Gospels – Matthew 1 – 3

Finally, on Wednesdays, we will be reading from the Gospels – and we start

with Matthew.

We all know Matthew was one of the first twelve disciples of Jesus (Matthew 9:1; 10:1-4) and therefore an eye-witness; he records more of Jesus’ teaching concerning God’s heavenly kingdom than the other writers, for example the entire Sermon on the Mount.

Sometimes, because we are so familiar with the passages we read, we just skim right through and read without really reading.

But the Gospels are special because it tells us about the life of Jesus – His works, His words and His love.  No where else do will we able to know more about Him.  So should you not spend your time carefully reading it?

Anyway, I thought some background of Matthew would put us in the right frame of mind in reading it.

Background

The Gospel according to Matthew was written for the Jews as they were an important part of the church in Jerusalem.  Many of the Christian Jews hoped that their fellow countrymen would believe in Jesus and this Gospel was written to address this need.

You will find that this Gospel book focuses on the truth and revelation – showing clearly that Jesus is the Messaih that was prophesised by the old testament prophets and that He is to be the King of the Jews (Isa 5:14, 8:8; Micah 5:2; Hosea 11:1).  You will find that the author constantly uses old testament references to show that the life of Christ indeeed fulfils many of the prophecies of the Bible.

The attitude and writing style of the author is evident from Matthew 5:17 to show that Jesus came for the Jews…

“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.”

Some unique characteristics of Matthew:

1.  This Gospel book shows that Jesus is the King (Messiah).  The Jews esteemed their genealogies and by showing them that Jesus is the descendent of Abraham, the Son of David through the family tree introduction, the Jews could see clearly that all covenants and promises of the old testament were fulfilled in the new testament.

Through the Gospel according to Matthew, we can see the relationship between the old and new testament and it is indeed appropriate that Matthew is the very first book of the new testament.

2.  In order to show that the teachings of the Lord Jesus did not do away with the laws of Moses, the author purposely divides the teachings of Jesus into 5 parts.

So you will find that on 5 occasions in the Gospel according to Matthew, these words were written:

“when Jesus had ended these sayings,”

This was to mark an end to a part of the teachings of Jesus (Matt 7:28, 11:11, 13:53, 19:1, 26:1).  Perhaps a simple chart to show the structure of Matthew may help us understand further:

Promise: The Birth of the King (Matthew 1 – 2)

Part 1:

The Work of Jesus – The Proclamation of the Coming of the Kingdom of God (Matt 3 – 4)
The Words of Jesus – The Laws of the Kingd of God (Matt 5 – 7)
The End:  Matt 7:28

Part 2:

The Work of Jesus – The Preparation for the Kingdom of God (Matt 8 – 9)
The Words of Jesus – The Commission of the Kingdom of God (Matt 10)
The End:  Matt 11:1

Part 3:

The Work of Jesus – The Battle for the Kingdom of God (Matt 11-12)
The Words of Jesus – The Establishment of the Kingdom of God (Matt 13)
The End:  Matt 13:53

Part 4:

The Work of Jesus – The Salvation of the Kingdom of God (Matt 14 – 17)
The Words of Jesus – The Fellowship of the Kingdom of God (Matt 19)
The End:  Matt 19:1

Part 5:

The Work of Jesus – The Judgement of the Kingdom of God (Matt 19 – 22)
The Words of Jesus – The Completion of the Kingdom of God (Matt 23 – 25)
The End:  Matt 26:1

Conclusion: The Suffering of the King and His Resurrection (Matt 26 – 28)

3.  In order to gain acceptance by the Jews, Matthew did not use the phrase “Kingdom of God”.  Instead he used “Kingdom of Heaven”.  This is because the Jews were afraid to say the name of God and hence used “heaven” to replace “God”.

There are many more things we can learn about Matthew but I think I would stop here today and leave the rest for another time.

Reading Passage: Matthew 1 – 3

Some points to ponder:

Matthew 1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.

Why can we be so sure that Jesus can bear all our sins away? Here we read that Jesus is sinless because only He, alone, was born “without sin”. And through the virgin birth of Mary, Jesus could be both fully man, and yet, unblemished by sin.

Matt 1:20 But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.

Have you ever wondered why the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and not to Joseph? Surely it was the more logical thing to appear before the father of the child. But no, the angel appeared to Mary and we are not told why. However, God has His marvellous will behind everything and He will reveal His will to us whenever and however He sees fit.

Matt 2:4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.

Look at what Herod did.  He knew that the Scriptures had prophesied of a King enough to ask where would this Messiah be born.  But he was not willing to let this knowledge of his change his life according to its teaching.  Sometimes, knowing a little of the Word of God can be dangerous when we do nothing with it.  We must strive to know the complete Scriptures and act on it.

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