Preface
With the first advent of Jesus Christ or, more specifically, his death, burial and resurrection, being the pivotal point of human history, it is not surprising that we encounter a immense volume of detail in each of the four Gospels on this very subject. We can read the account in one gospel and find all the essential ingredients necessary for salvation, but forget a detail particular to that account when we go on to read another. It is extremely difficult to retain every detail of the other three gospels while reading a fourth.Much revelation is missed by not having a tool by which to compare and combine all the details with which God in His wisdom has furnished us. We have in our Bibles one investigative report (Luke’s) and three eye-witness accounts of the most significant episode in world history and it is eminently productive to be able to embrace all the details of each.
The object of this current exercise is to facilitate such a merging of the accounts of each of the four evangelists; and I am convinced that the reader will have innumerable ‘aha!’ experiences once he or she is able to assemble all the available information pertaining to these historic events. A novel feature will instantly become apparent upon opening the book, and that is of the different coloured type assigned to each gospel. This enables the reader immediately to determine in which gospel a particular detail or passage occurs. This greatly enhances the accountability of the exercise, compelling me to maintain strict accuracy throughout. The colours themselves have no inherent significance apart from the fact that they seemed like the right ones.
Countless attempts have been made before to harmonize the gospels but I have encountered none which have combined as much detail as can be gleaned from each Gospel into one coherent story. For example, in the very first paragraph the phrase 'His disciples' is used three times. Other harmonies would have only included it once, but a closer analysis reveals that three different events are being alluded to; thus it must be important to know that ‘His disciples’ were present at each of the three events.
This example illustrates the basic principle which I have let guide me through the task of deciding what to include and what to exclude as repetition or as superfluous. On a very few occasions I have had to add a word in order to maintain the flow or legibility of the events. But this is strictly limited to ‘and’, ‘while’ and other such innocuous conjunctions.
Naturally any such undertaking as this lends itself to continual improvements as regards both grammar and chronology and I would be delighted to hear of any suggestions that would enhance the value of this work.
May God bless you and grant you increased spiritual insight as you enjoy these pages.
Mike Wilson 1992 and 2012