Transcript of New Book Background: Matthew

All right, my Bible in 365, brothers and sisters, we have arrived at the wonderful Book of Matthew, and boy, is this one a doozy. Now, let me just simply say, with all of these new summaries that we are doing, we this year are going to be dedicating each book to providing five of the most common and most difficult questions that I get for each of these books, which will help you reflect upon the immediate moments of controversy, and it will also help you to develop some food for thought in things you should think of throughout each of these books. Now, after I answer each of these questions, I will also give you some areas that I want you to focus on in these books, specifically. If you want to know more about these books, you can go to jameskiddies. Com, or you can go to Bible in 365. We do have all of my previous studies through these books, including any devotionals I may have done, but you have lots of material, literally thousands of hours worth that we will hold your hand and walk you through the learning process, including all my teachings through these passages.

With that said, let's go over the first of one of the most difficult questions that I get, and that is this, why does Matthew's genealogy of Jesus differ from Luke's genealogy? Now, there's one thing we should right off the bat, and I want to say this because it's really important. Matthew traces Jesus's lineage through Joseph's bloodline, which takes you back to King David. Yes. Now, this is important Because a lot of people will say that this empathizes Jesus's legal right to be or hold the throne of David. I think that's a hugely erroneous statement to make because actually it would take away from Jesus's legal right to be the the one who takes the throne of David because of the fact that Yehoniah is in that bloodline and in that lineage. Understand, Yehoniah was cursed by God and told by God that nothing good could come from his bloodline. But would it surprise you if I told you that Matthew put that in there diviny so that he could actually prove the deity of Christ. I'll explain that in a minute. Now, that brings us to what Luke does. Luke traces Jesus's lineage through Mary, emphasizing not only his true humanity, but also showing the royal descent through Nathan, who was another son of David.

Of course, Solomon is where Joseph comes from, and it's an interesting picture to draw here. Now, the one thing that I want to point out is what this does is this recognizes the fact that Christ owns the right to be the king based on lineages that are written, but it also seals the fact that he is the Messiah. How do we know that? Because the Bible tells us that Christ would be born of a virgin. Okay? Isaiah predicts this for us. Now, why is that consequential to the genealogy that you see in the Book of Matthew? It's consequential because if Jesus comes from the bloodline of, of course, David through Solomon, then yes, we have a definitive connection to King David. But what destroys that connection is the fact that Yehoniah was cursed, and Jesus, by no stretch of the imagination, could be the Messiah if he comes from a cursed bloodline. However, Mary's bloodline, which also gets traced back to King David, came from a different son which does not touch Yehoniah. Now, this is really interesting because that would make perfect sense because it was the Holy spirit that sired Christ through inseminating Mary, which means nothing from the physical loins of Joseph touched Jesus, that it was rather something that came physically through Mary and the interaction with the Holy spirit, which then basically seals the fate of the understanding of who Christ is.

Matthew presents the genealogy that he presents, while Luke presents the genealogy he presents to make an ironclad case that Christ is the Messiah and there's nobody else that could be. That's pretty great. If you want to learn more about that, you can go through even my recent Christmas Bible study where I talk about this, or you can go through my very first chapter, teaching through the very first chapter of the Book of Matthew at jamescadiz. Com. Now, this is an interesting one, and this to me, doesn't seem more difficult as it is one that's just commonly asked a lot. This is interesting because The Kingdom of Heaven is emphasized a lot by Matthew, and people ask me oftentimes, why is it emphasized so much? What is Matthew trying to do? Well, keep in mind, the answer to that is simple. Matthew is writing to a predominantly Jewish audience. Jewish readers avoided the frequent use of this divine name of God, and Matthew, of course, wanted to respect that. So the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God would refer to the same reality, the infrastructure the scope of it all. So Matthew presents Jesus as the promised Messiah King, and the phrase highlights God's rule rather than geography.

So the theme here is going to fulfill Old Testament promises of the coming Kingdom like you would expect any person who is trying to emphasize this to a Jewish audience. So also, I would say that the Kingdom of Heaven is another very important lesson to bring to the the table, especially considering the fact that the Jews were so desperate to see some a kingdom being established on Earth because of so much of the oppression that they had gone through throughout the years. That's what you're seeing there. Now, this is interesting, and this is one that I've gotten a lot. I haven't gotten it recently, but I just thought I would bring it up. That is, did Jesus really say people could move mountains by faith? People actually question Jesus saying that. My answer to that is that Jesus was using a very literal, and yes, some people might say hyperbolic language that would be very common in Jewish teaching, but you get to keep this in mind. Jesus was speaking quite literally. In that point, what he was basically saying is he was saying that moving a mountain was symbolic of a humanly impossible obstacle.

