Notes: Matthew

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

Matthew

Notes

Matthew 1 & 2

• Matthew aka Levi, was a Jew working as a tax collector the Romans. The Jew hated him, and the Romans disdained him.
• Written around 37-40AD in Judea, shortly after Jesus’ resurrection and before destruction of the temple (which was in 70AD)
• Links the Old Testament with the new. Quotes the Old Testament frequently.
• Matthew collects Jesus’ sayings, and wated to show how Jesus is the continuation and fulfillmetn of the whole biblical story of God and Israel, so he emphasizes:
  • Jesus is the Messiah from the line of David
  • Jesus is the new authoritative teacher, like Moses
  • Jesus is God with us, or in Hebrew… Immanuel.
• Matthew created a parallel to the 5 books of Moses, presenting Jesus as Israel’s new, autoritative teacher who will fulfill the storyline of the Torah.
• The Kingdom of heaven is the main theme of Jesus’ teachings.
• God’s rescue operation for the world
• Jesus came to restore God’s reign over the world by creating a new family of people who will live under His rule.
• Jesus is from David’s bloodline.
• Narration of the story of Jesus’ life on earth. Relies heavily on the Old Testament; quotes it frequently. Links the old and the new.
• Contrasts Jesus with the traditional Jewish picture of the Messiah.
• Jesus came to establish a kingdom from the one people expected.
• Matthew collects Jesus’ sayings in 5 main places:
  • Sermon on the Mount (ch 5-7)
  • Jesus/ instructions to his disciples about their mission (ch 10)
  • A series of parables on the Kingdom (ch 13)
  • Christ’s words on the church as a community (ch 18)
  • Jesus’ thoughts on religious hypocrisy and His predictions of the future (ch 23-25)
• The name Jesus is Greek form of Joshua, and means “the LORD saves”.
• Matthew quotes Isaiah 7:14 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and the will call him Immanuel (God with us).
• The Bible is a Book of Life, and this life is a living person, Jesus Christ.
• The Old Testament is a detailed genealogy of Jesus.
• Matthew testifies that Jesus is the King, the Christ (Messiah) of God as prophesied in the Old Testament.
• David was the 8th son of his father. Number 8 signifies resurrection. This is significant. He was a man after the heart of God. David was the conclusion of one age, and the beginning of the next.
• The Old Testament prophesied repeatedly that Christ would be a descendent of David. Jesus was born in Bethlehem which was in Judea which was south. Northern Israel was not associated witht he geneology of Christ.
• The Old Testament predicted that Christ, as a descendent of David, would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2)
  • Without the return from captivity in Babylon, it would not have been possible for Christ to be born in Bethlehem. God’s command is that the captives return not only for rebuilding the Temple of God, but also to prepare for Christ to be born in Bethlehem.
• Matthew’s Geneological record proceeds from Abraham to Christ.
• Christ is the child of Mary but conceived of the Holy Spirit. Through the virgin Mary God put on flesh and blood in the form of Jesus. The human nature, taking the likeness of the flesh, the likeness of man.
  • Jesus possessed both divinity and humanity.
• Jesus also means Joshua and Jehovah
• A prophet is one who speak for God, speaks forth God, and predics.
• Jesus is not only God, but He is God with us.
• Matthew testifies that Christ is the proper King
• Priests were those who taught the law. Scribes were those who knew the scriptures.
• Magi gifts to Jesus at His birth
  • gold – signifies divine nature
  • frankinsense – the fragrance of resurrection
  • myrrh – the fragrance of death
• Jesus was born in Bethlehem – moved to Egypt when a baby to escape Herod’s slaughter of babies -then to Israel where his family settled in Nazareth, which is the Galilee region.

