2. Matthew: The first 3 chapters of the book of
Last spring, we started to take a tour of the book of Matthew:
We got as far as 1/2 way through chapter 3
So, we are going to do a quick overview of what we talked
about so we can get the context of where we are, AND
so those who may not have been with us will be “up to
speed”
(This may take us 2 weeks)
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3. Israel’s Land:
As part of our introduction to the book of Matthew, we looked
at a brief history of the Nation Israel and their land that
GOD PROMISED TO GIVE THEM through Abraham
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4. Holy Land Old Testament Twelve Tribes
Here’s what the promised Land looked like
after the conquest led by Joshua and this
map shows how the land was divided up
between the 12 tribes – (Joshua 3-24)
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5. Holy Land Old Testament *1050 BC United Kingdom
Israel is one United Kingdom under Kings; Saul,
David & Solomon until approximately 930 BC…
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6. Holy Land Old Testament *930 BC Divided Kingdom
Approximately 930 BC, the kingdom of Israel is divided
between [Judah and Benjamin] (Judah) in the south and the
rest of the tribes in the north making up the
(Northern Kingdom)
Both Judah and the Northern Kingdom, turn away from
serving God and turn to serving the gods of the nations
around them, or maybe even the gods of the peoples that
they failed to remove from the land.
Judah seems to have had some revivals during the reigns of
some of their kings, and it took longer for Judah to
completely turn away from God
The 10 tribes to the north, turned away from God much
sooner than the 2 tribes to the south
The LORD warned them over and over if they didn’t return to
Him, He would remove them from the Land…
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7. Approximately 722 BC the Northern Kingdom is conquered
by Assyria and those who survived, were scattered over the
whole Assyrian Empire
Note: Nations did this to the survivors to separate them so
they wouldn’t rise up and revolt
They also would separate them so they would not
practice just their own religious customs, they would
try to get them to adopt the religious customs of the
people where they placed them
The Northern Kingdom was essentially Gone for good
>>>>>>>>>Click for the Babylonians...

8. Approximately 586 BC Judah was conquered by the
Babylonians, and most of those who survived were taken
captive to Babylon
The Land “rested” just as The LORD had said
through His prophets, because among their other sins they
had committed, they had not observed His Sabbath years
so He made the land have its Sabbaths
During the years of captivity a remnant of the people
still served the LORD in Babylon (Daniel, and others)
Babylon was conquered by the Medo-Persians during
their captivity…
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9. Daniel survived the Babylonian rulers
and served Kings Darius (Lions Den) and maybe Cyrus of
the Medo-Persians
We now come to the “Intertestamental” period…
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10. Alexander the Great’s Greek Rule
Approximately 333 BC Alexander the Great swept the world
and conquered Judea This started the Hellenistic period
Toward the end of the Hellenistic period, the Jews were
greatly oppressed. The Seleucid rulers tried to force
Hellenism on the Jews and ordered scriptures destroyed,
and cruelly enforced their laws on the Jews.
In 167 BC the Jews revolted under the leadership of Judas
the Maccabee.
Then in 142 BC Simon the high priest began the
Hasmonean period – until 63 BC
>>>>>>>>>> Click for Romans…

11. Roman Empire In 63 BC Pompey the Roman general captured Jerusalem
and the provinces of the Holy land became subject to Rome.
So began the Roman period
The Jews were very much concerned about regaining
control of their homeland; unfortunately, it seems that it was
mostly for patriotism, not to be an influence for God
During the Roman period, Herod the Great rebuilt the temple
in Jerusalem. This was a massive and impressive structure
that was there in the time of Christ
Herod was an Idumean and the Idumeans had been
forcibly “converted” to Judaism during the Hasmonean
period – So, He practiced Jewish customs somewhat
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12. So, you can see how the Jews were longing to regain
control of THEIR land that God had promised to them!
God entered the scene at this time…
It was into this political climate that Jesus was born of
a virgin by the Holy Spirit
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13. Hebrews 12:1 & 2 NASU
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
READ VERSES
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14. (2) fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
The writer of Hebrews admonishes us to FIX OUR EYES
ON JESUS!
Talk about the importance of studying about Jesus and that
our time in Matthew will be very beneficial and well spent
(I chose Matthew because it is the first book of the NT -
when we were in the OT, we started at the first and moved
on, Genesis, Exodus and then Leviticus… So I figured
since Matthew was the first Gospel, that was the one to
start with)
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15. 4 Biographies of Jesus:
There are 4 “biographies” of the life of Jesus and they are
different at times and have different details at times, so we
will look at the other Gospels if they tell the same story so
we can get a better idea of what is going on
We call these biographies of Jesus - Gospels (Good News)
The 4 authors wanted to share the Good News about
Jesus with others and we are fortunate that they wrote
down the story, so we can hear it today, almost 2,000
years later!
1st of all: The early church fathers (at least through the 2nd
century) unanimously held that Matthew (one of the 12)
was the author of the Gospel of Matthew
Each of the 4 authors apparently had a specific audience in
mind when they wrote their biography, so they each have a
different emphasis based on their intended audience
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16. 4 Biographies of Jesus:
Matthew seems to be writing to Jews, Mark to the Romans,
Luke to the Gentiles, and John to everyone
This gives us 4 similar, yet different accounts and so we have
more details than we would have if there was only one
AND… Just because Matthew’s intended audience was
primarily Jews doesn’t mean that we can’t learn a lot
from it!
Each of the writers has a little different emphasis as they tell
the story.
And each seems to emphasize a different aspect of Jesus
that was prophesied in the Old Testament...
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17. Zechariah 9:9 NASU
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
Matthew presents Jesus as King
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18. Isaiah 42:1 NASU
"Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My chosen one in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations.
Mark presents Jesus as servant
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19. Zechariah 6:12 NASU
"Then say to him, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Behold, a man whose name is Branch…
Luke presents Jesus as the PERFECT man
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20. Isaiah 40:9 NASU
Get yourself up on a high mountain, O Zion, bearer of good news, Lift up your voice mightily, O Jerusalem, bearer of good news; Lift it up, do not fear. Say to the cities of Judah, "Here is your God!“…
John presents Jesus as God   
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21. Matthew 1:22 NASU
Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
READ VERSE
Matthew uses this phrase: “to fulfill…” many times in his
Gospel…
Matthew is careful to point out how Jesus fulfilled
OT prophecies
He quotes more OT prophecies than any of the other
Gospel writers
The fact that Matthew says, “this was to fulfill…” is one way
that we can see he was writing to Jews, Gentiles wouldn’t
know OT prophecy
That was part of Matthew’s plan to show the Jews that
Jesus was the promised Messiah-King
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22. Again, we are just taking a tour of the book of
Matthew…
I am just a tour-guide
I may point out things that most people point out, and I may
point out things most people don’t point out. I may NOT
point out things that most people point out
I will just point out the things I find interesting and want to
make a note of
I just hope that you will get excited about the book of
Matthew and what we can learn from it, and ultimately
that you will get excited about the whole Bible and what
we can learn from it.
}}}}}}}}}}}}}} Click for review of Matt