Yet the statement emphasizes trusting in God, not human power, and then allowing God's power to do the very things that we perceive as being impossible. If you think about it, faith, our faith, is effective when it's aligned with God's will, including instead of our will or our own power. Jesus was not promoting some weird mystical or magical thinking. What he was doing was he was promoting or pointing out to us the ability that God has and his strength rather than the ability we have and our strength. The idea here is if you can Can you trust in God enough to move mountains, then you can also trust in God enough to deal with the circumstances that you're facing. Of course, God can move a mountain. Can we move a mountain? Physically, no. But God can do it because if we will put our faith We can trust in him, we can watch God do things that go far beyond our scope or our ability. If it was necessary to move a mountain in order to glorify God, God would probably do it. Actually, later on in the last days, We will see him move mountains.

We're going to see that happening literally in Jerusalem when the Mount of Olives is split open. That's why I say there's a literal implication here. I think that the significance of this question being asked is remarkable because it deals with something that we oftentimes throw away when Jesus brings it up, and that's the fact that God is quite literal, and the things that he tells us are quite literal. Although we look at what people perceive as an allegorical statement, it really isn't. It's not this picture of God trying to just emphasize something in a way that's hyperbolic just for the use of doing it. No, it's very connotative of what we see in Hebrew language to show the impossible strength that God has to do impossible things. We have to trust in him in order for that to happen. Now, here's another question. This one is one that bothers me a lot, only because I think that it's reflected in of the wrong premise behind the question being asked. That is this, why does Matthew include teachings like judgment, hell, and hypocrisy? Isn't that something a loving God would not do? I would make myself very clear in asserting it's the most loving thing that Matthew can do.

Matthew here presents Jesus as both our savior and our judge because that's in essence what he will be doing. The judgment warnings reveal the seriousness of sin, that sin is destructive. Hypocrisy was a major issue amongst the religious leaders of the time, which is why Jesus addressed it, because hypocrisy was the thing that was keeping people from actually seeing the reality of the things that God was presenting. Jesus, all of his rebukes were motivated by truth and love. They weren't motivated by cruelty. They weren't motivated by fear or trying to get people to freak out. They were literally designed to do one important thing, and that's warnings that he gave that called people to repentance. That's what he was doing. So grace here can't even be understood unless you understand judgment and the nature of it. As a matter of fact, I can tell you this right now, no one will ever be able to understand the love or the grace of God unless they understand the judgment of God, unless they understand the law of God. Peter speaks about this later on in his epistle. Matter of fact, why even mention Peter? Look, Paul does the same thing.

John does the same thing. Timothy In Paul's discussion with Timothy regarding these things, he makes it very, very clear, look, all over the New Testament, we see this. Even in the Old Testament, we see this. We see that the grace of God will never be understood unless his judgment is taken seriously. That's a very, very important principle, and Matthew is doing exactly that. Now, the fifth question, and this one is an important one, and that is, what does Matthew mean when he says the the end of the age in Jesus's teaching. Now, this focus here is going to be Matthew 24, and we're talking about future events, and that's exactly what that means. It means things that are going to happen at the end of human history under God's plan. It includes future judgment, the establishment of God's Kingdom. This is all stuff that relates to Matthew 24. It records Jesus answering questions about future events and speaks very clearly of things that are going to happen in the near term for the disciples as they're listening to it with respect to Jerusalem's destruction. But there is a prophetic element that speaks about the destruction of the whole world, and that's something that's really, really important to be able to understand.

This speaks about the return of Christ, meaning the second coming of Christ, and it calls us as believers to be ready, to be faithful, and to endure through the time that leads up into this. That leads us to some passages that I really want you to study and focus on. First and foremost is going to end up being Matthew Chapter 24, because this is a powerful passage that deals with the time that has yet to come. Hopefully, it's going to come sooner than later, which would mean we're going to be raptured before it even starts, which is an exciting thing. The other thing that I want you to focus on is Matthew Chapter 6. It is by far one of my favorite passages in the Bible, because when you go through Matthew Chapter 6, actually, Matthew Chapter 5, 6, and 7, you will love that because we are going to be dealing with in that section what was called the Sermon on the Mount, and it is a powerful passage that I want you to really focus on. By the way, it was probably delivered roughly within an 8 minute to 10 minute minute, period.

Yet, there are people who have been talking into the ages over it because it's so profoundly important and so powerful. I would just ask you to focus on those two passages alone. Matthew 5, 6, 7. Then I want you to focus on Matthew 24. Let me just say 25 because they all work together and coincide, and they are powerful, powerful passages. Now, as I said, if you're looking to dig deeper, you want to learn more, you want to understand more, go to jameskindies. Com. You can also go to our Materials page in Bible in 365. We have plenty of these videos that I've done in the past, all designed to help you, all designed to bless you. I love you guys. I Hope all this made sense. Once again, on behalf of my beautiful and dear sister, Erica Kirk, and the beautiful and dear team that work with me at Bible in 365, we're excited you're on this journey with us. Continue to fight the good fight. Continue to seek the Lord. Continue to put him first and hold fast to his word. We love you. We're here with you in this fight, and whatever you do, don't quit.

Keep on going. We love you. God bless you.