Matthew 1:18 - 2:18

Matthew 1:18 -2:18

A dream is often repeated in this passage.  How does that line up with dreams we have today?  What was the declared and easy to discern Source of the dreams of these Biblical characters?  “To Dream the Impossible Dream”  “Just dream, dream, dream” and “any dream will do” – young Joseph sang in the play…NO…ONLY dreams that the Lord gave…Holy Spirit communicated with these people…no indwelling Holy Spirit at that time.  So the Lord used the dreams to convey HIS message to them.    

Find ten pennies, shake them up in your hand and pour them out in front of you.  Do you think they would all land with “heads up”?  The average person will have to pour out those coins more than a 1,000 times before he can expect to produce all “heads” even once!  Now think of those ten coins as ten prophecies concerning the Messiah…Would you consider it coincidence…or convincing proof…if any one individual fulfilled all ten?  How about if there were 20?  Or fifty such prophecies?  DURING HIS EARTH LIFE, JESUS CHRIST FULFILLED MORE THAN 300 SPECIFIC PROPHECIES CONCERNING MESSIAH.  AND HE DID IT TO CONVINCE THE WORLD THAT HIS CLAIMS WERE TRUE. 

20 to 30 years after Jesus had gone back to heaven, a Jewish disciple named Matthew was inspired by the Spirit of God to write a book.  No where in the N.T. do we find a single recorded word that Matthew spoke.  Yet in his Gospel, he gives us the word and works of Jesus Christ, “the Son of David, the Son of Abraham”.  Matthew did not write to tell us about himself; he wanted us to know about Jesus Christ. 

Genesis 5:1 gives us the history of the “Adam’s family” and it is a sad history.  But the N.T. is, “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ.  Jesus is the last Adam and promise, while the N.T. is a book of fulfillment. 

Jesus fulfilled the O.T. promises concerning the Messiah.  His birth at Bethlehem fulfilled Isa. 7:14.  Jesus was taken to Egypt for safety and this fulfilled Hosea 11:1. 

Matthew introduced a new King!  His book was written primarily for Jewish readers.  Matthew gives us a beautifully organized account of our Lord’s life and ministry.  Matthew opened his book with a careful account of the birth of Jesus Christ and the events that accompanied it.  He presented four facts about the King.

Since royalty depends on heredity, it was important for Jesus to establish His rights to David’s throne.  Matthew gave His human heredity (v. 1-17) as well as His divine heredity (v. 18-25).  The family tree of Jesus is important—it shows that Jesus Christ is a part of history; that all of Jewish history prepared the way for His birth.  This genealogy also illustrates God’s wonderful grace.  It is most unusual to find the names of women in Jewish genealogies, since names and inheritance came through the fathers.  But in this list we find references to four women from O.T. history…Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba. 

Some names were omitted … many Jewish men could trace their family back to King David.  It would take more than human pedigree to make Jesus Christ “the Son of David” and heir to David’s throne. 

Christ’s birth was different from that of any other Jewish boy names in the genealogy.  Jesus was born of an earthly mother without the need of an earthly father.  This is the definition of the VIRGIN BIRTH!!

Jesus existed before Mary and Joseph or any of His earthly ancestors.  It was necessary for the LORD to enter this world through an earthly mother but not to be begotten by an earthly father.  By a miracle of the Holy Spirit, Jesus was conceived in the womb of Mary, a virgin. 

Jesus = Savior (Jehovah is Salvation); Christ = anointed (Greek equivalent of Messiah.  Jesus is His human name; Christ is His official title; and Immanuel describes Who He is = God with us.  Jesus Christ is God! 

The King then was a Jewish male who is also the divine Son of God.  But, did anybody acknowledge His kingship?  Yes, the magi from the East came and worshiped Him. 

We know very little about these men..the wise men!  God gave them a special sign…a miraculous star that announced the birth of the King.  The star led them to Jerusalem where God’s prophets told them that the King would be born in Bethlehem.  They went to Bethlehem and there they worshiped the Christ Child. 

Only three…perhaps not…that came from the naming of three gifts…but there might have been more…THEY troubled the whole city.  These men were Gentiles.  The LORD came to be “the Savior of the world”.  They were wealthy, they were scholars—scientists in their own right.  No scholarly person who follows the Light God gives him can miss worshiping at the feet of Jesus. 

The magi were seeking the King, but Herod was afraid of the King and wanted to destroy Him.  Herod was a cruel and crafty man who permitted no one, not even his own family, to interfere with his rule or prevent the satisfying of his evil desires.  A ruthless murderer, he had his own wife and her 2 brothers slain because he suspected them of treason.  He was married at least nine times…to fulfill his lusts and strengthen his political ties.

Herod did not want anyone else to be “King of the Jews.”  But there was another reason he wanted to kill Jesus.  Herod was not a full-blooded Jews, he was actually a descendant of Esau.  There we have the old struggle again…Esau and Jacob…the spiritual versus the carnal, the Godly versus the worldly.

The magi were seeking the King; Herod was opposing the King; and the Jewish priests were ignoring the King.  They could point right to where the King was but would not worship Him themselves…(5 miles).  The Gentiles sought Him but the Jews did not!

The magi did not visit the LORD at the manger/Joseph had moved Mary and the baby to a house. 

HOW Jesus was born was a fulfillment of prophecy, and WHERE He was born was a fulfillment of prophecy.  Bethlehem means “house of bread” and this was where the “Bread of Life” came to earth. 

HOSTILITY AGAINST THE KING:  A person is identified not only by his friends, but also by his enemies.  Herod pretended that he wanted to worship when in realty he wanted to destroy.  God warned Joseph to take the Child and Mary and flee to Egypt, which was close.  This led to fulfillment of yet another prophecy “I called My Son out of Egypt (Hosea 11:1) 

Herod’s pride and anger led him to kill the boy babies two years of age and under who were still in Bethlehem.  (perhaps only 20) 

Satan is a liar and murderer…just as Herod lied to the magi!  His horrendous crime of murder was the fulfillment of prophecy found in Jer. 31:15.  Has to do with the captivity of Jerusalem, captives were taken to Ramah in Benjamin…this reminded Jeremiah of Jacob’s sorrow when Rachel died.  However, not it was Rachel who was weeping.  She represented the mothers of Israel weeping as they saw their sons going into captivity. 

Most all people think of Bethlehem as the BIRTHplace of Jesus Christ.  Because He died for us and rose again, we have a bright future before.  We shall live forever with Him in that glorious city where death is no more and where tears never fall.

The Jewish world of Jesus’ day longed for a deliverer from the iron heel of Roman oppression.  But many thought Messiah would not arrive until they were good enough to “deserve” him.  One commonly held notion was that Messiah would only come when the nation had properly kept the Sabbath for FOUR consecutive weeks.  There was just one problem.  No one could keep the Mosaic laws for even ONE day!  God sent the Savior as a Gift for the Godless—not as a reward for the righteous!!!