Biblical History of the New Testament: Abridged Edition

By Charles F. Bowman

The author believes that the New Testament scriptures are inerrant historical documents. As historical documents, each gospel account should be presumed to have been written as a chronological narrative as are most historical works. The purpose of the Biblical History of the New Testament is to provide a historical narrative of Jesus' life and that of the early church in a way that reconciles the apparent discrepancies among the four gospel accounts while maintaining the chronological order of events in all four gospels.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: May 30, 2024
• ISBN: 9781304319135

Book preview

Biblical History of the New Testament

Abridged Edition

By

Charles F. Bowman

Edited by Nancy P. Bowman

© 2024 by Charles F. Bowman

All rights reserved

ISBN 978-1-304-31913-5

Chuck Bowman Associates, Publisher

Biblical History of the New Testament

By Charles F. Bowman

Introduction

This is a book of history not theology.  Although the principal source documents are the four New Testament accounts of Jesus’ life: Matthew Mark Luke and John and the Acts of the Apostles in the main the author has refrained from theological commentary.  Biblical references for the text may be found in the printed or digital versions of the book. Where the author has speculated, he has prefaced the speculation with perhaps.  Additionally, the author also describes the location of places referred to in the historical texts and minor clarifications that may be found in any encyclopedia.

The author asserts that as historical documents each gospel account on the New Testament should be presumed to have been written in chronological order as are most historical works.  The purpose of this book is to not only provide a historical narrative of Jesus’ life and that of the early church but also to do so in a way that reconciles the apparent discrepancies among the four gospel accounts while maintaining the in all four gospels. The author does not presume to offer the only such reconciliation but to provide at least one for the reader’s consideration.

Chapter One

Before His Coming

In the beginning the person of God who is revealed to humankind the Lord Jesus Christ made all things.  From heaven He witnessed the war that occurred when the angel Satan led a third of the angels in rebellion against God and was thrown out of heaven to the earth by the rest of the angels led by Michael.  He was present when the Father decreed the plan that was to be a great mystery for thousands of years.  In unveiling this mystery God would reveal his wisdom to those angels who did not rebel against Him.  He would send Jesus to earth to become a man to live a sinless life to die for the sins of the world and to call out His church to become the object of His grace. Through Jesus both the angels and humankind would be able to see God’s holy nature for Jesus holds everything together.  He is the source of all life and this life is the light of humankind.

Centuries before he became a human being Jesus appeared to humankind.  Often in these appearances He took on the persona of the angel of the Lord and often He accepted their worship.  He appeared to Hagar the maid of Sarah the wife of Abraham when she ran away from her mistress.  He appeared to the patriarchs Abraham Isaac and Jacob.  He appeared to Moses in a burning bush on Mount Horeb on the Sinai Peninsula.  There for the first time God revealed his personal name YHWH or Jehovah which means I am or the self-existent one.  Years later He would appear to Moses again on that same mountain and give him the Law of God.  Jesus appeared to Joshua as the captain of the hosts of the Lord carrying a sword.  He appeared to the sons of Israel to chastise them for failing to drive the inhabitants out of the land that God had given them.  During the period of time when Israel was a theocracy Jesus appeared to Gideon and to the parents of Samson both young men who were to deliver Israel from their enemies.

At the time of Jesus’ birth Jews everywhere were eagerly expecting the arrival of the Messiah the Hebrew word rendered Christos in the Greek or Christ in English the anointed one.  What was their basis for this expectation and what did they expect this Messiah to do?  The answers are to be found in the ancient Hebrew Scriptures known to Christians today as the Old Testament.

The promise began at the very beginning of human history.  Just after Adam and Eve sinned for the first time in the Garden of Eden God promised Satan (appearing in the form of a serpent) that the seed of Eve will bruise the serpent in the head and the serpent will bruise him in the heel.  Many years later God revealed to Abraham that this seed will come through him and that through this seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed.  Lest we think that this promised seed referred to all of Abraham’s descendants, the apostle Paul pointed out that the promise referred to a single person.  Job perhaps a contemporary of Abraham understood the promise of an eternal redeemer who will come to earth.  Just before he died in Egypt Jacob revealed to his sons that the ruling scepter would go to his son Judah and that it would not depart from Judah’s descendants until Shiloh (He whose it is) will come.  Much later as the children of Israel were traveling through Moab on their way to Canaan the prophet Balaam prophesied to Balak king of Moab that a star will come forth from Jacob and a scepter will rise from Israel and would crush Moab.  Just before the children of Israel entered Canaan God revealed to Moses that He will raise up a prophet like Moses who would speak to them for God.  After the children of Israel were settled in the land when Hannah was dedicating her son Samuel to the Lord God revealed to her that He will give strength to His king and would exalt the strength of His Messiah.  When King David asked God for permission to build Him a house God refused but promised David that his descendant would build a house for God and that God would establish the throne of David’s kingdom for ever.

