Matthew: God's Promises Fulfilled

The reason I wanted us to go through this book, and I don’t actually know just how long it will take us, is because we all may have our own thoughts and expectations about who Jesus is, who he is supposed to be, our own experiences with Him… Some of our thoughts and understanding of Him is right and good, it’s correct. But some of what we think, and what we think we know about him is actually not right— it’s incorrect. The book of Matthew will be a guide for us to get to know the REAL Jesus— and grow in our understanding and grow in being more like him.

It’s one of the earliest accounts of Jesus’ life.

Written by Matthew the tax collector, one of the original twelve disciples called by Jesus.

Most scholars and historians believe it was written in the years 70-80 AD. For the first 30-50 years after Jesus’ death, followers and teachers shared the stories of Jesus from their memories. It’s believed that Matthew simply gathered up all those stories and accounts and arranged them into this wonderful tapestry, or patchwork— highlighting certain themes and truths about Jesus. His book is believed to be the best bridge between the Old and New Testaments, thus it is arranged first in the NT. He arranged the accounts in very specific ways to highlight several specific aspects about Jesus.

This is where the handout for this week will be very helpful to you:— Take a look here, and we’ll get you started.

I have created a reference/map for us today— so if you tend to learn best this way— let’s make sure you have one of these handouts.

Specifically, Matthew emphasizes that Jesus is the fulfillment of the whole biblical story about God in Israel:

Jesus is the Messiah from the family line of David (Son of David)

Jesus is a new authoritative teacher like Moses (Son of Man)

Jesus is God with Us, Emmanuel. (Son of God)

He designed the book with an Introduction and Conclusion, which act as a nice framework to encase 5 distinct sections, each which end with a significant block of Teaching that Jesus does. This design seems to be very intentional— and it’s pretty amazing!

Watch how this happens:

Introduction is in Chapters 1-2, and it starts by attaching Jesus directly to the story line of the Old Testament Scriptures.

It starts out with the genealogy of Jesus, listing him along the same family line as Abraham and King David.

As a son of David, and he’s a son of Abraham, bringing God’s blessing to all nations, and fulfilling the promises that God made to Abraham!

After that we get the birth story— which fulfills many of the OT prophecies: Isaiah 7, Micah 5, and Isaiah 60 are all exactly fulfilled. These all serve to describe Jesus as no mere human, but he is truly God with us!--- (We will visit all of this for our Advent services starting near the end of November!)

Isaiah 7:14 NIV

14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

Micah 5:2 NIV

2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”

Isaiah 60:3 NIV

3 Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

Now from just the introduction, you can see two of Matthew’s main themes already- That Jesus is from the line of David, as Messiah, and that he is the Son of God, or Immanuel, God with us.

But remember that Matthew wants to show that Jesus is the Son of Man— or like a new Moses.

Jesus came up out of Egypt (chapter 2-3)

Jesus was baptized in the Jordan

Jesus wanders in the wilderness for 40 days

Jesus begins his first sermon to teach on the side of a mountain

Jesus is referred to as this figure who is “Greater than Moses”

He will deliver his people from slavery

Give them new divine teaching

Save them from their sins

Initiates a new covenant relationship between God and man.

This Jesus/Moses comparison also explains why he structures the middle part of the book the way he did.

He explains Jesus’ life and teaching into five main sections. These mirror the same five books of Moses, which is what the Jews would call the Torah. We sometimes call these the Pentateuch. Jesus is the new authoritative teacher, who has come to fulfill the storyline of the Torah.

In the first section of teaching, chapters 3-7, Jesus will announce the arrival of God’s Kingdom. It’s very important that we understand this—God’s kingdom represents his rule and reign. His rescue operation for the whole world— which will take place through King Jesus. Jesus has come to confront evil, especially spiritual forces, which plays out in oppression, disease and death. He is here to restore God’s reign, and create a new family of people, who will follow him, obey his teachings, and live under his rule.