23. Matthew Chapter 1… Let’s go ahead and read Chapter 1…
>>>>>>>> Click for highlights…

24. Matthew 1:1 NASU
The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham:
READ VERSE
Matthew tells us in the first verse what his purpose is…
He wants to show us the family line of the Messiah…
He wants to prove to us that Jesus IS the Messiah (the
promised anointed one - King of the Jews)
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25. Matthew 1:1-17 Matthew’s genealogy goes from Abraham to JOSEPH, the
husband of Mary, the mother of Jesus.
But Joseph was not his father! … God was!
So why show the genealogy of Joseph?
In the Jews’ minds, the legal genealogy came from the
father only.
A person got their identity from the father and all their rights
from the father and the father’s family.
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26. Luke 3:23 NASU
When He began His ministry, Jesus Himself was about thirty years of age, being, as was supposed, the son of Joseph, the son of Eli,
READ VERSE
Everyone supposed Jesus was the son of Joseph…
(In fact, a lot of the religious leaders figured Jesus was
born of a pre-marital relationship between Joseph and
Mary) **** John 8:41 NASU "You are doing the deeds of
your father." They said to Him, "We were not born of
fornication; we have one Father: God."
Matthew is writing to Jews...
So, Matthew goes with that, and shows the Jews the
genealogy of Joseph, the “father” of Jesus
- Matthew’s genealogy was the “legal” genealogy of Jesus
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27. “The traditional prayer book of the Jews includes a sequence
of three blessings in which a MAN thanks God for NOT
making him a gentile,
a woman, or a slave”
We looked at a part of the daily prayer of a Jewish man
at the time of Christ (and even up to today for some)…
READ PRAYER
Notice the three things a Jewish man was thankful he
WAS NOT…
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28. Chapter 1:1-17 Jesus’ genealogy
Family tree:
The Jews thought of themselves as “God’s Chosen People”
- and they were
They thought of themselves as superior to others
They thought of themselves as righteous
Remember the daily prayer of a Jewish man?
And they DIDN’T see themselves as SINNERS
And so I think Matthew in his genealogy is showing them
that the Messiah came from a family of sinful people
And that the Jews were sinners and Messiah came to
Save sinners
Jesus came to save sinners!!!
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29. Matthew 1:18 & 19 NASU
Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. (19) And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly.
READ VERSES
What did the Law say they must do with an adulterer?
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30. Leviticus 20:10 NASU
'If there is a man who commits adultery with another man's wife, one who commits adultery with his friend's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.
READ VERSE … Joseph knew what the Law said…
As far as he knew Mary deserved to die!
Try to imagine what must have been going through Joseph’s
mind…
Joseph may have wanted to believe it, but apparently
just couldn’t…
But because he loved her, and maybe because there was
a shadow of doubt in his mind (The text says; “being a
righteous man” - Maybe an angel really did appear to her)…
He planned to send her away secretly
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31. Leviticus 20:10 NASU
'If there is a man who commits adultery with another man's wife, one who commits adultery with his friend's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.
He must have been heartbroken…
He must have loved her, and was looking forward to
spending the rest of his life with her
How could she have betrayed him like this?
His whole world was crashing down around him…
But as a godly man, he didn’t respond out of anger, he
just planned to send her away secretly...
And then the angel steps in...
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32. Matthew 1:20 & 21 NASU
But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. (21) "She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins."
READ VERSES
And verses 24 & 25…
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33. Matthew 1:24 & 25 NASU
And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, (25) but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.
READ VERSES
Wow! I imagine he breathed a sigh of relief!
This really was of the Holy Spirit!
Now, imagine what was going through his mind…
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34. Matthew 1:21 NASU
"She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins."
READ VERSE
“Jesus” is the Greek form of the OT name Joshua
And it means; “The LORD saves” or
“The LORD is Salvation”
Notice this was no accident that He was named that - The
angel told them to name Him that…
>>>> GOD told them to name him that
His name says that Salvation is found in The LORD!
Not in keeping the Law, not in being good because it’s
impossible!
ONLY JESUS can save man from his sins!
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