Mission 66 (English podcast)
Matthew 01 A Pre-Natal Checkup
You know, most people would think Mary must have had some special connection with God perhaps, more than others, or was of some special value that she was perhaps better than others in some way. But what does the Bible have to say about this? Welcome to Mission 66, your ultimate journey through all 66 books of the Bible brought to you by Bible teacher and pastor Dr. Luis Ciao, in partnership with Transworld Radio. I'm Rob Dempsey. Let me remind you to download your free study guide of the Gospels. You'll be able to go deeper into God's Word and follow along with each day's program. It's a great companion resource of the audio teaching of John Matthews and Esther Susullo. To get your free study guide of the Gospels, visit mission66.org, that's mission66.org. Get ready for some serious discussion as John Matthews and his co-host Esther Susullo, take us through today's study. Today, our teacher John Matthews is going to begin examining the New Testament. We begin this new adventure with challenges, and the first to be studied in the Gospel of Matthew is chapter one with the theme "Pre-natal Checkup". Now, the Gospel of Matthew will lead us through a fantastic adventure full of miracles and mysteries to be revealed. So, join us and come learn about the greatest happening in the history of humanity. You know, how can the great and powerful God, the creator of all things be concerned with weak and simple people? I'll stay with us and find out. John, it's so good to be with you once again. Well, it's so good to be with you as well, Esther, and hello and a very warm welcome to you listening wherever you are listening to this today. Yeah, that's right, Esther, this is Mission 66. And today, we're beginning exploring this brilliant book of Matthew. Now, this is the first book of the New Testament found in the Bible, which we believe and know is the book of life. Its words are alive and they hold tremendous power. And we're going to start out talking about the person who is Jesus Christ and the arrival of what will be called the new covenant. Now, at the end of the Old Testament, they're talking around the 5th century before Christ was born. There were many changes in the scenario of old Israel. This was a region dominated by the Persians and then the Greeks and then the Romans. And during our time together, I'm going to make an effort now today to point out the historical changes, but also the religious and social changes that occurred. And that's going to be important just to help us with our understanding of this book that covers so many centuries. It's called the Bible, but sometimes you may hear it referred to as Holy Scripture. So as we come to the gospel of Matthew, we've got this first gospel in the Bible, the first book of the New Testament, and it's historically believed to have been written by Matthew, even though this is not said straight out in the gospel or the book of Matthew itself. But the traditions of the early church, ever since the historian Papayas reinforced this pretty clearly, very clearly actually. Now if we look at the contents of this gospel, knowing that it was based on the gospel of Mark, it mentions the fall of Jerusalem. Now that happened in the year 70 in a prophetic way, so it must have been written a little bit before the year 70, despite arguments that have presented against this by some scholars. Anyway, the gospel of Matthew begins by telling us about the birth of the Messiah or the Savior or better yet, the Messianic King, Jesus Christ, and Matthew tells us starting at verse 18. It says this, "Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit, and her husband Joseph being a just man and not willing to put it to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he was considering these things, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said this, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. You will bear a son, and you will call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." Now, all this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet Isaiah. And the words that were spoken in the book of Isaiah were this, "Behold, the virgin will conceive and bear a son, and they will call his name Immanuel, which means God with us." And let's not forget those words were prophesied hundreds of years before. And then Joseph wakes up from this sleep and this dream. He did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and he took his wife. But he knew her not until she had given birth to a son, and he called his name Jesus. And so here we find the first description of what the first Christmas was like. Now Jesus was born in this miraculous way by the power of the Holy Spirit to his mother Mary, who had not yet had any intimate relations with Joseph. But because of the power of the Holy Spirit of God, Jesus, who was God incarnate, that his God in flesh was born miraculously. And his mission, well, his mission was very clear to save his people from their sins. Now the Bible or scripture here emphasizes what had been prophesied back in Isaiah chapter 7, verse 14, that a virgin would become pregnant and give birth to a child, and he would be called Immanuel, which means