Personal Commentary Notes of Windell GannMat_1:1[For sermons on the various texts of the Bible see the Acess Sermon datebase. ] AUTHOR: Matthew was a tax-collector in the service of the Roman occupying force and was called by Jesus to ’ Follow me’ and became one of the Twelve Apostles (Matt. 9:9-13; 10:3; Mark 2:14-17; Luke 5:27-32). It is said that when Matthew got up from that table to follow Jesus he didn’ t leave his pen behind. About twenty or thirty years after Jesus went back to heaven the Holy Spirit inspired him to write what we have today as "The Gospel of Matthew." : Each Gospel has its own emphasis. The term "Kingdom of Heaven" occurs with such frequency in Matthew that often it is called "The Gospel of the Kingdom." The Gospel of Matthew was written primarily for Jewish readers. The theme is "The King and His Kingdom." One key word in the book is "fulfilled" for Matthew focuses on how Jesus fulfills the promises of a Redeemer made by inspired writer in the Old estament. (The word is used about 17 times.) The Gospel and the Old Testament Matthew Mark Luke John Quotes from the O.T. 53 36 25 20 Allusions to the O.T. 76 27 42 105 129 63 67 125 Nowhere in the four Gospels do we find a single word that Matthew spoke. Yet in his Gospel he gives us the words and works of Jesus Christ, "the Son of David, the Son of Abraham" (1:1) Words of Christ in the Four Gospels Matthew Mark Luke John Total number of Verses 1071 678 1151 879 Verses of Christ’ s Words 644 285 586 419 Approximate percentage 60% 42% 50% 50% DESIGN: The book was written to help the Jews understand Jesus as King and to establish his spiritual rule over a spiritual kingdom. In Matthew Jesus’ Kingship is alluded to some 10 times: 1:6; 2:2; 5:35; 21:5; 25:34; 25:40; 27:29; 27:37; 27:42. The word "kingdom" is found 54 times. Matthew talks about the Kingdom of Heaven while Mark and Luke describes it as the Kingdom of God. This indicates the kingdom is: _ Divine-- its origin is of God above and not man below _ Spiritual-- in nature, and not earthly and sensual _ Universal-- not a kingdom confined to Palestine, etc. _ Not National-- not racial, but a kingdom of faith Matthew described Jesus as the Doer and the Teacher. None of the four Gospels is a biography in the modern sense of the word. In fact, John doubted that a complete biography of Jesus could ever be written (John 21:25). There are many details about the earthly life of Jesus that are not given in any of the Gospels. Matthew does not try to give us a chronological outline of the events in Jesus’ s life. Rather, he tends to organize and group similar incidents of "doings" and "teachings" together into ten alternating sections. He records more than 20 specific miracles and 6 major messages. Over 60% of his book focuses on the teachings of Jesus. Matthew points that when he wrote his Gospel God’ s Kingdom was what the people in the first century was calling the "church" (16:18; 18:17). The Greek word translated church means "a called- out assembly." In the NT this word refers to a local assembly of obedient believers. In the OT, Israel was God’ s called-out people, beginning with the call of Abraham (Gen. 12:1f; Deuteronomy 7:6-8). In fact, Stephen called the nation of Israel "the church (assembly) in the wilderness" (Acts 7:38), for they were God’ s called-out people. But the NT church is a different people, for it is composed of both Jews and Gentiles (Gal. 3:28). Even though Matthew wrote primarily for the Jews, he has a "universal" element in his book that includes the Gentiles. For example, Gentile leaders came to worship the infant Jesus (2:1-12); Jesus performed miracles for Gentiles and even commended them for their faith (8:5-13; 15:21- 28). At at crisis hour in Jesus’ ministry He turned to a prophecy about the Gentiles (12:14-21). Even in parables, Jesus indicated that the blessings which Israel refused would be shared with the Gentiles (22:8-10; 21:40-46) and the Lord’ s commission involves all nations (28:19-20). "The Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand" 1. The Revelation of the King (Ch 1-10) His person (1-4); His principles (5-7); His power (8-10) 2. The Revellion Against the King -- (Ch 11-20) 3. The Rejection of the King (Ch. 21-27) 4. The Resurrection of the King (Ch. 28)ˇ