Four Faces of God

January 6, 2023January 6, 2023

THE FOUR FACES OF GOD – THE FACE OF THE EAGLE IN JOHN

The last face of God we are going to look at is the face of the Eagle which is depicted in the gospel of John. The face of the eagle represents Jesus’ divinity as the eagle soars high in the heavens, so Jesus comes from the Heavens.

The Genealogy in John

The first thing we notice is that John doesn’t really have a genealogy as such, nor does it give any details regarding the nativity. In John we are simply told, ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.’ This therefore points to Jesus’ divinity – He is, and He was and He is to come.

‘I Am’ in the Gospel of John

In Exodus God reveals Himself as ‘I Am’ and in the Gospel of John Jesus makes seven ‘I Am’ statements about Himself:

‘I am the bread of life.’ John 6:35

‘I am the Light of the World’ John 8:12

‘I am the door’ John 10:7

‘I am the Good Shepherd’ John 10:11,14

‘I am the resurrection and the life’ John 11:25

‘I am the way, the truth and the life’ John 14:6

‘I am the true vine’ John 15:1

And in John 8:58 Jesus says, ‘Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am.’

John 3:16

A well known verse that appears in John that does not appear in any other book of the Bible is ‘For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son’, thus pointing to Jesus as the Son of God.

No Ascension in the Gospel of John

Another point about the gospel of John is that there is no ascension. We see Jesus rising from the dead and appearing to people but we do not see His ascension because He is God, He was from heaven and He was going back to Heaven and John just tells us that Jesus did many other miracles that He did not include but that his aim in writing was so that we might believe that Jesus is the Son of God.

I trust you have enjoyed this series on the faces of Jesus and that it has helped you get to know Him better. In our next series we will look at how even the heavens declare the glory of God and foretell about Jesus.

December 21, 2022December 21, 2022

THE FOUR FACES OF GOD – THE SON OF MAN IN LUKE

In this series we are having a look at the four faces of God and how they are represented in the gospels, in the gospel of Luke we have the face of the man because Luke wanted to reveal Jesus as the Son of Man.

The Genealogy in Luke

In Matthew we saw that Matthew had the royal genealogy of Christ, in Luke we see the genealogy of the average man. This is because Luke wanted to focus on Jesus’ humanity rather than His royalty. In Biblical times there were two ways of writing a genealogy, the one was used solely by royalty and the other by the average man on the street so to speak. In the Bible we are given both, Matthew focussing on His royalty as the Son of David and Luke focussing on His humanity as the Son of Man.

The Nativity in Luke

In Luke we see the humanity of Jesus again expressed in the visitors to His manger when He was born. In Matthew we saw royal visitors in the magi but in Luke we see humble shepherds visiting Jesus’ cradle. These shepherds had no special title or prestige but were just humble men who had seen the angels in the sky over Jerusalem and had come to visit Jesus.

Jesus as a Boy

Luke is the only gospel which really shows us Jesus growing up and becoming a man. We see stories of Jesus being presented at the temple as a baby and then later when He was 12 being found in the temple. We are told that Jesus ‘grew in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.’ So it shows us that, like other little boys, Jesus also had to learn and grow.

Compassion in the Parables

Two parables found only in the gospel of Luke are the parable of the good Samaritan and the parable of the prodigal son. Both of these parables show example of compassion, the compassion the good Samaritan had on the man he saved and the compassion of the father for his prodigal son. Compassion is an emotion that relates to our humanity and shows Jesus as a compassionate and gracious God. Luke is also the only gospel that teaches about Zaccheus and Jesus going to his house while he was considered a tax collector and sinner, and therefore showing compassion on Zaccheus.

Son of Man

Luke often refers to Jesus as the Son of Man, and so we see in the gospel of Luke that he is emphasizing Jesus’ humanity. Luke uses this phrase about twenty-four times in his gospel compared to ten times in the gospel of John and 14 in the gospel of Mark. He is also referred to as the Son of Man thirty times in the gospel of Matthew where the focus is on Him being the Son of David.

So in the gospel of Luke, we see Jesus as the Son of Man, being fully human while fully God. We see Jesus’ human characteristics such as mercy and compassion and learn a lot more about His life outside of His ministry. We see Jesus in the face of the Man.

December 21, 2022December 21, 2022

THE FOUR FACES OF GOD – THE FACE OF THE OX IN MARK

The Gospel of Mark looks at the face of the ox, Jesus as the suffering servant who came to lay down His life for His friends. The ox has always been seen as a beast of burden, toiling hard in the fields and strong for his task. The ox was also used in some sacrifices in the Old Testament. So Jesus came to be a servant to man and to lay down His life for us so that we could enjoy eternal life with Him.

Mark Has No Genealogy or Nativity

One thing that is noticeable about the gospel of Mark is that it has no genealogy or nativity, this is because no one really cared where a servant came from, only what they were able to do for them. The gospel of Mark begins with John preparing the way for Jesus and then jumps straight into Jesus’ ministry.

The Ascension in Mark

Just before the ascension in Mark we see Jesus telling His disciples about the works or miracles those who believed in Him would do, the ways in which He had served mankind by casting out devils and healing the sick. After this it simply said Jesus was received into heaven and sat at the right hand of God.

