The presentation of the glorious person of the Lord Jesus Christ cannot be properly told in a single account. He is the King of the Jews, the perfect Servant, the Son of Man and the Son of God. In the words of another, “The fullness and virtue that rests on our adorable Lord was made up of different odors (Ex. 30). It is the office of one evangelist after another to tell out the different excellencies and perfections in Jesus, the Christ of God” (J. G. Bellett). By divine inspiration Matthew, Mark, Luke and John tell out these four aspects of the Lord Jesus Christ. In this article we will look at the first two.
Matthew the Publican—Christ the King
“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign” (Jer. 23:5).
“The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the Son of David” (Matt. 1:1).
Matthew presents Jesus as the King of Israel. The genealogy begins with King David establishing Jesus’ right to the throne. Matthew quotes as many as eighty Old Testament Scriptures to substantiate this theme.
When Jesus called him, Matthew was employed by an earthly monarch, collecting taxes from his own people. Cæsar, a wicked man, was king (John 19:15), ruling over God’s people Israel where their sin had put them. Matthew tells of the true King of Israel, the Son of David, whom he now served.
Wise men from the East came to another wicked king, Herod, to find and worship Him who is called “King of the Jews.” The scribes knew He was to be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2). Herod would have killed the young child Jesus, but God preserved Him by sending Him to Egypt. By this another Scripture was fulfilled, “Out of Egypt have I called My Son.”
Matthew tells of the behavior suited to those entering His kingdom in the beatitudes in chapters 5-7. He gives similitudes of the kingdom in chapter 13; the rejection of their King and that Jesus would build His church are in chapter 16. The kingdom glory is displayed in chapter 17.
The Pharisees tried to catch Jesus in His words by asking, “Is it lawful to give tribute unto Cæsar, or not?” He reminded them of their subjection to Cæsar and responsibility to God with the simple statement, “Render therefore unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s” (Matt. 22:21). Their utter rejection of Messiah, God’s anointed King, culminates in their most awful statement in chapter 27:25, “His blood be on us, and on our children.” For this they will reap the “great tribulation” (Matt. 24:21).
Jesus’ ascension is not mentioned in Matthew’s Gospel. Rather, the eleven are told to go into the world and disciple all nations, a command that will be fulfilled when the gospel of the kingdom is preached after the rapture of the church (Matt. 24:14).
Mark, a Restored Servant—Christ the Perfect Servant
“Behold, I will bring forth My Servant the Branch” (Zech. 3:8).
“John, whose surname was Mark” is referred to in Acts 12:12. Paul and Barnabas took this young man (raised in a godly home) with them on a missionary journey as their servant. It was his privilege to help those serving the Lord. In a short while he abandoned the work and returned to Jerusalem (Acts 13:5-13). Perhaps he could not handle the adversity they faced.
Though Mark as a servant failed, he tells of Jesus, the perfect Servant, who never failed. God graciously took this man and made him useful in the very field in which he had failed. How encouraging to us!
In Acts 15 Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they do.” Barnabas insisted on taking his nephew, John Mark, with them. Paul considered him unsuited because he had “departed from them... and went not with them to the work” (vs. 38).
We rejoice to read later on that Paul said to Timothy, “Take Mark, and bring him with thee: for he is profitable to me for the ministry” (2 Tim. 4:11). Paul received him and God used him to write the gospel of the perfect Servant, of whom it was said, “He hath done all things well” (Mark 7:37).
Mark gives no genealogy, for a servant doesn’t need one; he has only to do as he is directed. Mark’s Gospel is given in chronological order.
Jesus was busy all day, “and at even, when the sun did set, they brought unto Him all that were diseased, and them that were possessed with devils.... He healed many that were sick of divers diseases.... And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, He went out, and... prayed” (Mark 1:32-35). He thus expressed His dependence as a servant.
With the exception of the need of the donkey, Mark does not designate Jesus as Lord until after His resurrection when He “was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God” (ch. 16:19). Then He, as Lord, worked with His own as they “went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen” (Mark 16:20).
T. A. Roach