Four Portraits of Christ - All The LORD is near Daily Devotionals for 2026

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.
Revelation 22:13

Four Portraits of Christ
Have you ever studied your personal ancestry? Is it interesting? Are there any kings or nobility or Jewish heritage? Or like me, perhaps your family heritage is of no particular regard. The four Gospels of the New Testament each present the Lord Jesus Christ to us from a unique perspective and with a unique emphasis. The Book of Matthew presents Christ as the King; in Mark, Jesus is seen as the Servant; Luke reveals Christ as the Son of Man; and John presents Christ as the Son of God. The story they tell is most wonderful.

Matthew—Jesus the King. Of noble blood, of the highest order possible, Matthew traces his ancestry from Abraham, the father of the Jewish people, and David, Christ's royal ancestor.

Mark—Jesus the Servant. The ancestry of a servant is not relevant; that he serves well is all that matters, thus Mark gives no record of Jesus' genealogy.

Luke—Jesus the Son of Man. Luke traces our Lord's human ancestry all the way back to Adam! This reveals Jesus to us as completely and fully man.

John—Jesus the eternal Son of God. Here the Scriptures open up in a majestic way; John immediately links Jesus with God and reveals Him as God, the One who has no beginning and is above all things!

The King demonstrates His superiority and His love for His people, in that He laid aside His crown in order that He might make the supreme sacrifice of Himself to save His people. The Servant performed His task most perfectly. The Son of Man identified with mankind completely, yet remained absolutely sinless, for "in Him was no sin." The Son of God is the only One qualified to suffer the penalty of our sins for us. That is our Savior, Jesus, whose name means "Jehovah is Savior," Christ, the Anointed One, King, Servant, Man, and God—all in one Person.

Brian Prigge