THE COMING KING

Background of Matthew

The four Gospels present life of Jesus from four different perspectives. Matthew presents Jesus as the sovereign King. Mark presents Him as a servant. Luke presents Him as the Son of Man. John presents Him as the Son of God.

Matthew 9:9 “As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.”

Two particular taxes were taken. One was the poll tax, which would be comparable to our income tax. The other was the ground tax, which would be similar to a property or land tax. Discuss the system of collecting taxes in the Roman Empire.

Matthew was one of the 12 apostles listed in the beginning of Matthew 10.

Son of Abraham

Genesis 12:1-3 “Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.””

Genesis 22:18 “and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.””

Galatians 3:16 “Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ.”

Romans 4:13 “For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith.”

Galatians 3:7-9 “Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.”

Son of David

2 Samuel 7:12-13 “When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.”

2 Samuel 7:16 “And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’ ””

Psalm 89:34-36 “I will not violate my covenant or alter the word that went forth from my lips. Once for all I have sworn by my holiness; I will not lie to David. His offspring shall endure forever, his throne as long as the sun before me.”

Discuss the history of Israel and Judah (Saul - Solomon was 1050-930 BC). Assyria conquered and dispersed the northern kingdom of Israel (722 BC). Babylon conquered the kingdom of Judah and destroyed the reign of David’s descendants and the temple (586 BC). The Medo-Persians conquered Babylon and took control of the territory of Israel (539 BC). King Cyrus gave the command to send some of the Jews back to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, and eventually, the city and temple were rebuilt. After a period of time, the Greek Empire, led by Alexander the Great, defeated the Persians and took control of their land, including Israel (332 BC). After the death of Alexander (323 BC), the empire was divided among 4 of his generals. The Ptolemies in Egypt started out in control of Israel, but the Seleucids of Syria ended up defeating the Ptolemies and taking control of Israel (198 BC). The Seleucids were somewhat tolerant of Jewish religious practices until the reign of Antiochus IV Epiphanes (God manifest, 176-164 BC). The Roman Empire was slowly but surely advancing and expanding. In an attempt to strengthen and unify his empire, he tried to get all of the people under his control to embrace Greek culture. During this time, the Jewish people faced immense religious persecution. Copies of the Hebrew Scriptures were burned. Sabbath observance, circumcision, keeping festivals, and offering sacrifices was outlawed. Any who broke these new laws were put to death. Antiochus ordered the Jewish temple to be plundered to pay for his military campaigns. Shortly after this, he ordered pigs to be sacrificed on the altar to desecrate the temple. Because of this persecution, a group of guerilla fighters called the Maccabees revolted in hopes of gaining independence (166-142 BC). After 24 years, because of increasing Roman pressure on Syria, they were able to finally regain their independence. This independence lasted from 142 to 63 BC. It was that year when the Roman general Pompey occupied Jerusalem.

At the beginning of Matthew, we see that a descendant of David has not been on the throne since the time when Babylon defeated Judah. Meanwhile, the office of high priest had been taken over by Jonathan Maccabeus, despite not belonging to the proper family (the line of Zadok). It has been over 400 years since there has been a word from the Lord.

Isaiah 11:1 “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.”

Jeremiah 33:15-17 “In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’ “For thus says the Lord: David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel,”

Jesus Christ

Psalm 2:6-9 ““As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.””

Prophet

Deuteronomy 18:15 ““The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—”

Deuteronomy 18:19 “And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.”

King and Priest

Psalm 110:1-4 “The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies! Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power, in holy garments; from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.””

Hebrews 7:1-3 “For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, and to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything. He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace. He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever.”