Keywords in Mark

One of the keywords in Mark is ‘immediately’, this is because a master expects immediate obedience from his servant. Jesus likewise expects immediate obedience from His disciples.

Action and Laying Down One’s Life

Another focus of Mark is action and laying down one’s life. Mark’s gospel starts quite early pointing towards the crucifixion and there is more talk of laying down one’s life than in the other gospels. There is also far more focus on action and serving both in His miracles and in His parables and the general story of Mark.

Mark therefore focuses on Jesus being the suffering servant without genealogy or any concern for his birth and early life and focused on what He did for the people and what was expected of His disciples.

October 1, 2022October 1, 2022

The Four Faces of God – The Face of the Lion in Matthew

The first face we come to in the gospel of Matthew is the face of the Lion, as we mentioned in our introduction to this series, the Lion was the King of the Beasts and represents Jesus as the King of Kings or the King of the Jews. Matthew was writing mainly to a Jewish audience and the question he wanted to answer for his audience was, ‘Was Jesus the King of the Jews?’ or the Messiah that they had been expecting and in numerous ways throughout this book he shows the answer to be a resounding ‘Yes!’

Jesus’ Genealogy in Matthew

The first way we see Jesus represented as the King or Lion in Matthew is because of the genealogy that Matthew represents. There were two different ways of presenting a genealogy in Biblical times, in the gospel of Matthew, Matthew shows the royal genealogy and his purpose is to link Jesus to King David revealing Jesus’ royal connection and therefore His right to be considered King by the Jews.

Royal Visitors at the Nativity

Matthew is the only gospel that tells the story of the Magi visiting Jesus. The Magi were important visitors from the East (Persia to be exact) and they asked Herod where the ‘King of the Jews’ was to be born as they had come to worship Him. This once again puts the focus on Jesus’ Royalty, the fact that he had important international visitors who claimed He was a King.

Focus on the Kingdom of Heaven

The Gospel of Matthew also focusses on the Kingdom of Heaven, mentioning it 53 times, whereas Mark mentions it 17 times and Luke 41 times. Matthew also focuses on the ‘Kingdom of Heaven’ as opposed to the other writers who focus on the ‘Kingdom of God’, this was because he was writing to a Jewish audience who considered the name of God sacred and therefore preferred not to use the name of God.

The Royal Discourses

The gospel of Matthew also consists of a number of royal discourses, the sermon on the Mount is perhaps the most well known of these discourses and tells how a citizen of the Kingdom should behave. Other discourses are where Jesus sends out His disciples, or His emissaries, to spread the good news; the parables on the Kingdom of Heaven; and the Olivet discourse in Matthew 23-25 where Jesus talks of the second coming.

The Ascension

In the different gospels we are given different details of the Jesus’ ascension into Heaven after His rising from the dead (or sometimes we aren’t given much detail at all). In the Gospel of Matthew just before Jesus ascends into heaven He gives His disciples the Great Commission, once again this is like a king giving His command until He next sees His servants.

Our Response

What should our response to the face of the lion, or Jesus as the King be? It needs to be one of obedience. When Christ speaks, we obey, He is our King and we are His servants.

In Matthew therefore we see Jesus as the King of the Jews and His royalty is represented in the face of the Lion. In the next few posts we will see Jesus’ face in the other gospels and what it means to us.

October 1, 2022October 1, 2022

The Four Faces of God – An Introduction

In this series we are going to be looking at the four faces of God as discussed in the gospels. The four faces of God are found in Ezekiel 1:10 and Revelation 4:7.

In Ezekiel 1:10 it says:

“Their faces looked like this: Each of the four had the face of a human being, and on the right side each had the face of a lion, and on the left the face of an ox; each also had the face of an eagle.”

And in Revelations 4:7:

“The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle.”

So in both these verses we see the lion, the ox, the man and the eagle. Each of these faces represent a different characteristic of Jesus Christ as we will see in the next few posts.

The Lion is known as the king of the beasts, he is a grand creature and considered noble. He depicts Jesus as the King of Kings.

The ox is traditionally a beast of burden, he quietly does the hard work without complaining and is strong for his task. This represents Jesus as the suffering servant who laid down His life for His friends.

The third face is the face of man and represents Jesus as the Son of Man. It is about his humanity, being born on earth and having to grow up to be a man in an earthly body just like ours.

The last face is that of the eagle. The eagle soars high in the sky and belongs to the heavens. We consider the heavens the place where God lives and so the eagle represents to us Jesus the Son of God, it is all about His divinity.

In the next few posts we are going to look at each face specifically and go into more depth about how each gospel represents that face and that aspect of Christ’s character. There was a reason for including four gospels in the Bible and not just one. Some people may wonder why, is it just duplication? Actually there are a lot of important differences between the gospels which help to shape these pictures of the four faces or four characteristics of Christ.

We hope you enjoy this series and also check out our YouTube series on the topic at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEbglT_rrGI&list=PLoW__SW0VZ7BV-WO7MR5RdsXvhk5sDLBs