God is with us. Isn't that amazing? God is with us. So this is indeed the first story of the first Christmas. But let's just stop there just a moment. And I think we can have what I'm going to call a prenatal checkup. So what actually happened before this first Christmas? Well Mary was awaiting baby Jesus' arrival. We also find out what God's intentions were in the first part of Matthew chapter 1. Now Matthew has this intention of presenting Jesus, especially to the Jews here, that they would be examining so closely the background of anybody who claimed to be the Messiah. And they would want to be sure that this person fulfilled the Old Testament prophecy that Messiah would come from the line of David. And this is why it is important just to present the genealogical lineage on this prenatal checkup. And so what do we find here? Well, it's important to point out that Jesus is son of David, son of Abraham. In other words, he's directly related to the patriarchs, to the fathers of the past. So we're talking about his lineage, to King David. He's an heir of the promises established by the old covenant. So you find this list ester of 42 generations and it's divided into three groups of 14. And if you have a look, you see Abraham is there, Isaac, Jacob, the patriarchs. And the impressive thing here is not even that Jesus is a descendant of Abraham, but more importantly, that he's a descendant of David. He is officially in the genealogical lineage of David and could very well be considered an heir to the throne. So he is the messianic king, but there are other people who show up in this genealogy and this is going to reveal even more of this prenatal checkup because, you know, there are many people listed here that we could say were unworthy people, considered if you like to have no merits at all whatsoever. Even the patriarchs, let's not forget Abraham, let's think about him. He was an idolater from Mesopotamia. Jacob was this guy who had loads of family issues. And out of all of Jacob's sons, who shows up in this genealogy, Judah. Now Judah is the same Judah who had this sordid account in Genesis chapter 38 of him, where he wound up having illicit relations with his daughter-in-law, Tamar. As a result of that, Tamar Boerperes, who's listed in this genealogy. So imperfect Tamar is also showing up in this genealogy. And you know, the amazing and encouraging thing here is that God includes imperfect people in the line of the Messiah, Jesus. Instead of listing the names of honorable women of the past, the names listed here are perhaps surprising because after this, who else shows up, well, it's Rahab, the ex-prostitute from Jericho. Then we see there's Ruth, the Moabite. She's also here. You remember Ruth was the one who went back to Jerusalem with her widowed mother-in-law Naomi-to-live with her. And in doing that, Ruth embraced Israel's God. But she started out as a Baal worshipper in Moab. Ruth though later marries Boaz and all of this can be observed back and read back in the Old Testament. Later, we see a reference to Solomon, and the phrase here is very clear, whose mother had been Uriah's wife. This none other than Bathsheba, as in David and Bathsheba. So the genealogy leading right up to the birth of Christ might seem strange. I think it's encouraging though. It seems like he's not a legitimate child because is Joseph the father or not? Well, out of all the women of the past listed here and the children that they had, many of those births didn't seem legitimate either. But Matthew establishes the connection and reveals that the grace of God, thank him so much for this, has worked and continues to work right through human history, right through the DNA of human history, even in the lives of these men and women who were men and women who struggled with serious issues. Some of them were foreigners and pagans, victims of horrible situations and relationships. And this had in a way stained the history of Israel itself. So through the powerful work of God, this entire royal lineage presents to us a diagnostic, a clear evaluation of what this prenatal checkup reveals. And so this genealogical lineage is going to continue to bring up other names of less than perfect men, such as Manasseh, such as Ammon. And there's also a reference here to the Babylonian exile. And finally we come to Joseph, Mary's husband, mother of Jesus, the Christ. This is it, my dear listeners, here we have the story of the first Christmas and we've just looked through this entire genealogy on our prenatal checkup and it's an extraordinary account that will reveal how God keeps the promises He made in the past and how the covenant that He established with His people is fulfilled. Jesus Christ comes to fulfill the Messianic prophecies made back in the Old Testament. The first part of the Bible, if you like, and the first Christmas means the fulfilling of the divine promise made a long time before. But it means more than just that, you know, it means that God had the power to incarnate the second person of the triune Godhead in human form. And so brings us all the opportunity of salvation. God picked up the pieces of a shattered human history and brought about our redemption using imperfect people. And in fact, you