Sunday, August 9, 2020

Matthew Chapter 1

Background:
The book of Matthew is believed to be penned in the last quarter of the first century by Matthew who was a disciple of Jesus Christ. It is one of 4 gospels that describe the life and times of Jesus Christ.

See that chapter in full below with *** by my study comments..... 

Matthew chapter 1
1 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

*** It would be a great error to skip over all these generational names as so many do. It must be noted that Matthew is writing with a purpose to show/document that Jesus was the One predicted to come from the Jewish blood line of David. These names and lineage are very critical to the identity of Jesus the Christ! They are more then just a bunch of funny sounding names but they are the path, steps and proof of who Jesus really was in the flesh! He was God stepping right into history! See 2 Sam 7:12-13 / Romans 1:3 as scriptures that mention the Christ coming from King David. 

2 Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren;

*** Abraham is mentioned here and it needs to be noted that He was the Father of all of Israel. See Genesis 17 / Learned Jews who knew the Torah would understand him as their Father. The notion of a Messiah coming from Abraham's own blood line should have had great meaning to the Jews at the time, but for most it is was missed all together! Praise God we have the finished Word so we do not have to miss it but can rejoice in it.

3 And Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram;
4 And Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon;
5 And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse;

*** A detailed reading of these names reveals an interesting truth. In this area of the lineage a woman is mentioned Rachab or Rahab. Who was this woman you ask? She was the inn keeper/prostitute that was made famous for helping some of Israel's spies escape. See Joshua 2 / So a prostitute is in the blood line of Jesus the Christ the sinless Savior. This just shows us as, with David and his sin, the Messiah has a blood line that runs right through a murderer (King David)  and a harlot (Rahab) and many other sinful people. It is though the power of God's grace and Christ's blood, redemption can be found and that is the HOPE of the gospel good news! See the gospel here: https://www.dontperish.com/the-gospel.html  

6 And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias;

*** Here it is that the lineage takes us through David the King of Israel. This is very important as I stated that David holds a special place within Israel as King and he was a man after God's heart. See 1 Sam 13:14.  Notice how the Holy word of God covers up no man's sin? David's blood line is marked with the birth of Solomon and it notes, he was of the wife that had been of Urias, the man David had killed. See 2 Sam 11:14. Critics of the word of God have a hard time dealing with the facts that God hides NO man's sin but he in fact calls us to repent of it, forsake it and then through the Messiah He will cleanse us of it. Unlike man's habit to HIDE sin, God posts it in His eternal Word for all the world to see, then He triumphs over it, redeeming men for His own glory!

7 And Solomon begat Roboam; and Roboam begat Abia; and Abia begat Asa;
8 And Asa begat Josaphat; and Josaphat begat Joram; and Joram begat Ozias;
9 And Ozias begat Joatham; and Joatham begat Achaz; and Achaz begat Ezekias;
10 And Ezekias begat Manasses; and Manasses begat Amon; and Amon begat Josias;
11 And Josias begat Jechonias and his brethren, about the time they were carried away to Babylon:
12 And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel; and Salathiel begat Zorobabel;

*** The lineage takes us to a point and it shows how detailed and exact the Word of God really is. Here it mentions the fact that Israel was taken into captivity into Babylon. This happened about 600 BC and it is an interesting study for another time. See Jeremiah 29:4-14

13 And Zorobabel begat Abiud; and Abiud begat Eliakim; and Eliakim begat Azor;
14 And Azor begat Sadoc; and Sadoc begat Achim; and Achim begat Eliud;
15 And Eliud begat Eleazar; and Eleazar begat Matthan; and Matthan begat Jacob;
16 And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.

***Here we get the the earthly parents of Jesus the Christ in Joseph and Mary. It should be noted here that Luke 3 also gives a generational lineage as well but it goes from the first man Adam all the way to Jesus, the last Adam. See 1 Cor 15:45-47  

17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.

*** Matthew lays out for us the number of generations from Abraham to Jesus. The Word 'generations' is used 75 times in the OT Word and only 5 times in the NT Word. This shows us that God, in the OT, was using the passing of time and men's lives as a foundation to reveal His will and plan in the holy Messiah to come. See Genesis 3:15. Today we do not understand that knowing our past generations is all that important. "Who cares" most would say! The truth, is few people even know their own history beyond their great grand parents. The idea of "who we came from" is far less important today then of whom do we believe! The reason these past generations matter was to reveal Jesus the Messiah and PROVE He was who he said He was so we could trust in His finished work to the saving of our soul! His past is so VERY relevant compared to yours or mine. 

18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.

