Book Note: Daniel Darling. The Characters of Christmas: The Unlikely People Caught Up in the Story of Jesus. Daniel Darling. The Characters of Easter: The Villains, Heroes, Cowards, and Crooks Who Witnessed History’s Biggest Miracle

Daniel Darling. The Characters of Christmas: The Unlikely People Caught Up in the Story of Jesus

Daniel Darling. The Characters of Easter: The Villains, Heroes, Cowards, and Crooks Who Witnessed History’s Biggest Miracle

Daniel Darling. The Characters of Christmas

Introduction: Jesus, the Grandest Story of All

1. Joseph, the Unsung Hero of Christmas

2. A Christmas Miracle: Zechariah and Elizabeth

3. Mary, the Simple Girl at the Center of Everything

4. The Song of the Angels

5. Room for Jesus: The Innkeeper

6. The First to Know: Shepherds

7. Seeking and Finding: The Wise Men

8. Herod, the Monster of Christmas

9. The Oldest Bucket List: Simeon and Anna

10. The Surprising People in Jesus’ Family

11. The Even More Surprising People in Jesus’ Family: Tamar, Ruth, Rahab, and Bathsheba

Afterword: Imagine Yourself …

Daniel Darling. The Characters of Easter

Introduction: Why We Need Easter

If Christ is risen, nothing else matters. And if Christ is not risen—nothing else matters. Jaroslav Pelikan. page 9

1. The Failure: Peter

After Peter came to recognize his own inadequacy, his utter inability to fulfill his destiny apart from obedience to his only true responsibility, he became a rock-solid leader. As his story unfolds in the book of Acts, we can clearly see that when Peter kept his eyes on Jesus and followed Him, others followed too. And they followed by the thousands. Needed today: more Peters.1 Charles R. Swindoll. Page 17

2. The Beloved: John

It is the unique, tender, genuine, chief Gospel … Should a tyrant succeed in destroying the Holy Scriptures and only a single copy of the Epistle to the Romans and the Gospel according to John escape him, Christianity would be saved.1 MARTIN LUTHER ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

Darling, Daniel; Tim Mullins. The Characters of Easter: The Villains, Heroes, Cowards, and Crooks Who Witnessed History’s Biggest Miracle (p. 41). (Function). Kindle Edition.

3. The Betrayer: Judas

His life was the antithesis of love.1 MERRILL C. TENNEY

Darling, Daniel; Tim Mullins. The Characters of Easter: The Villains, Heroes, Cowards, and Crooks Who Witnessed History’s Biggest Miracle (p. 65). (Function). Kindle Edition.

4. The Rogue: Barabbas

The criminal escaped; Christ was condemned. The one guilty of many crimes received a pardon; he who had remitted the crimes of all who confess was condemned. And yet the cross itself also, if you reflect upon it, was a courtroom. In the middle of it stood the final judge.1 AUGUSTINE

Darling, Daniel; Tim Mullins. The Characters of Easter: The Villains, Heroes, Cowards, and Crooks Who Witnessed History’s Biggest Miracle (p. 85). (Function). Kindle Edition.

5. The Powerless: Pilate

… I believe … in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried … THE APOSTLES’ CREED

Darling, Daniel; Tim Mullins. The Characters of Easter: The Villains, Heroes, Cowards, and Crooks Who Witnessed History’s Biggest Miracle (p. 101). (Function). Kindle Edition.

6. The Doubter: Thomas

Incarnate Deity is a thought that was never invented by poet’s mind, nor reasoned out by philosopher’s skill. Incarnate Deity, the notion of the God that lived, and bled, and died in human form, instead of guilty man, it is itself its own best witness. The wounds are the infallible witness of the gospel of Christ.1 CHARLES SPURGEON

Darling, Daniel; Tim Mullins. The Characters of Easter: The Villains, Heroes, Cowards, and Crooks Who Witnessed History’s Biggest Miracle (p. 121). (Function). Kindle Edition.

7. The Religious: The Pharisees, Scribes, and Sadducees

No wonder the Herods, the Caesars and the Sadducees of this world, ancient and modern, were and are eager to rule out all possibility of actual resurrection. They are, after all, staking a counter-claim on the real world. It is the real world that the tyrants and bullies try to rule by force, only to discover that in order to do so they have to quash all rumors of resurrection, rumors that would imply that their greatest weapons, death and deconstruction, are not after all omnipotent.1 N. T. WRIGHT AND MICHAEL BIRD

Darling, Daniel; Tim Mullins. The Characters of Easter: The Villains, Heroes, Cowards, and Crooks Who Witnessed History’s Biggest Miracle (p. 137). (Function). Kindle Edition.

8. The Witnesses: The Women at the Tomb

A virgin gave birth to Christ; a woman proclaimed that He had risen again. Through a woman death, through a woman life.1 AUGUSTINE

Darling, Daniel; Tim Mullins. The Characters of Easter: The Villains, Heroes, Cowards, and Crooks Who Witnessed History’s Biggest Miracle (p. 153). (Function). Kindle Edition.

9. The Secret Disciples: Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea

The tomb that Joseph offered was not a final resting place, but rather the ultimate symbol of God’s complete and final victory over sin and death and his delivery of the promise of forgiveness and new life to all who put their trust in him.1 PAUL TRIPP

Darling, Daniel; Tim Mullins. The Characters of Easter: The Villains, Heroes, Cowards, and Crooks Who Witnessed History’s Biggest Miracle (p. 169). (Function). Kindle Edition.

10. The Executioners: Who Were the Romans?

The amazing initial (and enduring) reflex of Jesus’ crucified heart was to forgive. This is amazing, astounding grace!1 R. KENT HUGHES

Darling, Daniel; Tim Mullins. The Characters of Easter: The Villains, Heroes, Cowards, and Crooks Who Witnessed History’s Biggest Miracle (p. 183). (Function). Kindle Edition.

My Recommendations

These books would make planning holiday sermons or classes easier. The short expositions and proposed applications are concise and helpful.

It is well-written and easy to read.

Highly recommended.