know, Esther, He still thank God using imperfect people as part of His plan in the world today and maybe that's the most extraordinary and encouraging part about this. Oh, absolutely, thank God for that. John, yeah, we've been studying the book of Matthew here and we're starting in chapter one today. So different, why don't you just join me as we ask our teacher, John Matthews, just a few questions here on the Gospel of Matthew, John, who is or who was Matthew? Yeah, it's a really good question and one that needs answering as well. Well, Matthew, you know, Esther was, he was an apostle and we've got a very clear reference to him in chapter nine of this book and he also in Mark chapter two, there's a similar reference. So Matthew was a tax collector. A tax collector back in the day was someone who worked for the Roman government collecting taxes from the Jews, so effectively hired by the Roman Empire. But tax collectors, you know, they were viewed as traitors by the people because they had it seemed sold out for the sake of money. But Matthew, despite that was picked by Jesus and when called to follow him, Matthew left his tax business behind straight away, actually, and followed him. She was also called Levi and he presents this gospel from a Jewish perspective. Now we'll study in greater depth the gospels known as the synoptic gospels there, Matthew, Mark and Luke. These three are pretty similar and we find out that a great deal of what is found in Matthew is found in Mark as well. So let's keep in mind that even though these evangelists, these apostles had been used by the Holy Spirit, it doesn't mean that they abandoned all sorts of research. They were scholars who went after objective information and this is also what gives the New Testament credibility. This research was done in an even more special way by the physician and the gospel writer Luke. So Matthew got his research done just as he should so that his work would be credible and what matters is that the word here are true and they were written to show the Jews that the Messiah had indeed come. Awesome. Okay. So looking at the first verse of Matthew's gospel, it says that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. Can you expand on what that means? Yes, the name Jesus means Jave or Jehovah and it means salvation or Savior. Now this Jesus has a title. He is the Christ from the Greek word Christos, which means anointed one. Christos is the Greek word for the Hebrew word mashar or Messiah, the anointed one. So Jesus Christ means Jesus, which is the Savior, which is the Messiah. All right. So I'm guessing I'm not the only one with this question, John, but was Jesus the Son of God or was he the Son of Joseph or was he the Son of Mary, David or even Abraham? Yeah. Well, he's the Son of Mary, but he is not Joseph's child by blood and this is significant because the gospels teachers that Jesus was actually fathered by the Holy Spirit. But Joseph is his legal father. They had to have a father's name on the documents and so Joseph took that role. But Jesus is also the Son of David and the Son of Abraham in the sense that he is a descendant of David and Abraham being part of their lineage as we just saw. Fascinating, but then how can we now believe that Jesus was born of a virgin? I mean, why is this relevant to our faith as believers? Well, Esther, the question comes to us, you know, when we think of the Bible, do we believe what we read? Because if we believe the Bible, we can know that God created the entire universe with just the power of his spoken word. And humanly speaking, it would not seem difficult for God who created everything to enable a woman to conceive by the Holy Spirit. The Bible says what it says that Jesus was indeed born of a virgin. How did it happen? Well, look, we can't simply can't explain it because it was a mystery and it goes beyond our ability to comprehend how it happened. We observe that it's related to a prophecy found back in Isaiah chapter 7, which says, "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and call his name Immanuel." Now, that was written hundreds of years before Jesus was actually born. And also, it was very important that Jesus not be born with any sinful inheritance. So he didn't inherit the sin of Adam, which is passed from generation to generation through the male. And so God miraculously keeps Jesus from receiving any sinful inheritance from the man. And so he's conceived by the Holy Spirit. You see, unlike all of us, Jesus was born with no sin. This is why it is so important that Jesus was born of a virgin. And this must be made really clear. He was God and man at the very same time. His birth was a miracle. This is without a doubt what I would classify as one of those mysterious and marvelous works of God, John. What a great explanation. But now, looking at Joseph, how can we understand his reaction? Did he behave correctly under the circumstances? How did he behave? Yeah. Well, Esther, in the ancient world, in the time of Jesus in old Israel, engagements and marriages were arranged ahead of time. And so the word used is "betrothal," which means there was this sort of commitment and engagement, perhaps you could call it, so a couple wouldn't yet be officially