Matthew 3

• John the Baptist appeared preaching in the wilderness of Judea. People from Jerusalem, Judea and teh surrounding area flocked to John and were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
• John the Baptist was the initiation of God’s New Testament. The Old Testament was being replaced by a new way. Nothing old was left and something new was going to be built up.
• The Kingdom of Heaven is different than the kingdom of the Old Testament where people worshipped God in the Tabernacle which was earthly and physical in nature.
• Before John the Baptist, the Kingdom of Heaven wasn’t there???
  • “Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven draws near”, indicates that the Kingdom of Heaven had still not come.
• The introduction of God’s New Testament economy (?? what does economy mean here??) was planned by God and foretold by Him through Isaiah the prophet. This indicates that God intended His New Testament economy to begin in an absolutely new way.
• To prepare the way of the Lord and make His path straight is to change our mind, to turn our mind toward the Lord and make our heart right. That through our repentence we will be made right for the new Kingdom.
• God’s new economy consists solely of Christ adn teh Spirit of Life.
• To baptize people is to immerse them, bury them, in water which signifies death. This signifies that the old person has been terminated so that a new beginning can be realized in resurrection, to be brought in my Christ as the life-giver.
• To baptize people in the Jordan River implied the burial of their old being and the resurrection of the new. Baptism brings people into Christ.
• “I baptize you in water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is stronger than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry.
• Jesus’ baptism in the Holy Spirit is the beginning of the Kingdom of the Heavens.
• 3 types of baptism:
  • Baptism in water – introduces people to the Kingdom of Heaven
  • Baptism in Spirit – commenced and established the Kingdom of the Heavens on the day of the Pentecost, and will carry it on to its consummation at the end of the age.
  • Baptism in fire – will conclude the Kingdom of the Heavens (?? what does that mean?)
• God’s economy is his plan to dispense Himself into man so that He can gain a “household” to express Himself. This household is the church, the body of Christ.
• “And behold a voice out of the heavens, saying “This is My Son, the Beloved, in whom I have found my delight.” This is a picture of the Divine Trinity.
  • The Son rose up out of the water.
  • The Holy Spirit descended upon the Son.
  • The Father spoke concerning the Son.

Matthew 4

• After being baptized in water by John the Baptist, and annointed with the Spirit of God, Jesus – as a man – moved according to the leading of the spirit.
• Lent is 40 days following Ash Wednesday to prepare for Easter, and represents the 40 days that Jesus spent in the desert, praying and repelling the temptations of Satan. It was a time of fasting, prayer and contemplation.
  • Satan means “adversary.
  • Satan is not only God’s enemy outside God’s Kingdom but also God’s adversary within God’s Kingdom where he rebels against God.
• Leaving Nazareth, Jesus went to Capernaum which is beside teh Sea of Galilee in the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali.

Matthew | Random

• Don’t be concerned with what you eat, goes into your mouth, because it will come out of your body. Be careful what comes OUT of your mouth (judgements, words, unChristlike comments…) because that is what will defile you if it’s unChristlike.
  • What comes OUT of your mouth comes from the heart. You can send out goodness from your mouth or you can send out nastiness or evil.
• Jesus said to the Pharisees, “Why are you thinking evil things in your heart?”
• Jesus said… “I desire mercy and not sacrifice, for I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”
• To believe in Jesus is to be saved and to follow Him is to enter in through the narrow gate and to participate in the Kingdom of the heavens.
• In calling people to follow Him for the Kingdom, the King of the Heavenly Kingdom inistered as a physician not a judge.  A judges judgement is according to righteousness, whereas a physician’s healing is accorfding to mercy and grace.
• Just as God desires to show mercy to His pitiful sinners, so He want us to show mercy and love to others.

• Written by the apostle Matthew. Takes place in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria adn teh surrounding Roman occupied lands during the early 1st century between 10 BC and 40 CE. Book was likely composed between 50-90 CE.
• Key themes:
  • God’s blessing to Israel and the nations
  • God’s closeness to His people
  • Hope for and life within the Messianic Kingdom of God.
• 7 parts:
  • Ch 1-3 and 4-7… introduce Jesus as Messiah and God’s Kingdom
  • Ch 8-10, 11-13, and 14-20 invite people into the Kingdom’s power
  • Ch 21-25 and 26-28 conclude with Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection.
• Sets the stage by attaching Jesus’story right onto the Old Testament scriptures.
• Opens with Jesus’ geneology, then Jesus’ birth.
• Jesus’ birth fulfilled teh Old Testament prophetic promises about how the nations would come to honor the Messiah who was to be born in Bethleham.
• Jesus’ conception was by the Holy Spirit and he was named Immanuel (God with us) which claims he was no mere human. Jesus was the God of Israel embodied as a human.
• Matthew shows how Jesus is like a new Moses…
  • came out of Egypt
  • passed through waters of baptism
  • entered wilderness for 40 days
  • went up onto a mountain to give new teaching, focused mostly on the Torah.
• Matthew claims Jesus is the promised “greater than Moses” figure who will deliver Israel from slavery of the ego and humanness.. (that’s my interpretation anyway??), give them new divine teaching, save them from their sins and initiate a new covenant relationship between God and His people.
• Matthew created a parallel to the 5 books of Moses, presenting Jesus as Israel’s new authoritative teacher who will fulfill the storyline of the Torah.

There’s more…

More

There’s more…

More