Participants:
Series Code: AU
Program Code: AU000062S
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00:01 - The Bible gives us four accounts
00:03 of the life and times of Jesus. 00:05 And each one of those accounts was written 00:06 for a very distinct purpose and a very distinct audience. 00:13 Today, we're gonna look at just one of those narratives, 00:14 an account written by a man 00:16 that most people didn't have the time of day for. 00:19 [gentle upbeat music] 00:40 Today, I'm gonna be presenting 00:42 the second part of a brand new series. 00:43 So if you missed episode one, 00:45 you might wanna go back and listen to it 00:47 because it sets the stage 00:48 for what we're going to look at right now. 00:51 We've been talking about the four gospels: Matthew, Mark, 00:54 Luke, and John, and why they're so important 00:57 and why they're structured the way they are. 00:59 And I think the context is really gonna prove important. 01:03 I'm starting with the Book of Matthew, 01:04 but only because it comes first 01:06 in the pages of the New Testament. 01:08 It certainly wasn't the first of the gospels to be written 01:11 because that honor goes to the Gospel of Mark. 01:14 But I still believe that Matthew 01:16 has been placed before Mark in your Bible 01:19 for an important and strategic reason. 01:22 Chances are, it was written about 85 AD, 01:24 more than 50 years after the Ministry of Christ. 01:28 And it was written by a former tax collector 01:30 named Matthew Levi, who appears to be 01:33 primarily writing to people who are new believers 01:36 in order to confirm them in their faith. 01:39 In fact, historical records show that the earliest church 01:43 actually used this gospel 01:45 as a sort of training manual for new Christians, 01:47 showing them what it means to live the Christian life. 01:51 And I guess the reason 01:53 it worked so well as a training manual 01:55 is because it puts a lot of effort 01:56 into telling us what Jesus said, 01:59 and then it shows us what Jesus did. 02:02 You find five main discourses 02:03 or sermons from Jesus in this gospel. 02:06 And you find descriptions of the deeds of Christ 02:08 scattered in between those sermons. 02:11 So, in other words, it's teaching us about Jesus 02:13 by alternating between word and deed, 02:17 which gives the reader some idea 02:18 of how to apply the teachings of Christ. 02:21 And while this gospel is suitable reading 02:23 for any kind of audience, 02:25 Matthew appears to be addressing people 02:27 who have a Jewish background, 02:29 not exclusively, but primarily. 02:33 And that's what makes its placement 02:34 in the New Testament so important. 02:36 It comes before the other three, 02:39 and it's a story that begins 02:40 after 400 years of silence from God. 02:44 For 400 years, there had not been a prophet, 02:46 and there were no writings to add to the canon of scripture. 02:50 And what I find really interesting 02:51 is the fact that the Jewish Bible 02:53 does not have the same order of books that we have 02:57 in our westernized Old Testament. 02:59 It's all the same books, of course. 03:01 But where our Old Testament ends with the Book of Malachi, 03:05 the Hebrew Bible ends with the Book of Second Chronicles. 03:08 And the very last thing you read 03:10 in the Book of Second Chronicles 03:11 is the story of these wicked kings of Judah 03:15 who reigned right before the Babylonians 03:17 came to destroy the city and leave the temple in ruins. 03:21 It tells us that King Jehoiakim, and I quote, 03:24 "Did evil in the sight of the Lord." 03:26 So Nebuchadnezzar was allowed to come and take him prisoner. 03:30 Then his son Jehoiakin with an N, took his place, 03:34 and he was just as evil, so he was taken prisoner too, 03:38 at which point the Babylonians 03:39 installed Zedekiah as the king of Judah, 03:42 and that was the end of the story. 03:44 Now Zedekiah was as bad as the rest of them. 03:47 So the Babylonian hordes came one last time 03:50 and took the people of Judah to Babylon, 03:52 where they were captives for 70 long years. 03:56 Now the point of the story is this. 03:59 These kings were said to be abominations. 04:01 That's the word the Bible uses. 04:04 And so, because of their abominations, 04:06 the temple was completely destroyed, 04:09 or it was made desolate. 04:12 So what we have is an abomination of desolation, 04:16 a phrase that shows up in the teachings of Jesus 04:18 over in Matthew 24. 04:20 And here's what he says there. 