Matthew begins the story of the Christ

Introducing a gospel

A somewhat different view of Christ’s work in the world than we are used to.

A great danger in thinking of the work of Christ in purely personal terms: Christ came for me. While this is true it falls short of a true understanding of the purpose of God and the work of Jesus Christ in the world.

The important word: “covenant” (See Word Studies)

Notice that in Hebrew there is a strong connection between the idea of covenant and eating together. (Illustration: eating with Egyptian couple in Pittsburgh)

This word or its cognates appears 284 times in the OT and and 33 times in the NT. Clearly the idea of covenant is important in the Bible.

Discuss why this is important:

Christ is drawing individuals to himself BUT he is gathering a people (plural) a kingdom united under a new covenant.

When Christ confirmed Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, Jesus responded that on this confession he would built a CHURCH…a gathering, an assembly. Matthew 16:13-20. THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT FOR US TO UNDERSTAND BECAUSE IT FRAMES THE WAY WE THINK ABOUT OUR OWN SALVATION, OUR PURPOSE ON EARTH AND THE GLORY TO COME. Also see Colossian 1:13 . See especially Hebrews 9:15

Lets remember this as we look at the different ways the gospel writers introduced their works and the unique way Matthew opens his gospel. This should give us a clue to what was on their mind in constructing and arranging the rest of their book.

Matthew 1:1-17

Genealogy - we will see that this genealogy has a clear “covenant” focus

Birth narrative (Is there a covenant focus here?)

Mark 1:1

John the Baptist, the precursor

Baptism of Jesus

Jesus is the Son of God and look at what he did....action, brief, to the point.

Luke 1:1-4

Purpose and method of writing

Sequential narrative of John the Baptist, the nativity and the confirmation by witnesses in the Temple

John 1:1-18

The eternal purpose of the coming of the Logos

The precursor, John the Baptist

Calling of the disciples

Matthew’s approach does not contradict or diminish the other gospels but Matthew has a covenant people on his mind. A covenant people from which he has been shunned and the ultimate covenant people gathered by the Son of God in fulfillment of the covenant relationship from which he was excluded.

Abraham to David

Genesis 12:1-9

2 Samuel 7:11b-16

Nothing but grace given and faith received by God.

Rom 4 1-3

Gal 3 7

Gal 3 29

From David to exile

2 Samuel 7:22-24

2 Chronicles 36:15-21

With David God established a kingdom of righteousness and declared that kingdom to be eternal and that an eternal king would someday sit on the throne. And God’s people will be the people of that kingdom.

Acts 15:13-18 - The establishment of David’s new kingdom will invite the entire world to come and seek the Lord

But exile...

If Matthew is recalling the whole panorama of God’s covenant plan then the failure and exile must be accounted for. Even here, it is God’s faithfulness to the covenant that Matthew is remembering.

Romans 11:1-12

From the exile to the Messiah

Ezra 1:1-4

Malachi 4:5-6

Matthew 3:1-13

Acts 2:36

The purpose of these milestones

God’s covenant faithfulness

Jesus’ coming is not an isolated event but rather the fulfillment of God’s ancient covenant promises.

“Now anticipate as you read my (Matthew’s) account of the life of Jesus, see how he is the Messiah, promised from beginning by a faithful God.”

Matthew is introducing the story that began with Abraham in which all of history points to the events he is about to describe. Matthew is giving an account of God’s eternal faithfulness to a covenant, a covenant of grace, the keeping of a promise that is about to unfold for a chosen remnant of the people of Israel and also the adopted sons and daughters of grace from the rest of the world. Matthew forces us to remember that the the fulfillment will come in Revelation 22:12-16