We are going to begin a long journey this morning. After much prayer and contemplation I have decided to start a series on the book of Matthew. Matthew is a book filled with rich theology that comes straight from the words and actions of Jesus. It touches every area within theology describing God the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit. The importance of Scripture itself, Sin, repentance and salvation, the church, the future and end times.
It will likely take us at least four years if not more to complete the whole book. And you may be thinking “that is a little ambitious, I do not think you are going to make it here that long,” but I figure will give it a go anyway. We will break it up a little bit with a miniseries here or there as topics that need to be addressed come up in the future or just to give us a little break but one of the great things about Matthew is the diversity of topics that it addresses.
In beginning a new book I want to take a little time to understand the context in which it was written because that will help us to understand some of the themes that are focused on. With the book of Philemon that we just completed there was a lot added to the message when you understood both the major characters mentioned as well as the cultural context of the letter itself.
With Matthew I am not going to take quite is much time setting the scene because the time and place of its origin does not nearly affect the message as much as it did with Philemon. I will spend more time looking at the author later when he first makes an appearance in his own work around chapter 9, but for now just a cursory glance will have to do as we lay out the focus and intention of his writing.
In Matthew 9 the author simply identifies himself as a tax collector and uses that to focus on the forgiving nature of Christ rather than on himself in any way. A tax collector in the Jewish community was seen as a traitor to the Jewish people because he took money from his own people and gave it to a foreign power. They were overwhelmingly see as corrupt and usually used as the example along with prostitutes as the worst kind of sinners. Matthew was also known as Levi through the other three Gospels, which was likely his given name where Matthew was a name possibly bestowed upon him by Jesus based on his repentance and later appointment as an apostle. Like how Jesus renamed Simon – Peter.
Until only within the last couple of centuries, the gospel of Matthew has been understood and remained unchallenged as the first gospel account that was written. The church historian Eusebius, who lived in the third century reports that from at least the time of the second century the gospel of Matthew was known throughout the church as being written by the apostle who was once a tax collector and was the first written. That is why it has since the earliest lists of canonical books always come first and without question.
From both church history and internal indicators, we know that this gospel was written at a relatively early date, prior to the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans in A.D. 70, and as it was written before the gospel of Luke which is dated to Paul’s first Roman imprisonment, most conservative scholars believe that it was written somewhere between A.D. 50 and 60. Meaning that it was written only 20 to 30 years after the earthly life and ministry of Jesus.
The gospel of Matthew itself is also understood to not have been written chronologically but rather more or less arranged by topic. Some pastors and teachers have chosen to preach the book of Matthew in a more chronological order based on the timeline constructed from the other Gospels but I prefer to go through verse by verse as Matthew wrote it because his intent in writing was not to give a step-by-step account of the earthly ministry of Jesus but rather to present him and his teachings a particular way.
The purpose of Matthew’s writing this gospel, like everything else about the Bible, is debated. Matthew does not have a clear or specific statement in the book itself detailing why he wrote in the same way that Luke states in his gospel a clear intention for writing in Luke: 1-4.
The Christians of the first few decades of the church would not have been without any knowledge of the life and ministry of Christ, and there may have even been other partial written accounts and stories along with the witness of the apostles and others who had witnessed or even been a direct part of Jesus’ ministry. But as the church was growing beyond the boundaries of Judea and Samaria in great bounds by the 50’s and 60’s because of the ministry of Paul it would be necessary for a written account to reach these far-off churches to help them to know the words and events of Jesus’s ministry by a firsthand witness. And it would have been even more recived coming from one of the apostles.
Matthew’s gospel is filled with references to the Old Testament concerning prophecies about the coming Messiah as well as Old Testament law and history. It is generally accepted that Matthew was writing to a largely Jewish Christian audience which fits with the earlier date. During this time the church would still largely be made up of Jews with only small groups of Gentile converts. It is been suggested and well accepted among scholars that part of the intent of Matthew’s writing was to instruct the early church while others have proposed that it was intended to be an apologetic or evangelistic tool.
I do not believe that we have to make a clear distinction between these two intentions, the gospel of Matthew is very capable of both instruction as well as to be used as an apologetic and evangelistic tool.
One thing that is clear about Matthew’s intent in writing this gospel account is that he wanted to present Jesus as the prophesied Jewish Messiah that the people of Israel had long been waiting for. Specifically, that Jesus was the rightful king of the Jews and that over the course of his ministry how he was rejected by his own people and finally, his promises of triumphant return.
The book of Matthew can be split into three major sections concerning Christ as the Messiah King. It begins with the revelation of Jesus as the King. Chapters 1 to 4 describe his origins and his early life. That is the meaning of the phrase in Matthew 1:1 “the book of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah.” It is not just his genealogy which comes in verses 2 to 17, but the whole story of his ancestry as well as his early life and the introduction of his earthly ministry. It is the declaration by both John the Baptist and Jesus himself that the kingdom of God is at hand.
