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  THE LAST CHAPTER
  by A.W. Tozer
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Summary: The four Gospels uniquely add an extra chapter to the biography
of Jesus, showing that the biographer is not finished writing the story
of His life.

Topics: "Hope in Christ", "Resurrection"
Scripture References: Matthew 28:6, Mark 16:6, Luke 24:5

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A.W. Tozer explores the unique structure of the Gospels, noting that
while they follow the traditional format of biography by detailing
Jesus' life, they astonishingly include an additional chapter that
recounts His resurrection. This addition defies the conventions of
biography, as it presents a living Jesus after His death, emphasizing
the transformative power of His resurrection. Tozer highlights that this
extraordinary element signifies that Jesus' story does not end with His
death, but rather continues in a new and powerful way, offering hope and
life to believers. The Gospels, therefore, not only document Jesus' life
but also proclaim the reality of His ongoing presence and influence in
the world.

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CONTENT
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The four Gospels tell the story of the life and ministry of Jesus, and
in so doing, they follow accurately the ordinary course of biography,
giving the facts of His birth, growth, work, death and burial. That is
the way with biography: the very word itself suggests it, for it comes
from bios, life, and graphein, to write, and means the written history
of a person's life. So says Noah Webster. Now, when we look at the
Gospels we note an odd--and wonderful--thing. An extra chapter is added.

Why? Biography, by its own definition, must confine itself to the record
of the life of an individual. That part of the book which deals with the
family tree is not biography, but history, and that part which follows
the record of the subject's death is not biography either. It may be
appraisal, or eulogy, or criticism, but not biography, for the reason
that the "bios" is gone: the subject is dead. The part that tells of his
death is properly the last chapter. The only place in world literature
where this order is broken is in the four Gospels.

They record the story of the man Jesus from birth to death, and end like
every other book of biography has ended since the art of writing was
invented. . . . They all agree: Jesus was dead. The life about which
they had been writing was gone. The biography was ended. Then, for the
only time in this history of human thought, a biographer adds to his
book a new section which is authentic biography and begins to write a
chapter to follow the last chapter. . . .

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Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/aw-tozer/the-last-chapter/
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