Matthew 1 - 3 - "Jesus Is The Messiah!"

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The book of Matthew is one of the four Gospels in the New Testament of the Bible. It is believed to have been written by the apostle Matthew, also known as Levi, who was one of the twelve disciples of Jesus Christ. The book is believed to have been written between 70 and 100 AD.

This book is considered to be one of the earliest accounts of the life, teachings, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is written in the form of a narrative and includes many of Jesus' teachings, parables, and miracles. The book begins with the genealogy of Jesus, tracing his lineage back to King David and Abraham.

You see, according to Luke 3:15, "Everyone was expecting the Messiah to come soon, and they were eager to know whether John might be the Messiah."

Sadly, according to the Old Testament, the prophets (especially Daniel) gave a clear indication as to the time of when the Messiah would come. In spite of the religious leaders knowing this, they still rejected Him in the end by crucifying Him on a cruel cross.

Matthew's Gospel is unique in that it was primarily written for a Jewish audience. Matthew wanted others to realize, like himself, that Jesus was truly the Messiah the Old Testament prophets prophesied about.  He emphasizes the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies and presents Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah and King of the Jews. 

Overall, the book of Matthew provides a comprehensive account of Jesus' life and teachings, serving as a foundational text for Christians around the world.

It’s an odd way to begin, but Matthew begins his book with a list of names. But the list shows readers this isn’t a fairytale, but a true story of how and why Jesus is the actual Messiah the Jews have long been waiting for. The New Testament doesn’t begin with “once upon a time,” but with a family tree. Matthew is drawing on a rich tradition of genealogical texts, which primarily come from the Tanak (an acronym for the Hebrew Bible’s three main divisions: Torah, Nevi’im, Ketuvim).

 

As a 15-year old young man studying the Bible for the first time, I found this first chapter as boring as any 15-year old would. Who likes to read genealogies?  But, over the years, God would allow me to stop and glance at some unusual characters within the genealogy of Jesus. Jesus’ genealogy is a representation of just how much God can use sinful people and wicked circumstances to ultimately bring about His purpose. In this case, it was the virgin birth of His Son, Jesus Christ.

 

Let me give you some quick examples of what I mean:

 

1. The first is found in Matthew 1:3 where Judah is mentioned as the father of Perez.  If you’re not careful, you’ll miss this brief story of how Perez got into the lineage of the Messiah.  When you go back to the book of Genesis 38, we get the opportunity to see that Judah didn’t have the best character.  In this instance, he had lied to his promised daughter in law, Tamar, to marry his son. But his son died. As the Jewish tradition would have it, the next son would marry Tamar and raise a child in the dead son’s name. But the next son died too. And Tamar was eventually led to believe a lie that one day Judah would make things right and provide a husband for her. He never did. Being hurt and frustrated by his lies, Tamar dressed as a prostitute in a distant town unrecognizable to Judah. Judah had sex with her not knowing it was Tamar.  When he found out she was pregnant, he was about to have her killed. But, Tamar wisely stole Judah’s staff and other belongings to one day show proof that he (Judah) was the father and guilty of his pledge to her.  She showed him the belongings and immediately Judah was convicted in his heart of the sin of lying to her and let her go.  Tamar ended up being pregnant with twins whereby Perez was the firstborn son. Thus, this allowed him to be in within the lineage of Jesus.

 

2.  The next name you see that you wouldn’t think would be in the lineage of Jesus is the name of Rahab…found in verse 5.  Remember, Rahab was a harlot who lived in the city of Jericho – the first city the children of Israel destroyed when they entered into the Promised Land. Fortunately for Rahab, God used her to hide a couple of Jewish men who spied out the city prior to their assault.  For her goodness to these men, the Israelites spared her and her family and destroyed everyone and everything else. Rahab joined the Israelites on their journey and eventually became the great, great grandmother to the most famous of Israelite kings – King David.

 

3. Within the same verse (verse 5), we see another name of historical interest – Ruth. Ruth was not an Israelite, but rather was a native of the land of Moab.  She married an Israelite man, but he died at a young age.  However, her love for her mother-in-law, Naomi, would cause her to follow her into the Israelite town near Jerusalem and would eventually find favor with God and marry a man by the name of Boaz.  Ruth would give birth to a son and eventually become the great grandmother of King David!

 

4. The next name of interest is Bathsheba.  Bathsheba was married to Uriah, a Hittite and one of King David’s mighty men of valor.  Sadly, King David committed adultery with the beautiful Bathsheba and she became pregnant with a son.  Frightened by this, King David developed an evil plan to have Uriah (Bathsheba’s husband) killed in battle so that he would never know the truth of their adulterous relationship. Sadly, because of this tragedy, both murder and adultery, God allowed the son to soon die after birth. It was their next son, Solomon, who would become the King of Israel after King David and find his place within the lineage of Jesus Christ.

 

5. As we read the next several names beginning with Rehoboam and so on, many of these ended up as wicked Kings of Israel.  And, in spite of their wickedness, God still allowed them to find place within the lineage of His dear Son!

 

God has a reason for everything.  And, when we read the lineage of Jesus, it is fraught with wicked people. However, He was not wicked. He knew no sin so as to become the perfect lamb of God to take away the sin of the world.

 

If you’re family isn’t perfect…neither was Jesus’ family!

 

In verse 17, it is interesting that there were 14 generations that passed between Abraham (the father of the Israelites) and King David, then 14 generations until the entire Israelite clan was dispersed into Babylonian captivity and exile, and then 14 generations (400 silent years) where God did not speak to His people until the birth of His Son.  God is the great mathematician!

 

Fulfillment of Old Testament Prophecy

 

It is amazing how Matthew proves the fact of Jesus’ Messiahship by quoting certain prophecies within the Old Testament concerning Jesus that were now being fulfilled. Matthew was writing to prove to his Jewish race that Jesus was indeed the Messiah they’ve been waiting for.

 

As we read chapter 2, we soon realize that these events happen over a 2-year period of time.  When the wise men arrived from the East, they were able to visit and worship Jesus, giving his parents gold, frankincense, and myrrh. But, notice in 2:11, by the time the wise men found Jesus, he was no longer lying in a manger, but rather the family was living in a house.  And, by the time Herod came to his senses about Jesus possibly being a future King in Israel, some 2 years had passed – which was why he had all the babies surrounding the town of Bethlehem killed. He wanted to make sure there was no insurrection against the Roman Empire.

 

The rest of chapter 2 gives a brief synopsis of how Jesus and his family moved from Bethlehem to Egypt and eventually to the little town of Nazareth near the Sea of Galilee.

 

Chapter 3 is the story of John the Baptist. He was the cousin of Jesus!  John’s mother Elizabeth was the cousin to Jesus’ mother Mary.  In fact, while Mary was pregnant with Jesus, the two spent some time together in Elizabeth’s home.

 

John the Baptist was who the prophet Malachi referred to in the last book of the Old Testament. He was that “Elijah” who was to come that all of Israel was preparing for. Unfortunately, after 400 long years, they still weren’t ready to receive him or the Messiah!  How sad!

 

How long will you wait to prepare your heart for the Messiah – Jesus Christ?