God revealed much about this Messiah through the Psalms written by King David and others.  David understood this Messiah to be one greater than he who will receive his scepter from God and would rule as priest and king for ever.  David saw a picture of torture and painful death in this Messiah’s future, but he also saw that God would not allow His Holy One to undergo decay.  Other psalmists introduced the concept that the Messiah would actually be the Son of God and that He will establish the throne of David forever for the benefit of all the Gentile nations. However, they also saw that the kingship of this Messiah would be opposed and rejected by those in power.  In the end all nations will worship Him.

After the nation of Israel was divided into northern tribes (Israel) and the southern tribes (Judah) God revealed information about the coming Messiah to his prophets.  Perhaps the most complete picture of the coming Messiah was revealed to the prophet Isaiah, one of the most important prophets to Judah.  He was called by God in the year that Uzziah king of Judah died.  Isaiah’s ministry was very high profile, and when he spoke of the coming Messiah people listened.  God revealed to Isaiah that this Redeemer would be known as the Branch of the Lord.  He would be born of a virgin and would be called Emmanuel which means God is with us.  The people who walked in darkness would see a great light.  For a child would be born to us a son would be given to us and the government will rest on His shoulders.  His name would be called Wonderful Counselor Mighty God Eternal Father Prince of Peace.  He will sit on the throne of David and uphold it with righteousness forever.  All the nations of the earth will resort to the Messiah.  This Redeemer would spring from the root of Jesse the father of King David and the Spirit of the Lord would rest on Him.  With righteousness He will judge the afflicted of the earth and will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth.  He will bring justice to the nations until He has established justice in the earth.  God himself will come to save to open the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf and the lame will leap and the dumb will shout for joy.  God’s Servant will also bring justice to the gentile nations.  Israel will be saved by the Lord with an everlasting salvation.  But God said of Him whom He formed from the womb to be His Servant It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel.  I will also make you a light of the nations, so that My salvation may reach the ends of the earth.  God’s Servant will be greatly exalted but first He must suffer and be despised and rejected.  He would be beaten and spit upon in humiliation.  He would bear our griefs and will be smitten of God for our sins and by His scourging we are healed.  For all of us have sinned but the Lord caused Him to suffer the punishment for our sins without complaining because even though He would die and be buried He knew that He would live to see His offspring those whom He will justify by bearing their iniquities.  He poured out Himself to death and bore our sins.  Only we must seek the Lord while He may be found and repent for He will abundantly pardon.  We will go out with joy and be led forth with peace.  He will be the light that comes, and the nations will come to the light.  The Lord anointed His Servant to bring this good news of salvation.  Lo your salvation comes, and they will be called the holy people the redeemed of the Lord.  The Lord Himself brought salvation with His own arm.

During the reign of Jeroboam II one of the kings of Israel God revealed to the prophet Hosea that God's son would be called out of Egypt.  During the reign of Hezekiah king of Judah God revealed to the prophet Micah that One from Bethlehem who is eternal would go forth from God to rule Israel.  The great prophet Jeremiah who ministered to Judah during the fall of Jerusalem reiterated the concept that a king would come from David's line to save Judah and Israel and He would be called The Lord our Righteousness.  [The name Jesus is the Greek form of Joshua or Yehoshua which means YHWH is salvation.]  God also revealed to Jeremiah that the Lord's Anointed the Messiah whom Israel thought will be their leader among the nations will be captured.  Even during their captivity in Babylon God continued to encourage His people through the prophets Ezekiel and Daniel.  Ezekiel promised them that God will deliver His flock and will set David over them to shepherd them and feed them and that David will be king over them in the land of Israel forever and that they will keep God's laws. Daniel saw a vision of a Son of Man who was presented before God and given an everlasting kingdom consisting of all nations and languages.  God even revealed to Daniel the time when the Messiah would come.  [Although scholars do not agree on the exact date based on their interpretation of this prophecy and historical dates, they generally agree that the period between the end of the Babylonian captivity and His coming would be seventy weeks of years or four hundred and ninety years later.] 

After the Jews returned to Jerusalem God revealed to the prophets Zechariah and Malachi the last bit of information that they will receive concerning the coming Messiah prior to his arrival.  God is going to bring in His Servant the Branch and everyone will invite his neighbor to sit under his vine.  This Branch will build the temple of the Lord and rule on His throne.  Rejoice Jerusalem for your king is coming!  He is just and endowed with salvation but humble riding on a colt.  God will pour out on the house of David the Spirit of grace so that they will look on Him whom they have pierced and mourn for Him.  At the very end of the Old Testament period God revealed to Malachi that He was going to send a messenger to clear the way before Him and then the Lord Himself will suddenly come to His temple and will judge sinners.  This messenger will be like Elijah, and he will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers. 

