INTRODUCTION TO THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW
The first book of the New Testament is the first of the four gospels-the life stories of Jesus. This gospel is attributed to Matthew, the Jewish tax collector who was called to follow Jesus while sitting at his tax collector's booth and who later became one of the twelve Apostles.
Like the other three gospels, Matthew's gospel relates events from Jesus' life to show that he is the promised Messiah and the Savior of the world with a strong emphasis on Jesus' atoning death on the cross and his resurrection. Compared to the other gospels, Matthew focuses more on Jesus' spoken teachings. Bible scholars single out five major discourses or speeches of Jesus in Matthew, the first of which is the famous Sermon on the Mount.
Matthew is said to have a more Jewish perspective than the other gospels, in part because he quotes many verses from the Old Testament to show that Jesus' coming is the fulfillment of prophecies about the Messiah. However, Matthew's vision is universal, as shown by the great commission at the end of the gospel when Risen Jesus commands his disciples to 'go and make disciples of all nations.'

First, Jesus is descended from Abraham and David (1-6)

Matthew begins his gospel with a genealogy of Jesus, showing he is the Messiah promised through Abraham the Patriarch of Israel and later through King David. Jesus has a kingly ancestry and, more importantly, the ancestry of God's promise. The genealogy also mentions five women among Jesus' ancestors, some of whom were not Jewish. Each of them had faith that was used by God to keep his promise alive.

Second, God preserves the line of promise (7-17)

The royal genealogy of the descendants of David includes good characters as well as very bad ones, including kings whose wickedness finally led to Israel's exile to Babylon. After the Babylonian exile, most of the names in the genealogy are not famous people. God used humble people to keep his promise alive during dark times. By faith, we can share a spiritual heritage with them.


Application: Heavenly Father, thank you for fulfilling your promise to send our Savior into the world at just the right time. Thank you for using unlikely people to preserve your promise through the generations.
One Word: People of faith make a holy lineage