Matthew 1 - The Improbable Birth of Our Savior Jesus!

Happy New Years! I am beginning our walk through the New Testament one day early because I will be on the road tomorrow and don't want to get behind. You will be receiving the blog entries for five chapters a week to get through the whole New Testament in One Year. Sometimes the days vary but you will have all five by Sunday!

I am excited to grow in our understanding, knowledge, and application of God's Word! 

"Thy Word is a lamp unto my feed and and light unto my path!" Psalm 119:105  

Overview of the Gospel of Matthew

Matthew is the first gospel written though not the earliest one written. It is generally believed Matthew was written after the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70., probably around 70 to 80 A.D. A.D. stands for "anno domini", which means "year of our Lord".  Mark is probably the earliest gospel written sometime between 60 and 70 A.D. Both Matthew and Luke draw from Mark's gospel and then add distinctives of their own based on their respective audiences. 

The writer of the gospel is widely believed by scholars to be Matthew, the tax collector, who was one of Jesus' original disciples and apostles. Tax collectors were not very popular people in Jesus' day, as they often taxed people more than what was required by law and pocketed the rest. 

Matthew's purpose was to write to the Jewish believers to show that Jesus' life, death, and resurrection fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah. This is why Matthew will quote the Old Testament quite a bit, and why he begins his gospel with Jesus' genealogy. Jesus' genealogy shows He is a descendant of the house of David. God's Covenant with David, was that there would never fail to be a king from his line. 

Matthew 1

Click Here to Read or Listen to Matthew 1

Key Verses

1 This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham

This verse points to the two major covenants God made with Israel. First, with Abraham in Genesis 12 and 15, where God blessed Abraham, and said he would be a blessing to all nations. He promised Abraham, his descendants would be as numerous as the stars and the skies. Of course, we remember the faith it took for Abraham to believe this, as he and Sarah did not have a child until an old age. From Abraham to David was 14 generations. 

5 -6 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of King David. 

Next, we see the lineage from David to the fall of Israel to the Babylonians.. Note Matthew is very specific about each of Jesus' ancestors which aligns with the Old Testament writings. This reminds us that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus is not made up, but a historical fact. This is a very important distinction between the bible and other religions and their scriptures. 

God called David, "A man after his own heart", but it was not David who built the first temple for God's name, but his son, Solomon. Though Solomon was given wisdom, his many wives led him to alliance with pagan religions, which lead to the downfall of Judah. 

12 2 After the exile to Babylon. Mathan the father of Jacob, 16 and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah. 17 Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah.

The last sequence is from Babylon to Joseph, the father of Jesus. We know Joseph is not Jesus' biological father, which gives further credence to the immaculate conception of Jesus through the Virgin Mary. Most likely Joseph was a widow, as he was much older. 

From Abraham to David was 14 generations. From David to the fall and exile to Babylon 14 generations. And 14 generations from the exile to the birth of Jesus, all of which were prophesied in the Old Testament. Again, we see the historical nature of the bible. Depending on how long you calculate the time of Creation, Adam and Eve, and the flood during Noah's time to the call of Abraham, we get an approximate timeline from the bible. It points to a new earth, 1000's of years old, vs. an old earth, billions of years old. 

The fall of the Southern Kingdom to Babylon happened in 586 B.C. It was a result of Israel's disobedience to worshipping other gods violating the first commandment. Though God gave Israel many chances to repent, it did not do so and suffered the consequences of being destroyed and kicked out of the Promised Land. 

Yet, God's sovereign purposes prevailed, as we see the birth of Jesus in the city Bethlehem, which means "city of bread". Since Jesus said, "I am the bread of life", it is a cool connection to where he was born. 

Joseph Accepts Jesus as His Son

18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about[d]: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet[e] did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

To close out chapter 1, Matthew records the story of how Joseph was faithful even though Mary became pregnant during their engagement. It took a lot of courage for Joseph not to divorce her, as this was a disgrace in the Jesus' day to get pregnant before the wedding day. 

Joseph had some help though, as angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and told him not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife. For the son to be born would be conceived through the Holy Spirit. I don't know about you but this must have been very bizarre for Joseph. The angel then told Joseph, he should name his new boy Jesus, because he would "save his people from their sins." 

Joseph did all the angel commanded, and when he woke up, he did not consummate the marriage until Jesus was born. One of the other big distinctives of Matthew's gospel is that it sees the birth of Jesus through the lens of Joseph. Often much attention is given to Mary, as it should be, but we should always remember Joseph's faithfulness and obedience, which played a big role in our Savior's birth. The gospel of Luke will give much more emphasis on Mary's experience as the mother of Jesus. 

Application:

1. Where is God calling you to be obedient to God's Word despite not knowing why God calls us to do certain things? 

2. How does the genealogical record of Jesus dating back to Abraham help you to be assured of the historical nature of the bible? How might this relate to someone who might say, "The bible is just a nice book with good moral teachings" And/or Jesus just was just a "good morel teacher". 

What's Coming Up?

Tomorrow we will look at the visit of the Magi and Mary and Joseph's flight to Egypt to protect the baby Jesus from the wrath of jealous King Herod.