Matthew 1-4; Proverbs 1
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The New Testament!
We’ve made it through all the Old Testament (except for Proverbs)! We’ve
read the prophecies about Jesus and have seen how everything ultimately points
to Jesus, and now we finally get to read about His fulfillment of those
prophecies.
I think it is great that we get four different accounts of the
life, death, and resurrection of Jesus in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke,
and John. I also love that the
first gospel is Matthew who was a Jew and who focused his writing toward the
Jews, since almost the entire Old Testament is focused on them as God’s chosen
people. He uses the prophecies
they all knew to show them that Jesus is the true Messiah they have been waiting
for. His very first words are to
record the genealogy of Jesus to prove He was a Jew descended from Abraham; and
that He was descended from David, proving He was entitled to inherit the throne
of David as prophesied. Matthew as
well as Jesus Himself quotes the prophets (Isaiah, Micah, Hosea, and Jeremiah
in these chapters) to show that it was all about Him.
Matthew also includes in the genealogy names that would normally
not be included, which is interesting and worthy of taking note. He includes names of some women, which
was not usually done, as well as the fact they were gentiles instead of
Jews. This is just one small
example among many others in the New Testament that shows that Jesus came for all.
There is so much in these first few chapters of Matthew that I’m
finding myself wanting to go on and on … I’ll try to limit myself; however,
there are a couple more things I’d like to mention.
First, did you notice how many times God showed up giving someone
a message or warning or direction through dreams in these chapters? Do I think every
dream is from God? Of course
not. Do I think He still reveals
and warns through dreams sometimes?
Very much so.
And finally, chapter 4: The Temptation of Jesus – There is so much
that can be learned from this passage.
We see that Jesus was fully human.
He was hungry. He was
tempted as we are. It actually
says He was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted, which is something
to stop and think about. Every
time Satan tempted Jesus, Jesus quoted God’s Word. Satan even quoted scripture … he is crafty that way … using
something that sounds so right to get us to do something wrong. This makes me want to know God’s Word
so deeply that it comes to me when I’m tired, hungry, and being tempted; that
the truth would be alive in me.
I’m so excited about this next stretch of the year as we dive into
the New Testament! I feel like it
is Christmas morning – The Messiah is Here!
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