Introduction to Matthew
1. Matthew- tax collector. They were hated among their fellow Jews. They worked for Rome, collecting taxes from their countrymen, and extorting additional money from them as they had opportunity.
2. Time written- 400 year gap between the prophecies of Malachi and the coming of Jesus Christ.
3. Main audience– Matthew wrote to all people, but with an emphasis on a Jewish audience. He quotes many OT prophets, seeking to prove the prophecies re. Jesus as Messiah.
a. Mark shows us the side of the suffering servant.b. Luke shows us the humanity of Jesus.
c. John shows us that Christ is the Son of God.
d. Matthew shows us that Jesus was the Messiah, the king of the Jews.
4. Before believing in Jesus as their Messiah, every serious Jew would want to know if he had the correct lineage as had been prophesied in the O.T.
a. No Jew would accept a Messiah who did not meet the requirements of biology and birthplace. Matthew is addressing that first.
Matthew 1:1
1. The Jews high great reverence for these two men.
David was considered the first true King over Israel, Saul having been rejected.
David called “a man after God’s heart”.
2. Abraham was the first man justified by faith. He was the father of the faithful Jews.
3. Interestingly, both men were adulterers, and had numerous moral failures.
4. Jesus came forth from these men, showing God’s plan that His Son would be associated with sinners.
Matthew 1:2
Messiah- A Descendant Of Abraham
Read Genesis 12:1-3 approx. 2092 B.C.
God promised that Abraham was going to be the patriarch of a great nation.
And in Abraham, all the families of the earth would be blessed.
We might think that it is the nation of the Jews who would bless all the earth.
In Genesis 22, God clarified His statement, saying,
Gen. 22:18 “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed…” approx. 2043 B.C.
Seed doesn’t mean many descendants, but one descendant.
Read Galatians 3:16 The Messiah, would be the One to bless the nations of the earth.
Messiah- A Descendant Of Isaac
Abraham had two sons, Ishmael and Isaac.
Would God get more specific? Yes. He promised Abraham,
Genesis 21:12 for in Isaac your seed shall be called. Approx. 2068 B.C.
Messiah would not come through Abraham’s older son Ishmael, but through the younger son, Isaac.
Messiah- A Descendant Of Jacob
Isaac then had two sons, Jacob and Esau.
Would God continue to narrow down the Messiah’s lineage? Yes! Balaam prophesied…
Read Numbers 24:17 approx. 1408 B.C.
From ancient times, the Jews knew that this passage foretold of their coming Messiah, and that He would come through the line from Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob.
Matthew 1:3
Messiah- A Descendant Of Judah
Jacob, also called Israel, had many sons, whose descendants became the twelve tribes of Israel.
Jacob prophesied concerning his son Judah… Read Genesis 49:10 approx. 1860 B.C.
The nations would obey this ruler called “Shiloh,” which means “peace.”
This prince of peace would come from the tribe of Judah.
Matthew 1:4, 5
Messiah- A Descendant Of Ruth And Boaz
Ruth was a Moabite woman married to a Jewish man.
Because of famine, they left Bethlehem and went to Moab, where her husband died.
She returned to Bethlehem with her mother-in-law Naomi.
Ruth eventually marries her dead husband’s relative, Boaz.
Messiah- A Descendant Of Jesse
Ruth & Boaz were the grandparents of a man named Jesse. Once again, the lineage follows precisely.
Read Isaiah 11:1-2a approx. 732 B.C.
Messiah- The Descendant Of Son Of David
Jesse had eight sons, the youngest of whom was David.
David grew up to be the king of Israel, and the prophecies regarding Messiah continued.
The Word of the Lord concerning David was…
Read Psalm 132:11
The Messiah would be eternal, would rule on the throne of David, & be a descendant of David.
Read Revelation 22:16
Matthew 1:6b-11
The Royal Line Is Cursed
David had several sons.
His son Solomon became king, and Matthew traces the genealogy through Solomon.
But there was a problem here.
The kingly line became more and more ungodly.
It reached its lowest point with Jeconiah: 2 Kings
2Kings 24:9 And he (Jeconiah) did evil in the sight of the Lord, acc. to all that his father had done.
Read Jeremiah 22:30 598 B.C.
Think about it: This curse should mean the end of all the promises.
Now how can Messiah become king?
Matthew 1:12-17
Avoiding The Curse; Messiah Is Born
The kingly line of David descended to Joseph.
Joseph’s firstborn son (adopted) would have the right to sit on David’s throne,
…but God had cursed everyone with that bloodline.
Jesus had all legal rights to Joseph’s lineage.
He did not have the blood of that line, for He was born of a virgin, conceived in her womb by the Holy Spirit!
Does this mean that Jesus is not truly the branch of Jesse, and the root of David? No.
The gospel of Luke also gives us Jesus’ genealogy, but not through His legal line.
Luke tells us His biological bloodline, which He had through His mother Mary.
And Mary’s line also descends through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Judah, through Jesse to David. But from David, Mary’s heritage did not extend through the kingly line of Solomon.
Instead, she was a descendant of David’s son Nathan.
Thus, according to Jewish Law, Jesus could legally inherit the throne, while completely avoiding the blood curse on Jeconiah’s line!
It is apparent that from eternity past, God had the whole thing worked out.
He foretold of a specific Messiah, who could only be One: Jesus Christ.
For the Jew, God spoke to them clearly in a way that they could understand and that was important to them.
What’s The Point? So What?
God still wants to speak clearly to people concerning His Son, Jesus Christ.
1. God reveals Himself through nature. Romans 1:18-20; Psalm 19:1-6
2. God reveals Himself through conscience. Romans 2:12-16
3. God reveals Himself to the sincere seeker. John 7:16, 17
4. God satisfies the spiritually hungry & thirsty. John 6:35; Isaiah 55:1, 2