Matthew 1:1-17 The Coming King

Intro:

The Jewish flavor of the Gospel of Matthew makes for a logical transition between the Old and New Testaments.

For these reasons, the early church placed it first in order among the four gospel accounts.

Biographies were written differently in Matthew’s day than they are today.

Biographers could write either in chronological order (e.g., Luke follows the order of his sources as carefully as possible) or, more frequently, in topical order.

Matthew arranges the sayings of Jesus according to topic, not chronology

This coming great King will have the power to bruise Satan’s head (Gen. 3:15), take back man’s dominion that was lost through sin, and establish at last a kingdom on earth that will extend into eternity.

From Him the “scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet”

David calls the coming One “the King of glory” and “the Lord of hosts” (Ps. 24:10).

The coming King is spoken of in similar ways in Psalms 45, 72, 110, and others

Read Matt 1:1-6

Transition: Author

What do we know about the author of this book?

It’s titled Matthew and most people believe it is Matthew, the tax collector, spoken of in the Gospels

The tax-gatherers (Greek telones) quite naturally were hated by their own people, not only as extortioners but as traitors

Rome expected a certain amount in taxes from each region

The only way the governor or tax collector made money was by charging over that amount

We have little idea as to what sort of person Matthew was before Jesus called him.

It is doubtful that he was very religious, because tax-gatherers were ostracized, practically if not officially, from many synagogues and sometimes even from the Temple.

As a former tax collector (also called “Levi”), Matthew was qualified to write an account of Jesus’ life and teachings.

A tax collector of that day must know Greek and be a literate, well-organized man.

Some think that Matthew was the “recorder” among the disciples and took notes of Jesus’ teaching.

We might say that when Matthew followed Jesus, he left everything behind – except his pen and paper.

“Matthew nobly used his literary skill to become the first man ever to compile an account of the teaching of Jesus.”

Son of David vs. 1

Jesus

Jesus is from the Greek equivalent of Jeshua, or Jehoshua, which means “Jehovah (Yahweh) saves.”

Christos (Christ) is the Greek form of the Hebrew māshîah (Eng., messiah), which means “anointed one.”

He was the Anointed One, the Messiah, whom the Jews had long expected to come as their great deliverer and monarch.

Son of David

Genealogies were very important to the Jews, for without them they could not prove their tribal memberships or their rights to inheritances.

Anyone claiming to be “the Son of David” had to be able to prove it.

Son of Abraham

Abraham is important because he too received a great promise from God.

In Genesis 12:1–3 God explained how through him and his offspring all “nations” would be blessed

“son of Abraham” was applied to Jewish people in general, so Matthew begins by reminding us that Jesus is Jewish

A Lineage In Need of Grace vs. 2-15

Isaac was the son of promise, and a type of the sacrificial Savior, being himself willingly offered to God (Gen. 22:1–13).

God gave the name of Isaac’s son, Jacob, (later renamed Israel) to His chosen people.

Jacob’s sons (Judah and his brothers) became heads of the tribes of Israel.

All of those men were sinful and at times were weak and unfaithful.

Hitched w/ Will Smith

In the movie Will Smith takes his date to Ellis Island

He had done some research and found the girls family in the log book

He showed it to her and her reaction wasn’t what he expected

The girl’s great, great grandfather was known as “The Butcher” not because he cut meat, but because he was a murderer

All of us can look back on our past and see reason for shame and embarassment

But that is why God sent His Son… to show us grace

But God was continually faithful to them, and His grace was always with them, even in times of rebuke and discipline.

With one or two exceptions these are the names of persons of little or no note.

The later ones were persons altogether obscure and insignificant.

Our Lord was ‘a root out of dry ground’; a shoot from a withered stem of Jesse. He set small store by earthly greatness.” (Spurgeon)

There is an interesting twist

Women did not need to be recorded in ancient genealogies, but Matthew includes four women (1:3, 5–6), three of them Gentiles

Tamar… Rahab… Ruth… her who had been the wife of Uriah:

The four mentioned here are worthy of special note as examples of God’s grace. They show how God can take unlikely people and use them in great ways.

Tamar: She sold herself as a prostitute to her father-in-law Judah to bring forth Perez and Zerah (Genesis 38).

Rahab: She was a Gentile prostitute, for whom God took extraordinary measures to save from both judgment and her lifestyle of prostitution (Joshua 2; 6:22-23).

Ruth: She was from Moab, a Gentile, and until her conversion out of the covenant of Israel (Ruth 1).

Her who had been the wife of Uriah: Bathsheba (who is mentioned by implication in Matthew 1:6) was an adulteress, infamous for her sin with David (2 Samuel 11).

“Matthew’s peculiar way of referring to her, ‘Uriah’s wife,’ may be an attempt to focus on the fact that Uriah was not an Israelite but a Hittite.”

Unlikely Beginning vs. 16-17

What is so remarkable about the birth of Jesus is that it was an unlikely beginning from the coming king

It was prophesied that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem and come from the household of David

Both Joseph and Mary were from the Lineage of David but they lived in Nazareth

A Census took a poor unwed couple from their home and had them travel to Bethlehem

This detail was overlooked when religious leaders considered Jesus claim to be the Christ

They just saw a man from Nazareth, and nothing good came from there

He didn’t fit their mold

Matthew want to prove to Jewish readers that Jesus fulfilled prophecy

God wants to prove to current readers that He specializes in using unlikely people to do His work

Mary was just as much a sinner as all other human beings ever born

Mary needed a Savior, as she herself acknowledged at the very beginning of her song of praise, often called the Magnificat: “My soul exalts the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For He has had regard for the humble state of His bondslave” (Luke 1:46–48).

She received a special measure of the Lord’s grace by being chosen to be the mother of Jesus; but she was never a source of grace.

God’s grace chose a sinful woman to have the unequaled privilege of giving birth to the Messiah

Closing

In 1998, Irvine Sellars flew to Berlin to meet with architect Renzo Piano

Sellars wanted to build an office building in south London

Piano sketched a radical design on the back of a menu that night that would become known as the Shard

a 72 story building that looked like a broken piece of glass

What makes this story even more interesting is the background of Irvine Sellars

He started out in the fashion industry in the early 70’s

By 1978 he had stores all over London

He was the first person to combine men’s and women’s clothing in the same store

Like many business owners, he started buying the property where his stores were located

Eventually he expanded out from there and purchased a nondescript office building in south London

It was there he had a dream to do something remarkable

He, along with Renzo Piano, dreamed of building a structure that would catch the eye and the imagination

It wasn’t an easy road Everyone opposed it

Sellar’s building wasn’t too far from the London Bridge and their historical society complained it would ruin all of the views

The planning commissioned blocked approval because they thought it would be an eyesore

What’s interesting is that the same opposition was brought against another project 125 years earlier, the Eiffel Tower

11 years after the initial meeting between Sellars and Piano, construction began

It was completed in 2012

A year later it won all of the architecture and design awards

You can see all of London on it’s 72 floor observation deck

Now when people go to London they want to get the Shard in the background of their picture, just like the Eiffel tower

When Jesus came, he came from an unlikely background

People opposed him because he upset the status quo

But he persevered and accomplished his mission of dying on the cross