04:23 "Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation, 04:26 spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, 04:30 whoever reads let him understand, 04:32 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains." 04:37 What Jesus is doing is predicting the next time 04:40 the temple will be completely destroyed, 04:42 which, of course, happens under the Romans in AD 70. 04:46 And to this day, the temple has never been replaced. 04:50 So the original order of the Old Testament books 04:53 ends with the first destruction of the temple, 04:55 followed by a really brief description 04:58 of the Persian King Cyrus, 05:00 who liberated the Jews after 70 years 05:03 and gave them permission to return to Jerusalem 05:06 to rebuild the city and the temple. 05:08 Now Cyrus was a really big personality in ancient history. 05:13 He's a key player in the story of the Bible, 05:17 but this story that you find 05:18 at the end of the original Old Testament 05:21 only gives Cyrus a few short lines. 05:23 It kind of skips past 70 years of Babylonian captivity 05:27 and announces that Cyrus was told by God 05:29 to rebuild the temple. 05:32 And it doesn't even tell us 05:33 that the temple was eventually completed. 05:36 In other words, the Old Testament 05:38 ends with a bit of a cliffhanger, 05:39 which is really, really important. 05:42 And what's interesting about it 05:43 is the way that the rest of the Old Testament 05:45 makes Cyrus out to be a messianic character, 05:49 basically a forerunner of Christ. 05:52 Isaiah chapter 45 calls him God's anointed, 05:55 which is mashiach in Hebrew or literally messiah. 05:59 He's a king that comes from the east 06:01 to liberate God's people 06:03 and restore them to the Promised Land, 06:05 which is exactly what you find 06:07 in the prophecies of the Second Coming of Christ. 06:11 In fact, there's a cryptic message in the Book of Revelation 06:14 that deals with the battle of Armageddon. 06:17 In a passage that we kind of mangled 06:19 during the latter half of the 20th century, 06:21 where we came to the point 06:23 where its original meaning was thoroughly obscured. 06:26 We've ruined our understanding of it. 06:28 You find it in Revelation 16, where it says this. 06:32 "Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl 06:35 on the great river Euphrates, 06:36 and its water was dried up so that the way 06:39 of the kings from the east might be prepared." 06:42 Now, I've seen all kinds 06:44 of modern interpretations of this verse, 06:46 but most of those are a distortion 06:48 of what John originally meant. 06:51 Some modern books will tell you that this army from the east 06:54 is probably gonna be from China. 06:56 But most people forget 06:57 that two-thirds of the language in the book of Revelation 07:00 is actually borrowed from the Old Testament. 07:03 And if you want to understand what John is telling us, 07:06 well, you have to read the whole Bible. 07:08 In fact, if I only had one point 07:10 to make on this show, it's that. 07:11 Read the whole Bible. 07:14 Cyrus was a king from the east, 07:16 and he conquered the city of Babylon 07:17 by diverting the Euphrates River 07:20 to create a path for his army under the city wall. 07:23 John is clearly alluding to Cyrus, a liberating king, 07:27 and he's using that story to point forward 07:29 to the return of Jesus, 07:31 the ultimate King who comes from the east. 07:34 And it's no small coincidence that Matthew makes the effort 07:37 to include this statement 07:39 that you find in Matthew chapter 24. 07:42 Jesus says, "For as lightning comes from the east 07:46 and flashes to the west, 07:48 so also will the coming of the Son of Man be." 07:52 So the Old Testament ends with Cyrus, 07:55 this messianic king, and a promise of restoration, 07:58 and then you get 400 years of prophetic silence. 08:02 And then you get the gospel of Matthew, 08:04 which opens with these astonishing words. 08:08 It says, "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, 08:12 the Son of David, the Son of Abraham." 08:16 Now that doesn't seem astonishing 08:19 until you understand the context. 