One could hardly wonder that the scholars of the Hebrew Scriptures were expectantly waiting for the coming of the Messiah at the time of Jesus’ birth.  They had been given a great deal of information about this Messiah over a period of over a thousand years.  Yet the information was strangely contradictory.  Was this Messiah to be a reigning king who will save the Jews and bring perfect justice on the earth, or would he be a person with a servant’s heart who would suffer and die for their sins?  Perhaps some thought there would be two Messiahs, but none suspected that the same Messiah would come twice.  First, he would come as the suffering servant and later as the reigning king.

Chapter Two

God Incarnate

The first person to receive any indication of the imminent coming of the Messiah was a priest named Zacharias who lived during the reign of Herod the Great.  Zacharias and his wife Elizabeth, also a descendant of Aaron, were a godly elderly couple who had no children.  One day as Zacharias entered the temple after being selected by lot to burn incense an angel of the Lord appeared to tell him that he and Elizabeth would have a son whom they were to name John.  The angel told Zacharias that this son would be filled with the Holy Spirit even in his mother’s womb and that he was to come in the spirit and power of the prophet Elijah.  He would clear the way for the promised Messiah as predicted by the prophet Malachi.  When the angel quoted Malachi four verse six …to restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers... there could be no question in Zacharias’ mind of whom the angel spoke.  Perhaps not surprisingly Zacharias was incredulous to think that he and his elderly wife would be parents and that the child would be the promised forerunner of the promised Messiah.  The angel did not take this challenge to his authority lightly.  He told Zacharias that he was Gabriel who stands in the presence of God.   Zacharias must have immediately recalled that Gabriel was the angel who appeared to the prophet Daniel on two occasions. For his disbelief Zacharias was struck mute until the child was born.  Soon after Zacharias arrived home Elizabeth became pregnant, and she was delighted.

Gabriel next appeared to Mary who was engaged to Joseph a descendant of King David.  Joseph and Mary lived in the city of Nazareth about fifteen miles east of the south end of the Sea of Galilee.  Gabriel told Mary that she was to have a son whom she was to call Jesus and that He would be called the Son of God, and that God would give him the throne of David to reign forever.  Mary must have immediately realized that Gabriel was speaking of the promised Messiah.  She asked: How can this be since I am a virgin?  When Gabriel replied that the father of the Child would be God himself Mary willingly agreed.  When Joseph learned of Mary’s condition, he planned to break off their engagement with as little public notice as possible.  However, an angel appeared to him in a dream and told him that he should proceed to marry her for the father of the child was the Holy Spirit.  The angel told Joseph to name Mary’s son Jesus (YHWH is salvation) for it was He who would save His people from their sins.  Certainly, Joseph did not need to be told the significance of the angel’s message.  To remove any doubt that the angel was referring to the Messiah Matthew in his gospel quotes the prophecy of Isaiah in the Hebrew Scriptures He will be born of a virgin and will be called Emmanuel which means ‘God with us.’

Mary and Elizabeth were relatives.  Within a few days of her encounter with Gabriel, Mary went to visit Elizabeth and Zecharias in Judah.  When Elizabeth heard Mary’s voice the baby within her leaped for joy and Elizabeth was immediately filled with the Holy Spirit.  In greeting Mary Elizabeth told Mary what had happened with her baby upon hearing the sound of Mary’s voice and she acknowledged that the child that Mary was carrying was the promised Messiah.  Mary’s response was to glorify God with a beautiful song.  Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months before returning home.

When Zacharias’ and Elizabeth’s son was born they named him John as instructed by Gabriel.  Immediately Zacharias could speak, and he was filled with the Holy Spirit and began praising God. He announced to everyone that this child was the prophet promised by the prophet Malachi who would go before the Lord to prepare His ways.

Luke dates Jesus’ birth by a census.  Caesar Augustus, the great Roman ruler who succeeded his famous uncle Julius Caesar decreed that a census should be taken of all the inhabited earth.  (The name Augustus or venerable was a title given to him by the Roman Senate.  His real name was Caius Octavius.)  He is known to have conducted four of these censuses in twenty-six B.C., six B.C., four A.D., and fourteen A.D.  Luke perhaps realizing the possible confusion reported that this was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.  Historians believe that Quirinius was governor of Syria from six to four B.C.  Also, Herod the Great