General Impressions of the Book
Marvelous Unity
The Gospel of Matthew exhibits excellent unity of thought and theme all throughout its pages. From beginning to end the attention of the reader is focused upon Jesus of Nazareth in three primary ways:
He is seen as the King of Kings, Who is also the King of the Jews.
Matthew 1:1- The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David.
Matthew 2:2- Where is he that is born king of the Jews?
He is seen as the Saviour from sin.
Matthew 1:21- And thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.
Matthew 27:42- He saved others; himself he cannot save.
He is seen being continuously despised and rejected.
Matthew 2:23- And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.
John 1:45-46- Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see.
Taken together these three themes define the overall message of this book. Jesus of Nazareth is the despised and rejected Saviour-King. When viewed in this light the Gospel of Matthew helps us to understand why the Jews of Palestine during the days of Christ’s humiliation did not accept Him as their true King. Acknowledging Him to be the true King would demand that they align with Him in His profound rejection. Aligning with Him would also demand that they acknowledge their need to be redeemed…to accept Him as Saviour as well as King. It is no surprise that they did not do so.
In like manner, it is no surprise that the multitudes today reject Him. The natural heart of man is a Christ-rejecting heart. It takes the mighty power of God to humble a man so that he will be willing to receive Jesus of Nazareth as Saviour, and submit to Him as King. Even more, it takes the sustaining power of God in a man’s heart to enable him to continuously align himself by faith with this despised and rejected Saviour-King.
It should therefore be the longing desire of the student of Matthew’s Gospel that the ascended Saviour-King would be pleased to work with resurrection power within his heart. Only as this takes place will he will delight in being identified with Jesus of Nazareth as his Saviour-King in a world that still despises and rejects Him.
Amazing Contrasts
Matthew, similar to numerous other books in the canon of Scripture, is a book that presents the reader with many contrasts. Surely one of the reasons the Lord uses this means of presenting us with the Truth is that it continually confronts us with a clear-cut choice. The following examples taken from Matthew’s Gospel suggest the vivid ongoing contrasts presented in this wonderful book.
The Vivid Contrast of Human Responses to Christ
This contrast runs all throughout the book. It can be seen clearly in the contrast between the responses of Christ’s disciples and the responses of the scribes, the Pharisees and the chief priests. It can also be seen clearly and on a broader scale in the contrast between the responses of the Gentile wise men and the Jewish leaders. The Gentile magi came many miles to find the King of the Jews. But, the Jewish leaders, though knowing where the King was to be born, made no effort to go to Bethlehem to determine the validity of His birth announcement.
The Vivid Contrast of Kings
There is a very revealing contrast between the True King [Christ] and a mortal ruler in Matthew 2:2-3.
Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
This passage is interesting because it identifies the common response of most human kings to the true King of kings. Most merely human kings are troubled by confrontation with Christ. But this contrast goes much farther in this book. In reality, Israel had long ago forsaken the Lord as her King. Notice I Samuel 8:7-
And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.
Hundreds of years prior to His incarnation, Christ had been rejected as King by Israel. So then this book presents all men everywhere with a clear-cut choice. Will each man abdicate the throne of his own heart to this true King of kings?
Threshold Book
The Gospel of Matthew is a “threshold” book in the sense that one comes immediately to Matthew upon leaving the Old Testament. The significance of this cannot be overestimated. The entire New Testament rises or falls with the Old Testament. Unless a clear link to the Old Testament can be established immediately upon entering the New Testament, the credibility of the New Testament is called into question. But Matthew’s Gospel does a remarkable job of linking the testaments in at least two key ways.
First, Matthew establishes a link to the Old Testament Scriptures by quoting from them almost as often as the other three Gospel writers combined. [Matthew 62X; Mark, Luke and John combined 74X] And Matthew does not restrict himself in quoting the Hebrews Scriptures. Of his 62 Old Testament quotes, 33 of them are from the Law and the Historical Books, 6 are from the Poetical Books, and 23 are from the Prophetic Books.
Second, Matthew establishes a strong link between the Old Testament and the New Testament because Matthew shows how Christ is the fulfillment of everything recorded in the Old Testament. One way of looking at the concept of fulfillment is to consider the word fulfills. Taken in its two parts, the word suggests that to fulfill something is to “fill it full.” This is precisely what Jesus of Nazareth does for everything in the Old Testament. For example:
A. Jesus of Nazareth fills full Old Testament History.
Apart from the revelation of the eternal redemptive purposes of God in Jesus Christ in the historical sections of the Old Testament those portions of Scripture would have little more value than moralistic fables. Christ “fills full” Old Testament History.
This is nowhere more clearly evidenced than in the genealogy in Matthew 1:1-17. In these verses we learn the significance of all that was happening in the Scriptural record of the Old Testament relationship between Jehovah and His chosen people. Many of the names included in the genealogy of Christ surprise the serious Bible student. Judah and Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, David and the wife of Urias. These human ancestors of the Lord Jesus Christ are precious reminders of the redeeming grace of God.
Omitting the redemptive purposes of God in Christ makes the history recorded in the Old Testament bland and meaningless. But see the light of His redeeming grace in the lives of these people, and the historical record springs into radiant light and life.
B. Jesus of Nazareth fills full Old Testament Law.
Perhaps no other passage more clearly reveals this than the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7. This passage shows us very clearly that those whose lives are ruled by the King of Heaven, Jesus of Nazareth, will manifest outwardly and openly the fullest and deepest righteousness revealed in the Law. Confronted with the deepest revelation of the depravity of their own hearts, those ruled by the King will cry out to Him for the fulfillment of deep heart work in them. They cannot be contented with mere shallow surface religiousness.
Further, we see Christ clearly announcing His relationship to the fulfillment of the O. T. Law in Matthew 5:17-18.
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. It is as men submit to the reign of this King in their hearts, yea, in the deepest parts of their hearts, that the Law is truly fulfilled by Christ in them.
C. Jesus of Nazareth fills full Old Testament Prophecy.
Suffice it to be stated that Matthew records no less than fourteen clear Old Testament prophecies fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth. Apart from Jesus Christ Old Testament prophecy is empty. When seen in the light of the eternal redemptive purposes of God in Jesus Christ, Old Testament prophecy is filled full to overflowing.
We encounter the blessed reality of the fulfillment of O. T. prophecy in the Person of Jesus Christ in the very first verse of the book. Here we are shown that He is the son of David. The significance of this lies in the fact that this is a fulfillment of direct prophecy in 2 Samuel 7:12-16, where God plainly tells David that David’s son shall sit on the throne of an everlasting kingdom. That God was not speaking of Solomon is blatantly clear, since Solomon’s kingdom passed away long ago. The prophecy speaks of that greater Son of David, the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth.
Thus, we see that the Gospel of Matthew establishes the strongest kind of link to the Old Testament Hebrew Scriptures. This is a fact that bears much weight when we realize that anything written which does not align with the ancient inspired writings given by God through the Hebrew people is to be cast aside entirely as having Divine origin.