Today, we begin a new study of the Gospel according to Matthew. Four hundred years separated the Old Testament from the New Testament. This is why that period of time is called the 400 silent years. God didn't say anything to man during those 400 years. He sent no angels, no prophets or no message. After the last Old Testament prophet, Malachi, God pushed the pause button on special revelation. God did this anticipating the forerunner John the Baptist.
In Malachi 3:1 we read, "'Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,' says the Lord of hosts." The last prophecy in the Old Testament was that someone would come heralding the coming of the Messiah. And that Herald was the cousin of the Lord Jesus, John the Baptist.
The New Testament is in the Old Testament contained while the Old Testament is in the New Testament explained. The first four books of the New Testament are all called gospels. Gospel means good news. The good news is that God sent His Son to this earth to die in the place of sinful man on the cross of Calvary. Our problem is that we do not understand the enormity of that which has been done to us by Lucifer. Sin is often seen as "something bad" but that view limits our understanding. Until we see sin as a fatal illness that causes terrible side effects or utter wickedness, we will not appreciate our salvation through the cross of the Lord Jesus.
Sin begets sin, evil spreads through evil. Think of all the cyclical expressions of evil in this world, everything from physical abuse to murder to drug abuse which all morph themselves into the most horrid sins. This is the nature of sin, it progressively becomes more and more raunchy. The Bible directs our attention to the source of this progression and the source is the powers and principalities of darkness actively fighting for rule over all. Sadly, even though they gain more and more control they will never be satisfied in their pursuits because sin never satisfies.
So when we look at the four Gospels, it is as if the Holy Spirit was the producer of the film of the life of the Lord Jesus, and He filmed through four different camera angles. The first three Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, are called Synoptic Gospels, because they follow a synopsis. The synoptic gospels all have basically the same material. In his gospel, John departed from the synoptic approach.
Each of the four have a particular emphasis. Matthew emphasizes the Lord Jesus as the sovereign King, Mark presents Him as the Servant of God. Luke portrays the Lord Jesus as the Son of Man. And, John places the spotlight on the Lord Jesus as the Son of God. Mark wrote to the Roman mind while Luke wrote to the Greeks. While John wrote his gospel to all mankind, Matthew, wrote his to the Jews.
There is one particular sentence that Matthew penned 16 times in his gospel. That sentence is "This was done so that it might be fulfilled what was written by a prophet." Matthew proves the Lord Jesus fulfilled many Old Testament prophecies. Also, Matthew emphasizes the words the Lord Jesus employed as He communicated with all of mankind. This is why in his gospel Matthew included the long sermons of the Lord Jesus like the Sermon on the Mount and the Upper Room Discourse.
Matthew was a Tax Collector who worked for the Roman version of the IRS. This meant everybody hated Matthew. In those days, the Jews hated the IRS in Rome because the Romans occupied their land and they took advantage of their people financially. Matthew collected taxes for Rome from his countrymen and they saw him as their sworn enemy.
The book of Matthew begins with a genealogical record of the lineage of the Lord Jesus Christ. Interestingly, women were included which was not something done in those days. People claim that the Bible represses women. The reality is that the Bible is a document that was way ahead of its time. The fact that women were included in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus was counter cultural because in that day no one valued women. In Matthew 1:3, we see "Tamar" mentioned. In v.5, both "Rahab" and "Ruth" are mentioned. Bathsheba or the woman known as "the wife of Uriah" is mentioned in v.6. "Mary," the mother of the Lord Jesus is mentioned in v.16. These are all in the genealogy of the Savior of the world. That speaks volumes about God's mercy and grace.
Throughout the Old Testament, the Jews meticulously maintained their genealogical records from Adam until the Lord Jesus Christ, ensuring to us that the Messiah could be absolutely identified when He appeared. In AD 70, all of the genealogical records of Israel were destroyed when the temple was burned by the Romans. As this is so, the only source for the genealogies of the world are maintained in the pages of the Bible. And the full genealogical record of only one Jew remains to this day, the Lord Jesus Christ who alone can be identified as the Savior who has come to take away the sin of the world.
Matthew’s Gospel account specifically notes that the Lord Jesus Christ is the true promised Messiah of Israel and the Christ of the world. To further establish this, he identified the Lord Jesus as "The Son of David." David means "beloved." Matthew purposefully highlighted that the Lord Jesus came through the genealogy of King David to begin his narrative in order to establish that the Lord Jesus is fully entitled to the rights of the Davidic throne as promised in 2 Samuel 7.
Matthew then identifies the Lord Jesus Christ as "the Son of Abraham." When the disciples were disheartened and thought that all was lost because of the crucifixion of the Lord, they were gathered together. At that time, just after hearing from two men on the road to Emmaus who had seen the risen Lord, Luke records in Luke 24:36-39 these words, "Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, ‘Peace to you.' 37 But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit. 38 And He said to them, 'Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.'"
Doubts arise in every heart regarding these matters. The words of reality speak to our hearts at this very moment. Given the state of our world, we naturally wonder if God is there. So many things in this world seem out of control. We naturally find ourselves discouraged as the world spins into chaos all around us. One of the main reasons the Lord has given us His Word is to ensure that He is aware of everything that is happening and that there are many purposes that are coming to fruition even through calamity. Our problem is that we do not have His vantage point. This is why our faith in Him is so important.
These carefully recorded words of Matthew 1:1 should fill us with the most joyous hope. We don’t need to wonder, worry, or wobble in our faith. We also do not need signs or wonders to convince us that God is here with us. Rather, God has given us His word and He asks us to believe in Him. Christianity is a person. If it were just a teaching or a philosophy then historical events in the Bible would not matter. If Christianity was merely a new outlook on life, then dates would be of concern. Since Christianity is based upon and concerned with the person of Christ, one can recall that there was a given day when He was born. If we were to take away Christ, there would be no Christianity. In God’s covenant with King David, He established that it would be through his posterity that His universal kingdom would be fulfilled. And, through the Lord Jesus it has been.
