1/3/16 Introduction to Matthew

To get this blog started, I have decided to go through the New Testament starting with Matthew and ending in Revelations. I made this choice because I think it is always a good idea to start with the story of Jesus. He is the focal point of the Bible and our faith. To understand the rest of the Bible, you must first understand Jesus. Who He is, why he came, why He taught and lead the way he did, and finally why he died. The Gospels will teach us this and more and It will provide a great launching point for the rest of the New Testament and eventually for the Old Testament as well. So to get us started I will post 5 things you need to know about our first book. These are in no order of importance, they will simply be 5 things I feel we need to know before reading and studying the book of Matthew! 

The Book of Matthew: 

#5: The book was written by Matthew between AD 50 and AD 70. Matthew was a Jewish tax collector for the Roman government. He was called by Jesus to become one of the twelve apostles and his writings provide us with an eyewitness account of Jesus's life and ministry. 

#4: It was written primarily to the Jewish people but also to Gentiles who have become Christians. The book of Matthew is a bridge between the Old Testament and the New Testament. The book starts with the genealogy of Christ Jesus and ends with the Great Commission to all believers. 

#3: The book of Matthew will cover a number of different themes such as; Jesus came to save both Jew and Gentile. There is only one true God but with the essence of three, The Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. God's Standards are high but He gave us the perfect example to follow in Christ. God's ways are infinitely higher than the ways of the world. Jesus willingly laid down his life to save a sinful world from the grip of death. 

#2:  Matthew uses the phrase "Kingdom of Heaven"  32 times in this book. This is done because Matthew is trying to show the connection between Christ and the promises of the Old Testament. Matthew quotes from many books of the Old Testament to solidify that Jesus is the promised Messiah. That is the focus and the purpose of his whole book. 

#1: Matthew's book is based around 5 discourses: the Sermon on the Mount (Ch 5-7); The commissioning of the Apostles ( Ch 10); parables about the kingdom (Ch 13); he talks about the childlikeness of believers (Ch 18), and he talks about Jesus's second coming (Ch 24-25). While reading the book of Matthew, you need to be aware that he is focused on presenting these five discourses and he is not concerned with the order of which he placed them in the book. He was focused on the themes and concepts and he was not trying to make a timeline of events.