After he gathers some disciples and begins to form a community - he takes these people out to a mountainside, and delivers his first big block of teaching, usually called the Sermon on the Mount. Here he explains to them what it really looks like to live in God’s Kingdom. It’s an upside down kingdom— very different from the kingdom of the world, where there are no privileged members, everyone is invited to turn and repent— rich, poor, somebody’s nobody’s. We are all called to join his family and live under his rule.

He reminds them that he isn’t here to set aside the teachings of the Torah or the Old Testament, but rather he’s here to fulfill all of that through his life and teachings. He has come to transform the hearts of his people so they can truly love God and love their neighbors, even love their enemies.

After delivering this great announcement of the Kingdom coming— Matthew begins to describe in chapters 8-10 how Jesus is literally “bringing” or demonstrating the kingdom into the reality of peoples lives. Matthew arranges nine miracles which are examples of what the kingdom of God looks like in the lives of hurting and broken people:

There are three groups of three stories:

Healing a leper, the Centurion’s servant, and a sick mother

Calming the stormy sea, dispelling demons from men, healing a paralyzed man

Raising a dead girl back to life, healing two blind men, and restoring the speech of a mute person.

Right in the middle of each of these triads of miracles, Jesus gives two parallel proclamations to Follow ME. Matthew is making a key point here, that we won’t experience his Grace and love, unless we follow him, and become his disciple.

He ends this section with the story of Jesus sending out the 12 disciples to do what he’s been doing— which leads to the second large block of teaching that Jesus uses to help his disciples announce the kingdom of God— and what to expect when they do that. He teaches them to expect that people will both accept their teaching readily— but also to expect that there will be others who will reject it—

Which is exactly what happens in the next section— chapters 11-13. Matthew has collected a group of stories about how people are responding to the Jesus and his message.

Some people this Jesus is great— they believe and follow him as the Messiah. Positive

Others are more neutral, even John the Baptist, and those in Jesus’ own family-- they are unsure about who Jesus is.

We also see the Pharisees and Sadducees begin to question and reject Jesus—they have a negative response they have a lot to lose by becoming followers of Jesus. They think he is a false teacher, leading the people astray.

Jesus is never surprised by any of this— in fact that’s what he focuses on in the third block of teaching. Matthew gathers a bunch of Jesus’ parables about the Kingdom of God.

A farmer spreading seed, a mustard seed, a pearl and buried treasure all serve as object lessons, explaining what we’ve just read about in the previous chapters. Some will enthusiastically embrace the kingdom, others are rejecting it— but regardless it will continue to spread.

That represents a bit of a break point in the structure— Matthew then turns to explain what will happen between this conflict between the religious leaders and Jesus?

The next section includes chapters 14-20, Matthew lines up many of the different expectations people have about the Kingdom and Messiah. Jesus continues to heal people, and even on two occasions, feeds huge groups of people— one group was mostly all Jewish people, and another time the crowd was mostly non-Jewish, or Gentile people.

This is very similar to what we know Moses did for the people in the wilderness back in the Exodus story. People are really excited about Jesus, thinking he is the Great Prophet Elijah, The Promised Messiah— but not the religious leaders. Their expectations are based on the idea that the Messiah will be a victorious conquering military savior— who is going to deliver Israel from the Roman Empires rule, and defeat all Israels enemies. From that point of view, Jesus is a false teacher— he’s wrong when he even mentions that He is the Son of God. Here we will read about stories that the religious leaders will begin to craft plans to confront him— and even plans to kill him.

And as a result— we will see that Jesus withdraws. He brings with him only his closest disciples, and begins teaching them what it is for HIM to be the Messiah— because it is not what anybody expects. IN Chapter 16, we will read that Jesus asks his disciples: “Who do you say that I am?” If you remember this section, Peter seems to come up with the right answer— but Peter is still thinking Jesus will be a military leader. Jesus begins to teach them that he will indeed be King— but in a totally different pathway. He uses passages from Isaiah who said that the Messiah would suffer and die for the people. So we see Jesus position himself as a Messianic King who reigns by becoming a servant. A Good shepherd who will lay down his life for the sheep. Peter and the disciples, mostly just don’t get it. So Jesus delivers a fourth block of teaching, basically explaining the “upside-down” nature of the Kingdom of God. It turns all our values upside-down— and we learn that in the community of the King of Kings, Jesus leads us by modeling that you gain honor by serving others— that you will gain your life by giving it up. Instead of getting revenge— you forgive. You gain true wealth by giving your wealth away to help people. Ultimately to follow the servant Messiah, you must become a servant yourself.

