#11; Matthew’s Message of the Messiah

 

Despised by the Jews, but delegated by God, Matthew wanted to give his old family evidence unshakeable, which would motivate Jews to accept Jesus as their personal Messiah. The Gospel of Matthew is full of allusions to passages of the Old Testament in which Christ is predicted and foreshadowed.  The one aim through the whole message is to show that Jesus is “who Moses in the law and the prophets did write." This Gospel contains no fewer than 65 references to the Old Testament, 43 of these being direct verbal quotes, and greatly outnumbers those found in the other Gospels.  The main feature of Matthew may be expressed in the motto, "I am not come to destroy….but to fulfil." Mt. 5:17. This was paramount for The Jews to hear, to whom the message of grace was first sent, and among whom the Gospel was first preached, having despised and rejected it; they and their posterity, in allusion to the word "Evangelion," most negatively called the whole New Testament, Nwylg Nwa or Nwylg Nwe "Aven Gilion", a "revelation, or volume of iniquity and vanity"; but those who receive it in their hearts are truly enlightened,  "blessed are the people that know the joyful sound," Psalm 89:15.

The way Matthew writes exposes a mysterious relationship to a love Jews had for numbers. Especially the number 3. Three held a mysterious adoration in the Old Testament, usually referring to God’s presence, blessing or punishment. There were 3 mandatory Feasts in the Jewish calendar, and 3 prevails in all that is connected with them, even the division of the Temple had 3 parts and the vessels of the Temple had 3 on them. Ex. 23:14, 25:32, 26:8, 27:1,14, 36:15. When Daniel was captive in foreign Babylonia, he prayed 3 times a day facing Jerusalem. Here are a list of ‘3’s, Matthew uses;

3 divisions in the genealogy, 1:17

3 events in childhood, 2:ff

3 events before ministry, 3-4:ff

3 temptations, 4:1-11

3 pictures of righteousness, 6:1-18

3 prohibitions, 6:19-7:6

3 commands, 7:7-20

3 “fear not” exhortations, 10:26-31

3 fold answer to questions of fasting,

9:14-17

3 complaints, 9:1-17

3 directives of love, 10:37-38

3 parables of sowing, 13:1-32

3 prophetical parables, 21:28-:22:14

3 prayers in Gethsemane, 26:39-44

3 denials of Peter, 26:69-75

3 questions of Pilate, 27:17-23

3 hates of the Pharisees, 12:1-24

3 prayerful petitions of Jesus, 6:11-13

3 prayerful hopes of Jesus, 6:10

3 miracles of healing, 8:1-15

3 miracles of power, 8:23-9:8

3 miracles of restoration, 9:18-34

3 uses of the word “church” 16:18, 18:17

There might be more, but surely this is enough to convince us Matthew was trying to tell the Jews that his message came from God Himself.

The Kingdom of Heaven was a theme Matthew emphasized, 32 times he uses the phrase, 58 times he uses the word “Kingdom”, Matthew's gospel, was written for the Jewish people. Matthew tries to convince the Jews that Jesus Christ was indeed the royal son of David. Seven times in the Matthew's Gospel we see where the statement "son of David" is used (1:1, 9:27, 12:23, 15:22, 20:30, 21:9, 22:42). Only in Matthew does Christ speak of "The throne of his glory" (19:28, 25:31). And only in Matthew is Jerusalem referred to as "the holy city" (4:5). Therefore, Matthew spends a great deal of time trying to convince the Jewish people that Jesus Christ was indeed the "King of the Jews" (27:29, 27:37). Matthew wanted Jews to know that the Kingdom was more important than food & clothing, Mt. 6:33.  In Mat. 3:2 he talks of John’s proclamation of the Kingdom, meaning "the reign of God," not the political organization which the Jews expected. The current Jewish apocalypses had numerous eschatological ideas connected with the kingdom of heaven. His voice is a new one that strikes terror to the theologians of the temple and of the synagogue. The spiritual reality of His reign is what we should live our lives by, not the physical reality powers that be. The closest the N.T. comes to equating the Kingdom to anything physical is to relate it to the body of Jesus on earth as the church, Col. 1:13-18.