08:22 When Matthew says that Jesus is the son of David, 08:25 he's telling us that Jesus is the long awaited Messiah 08:28 because that's an important prediction 08:31 that the Old Testament made. 08:32 Messiah was going to be a descendant 08:34 of this great and famous king. 08:36 "Behold, the days are coming," it tells us in Jeremiah 23, 08:40 "that I will raise to David a branch of righteousness; 08:44 a King shall reign and prosper, 08:46 and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth." 08:49 That was a prediction made by a prophet 08:52 right before the Babylonians pulled into town, 08:55 which is, of course, how the Old Testament ends. 08:58 So essentially, with the Gospel of Matthew, 09:00 the New Testament picks up 09:01 exactly where the Old Testament leaves off 09:05 and basically opens with the words, 09:07 "And now that King is here." 09:10 I'll be right back after this. 09:15 - [Narrator 1] Life can throw a lot at us. 09:18 Sometimes we don't have all the answers, 09:21 but that's where the Bible comes in. 09:24 It's our guide to a more fulfilling life. 09:27 Here at the Voice of Prophecy, 09:28 we've created the Discover Bible guides 09:30 to be your guide to the Bible. 09:32 They're designed to be simple, easy to use 09:34 and provide answers to many of life's toughest questions. 09:38 And they're absolutely free. 09:40 So jump online now or give us a call 09:42 and start your journey of discovery. 09:46 - Each one of the four gospels has a different emphasis, 09:48 and in the Gospel of Matthew, 09:50 that emphasis is the kingship of Christ. 09:53 The book opens with a genealogy for Jesus. 09:56 And for centuries, critics have scoffed 09:58 at the details of that family line 10:00 because they find a different genealogy 10:03 in the Gospel of Luke. 10:04 But in reality, this isn't that hard to understand 10:07 because all of us have more than one genealogy. 10:10 I can trace my family back through my dad's side, 10:14 but I can also do it through my mom's side. 10:16 And they're obviously going to be different lines 10:19 unless my family's a little too close-knit, 10:21 if you get my drift. 10:23 What Matthew does is trace back the lineage of Jesus 10:26 through Joseph, his adopted and legal father. 10:30 And Joseph is a descendant of David, 10:32 which gives Jesus a legal claim to his throne. 10:36 But on the other hand, 10:38 Luke is tracing Jesus' lineage back through Mary, 10:40 and that's because he's trying to demonstrate 10:42 the humanity of Christ. 10:44 And so he goes all the way back to Adam. 10:47 Matthew, you'll notice, only goes back to Abraham. 10:50 Now here's another interesting detail 10:52 that I didn't notice until recently. 10:54 There is more than one king in Matthew's genealogy. 10:57 In fact, there are several. 10:59 But Matthew only uses the word king 11:02 in conjunction with David. 11:04 He says that, "Jesse begot David the king." 11:06 And then he says, "David the king begot Solomon." 11:10 But all the other kings in the list 11:12 are never recognized as royalty, 11:14 and that is not an accident. 11:16 Matthew is alerting us right at the top of the story 11:19 about the thesis of his entire book. 11:22 Jesus is the long awaited King. 11:26 The opening phrase tells us that Jesus is the son of David, 11:29 which gives him a claim to the throne. 11:32 And he's also the son of Abraham, 11:34 which makes him a son of the covenant, 11:36 which gives him a claim to the Promised Land. 11:39 So Matthew is telling his mostly Jewish audience 11:42 that Jesus is a child of the covenant 11:45 who has the right to stand at the head of God's people 11:48 because he's also the King. 11:50 And from that point forward, 11:52 you'll find a couple of really important themes 11:54 that just keep popping up over and over and over. 11:58 One of those themes is the word fulfilled 12:00 because Jesus is the fulfillment 12:02 of the Old Testament prophecy. 12:04 This begins right after the genealogy in chapter one, 12:08 where it says this. 12:09 "So all this was done that it might be fulfilled, 12:12 which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet saying, 12:15 "Behold the virgin shall be with child and bear a Son 12:18 and they shall call His name Immanuel," 12:20 which is translated, "God with us." 12:25 Matthew is demonstrating that Jesus is the child 12:27 the prophet Isaiah predicted. 12:30 And the other big word in Matthew's book, 12:32 in addition to fulfilled, is either king or kingdom, 12:36 which is the framework for the entire book. 12:39 As we've seen in a previous episode, 12:41 the early Christians associated the four gospels 12:43 with the four faces of the cherubim. 12:46 And, of course, Matthew is the lion 12:48 because Jesus is the lion of the tribe of Judah, 12:51 the long awaited King. 12:54 Let me show you just a few examples 12:56 so that you get a sense of just how pervasive this theme is 12:58 throughout the rest of the book. 13:00 In the 13th chapter, there's a series of parables, 13:03 and every single one of them begins with the phrase, 13:05 "The kingdom of heaven is like..." 13:08 And what's really fascinating about that 13:10 is the way that the other gospels 13:12 will tell these same stories, 13:14 notably the parable of the sower. 