The second section is the rejection of the king. Throughout all of his ministry there is a clear rejection of Jesus claim to be the Messiah and his claim to the authority as the prophesied Davidic king. During his teaching and healing ministry, he was revealing himself as the promised Messiah King who was sent from God to fulfill the prophecies of the Old Testament. Throughout his interactions with the Jewish people, both the common people as well as the religious leaders, there is an initial interest but ultimately rejection by all.
Finally, Matthew presents the promise of the return of the King. None of the other Gospels lay as much emphasis on the second coming as does the gospel of Matthew. As we get into chapter 24 and 25 we will see that Jesus will come in the clouds with great glory and we have the promise of his ultimate reign over the world.
It is at his initial presentation that we begin this morning as we look at the first verse, Matthew 1:1.
Though Matthew does not have as clear of an objective statement as does Luke, we can see here his intention to present the record of Jesus and defend his position as the Messiah. Though the book of Matthew was written in Greek, it has a great deal of Jewish and Hebrew traditional terminology throughout the book. The phrase “the book of the genealogy” is one that is used many times throughout the Old Testament. It was not meant as merely a genealogy but as a story of an individual’s origin as well as the progression of their life.
Matthew is very intentional in his opening words. As already mentioned, Matthew does more than any other Gospels to point to the reader back to the Old Testament in order to establish Jesus as the promised Messiah whose authority is based upon God and his promise and is not merely another prophet in a long line of profits but something far greater, as The Messiah.
That is what “Christ” means. There is a common misconception among many people in the world, unfortunately even within the church itself that “Christ” is Jesus’s last name. Some sort of family name. Like my name is Scott Nelson, I received my last name “Nelson” from my father and past and on to my children. The word “Christ” is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word Meshiach, or “Messiah” as it is generally pronounced in English. They are one and the same. When you hear the word Jesus Christ, or Christ Jesus, you should in your mind associate that same Hebrew word, Jesus Messiah or Messiah Jesus.
The word “Messiah” itself means “anointed one.” The Hebrew root word for the term “Messiah” is a verb which means “to spread a liquid over,” it is used in ancient literature very frequently because it was a very common function. The same word is used to refer to painting in the book of Jeremiah.
In Jewish religious history, the idea of anointing someone or something, generally with olive oil, was a ceremonial spreading of the oil on an object or person to symbolize that they were set apart for some sacred responsibility. It was done to set apart a secular or common object or person and consecrated it, to identify it as sacred, to set it apart for God’s use alone.
This sort of anointing happened with objects like the entire tabernacle in the book of Exodus as well as individual objects and vessels that were used in the tabernacle and later the temple. More importantly, it was used on individuals. There are people in the Old Testament who were anointed to set them apart for specific spiritual duties. They were to be representatives of God and they had a responsibility to God to act in his place, to act as his intermediaries. They were recognized as “anointed ones,” messiah’s with a little “m,” and there were a lot of them.
There are three different groups of people that were required to be anointed and setting them apart for service. They were the priests, the prophets, and the kings. The anointing of the priests began in Exodus 28 with the anointing of the first high priest, Aaron, the brother of Moses. The high priestly office passed through Aaron’s line and the priesthood as a whole was required to be part of the tribe of Levi. The act of anointing them was a symbolic gesture to show their unique consecration to service to God.
Anyone who was a little “m” messiah was divinely selected. No priest, no prophet, and no king could legitimately be self-appointed. It was only by divine calling that an individual could be seen as being in one of these positions. There were different criteria used throughout the history of Israel to determine who was anointed in this way depending on which office they held.
With the priesthood, you are required to demonstrate your Levitical lineage before being anointed to serve as a priest. The prophets who were called from all different tribes were anointed in different ways. Isaiah describes how he was caught up in a vision before the throne of God and he was anointed through the act of the angel purifying his tongue with the hot coal before the throne of God. Both Saul and David were uniquely anointed by Samuel who was a prophet of God and then it was David’s bloodline who ruled over Jerusalem.
The offices of King and priest were required to be separate by divine declaration in the Levitical law. When anyone intruded on one of these offices without a divine calling they were subject to severe punishments including things like Saul being rejected as King for having offered a sacrifice, Hezekiah, one of the few good kings in Judah’s history, being stricken with leprosy for burning incense before the altar of God, and in some cases even death.
All three of these offices were intended to be mediatorial roles between God and his people. The prophet was the mouthpiece of God. Throughout Israel’s history, from Moses until John the Baptist, the prophets presented the revelation of God that had been revealed to them and pass it on to the people of God. They were the arbiters of the Word of God and its many different forms, whether in dreams, visions, or direct communications from Him.
The priest’s primary function was to be the spiritual intermediary between God and his people. Their function was to be the teachers of God’s revealed law, the interpreters of God’s law, and the executors of God’s law through offering judgments before the time of the kings and through the offering of sacrifices for sins on behalf of God’s people.
The king’s primary function was to be the divinely instituted ruler and protector of the people of God. God himself rules over the universe and his own the people as a theocratic king but instituted the kingly line in Israel to rule over his people on earth during the times of the Old Testament.
