Study to stand approved.
Our good works proclaim to the world our faith and love for God. Sometimes this can seem overwhelming, but with our dear Helper, Holy Spirit, He will teach us all things.
The Purpose behind Matthew
A final purpose of Matthew is to instruct the church. An obvious clue to this is in the Great Commission: “teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you”. The discipling process involves instruction in the words of Christ, and the Gospel of Matthew revolves around five of Jesus’ discourses. Instead of emphasizing a narrative of Jesus’ life as Mark does, Matthew uses the narrative elements in his Gospel as a setting for Jesus’ sermons.
Matthew 28:20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
The end will be marked by Jesus’ second coming.
The Great Commission rests on the authority of Christ. Because He has authority over all, everyone needs to hear His gospel. While verses 18–20 are commonly known as the Great Commission, they should not be thought of as the first call for world evangelism. See Gen. 12:1–3 for God’s command that Abraham and his descendants should be a blessing to all nations.
Making disciples involves three steps: going, baptizing, and teaching. It was assumed that when a person trusted in the Lord Jesus, he or she would be baptized. The word name is singular, although it is the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit together. This verse is another indication that God is one in three Persons. I am with you always demonstrates that Jesus is the true Immanuel, “God with us”.
Matthew 1:23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”
Matthew presents Jesus as the fulfillment of Isaiah which says that the child’s name will be Immanuel (meaning “God with us”). While in the original context of Isaiah, this is a prophecy about a child born during the reign of King Ahaz of Judah, Matthew sees this prophecy as finding its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus. Faithlife Bible.
This is a quotation from Isaiah 7:14. In this verse, the prophet Isaiah consoles King Ahaz of Judah. A coalition of two kings, King Rezin of Aram and King Pekah of Israel, was opposing Ahaz. Isaiah tells Ahaz not to fear, for the plans of his enemies would not succeed. As a sign to Ahaz, a son would be born of a woman, and before that boy reached the age where he could tell right from wrong, the two kings would no longer be a threat to Ahaz. Some interpretations view Isaiah’s prophecy as directly prophetic of Jesus’ birth and nothing else. According to this view, only the miraculous birth of Jesus can be considered a sign. Since the Hebrew noun translated virgin can also mean “young woman,” some have suggested that Isaiah was prophesying about a son born during the lifetime of Ahaz—perhaps Isaiah’s son Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz. Others have interpreted Isaiah’s prophecy as a prediction that a virgin, a contemporary of Isaiah, would marry and have a child. The sign to Ahaz was the sudden dissolution of Rezin and Pekah in the face of Assyria. Even though uncertainty surrounds how this prophecy was fulfilled during Isaiah’s lifetime, Matthew makes it clear that Isaiah’s words find their ultimate fulfillment in the virgin birth of Jesus, a sign to people of all ages that God was with them.
Hebrew 13:5 Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
This quotation is one of the most emphatic statements in the NT. In Greek it contains two double negatives, similar to saying in English, “I will never, ever, ever forsake you.” Jesus uses the same technique to express the certainty of eternal life for believers.
Revelation 21:3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.
Describes the great hope in the book of Revelation and the whole Bible. Believers can be confident that in the end, they will be united with God. Dedicated to Him, belonging to Him. Emphasizes that He will remain and reside with them. Faithlife Bible.
In this verse, God is described as dwelling among His people. This recalls the Incarnation, the fact that Jesus “became flesh and dwelt among us” and is a fulfillment of the promise that God will dwell among His redeemed people. A virtually identical promise was given to Israel in Ezekiel. NKJ Bible,
Genesis 12:1-3
Now the Lord had said to Abram:
“Get out of your country,
From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you.
2 I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
The name Yahweh, translated as Lord, is not explained until Exodus. But the readers of Genesis needed to know that the one who spoke to Abram is the same Yahweh who later would form the nation of Israel and who had created all things. To a world that believed in many gods, the name of the true and living God was significant. God had spoken the promise to Abram in Ur. Now that Abram’s father had died and been buried in Haran, Abram recalled Yahweh’s words and acted upon them. Abram means “Exalted Father.” Later it will be changed to Abraham, meaning “Father of Many.” Here are three levels of ever-increasing demands on the life of Abram and Sarai. The country was the region of his dwelling, the family was his clan, and his father’s house was where he had responsibility and leadership. Upon the death of Terah, Abram would have become the leader of the family group. God’s commands to Abram were intensely demanding because they caused him to leave his place, his clan, and his family in a world where such actions were simply not done. Only the landless and the fugitive would move about and leave their ancestral homes. But Abram was to leave everything.
There are seven elements in God’s promise to Abram in these two verses. The number seven suggests fullness and completeness. This celebrated passage is a prologue to the set of passages that together form the Abrahamic covenant, the irrevocable promise of God. (1) God commanded Abram to leave his home and family, promising to create a great nation through him—the people of God. This people would be the Hebrew nation. (2) God promised to bless Abram. The blessing of God is His smile, the warmth of His pleasure. The Lord’s promise of His personal blessing to Abram and Sarai included the benefits of a long and healthy life, plus wealth and importance. (3) That one’s name would live on long after one’s lifetime was a supreme honor. Those who brought shame on themselves would be forgotten. The name Abraham, by which we remember Abram, is one of the most honored of all names in history. (4) Abram was under divine orders to be a blessing to others. This he did whenever he told about the living God before other nations and peoples. (5) those who bless: Elements five and six form a poetic couplet. (6) Whereas God would bless the peoples who blessed Abram or his descendants, His curse came upon the individual who cursed Abram or his descendants. (7) all the families of the earth would be blessed through them, the Jewish people who are descended from Abram. Faithlife Bible.
Since the biblical genealogies indicate that Abram is the 10th generation from Shem, the son of Noah, it has been 10 generations since Yahweh spoke directly to anyone according to the biblical account. Previously, God gave humanity a blessing and promise after the flood. Now, after the judgment of the Tower of Babel, God speaks a blessing to the world again through Abram. Abram is living in Haran in northwestern Mesopotamia. Yahweh’s command that Abram go is followed by three details: Abram is to leave his country or land, his birthplace or homeland, and his father’s household. Referring to the land of Canaan. This is the first of three promises to Abram. Yahweh’s second promise to Abram refers to a miraculous multiplication; Abram and his wife are simply two people and past childbearing age. This third promise of Yahweh to Abram is a promise of renown and reputation, but primarily relates to material blessing. God’s promise to bless and support Abram’s line shows a shift in His relationship with humanity. He now focuses on a chosen people. NKJ Bible.
No comments:
Post a Comment