In the fifth section, we see the two kingdoms will clash. We’ll dive into this section again at our Lent time in the spring. Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey, with people cheering and jeering. He proceeds to the Temple and violently disrupts the evil corruption that was happening there. As the rightful King— Jesus was exerting his royal authority, it was to be the place where people could freely worship— but he sees the hypocrisy and is outraged. He challenges the current ruling authority in the temple, and naturally they are deeply offended.

These leaders try to trap Jesus and shame him in their public questioning and confrontations— and they fail miserably. So they finally just determine in their minds to have him killed.

Jesus, in response, delivers his final block of teaching— which includes a critique or reflection on the Pharisee’s hypocrisy. He even weeps over Jerusalem and it’s rejection of God. Then Jesus turns and begins to teach his disciples exactly what’s going to happen. He’s going to be executed by these leaders, but in doing so, they are going to create their own demise. Instead of taking the road of the Prince of Peace, they choose rebellion, and Jerusalem’s temple and their rule will be destroyed.

But - as Jesus teaches, that is NOT the end of the story. He will be vindicated by raising from the dead— and someday also he will return to set up his kingdom on earth over all the nations. So in the meanwhile, all His disciples need to stay alert and stay committed to announcing Jesus and His Kingdom and spreading the good news.

So with all that ringing in their ears— the story comes to it’s conclusion— in chapters 26-28, we read of the climactic ending — that night Jesus takes the disciples aside and celebrates Passover. Passover is the Jewish remembrance and celebration of their exodus from slavery in Egypt— but Jesus takes the bread and the wine of that ceremony, and creates new meaning for these symbols. He teaches that his death would be a sacrifice to free all people from the slavery of sin. After the meal, Jesus is arrested, put on trial before the Sanhedrin a council of Jewish leaders. They charge him with blasphemy, and reject his claim to be the Messiah. Jesus is then brought before the Roman governor Pontius Pilate, who really thinks Jesus is innocent, but he gives in to the Jewish leaders and he sentences Jesus to death by crucifixion. Jesus is led away by Roman soldiers and is executed. You’ll notice when we study this again near EASTER-- that Matthew uses several Old Testament references here. He’s making the point clear that Jesus’ death was not a failure or a tragedy without purpose. In fact, it was just the opposite— it was in fact the surprising and unexpected fulfillment of all of the Old Testament promises.

Jesus came as the servant Messiah spoken of by Isaiah

Jesus, instead of judging the people, is actually judged on their behalf, taking their punishment for sin.

The book ends with a surprising chapter—Just like we hear on those TV infomercials....But wait.... there’s MORE The disciples discover on Sunday morning that Jesus’ tomb is empty. Then all of a sudden people start to see Jesus alive! The book ends with Jesus giving a final teaching— the Great Commission. Jesus says he is now the true king of the universe, and he sends his disciples (and all of us) out with the good news, that Jesus is Lord and that all people can join his kingdom by believing and following his teachings. And to bring one of the very first concepts in the book back to our minds— Jesus ends his instructions by stating that “I will be with you”. It’s a promise of Jesus presence with us forever.

Tips and reminders:

-Look for the Old Testament references. Matthew quotes or refers to the OT 130 times!

-Look for the different types of people, social and economic classes, education levels, and how they all respond to Jesus.

Matthew was a Jewish man, who had taken on an occupation at first that was viewed as treason. He experienced the life changing power of a personal relationship with Jesus. Jesus called him, he left his old life, and he followed. He has shared that power with us through this book. I pray that we would grow in faith and love for Jesus— and better understand His plan for the world through our study.

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