Theme of Matthew Part 1
The four Gospels have much in common. They all deal with the same period in history. They all deal with the teaching and the miracles of Jesus. And they all show us the gospel.
But each one also has things that are unique. Each gospel has details that the others leave out. By noting the variations of the gospels we can see the purpose of each one. Each gospel was written with a distinctive design and seeing this will deepen our appreciation of their perfections.
Each one of the four gospels deals with a different aspect of Christ. One gospel was not sufficient to give a perfect presentation of the different aspects of Christ.
Say that I want to let you see the outside of my house. If I only take one picture let’s say of the side. You will see that I have a front yard and a back yard and a wall with no windows. You would not see that I have a patio, or a garage. If I want to show you the complete outside of my house, then I would have to take four pictures. One picture of each side.
Suppose that four men write on the life of President Roosevelt. The first one wrote of his private and domestic life, the second wrote about him being a sportsman and a hunter. The third man wrote about his military career, and the fourth man wrote about his political career. They would all be writing about the same man. However, they would view him in four entirely different angles.
Their selection of material would be driven by the particular purpose that each one had. They would include details that would support their purpose and they would leave out details that are not relevant to their purpose. For example if he had a fondness for children the biographer that was writing on his private and domestic life would key in on that while the one who was writing from the angle of his military career would not. If he had displayed an aptitude for debating in college, then the biographer that would key in on that would be the one writing on his political career.
The four Gospels were written to show us 4 different aspects of Christ. They set before us Christ filling four distinct roles.
Matthew presents Christ as King. The key words Kingdom of Heaven are found 32 times.
The theme of the book is to show that Jesus is the Messiah. It shows that the Lord of the Christians is the Messiah of the Jews and that Jesus is the prophesied King of Israel.
Mark presents Christ as a Servant
Luke presents Christ as the perfect Man.
John presents Christ as God.
It is important to not take the distinctions between the gospels too far. Yes, Matthew’s focus is on presenting Christ as King, but Matthew will also record details about Jesus being a servant and Jesus being human as well as Jesus being God. So you will see all 4 aspects of Jesus in all 4 gospels.
Matthew does not ignore the other aspects of Christ but Matthew is primarily focused on Jesus being King.
All four aspects of Christ were clearly shown in the Old Testament.
1st Christ is introduced in the Old Testament by the word “behold” several different times. In Zec. The behold is attached to the coming King.
Zec 9:9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.
This is the prophecy that Jesus would ride into Jerusalem on a donkey. But not any donkey a colt the foal of an ass. A young donkey.
Verse 10 is connected to verse 9 with the word and.
Zec 9:10 And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth.
Verse 10 talks about how He shall rule from sea to sea and to the ends of the earth. It also talks about cutting off the chariot and how the battle bow would be cut off and talks about peace. So it would be easy to think that when the king comes they would be delivered from Rome.
That is what many thought. Go to Matthew Chapter 21. They did not understand that there would be a pause of over 2 thousand years in between verse 9 and verse 10.
This is what is called the Triumphal Entry.
Mat 21:1 And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples,
Mat 21:2 Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me.
Mat 21:3 And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them.
Mat 21:4 All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying,
Mat 21:5 Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.
Mat 21:6 And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them,
Mat 21:7 And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon.
Mat 21:8 And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way.
Mat 21:9 And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.
Mat 21:10 And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this?
They knew the prophecy about the coming King.
Zec 9:9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.
Life was hard under Rome. Heavy taxes and a corrupt government. And even worse there was religious persecution from Rome. O’ Rome would let you worship but only if there was no trouble. And Rome in no way respected your beliefs. They looked down at your beliefs.
You work and scrape to get by and some Rome tax collector comes and puts it to you. Crushes your dreams of getting ahead. You would read about your history under David and the prosperity under Solomon and dream of those days.
The thought would come, why can’t we have that again. And then the promise of God in Zec. A new king is coming. A promise from God that they will have it again.
That promise would be precious to you. It would give you hope. The people knew of that promise, and dreamed about it happening. No doubt many prayed for it to come.
When they saw with their own eyes Zec 9:9 come to pass they expected Verse 10 to also happen. There is zero indication in Zec. That there would be thousands of years between verse 9 and verse 10.
Zec 9:10 And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth.
When it became clear that Jesus claimed to be king by riding into Jerusalem like prophecy said, but that He was not going to setup a kingdom on earth and get rid of Rome. The people within just a few days went from shouting Hosanna Hosanna to Crucify Crucify.
The purpose of the book of Matthew is to focus more on Jesus is the king. So the detailed account of Jesus riding into Jerusalem as king is found in Matthew.
The human penman was Matthew and Matthew was the only one that filled an official position in a government. He was a tax-gatherer for the Roman government.
Matthew was hated for being a publican and a tax-gatherer. Who better to write of the One who was hated without a cause? He set forth the Messiah as despised and rejected as king by His own nation.
You can see the purpose of Matthew from the beginning of the book.
The book explains the relationship of Jesus to the Abrahamic Covenant of Promise (Genesis 15:18) and the Davidic Covenant of Kingship (II Samuel 1:8-16).
Mat 1:1 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
The book of Matthew traces the linage of Jesus to David and to Abraham. Abraham was the first Jew.
Seven times Jesus is addressed as “Son of David” Son of David connects the Saviour with Israel’s throne. And Son of Abraham links Him with Israel’s land. Abraham being the first one who God gave the land to.
The genealogy of Christ in Matthew shows His royal linage. Showing that Jesus was a descendant of David shows that He was fully entitled to Israel’s Throne.
Notice in verse one that David comes before Abraham. David comes first because it is the Kingly line that is being emphasized.
MT 1:1 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
MT 1:2 Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren;
MT 1:3 And Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram;
MT 1:4 And Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon;
MT 1:5 And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse;
MT 1:6 And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias;
MT 1:7 And Solomon begat Roboam; and Roboam begat Abia; and Abia begat Asa;
MT 1:8 And Asa begat Josaphat; and Josaphat begat Joram; and Joram begat Ozias;
MT 1:9 And Ozias begat Joatham; and Joatham begat Achaz; and Achaz begat Ezekias;
MT 1:10 And Ezekias begat Manasses; and Manasses begat Amon; and Amon begat Josias;
MT 1:11 And Josias begat Jechonias and his brethren, about the time they were carried away to Babylon:
MT 1:12 And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel; and Salathiel begat Zorobabel;
MT 1:13 And Zorobabel begat Abiud; and Abiud begat Eliakim; and Eliakim begat Azor;
MT 1:14 And Azor begat Sadoc; and Sadoc begat Achim; and Achim begat Eliud;
MT 1:15 And Eliud begat Eleazar; and Eleazar begat Matthan; and Matthan begat Jacob;
MT 1:16 And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
MT 1:17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.
The genealogy in Luke has a different purpose and so it is different. In Matthew we are tracing the line from Abraham then thru David all the way to Joseph the husband of Mary.
Now Joseph was not the Father of Jesus, but the authority for the throne was with the male and thus with Joseph. And could be passed to his step son Jesus.
So on the male side, Jesus was in legal line for the throne. There was no better place for God to document that than in Matthew. The gospel focused on Jesus as the promised King.
See more lessons from the Gospels