13:17 But in Matthew, Jesus calls the seeds in that story 13:20 the word of the kingdom, 13:22 and he's the only one who does that. 13:24 Mark just calls it the word. 13:25 And Luke calls it the Word of God. 13:28 They were all listening to the same parable, 13:30 but they're emphasizing different points 13:31 depending on the audience they're addressing. 13:34 It's a little bit like telling your kids 13:36 it's going to snow today, and one of them gets excited 13:39 because it means there's no school. 13:41 And another gets excited because, well, 13:43 they get to make a snowman. 13:45 Both of those ideas are true, 13:46 but based on a child's temperament, 13:48 they're going to emphasize 13:50 different aspects of what they heard. 13:52 And for Matthew, one of the most important ideas 13:55 in these parables was the idea of the kingdom. 13:59 Something else you might find interesting 14:00 is the way that Matthew is the only one 14:03 who tells the story of the wise men, 14:05 and here's the way that he tells it. 14:06 It says, "Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judah 14:10 in the days of Herod the king, behold, 14:13 wise men from the East came to Jerusalem saying, 14:16 "Where is he who has been born King of the Jews? 14:19 For we have seen His star in the East 14:21 and have come to worship Him." 14:23 "When Herod the king heard this, 14:25 he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him." 14:29 After this point, Matthew records the trouble with Herod, 14:32 the imposter king who does not have a genetic claim 14:35 to the throne of David. 14:37 And when Harod gathers a team of advisors 14:39 to ask them if the wise men are right, 14:42 here's what they tell him in Matthew 2:6, 14:45 "But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, 14:47 are not the least among the rulers of Judah; 14:50 For out of you shall come a ruler 14:52 who will shepherd my people Israel." 14:55 Now that's a quote from the prophet Micaiah 14:56 who says that this King born in Bethlehem 14:59 would have roots stretching all the way back to eternity. 15:03 In other words, this was God in human flesh. 15:06 So again, Matthew was taking a highlighter 15:08 to the ideas of Old Testament fulfillment and kingship. 15:13 And this is what he does throughout the rest of his gospel. 15:16 You'll find people addressing Jesus 15:18 as the Son of David seven times. 15:20 And then you'll find another three occasions 15:23 when Matthew applies that title to Jesus himself. 15:27 And before Jesus begins his public ministry, 15:29 right after the story of the wise men and Harod, 15:32 we get the account of John the Baptist, 15:34 which underlines the same themes yet again. 15:37 Here's what it says in Matthew chapter three. 15:40 "In those days, John the Baptist 15:42 came preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, 15:44 "Repent," Why? Well, "for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!" 15:51 In Matthew chapter 10, Jesus tells his disciples, 15:53 "Go preach," saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 15:56 In one of the kingdom parables from Matthew chapter 13, 15:59 Jesus describes the second coming by saying, 16:02 "The Son of Man will send out his angels, 16:05 and they will gather out of His kingdom 16:08 all things that offend and those who practice lawlessness." 16:11 In Matthew 25, there are more parables 16:14 that start with those same words, 16:15 "The kingdom of heaven is like..." 16:18 In Matthew 22, we have the famous parable 16:20 of the wedding feast, which starts with the words, 16:22 "A certain king arranged a marriage for his son." 16:26 What's interesting is that Luke tells that same story, 16:29 but for some reason, 16:30 he never mentions that the father is a king 16:32 because Luke was emphasizing something different. 16:37 Then we have some subtle mentions of kingship 16:39 on top of all of the explicit ones. 16:42 In the story of the demoniac, 16:43 only Matthew has the crowd respond by saying, 16:46 "Is this not the Son of David?" 16:48 In the parable of the landowner, 16:50 which you find in chapter 20, the owner of a field says, 16:53 "Is it not lawful for me 16:55 to do what I wish with my own things?" 16:58 Because he has ultimate authority over the land like a king. 17:02 There are 10 occasions where people bow to Jesus, 17:05 which only happens once or twice in the other gospels. 