MATTHEW'S CONVINCING WITNESS

According to most biblical scholars, the Gospel of Matthew was written for a first century Jewish audience.  Israel had long awaited their King, their Messiah, their Christ, and Matthew wanted to remove any and all doubt that He had come; He was Jesus of Nazareth.  Matthew began by laying as the foundation of his presentation, the Lord's genealogy, showing that Jesus was the fulfillment of the prophecies which declared the Messiah would be a descendant of both Abraham, and of David.  He wrote:  "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham" (Mt. 1:1).  It doesn't get much clearer than that!

Where Matthew ran into problems was when he presented Jesus as the Son of God.  The Jews were expecting a man, but Matthew was describing Jesus as God's equal (see Jn. 5:18); Matthew wrote: 

"...And the high priest...said unto Him...tell us whether Thou be the Christ, the Son of God.  Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.  Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses?  Behold, now ye have heard His blasphemy" (Mt. 26:63-65).

Matthew also wrote of demons calling Jesus the Son of God (Mt. 8:29), as well as His disciples (Mt. 14:33; 16:16), a Centurion (Mt. 27:54), and Jesus, Himself, was quoted as claiming to be God's Son (Mt. 27:43).  However, the greatest testimony to Jesus as the Son of God, was God Himself (Mt. 3:17; 17:5)!  And if calling Jesus the Son of God was not enough of a stumbling block for the Jews, Jesus repeatedly referred to God as His Father in heaven (Mt. 7:21; 10:32-33; 12:50; 16:17; 18:10, 19).

In addition to Christ's lineage, here are just ten examples of the dozens of times Matthew shows that the life of Jesus literally fulfilled the following prophecies: 

He would be born of a virgin (Isa. 7:14 w/ Mt. 1:23).
He would be hunted as an infant (Jer. 31:15 w/ Mt. 2:16-18).
He would live for a time in Egypt (Hos. 11:1 w/ Mt. 2:14-15).
He would preach in Galilee (Isa. 9:1-2 w/ Mt. 4:13-17).
He would be betrayed by a friend (Ps. 41:9 Mt. 26:47-56).
He would be "sold" for 30 pieces of silver (Zech. 11:12-13 w/ Mt. 26:15).
He would be given vinegar and gall (Ps. 69:21 w/ Mt. 27:34).
He would be crucified (Ps. 22; Isa. 53 w/ Mt. 27:32-38).
He would be buried with the rich (Isa. 53:9 w/ Mt. 27:57-60).
He would rise from the dead (Ps. 16:10 w/ Mt. 28:1-10).

 

Matthew may not have convinced the Jews, but he convinced me!