These were all of the little “m” messiahs through the Old Testament.
As you read the Old Testament it is not hard to see the focus on the single big “M” Messiah that is to come. The Old Testament is a deeply messianic book from beginning to end. Starting in Genesis 3 and The Fall, God promises Satan, disguised as the snake in verse 15, that he will “put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring: he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” This is the first prophecy in a long line of prophecies that described a coming figure who would reverse the effects of sin on the earth.
In Isaiah the Messiah is presented as someone who will suffer on behalf of the people of God. We read in 53:5 that “he was pierced through for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon him, and by his scourgings we are healed.” In this way, the Messiah is understood to serve both as the priest in presenting the offering but also as the offering itself as a payment for our transgressions.
We also see in Deuteronomy 18 that Moses predicts a prophet that will be greater than himself. This idea of Jesus as the greater Moses is seen especially in the sermon on the Mount as he takes the words of the Old Testament and reinterprets them for the people. Not that he changes their meaning but that he removes them from the corporeal actions and refocuses them on the heart of the individual. In the narratives that have him being accused of breaking the Sabbath, and we will see several of these in the book of Matthew, Jesus presents himself as the institutor and authority over the law itself.
Far more than that, Moses was the prophet who instituted the covenant between God and the people of Israel. Jesus, as the greater Moses institutes the New Covenant that is not only open to all peoples of the world but is based upon his sacrifice rather than on the Law.
Over the last few weeks as we have read through the book of Hebrews, and especially as we read in chapter 9 this morning, Paul has been explaining in detail how Christ fulfills the roles of both the high priest and the greater prophet with the institution of the new covenant in the blood of Jesus.
Finally, one thing that cannot be missed in the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah is that he will be a king in the line of David. The Old Testament is riddled with these prophecies of someone who will reign over the world and who will bless the entire world. Through the book of Genesis that person is not narrowed from merely an offspring of Adam and Eve to someone from the line of Abraham. It is narrowed further at the end of the book of Genesis as Jacob blesses his children and indicates that the kingly line will come from Judah. It is further narrowed to the descendants of David in the book of 2 Samuel.
David as promised that one from his line will rule from Jerusalem over all of the world for eternity. And so, it was understood that the Messiah would come from the Davidic line and thus it was necessary for Matthew to establish and Jesus’ legal claim to rule over the people of Israel.
And now we have come to verses 2-17 which I am sure you have all been greatly anticipating since I started this morning. I am going to read through them because I believe that all of Scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness so that we can be fully equipped. I am also going to read through these because I think you will recognize many of these names from the Old Testament. Read 2-17
This may seem like just a long laundry list of names but there is great importance in who is named. We know from other genealogies given in Scripture that some names are actually omitted from this list. Some in these lists that say so-and-so fathered so-and-so are actually two and sometimes three generations removed.
The point of this genealogy was to trace lineage from the people of note through the ages but also to be memorable to those who would be working to memorize all of these names. We must remember that very few people had the ability to read and write during the times of the New Testament and fewer still had the money and resources to put together a book of this size. Matthew uses a mnemonic device to make it easier for those who would be memorizing this genealogy by mentioning 14 generations from Abraham to David, 14 from David to the deportation, and 14 generations from the deportation to the Messiah.
I wish we had time to go through some of these names because they are people of great importance and tell an amazing story of God’s grace both to the people of Israel but also to the nations that surrounded Israel. It tells a story of God’s amazing work within the lives of individuals while also working across history to accomplish his plans.
Next week as we look at the story of Joseph’s dream I will tell you a little bit about the importance of one name in that list, Jeconiah, and how God ordered history to fulfill his promises in the most miraculous way.
But for now I want to conclude with this. The role of the Messiah, the big “M” Messiah, the one who is promised from Genesis 3 to come developed from just the one who would crush the head of Satan into a complex combination of a prophet, a priest, and a king. All three are essential needs for us. Our sin has separated us from God, it keeps us from approaching God, and it left us in ignorance. Before the fall, man enjoyed perfect communion with God and was able to understand things in a way that we will not comprehend until we are reach heaven and are given our glorified bodies.
After the fall, mankind did not know God and therefore needed a prophet to tell us about him. We had no relationship with God and so we needed a priest, an intermediary, to take us to God to reconcile us. We were ruled by Satan and the evil forces of this world and so we need a king to conquer the devil and to free us from our enemies.
The gospel of Matthew is a presentation of Jesus the Messiah, it is the eyewitness account of a man who sat at the feet of our Lord for three years and then spent the rest of his life proclaiming the truth of who Jesus is and what he taught, all while being continually persecuted.
The Old Testament is the combination of 1400 years of anointed profits, priests, and kings, all writing, serving, and looking forward in earnest hope for the coming of the Messiah. Matthew stands out as the first book of the New Testament to proclaim that Jesus is that Messiah. That Jesus is the Son of God, he is identified as Emmanuel, “God with us,” he is identified as King, he is identified as our Savior, and we will see next week that his named Jesus because he will save his people from their sins.