The Gospel According to Matthew

You must believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God or everything else is meaningless. If He is the only begotten Son, all God and all man, He has the right to forgive man his sins. Through His death, in atonement for my sins, and in His resurrection from the dead He conquered death and gave me, the moment I accepted His sacrifice, true and everlasting freedom. In Jesus we have peace with God.

The Gospel According to Matthew

Succession to a throne is often a time of conflict and uncertainty. This is no less true when the heir is the King of kings. If ever there was a high-stakes succession, this was it. A Man claims to be Israel’s own Messiah; of course all Israel sits up and takes notice. Of course He must prove His credentials: Who wants an impostor? 

The Book of Matthew presents Jesus’ credentials. It presents Jesus as the King, but King of a totally different kingdom—the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew, as a Jew, unashamedly shapes his account about Jesus’ life so it is understood by a Jewish audience. His goal is to convince his peers that the King of kings has come. With this in mind, he uses terms and names that Jews will resonate with. By quoting more passages from the Old Testament than any other New Testament writer, he attempts to validate that Jesus is indeed the promised Messiah. No less than 12 times Matthew presents Jesus as Israel’s Messianic King. Also unique to Matthew is the expression, “that it might be fulfilled” which was spoken by various prophets. By footnoting familiar passages the Jews accepted as God’s inspired Word, Matthew builds his case for Christ with the precision of a former tax collector. Examine for yourself how he substantiates the prophecies that pointed to Jesus’ miraculous and obscure birth, His birthplace, His exile to Egypt and return to Israel, and His rejection and suffering. No wonder Matthew begins his book with an impressive genealogy of Jesus’ link to King David.

Genealogy means “origin.” Genealogies were very important to first-century Jews. A genealogy (1) proved that a person was indeed an Israelite, (2) identified the tribe to which he or she belonged, and (3) qualified certain Jews for religious duties such as Levitical and priestly service. Christ’s genealogy is crucial to historic Christianity. Matthew traced the lineage of Christ Jesus back to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to show that He was a Jew, but also back through David to inform the readers that Jesus is qualified to rule on the throne of David (see 2 Sam. 7:12), an event still in the future.