Overview of Matthew Essay example

Submitted By mjasonking
Words: 1959
Pages: 8

When Jesus came to Earth, his first goal was to carry the good news of the kingdom to the Jewish people. After years of serving other Kings, being held captive in other lands, and being enslaved by the Roman Government, you would think that the Jewish people would be extremely joyous to hear that the Messiah had arrived. A few were glad to hear the news and accepted Christ for what he was. Some, knowing who He was, left everything they had behind to serve and follow him. However, others chose not to believe Christ; they chose to hear but not accept the kingdom that Jesus was offering. But Christ had an alternative mission, taking the news of his kingdom to a different people group that would accept him and build his church for his glory. For generations, Israel had been held captive in strange lands, forced to serve other kings, and served as slaves to the dignitaries that controlled their lands. Israel’s only hope during these times was that the Messiah was coming. They believed that he would come to Earth and destroy the government that had control of their lives. They were looking and praying for a political leader to deliver them and establish a kingdom here on Earth. But the kingdom that Jesus offered differed from what they expected. Jesus preached many great messages throughout his brief ministry here on Earth; messages with great meaning and context that left Jewish church leaders in awe of his doctrine. But the thrust of most of early messages came down to this phrase, “Repent ye: the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” In this phrase, Jesus is offering the Jewish people a kingdom, but not the type that they wanted. It wasn’t a kingdom where Jesus would take complete control of the government and chase the Romans out with clubs and pitchforks. They were looking for the Messiah to be a King, but Jesus came to be their/our sacrifice. Jesus came to this earth as a sacrifice. Isaiah says in chapter fifty-three verses three through five: “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.”(Isaiah 53:3-5,KJV). Jesus came first as sacrifice, but what Israel was looking for was a King. Jesus begins his ministry in Matthew 4:12, after John the Baptist had been “cast into prison.” He left Nazareth into Galilee preaching “Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.” As he was walking in Galilee, he gathered his disciples and continued the three parts of his ministry: “Preach the Gospel of the kingdom, teaching in the synagogues, and healing the sick and diseased (Matthew 4:23).” Stanley Toussaint in his Behold the King: A Study of Matthew, he says “This ministry is described by three words- teaching, preaching and healing. Although his work is located in Galilee of the Gentiles, the ministry of the King is limited to Jews.” This statement can be proven by the fact that Jesus taught in synagogues, he preached Jewish messages, and healed only Jewish people at this point. But regardless of who his target audience was, Jesus’ fame grew throughout Syria, another Gentile land. Before, Jesus was only trying to reach the Jewish people but now he heals both Jewish and Gentile people. In Matthew 4:24, the Bible states, “And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken