D Earl Cripe

The Cross and the Crown - Harmony of the Gospels, Part 6 D Earl Cripe

D. Earl Cripe, Ph. D (1934-2011) held firmly to Historic Orthodox Christian Theology that the Bible is the only guide to the faith and practice of the Church. Towards that end during his more than forty-seven years of ministry he penned numerous volumes of expository Bible commentaries. In them he takes the reader verse-by-verse through the chosen book of the Bible, explaining the original meanings and intentions along with the applications to the life of the serious believer of Christ in simple language that anyone can grasp. They are essential reading for the serious Christian looking to further their understanding of the Holy Scriptures. This volume is part 6 of 6 in our verse-by-verse study of the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. This entire book takes place over a period of fifty-five days. That time is counted as: 1. The six days before Passover when Jesus arrived in Bethany. 2. The seven days of Passover week. 3. The three days and three nights that Jesus was in the tomb. 4. And the 40 days that He was on the earth after His resurrection and until He ascended into Heaven. Our tendency is to avoid the practice of trying to identify one book or one part of the Gospel accounts as being the most important. Certainly nothing was more important than the Virgin Birth when God was incarnated in this earth as man. His baptism and the beginning of His earthly ministry when He presented the opportunity for the Nation to accept the Kingdom of God and Christ as King cannot be made to take a second place to anything. Without argument the greatest sermon that was ever preached in the history of the world was the Sermon on the Mount. What can be said to be more important than that? The fascinating journey throughout Galilee and the Great Galilean Ministry as Jesus went about to use all of His persuasive powers to get the natural people to understand and subscribe to the Law and to submit to Him as King is without equal in the history of literature. The six months from Capernaum to Bethany as Jesus abandon the program of trying to reform Israel and began the mission of completing His evangelism in Judea and Perea before going to Jerusalem the final time takes a backseat to nothing in the Scriptures.