Introduction to the Gospel of Matthew
The Gospel of Matthew
Between the Old and the New Testament is a time frame of approx,. 400 years. This meant that in this 400 year time-frame no prophets did arise nor was there any particular word from God. There is, however, an essential difference between the Old and the New Testament and that is, that in the OT God spoke via His prophets to the people, while in the NT He reveals himself directly to us. The NT is the revelation of Jesus Christ as a man and as a God. The OT reveals the Messiah that is yet to come and the NT starts with the actual birth and the first coming of the Messiah.
In the days of Jesus' there was a Roman hierarchy or Roman rule .It was the world power ofthat time. Yet the main language was still the Greek language hence why we have the Septuagint,. Before the Romans came there where the Greeks, that conquered great part of the world under Alexander the Great and where the world power for a time. When Alexander the Great died in 323 AC his imperium was divided into four parts between his four generals and it subsequently began to decline. That is when the Romans took over. This Roman empire was still in place at the time of Jesus.
Although the Gospel of Matthew is the first book of the four Gospels of the New Testament, is not the first written, according to the experts. The reason why it was placed as the first one of the four Gospels was that it connected so well with the OT. Theologians estimate that the book was written between 50 and 70 AT. Matthew was a Levite tax collector who converted in his lifetime to Jesus Christ. An interesting detail about the four Gospels is that all four make reference to the Cherubim that guard the throne of God. If you recall they have four faces, a lion, an ox, a man and an eagle. Every Gospel portrays one of these faces and consequently makes reference to Jesus Christ.
The Gospel of Matthew has the lion which yet again is a reference is to Jesus Christ who is also known as the Lion of Judah. Judah was also the tribe from which Jesus Christ came from. You see, the whole Bible has this hidden messages and references. This is why it makes it so utterly interesting to study it!
The book of Matthew begins with the genealogy of Jesus via his earthly father Jozef. This book focuses on Jesus as the long awaited Messiah and as the King of the Jews. This book was mainly written for the Jews and we should therefore study it with the Jewish mindset. Matthew tries to explain here to the Jews that Jesus was indeed the Messiah and that He had come just as the profecies had predicted. All he does in this book is lay evidence upon evidence for the Jews in order for them to clearly see that Jesus was indeed the Messiah.
Some important lessons we learn from this book are the need of forgiveness, that it is better to give than to receive, the Beatitudes, how to deal with one’s fears, how to have faith and that God does indeed answer prayer. The famous Sermon of Mount is also found in this book along with the Great Commission. The sermon on the Mount is also believed to be a great manual for discipleship (Mat. 5:19,29). The book ends with the resurrection of Jesus.
We will expanded will study now chapter per chapter.