Your King and My Servant - A Devotional Study of Matthew and Mark (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781939770769)

In Scripture, the Spirit of God represents the glories of the incarnate Son of God, while being earthly-connected, by employing the number four. The four Gospels therefore, present the Lord Jesus Christ to mankind in the only dignified manner that God has endorsed. Each Gospel upholds the brilliancy of the Lord from different perspectives and to varying audiences to prompt our appreciation and reverence. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are not a harmonizing attempt to portray the life of Christ but four inexhaustible and unique themes of His person and attributes. There are four Old Testament "behold" statements associated with the coming Jewish Messiah and each one emphasizes a particular Gospel theme: Behold your King (Zech. 9:9) - Gospel of Matthew; Behold My Servant (Isa. 42:1) - Gospel of Mark; Behold the Man (Zech. 6:12) - Gospel of Luke; and Behold your God (Isa. 40:9) - Gospel of John. When the Lord is presented in a position of authority (as King and as God), the possessive pronoun "your" precedes the title, but when the position of a lowly servant is stated, the pronoun "My" appears. When the Lord is introduced in the intermediate stature, as a man, however, the neutral "the" is applied. This arrangement demonstrates the various facets and positional glories of the Lord's ministry and how He would relate to humanity.