***Here we learn of the planned marriage of Mary to Joseph. Espoused "mnesteuo" in Greek means to be promised in marriage. It is similar to what we call an "engagement" today but they were considered married with the consummation to make it official and complete. This is an archetype of us as a bride and for Jesus to come get us as  the Bridegroom. See 2 Cor 11:2  We are promised, but it is yet to be completed. In a critical point in God's Messiah plan, Mary is made "with child by the Holy Spirit" and we see this was predicted in Isaiah 7:14. This assures us of the fact that Christ has a duel nature in that he was both fully man and fully God. He could now live as we must live in the flesh ( see John 1 as he is the Word made flesh ) being tempted yet he could be perfect and over come for us. See Luke 9:62.  You may ask how was Jesus really the son of Joseph if he was conceived by the Holy Spirit? (Joseph was NOT his real father) A very interesting point must be understood here. If at any time a child was adopted into a family, he would gain the standing as an heir of the man who adopted him as if he was really born of him. This matters as we ourselves get to be adopted into Christ by faith and His work so we get to share an inheritance of heaven/eternal life. Isn't that beautiful and so hopeful? 

19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily.

***The soon to be husband, Joseph, learns of her pregnancy and wants to quietly leave her as he views it as a sin and unfaithfulness. Joseph shows a kind of archetype of Christ as he does not want to shame Mary but he seeks to protect Mary even as he thinks she was unfaithful to him. This is similar to what Jesus did for the woman caught in adultery. See John 8.  This is also a good example of people being destroyed without knowledge. See Hosea 4:6.  Joseph was a just man and had no idea of what God has done with Mary. 

20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.

*** Imagine Joseph and his situation. A just Jewish man about to take a young virgin bride and she is found pregnant! There was hardly a more severe sin in that culture, but he did NOT act quickly out of the flesh or anger but it says "while he thought on these things". He was pondering it all wasn't he? We could all learn form Joseph as we are called to act in wisdom never in the flesh. See Matt 10:16 and Roman 8:1.  An angel appears to Joseph in a dream and fills him in as to God's plan. Note: we do not have angels appearing nor is God speaking to us in this way today, as God is DONE revealing His Word and we have the finished Word in the bible. See Hebrews 1.  The angel goes on to reveal things to Joseph.   

21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.

***Here we learn the name God gave His Son, Jesus, and that name means Jehovah is Salvation. Jehovah is the name the Jews understood from the Torah law. His name foretells His very destiny to save men from their sins. It is in these words we see revealed one of the main goals of Jesus the Christ. He is coming to rescue a people for the Fathers glory. He will save us from our sins and be the Lamb of God fur us. See John 1:29.  Jesus said Himself; "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. in Luke 5:32

22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,

*** Notice the words 'that it might be fulfilled" from the prophets via the Lord. Jesus the Christ is the culmination of all the prophets proclaiming His coming and it must be noted that He ends His life with these words in John 19:30 “It is finished!”. In the Greek finished "teleo" means fulfilled. The scripture had to be fulfilled and he came to fulfill the plan of salvation for us. While many may find the in-depth word for word study ( called expository ) of God's Word to be boring or mundane, it is far from it. It is the only way to lay the eternal bricks in our foundation ( Eph 2:20-21 ) of a saving faith in Christ. It shows the proof of who He is and how He was always predicted to come. In fact, it is so exacting it tells us WHO He will come through, it shows HOW he came into the world and it tell us WHAT he is going to do. It also reveals exactly how He will RETURN one day. See Matt 24 & 2 Thess 1:8-9.  What a glorious God, Word and Savior we do have! 

23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. 

*** In this verse we see the angel proclaiming what is coming to pass and again it is predicted in Isaiah 7:14 and in Michah 5:2. The Word of God is filled with so many deep meaningful words like Emmanuel. it literally means "God with us". While all the other world's faiths reach up to their god, He, the Creator, is the ONLY One who reached down to dwell among us. 

24 Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:

***After the angel reveals all that has come to pass to Joseph, notice how he wakes up and HE OBEYS God! What just happened to this man has upset his own world and plans for his marriage and family. But does it phase Joseph to grumble? No! This matters as Jesus the Christ is coming to save a people who actually OBEY Him. See Hebrews 5:9.  We see this obeying theology echoed all over God's Word yet people today try to undermine obedience (as fruit you have a saving faith) to say they can be saved while having a faith that does not move them to obey. What foolishness and God will not be mocked. See Gal 6.

25 And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name Jesus.

*** In the final verse of Matthew 1, we see that Joseph is a great example of the kind of man we all should aim to be. This man gets his entire plans ripped out from under him, his world is shattered for a time in a instant and he is not saying "oh woe is me!" No, he is a man of faith and he acts that out in total obedience to the point he is fine with living a celibate life for over 9 months to honor God. Instead of a flesh fulfilling, exciting, sensual honeymoon, Joseph is waiting on God and in that, he finds his faith and great pleasure. Oh I want to be a Joseph!!! This reminds me of the wonderful verse in Psalms:


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