of Our Lord. This Is Appendix 119 From The Companion Bible. In the Four Gospels the Ministry of our Lord is
divided, not into "years", but by subjects,
which are of far greater importance than time. The "years"
are mainly conjectural, but the subjects are Divinely recorded facts.
The subjects are two in number : the Kingdom and the
King; and, since these are repeated in the form of
Introversion, it brings the Person of the Lord into the
Structure of the Gospel as the one great central subject of
each, for all four Gospels are similarly constructed. (See Structures on
pages 1305, 1381, 1427, and 1510 in the Companion Bible.)
As, however, the index-letters are not the same in
each Gospel, we set them out in their order :-
These Subjects begin and end respectively in the Four Gospels as follows :-
From the above it will be seen that, including
all the Four Gospels, Thus, the Subject that occupies the greatest of
verses is the K The Subject of the K The Gospel which has most to say about the First
Subject (the Proclamation of the Kingdom) is J The Gospel which has most to say about the Second
Subject (the Proclamation of the King) is M The Gospel which has most to say on the Third Subject
(the Rejection of the King) is L The Gospel which has most to say about the Fourth
Subject (the Rejection of the Kingdom) is M These particulars, when compared with the
interrelation of the four Gospels as set forth in their respective
Structures, are full of interest, and help to determine more specifically
the great design of each Gospel.
Taking the Gospel of Matthew as an example, we find
:-
The first subject is marked by the beginning and
ending being both noted (4: The commencement of the Second Subject is noted by
the ending of the First Subject (7: The Third Subject is marked in 16: Thus there was a moment at which He introduced the
Subject of His rejection, of which He had never before given even a hint.
When once He had begun, He repeated it four times (in each Gospel), each
time adding fresh details. See 16: The Fourth Subject (the Rejection of the Kingdom)
begins at 21: In this section comes the second series The same four subjects may be traced in like manner
in the other Gospels.
1 Its first occurrence in the New Testament, the last being in Revelation 14:14. It is the title connected with dominion in the earth. See Appendix 98 .XVI. 2 The first series being recorded in Matthew 13 (see Appendix 145); the second series, beginning with Matthew 21:28, being specially marked by the word "again" in Matthew 22:1. |