married, but they were promised to each other, and so they were committed. And Mary and Joseph were committed pretty seriously, actually. But the Bible makes it very clear that they hadn't consummated that commitment, and that means they hadn't had any sexual relations. So when Joseph realized Mary was pregnant and then realized he was not the father, he thought what anyone else would have thought in that situation, that Mary had been unfaithful. And so he planned to nullify this betrothal in order to avoid scandal, but God intervenes and reveals the truth of the situation to Joseph, and now he's able to understand that this, in fact, was all a part of God's special plan. So what did he do? Well, he decides to accept the situation, and as a result, Joseph and Luke chapter 3 is going to say this as well when we get to that a little bit later on. But it says that Joseph considered himself to be Jesus' father and took up this role. There are many ancient church traditions suggesting that Joseph perhaps was older, and Mary was younger. And this is why he disappears in the gospel, but he probably died before she did. None of this is actually confirmed by Scripture, but we do know that Joseph was extremely kind and understanding in the face of, let's be honest, Esther, circumstances that were really hard to understand, and they turned out to be remarkable, world-changing circumstances. Joseph knew well that this could result in public shame and suffering for Mary, and so he sought to protect it the best way he could. You know, what a noble action from a noble man, John. Now, since we are talking about Joseph, let's also talk about Mary. Why was Mary chosen to bear the Messiah? Was she spiritually more special than any other woman? Well, Esther, most people might think that Mary must have had this special connection with God more than others, or perhaps was of some special value that she was better than others in some way. What does the Bible, though, have to say about this? Well, let's look at the genealogy, and when we do, the genealogy listed here, which we just analyzed carefully, didn't we, are on our prenatal checkup, all these people become a part of this lineage because of God's grace, mercy, and goodness, not because of anything that they'd done or not done. So Mary's not presented here, nor anywhere else, actually, as someone of special merit or righteousness. God, of course, was gracious toward her. It was God's goodness and his kindness that he chose her. And she's even going to think this to be strange. She says, doesn't she, Esther, me? What did I do to deserve this? I've nothing to do with this whole story, and I can't understand why I'm here, why I was chosen. And naturally, we must value and have great respect for the mother of Jesus, our Savior, his human mother. She was, my goodness, she was a very blessed woman indeed, and not because of anything she did, not because of her personal merits, but because of the grace and the goodness of God. And that's really important. Yeah, I agree with that. And I think it's also important to know that it's made clear that Joseph didn't have any intimate physical relations with Mary before the birth of Jesus Christ. And when we get to Mark chapter six, we'll find out that Mary and Joseph had other children the normal way. And I think right now it should be time for a wrap up, John. What can we draw from Matthew chapter one? Well, Esther, we entitled this episode, looking at chapter one as prenatal checkups. We've read and we've heard of what the miraculous birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was like. We saw this genealogy of Jesus from Abraham all the way down to the birth of Christ, son of Mary. And here we find something extraordinary and special. And it's this, God chooses to build history using weak, fragile and sinful people who've made many mistakes in the past. And in the middle of these mistakes, God brings salvation to them and to us. To listen as my dear listeners, here's the major lesson if you like, that we get here, that the major encouragement that God built the story of salvation for all of humanity using weak humans, many of whom had done nothing but failed and experienced failure. And yet in his grace, that grace shines forth all the brighter. Hallelujah. Well, my dear friend, thank you so much for joining us here on Mission 66. This was a great start to the study of Matthew, but I think that we can pause the study here for now and we hope to be back with you for yet another great adventure, same place, same time here on Mission 66. So until then, goodbye and God bless you. As we close today's program, let me remind you to download your free study guide of the Gospels. You'll be able to go deeper into God's Word and follow along with each day's program. It's a great companion resource of the audio teaching of John Matthews and Esther Sussullo. To get your free study guide of the Gospels, visit mission66.org, that's mission66.org. It's a great resource. You can also support the Ministry of Mission 66 when you visit the site. You'll help continue the program here and around the world. Mission 66 is a Ministry of Transworld Radio in partnership with Dr. Louise Ciao. I'm Rob Deppsey. (dramatic music)