indeed by men but observed by God, who at the end of those thirty years opened the heavens to declare the pleasure that He had found in Him.
It was then time for His public appearance and service. And He did not appear unheralded. John the Baptist, a man, who, as Luke tells us, was prepared of God for this great mission, came forward as the herald and forerunner of Christ to prepare the way for Him. Many listened to his preaching and were baptized in the Jordan. Jesus identified Himself with these repentant ones by entering the water with them. As He came up out of the water praying, there occurred that act of divine recognition already referred to. The Spirit of God Himself took on, for the moment, the visible appearance of a dove and descended upon Him, while simultaneously the heavens were opened and the voice of God was heard, saying, “Thou art My beloved Son; in Thee I am well pleased” (Luke 3:2222And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased. (Luke 3:22)). God thus publicly acknowledged the relationship in which Jesus stood to Himself and expressed His delight in the One who for thirty years had lived a life entirely pleasurable to Him.
We are then given an account of the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness and His victory over Satan. For the first time in the world’s history Satan had met a Man whom he could not corrupt. Jesus then began His public service. Three and a half years were spent in ceaseless labor, teaching in the synagogues, teaching and preaching in the open air to great multitudes, healing the sick, opening the eyes of the blind, opening the ears of the deaf, cleansing lepers, casting out demons, raising the dead, and performing many other miracles. His words brought comfort to the sorrowing, solace to the poor, forgiveness to repentant sinners, and hope to the afflicted. But His words also went home in convicting power to the consciences of men, which angered the proud, but brought contrite hearts to repentance.
He chose twelve to be with Him, whom He trained for a great and wonderful mission, that of spreading the truth of the gospel when He Himself should have left the world. Enshrined in His sayings, in His parables and in His teachings were the essential truths of Christianity, little comprehended then even by His disciples, but to be unfolded and illuminated by the Holy Spirit when He should come after the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus. Incomprehensible to His disciples were those mysterious references to His sufferings and death and rising again. They looked for a Messiah who should restore to Israel its kingdom and glory, and even after His resurrection, the two whom He met on the way to Emmaus confessed that they thought He was about to establish His kingdom. Yet, as He said, the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many.
The hostility of the religious leaders increased in proportion as His popularity with the people grew. With credentials greater than any prophet Israel had ever known, marked by lowliness and meekness, just in every word, and righteous in all His acts, Jesus met with nothing but opposition and hatred from the Jewish hierarchy. They plotted His destruction, and one of His own disciples, lured by love of gain, was prepared to deliver Him into their hands.
On the eve of the Passover He was taken and brought before the High Priest and the elders and condemned as an impostor. Brought before Pilate, the Roman governor found nothing criminal in Him, yet in base indifference to elementary justice, he gave Him over to the will of His enemies, acceding to their request to crucify Him.
We arrive at the greatest crisis in the world’s history. There was never a moment like it — the Son of God hanging upon a cross, the culmination of man’s hatred and human iniquity. When presented with perfect goodness and truth and grace in Christ, the world said, “Crucify Him”! Why did God allow it? Because Jesus was the Lamb of God who was to take away the sin of the world. The Passover then being prepared was a type (ordained of God nearly fifteen hundred years before) of the sacrificial death of Christ. As the Apostle John puts it, “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)).
The cross of Christ is a marvelous contemplation. There we see the love of God in giving His beloved Son. There we see the love of Christ in delivering Himself up as the spotless victim, giving His life for sinners, enduring the judgment of a holy God against sin. Such was the terrible nature of sin that God could not overlook it. He must express His righteous judgment — His holy abhorrence —of sin. If this fell upon sinful man, it must be the end of him. One was needed holy and perfect and great enough in Himself to bear the judgment and exhaust it. Only One who was God could do this; only a Man could make atonement for the human race. Jesus alone could do it. His name proclaims both who He is and what He does, for Jesus means Jehovah the Saviour. And as John says, “He is the propitiation for our sins; but not for ours alone, but also for the whole world” (1 John 2:22And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:2) JND).
So the Saviour died; loving hands removed His body from the cross. He was buried. The sorrowing disciples went away wondering and despairing, their hopes dashed to the ground. Perhaps they had thought God would intervene even at the last moment. Devoted lovers brought spices on the third day to the tomb, but it was empty. Angels announced the resurrection of Jesus. “Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen: remember how He spake unto you when He was yet in Galilee, saying, The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again” (Luke 24:57).
He appeared to Peter, Mary Magdalene and others. Then he met two disciples on the road to Emmaus. They failed to recognize Him till, having accepted their invitation to sup with them, He was disclosed to them as He took the bread and gave thanks. Then He vanished from their sight and they returned to Jerusalem and found the eleven disciples gathered together, saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon. And they told what things were done in the way, and how He was known of them in breaking of bread. And as they thus spake, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you” (Luke 24:34-3634Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon. 35And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread. 36And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. (Luke 24:34‑36)).
Luke, continuing his account in the Acts of the Apostles, tells us how Jesus showed Himself alive after His passion by many infallible proofs, being seen by the disciples during forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God. Then one day He led them out to the Mount of Olives and was carried up into heaven from the midst of them, a cloud receiving Him out of their sight. And while they were still gazing heavenward, two angels appeared, saying, “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:1111Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. (Acts 1:11)). This was forty days after His resurrection. And here we pause to comment that the second coming of Christ, as promised by the angels, a personal, visible coming, is an essential feature of the Christian faith. “Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him” (Rev. 1:77Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. (Revelation 1:7)).