Daily Devotional: Impact

Right now, I’m reading through the four Gospels in a way that is called a “Harmony” of the Gospels. The idea is to take the four Gospel accounts and divide them up so that they are all compiled together and put in chronological order.

I’ve read through the Gospels this way several times before and I really enjoy it. I appreciate how, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, each writer records slightly different details, and sometimes records events that other authors left out completely! They only had so much writing material and a lot to record. As John says in John 21:25, “Now there were also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.”

What I really enjoy is when the Gospels all record the same event. They each include some different details that do not contradict each other, but instead paint a fuller picture. It really is a harmony, just like how four voices can come together and harmonize to produce a fuller, richer sound. The four writers of the Gospels were different men with different backgrounds, but they all focus on One Man; Jesus the Messiah.

We have four Gospel accounts for a reason, and each has a purpose. Luke says his purpose right at the start of his letter, “that you may have certainty…” In a similar way, in the concluding remarks of John’s Gospel he says, “This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true” (John 21:24). In other words, John is telling us that he is writing what he knows personally to be true, so again, we can have certainty.

It’s hard to have much certainty in our world today. Any fact can be “fact checked” to seem true or false. Things can be spun to tell a number of different stories. One incident could have several different reports that all contradict each other. In the midst of such chaos and confusion, there is tremendous peace in the certainty we have about Jesus. There are actually many external sources outside the Bible that attest to the veracity of Scripture, but even if we just had the four Gospels to hold against each other, we would see a beautiful picture of our Savior.

As I’ve been reading through the Gospels again, I have been encouraged to once more orient my focus on the thing that matters most; Jesus. No matter what comes of our current health pandemic, Jesus is still on the throne. No matter who wins the election later in the year, Jesus is still on the throne. No matter what happens in the rest of 2020, Jesus is still on throne. That’s one thing I’m certain of, and I’m certain that’s a good thing.

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.