17:08 Matthew tells us that people 17:10 were surprised by Jesus' teaching because he quote, 17:13 "Taught them as one having authority." 17:16 And then, when Jesus is teaching, Matthew points out 17:19 that he's sitting on top of a mountain when he does it, 17:21 which is important because Psalm 2:6 17:24 points out that the Messianic King 17:26 will be found at the top of Mount Zion, where the temple is. 17:30 I mean, we could go on for hours 17:32 with all the little clues 17:33 that Matthew weaves throughout his story, 17:35 but I think you get the point. 17:37 So let's take a little break, 17:38 and I'll be right back after this. 17:44 - [Narrator 1] Here at the Voice of Prophecy, 17:45 we're committed to creating top-quality programming 17:48 for the whole family, 17:49 like our audio adventure series, "Discovery Mountain". 17:52 "Discovery Mountain" is a bible-based program 17:55 for kids of all ages and backgrounds. 17:57 Your family will enjoy the faith-building stories 18:00 from the small mountain summer camp Pentown. 18:03 With 24 seasonal episodes every year 18:05 and fresh content every week, 18:07 there's always a new adventure just on the horizon. 18:14 - One of the key features of Jesus ministry 18:16 is the way that he clashed 18:18 with the religious authorities of Judah. 18:20 The first part of his ministry 18:22 focused on the north up in the region of Galilee. 18:24 And then, as the time for his crucifixion draws closer, 18:28 Jesus goes south to Jerusalem. 18:30 And it's there in the holy city 18:32 that he experienced the fiercest opposition. 18:35 And on one important occasion, 18:37 he rebuked the Sadducees and Pharisees 18:39 with a statement that, well, 18:41 kind of encapsulates all the major themes of Matthew. 18:45 Here's how that reads over in Matthew chapter 16, 18:48 where the Bible says, 18:50 "Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, 18:53 and testing Him asked 18:54 that He would show them a sign from heaven. 18:57 He answered and said to them, 18:58 "When it is evening, you say it will be fair weather 19:01 for the sky is red, and in the morning, 19:03 it will be foul weather today 19:05 for the sky is red and threatening. 19:07 Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, 19:11 but you cannot discern the signs of the times." 19:15 This is not really about the weather. 19:17 What Jesus is saying is that his arrival as Messiah 19:20 was thoroughly predicted in the Old Testament, 19:23 but these people were tragically blind to it. 19:26 Prophecy was clearly being fulfilled 19:28 right in front of their eyes, 19:30 but the people who taught those prophecies to the people 19:33 were somehow missing it. 19:35 In the Gospel of John, John describes it 19:37 as people living in darkness 19:39 who somehow fail to see the light. 19:42 It's a sober reminder that having a religious degree 19:46 or credentials, that doesn't make you right. 19:49 The religion of Christ is far more than mere head knowledge. 19:52 It's experiential. 19:54 It's based on a personal relationship 19:56 with the author of this book. 19:59 I mean, if this is nothing more 20:00 than a book of historical facts 20:02 or a tool that lets you accumulate power in this world, 20:05 you're completely missing the point. 20:09 But Matthew Levi, the author of this gospel, 20:12 did not fail to notice. 20:14 And throughout the book, you find little touches, 20:16 little flourishes that tell us 20:18 what might have been going through Matthew's mind 20:21 as he witnessed the life and teachings of Jesus. 20:24 Matthew was a tax collector, 20:26 which in the minds of his fellow countrymen, 20:28 meant that he was a traitor. 20:29 Tax collectors or publicans worked for the Roman government, 20:34 the much despised occupying force. 20:37 Matthew's job wouldn't be unlike 20:38 somebody doing tasks for the Nazis 20:41 in a French village in the early 1940s. 20:44 And so day after day, 20:45 Matthew sat in his toll booth in the Village of Capernaum. 20:48 And it was his job to crack down on the locals 20:51 and make sure they were giving enough money to the Romans. 20:54 He was really the IRS of his day, 20:57 which, as you know, isn't popular at the best of times. 21:01 So you would think the Messiah 21:03 would probably skip over somebody like Matthew, 21:05 a traitor to the covenant people of God, 21:08 a man who confiscated 21:10 what belonged to the descendants of Abraham, 21:12 the proceeds of the Land of Promise, 21:15 and he gave it to their gentile overlords. 21:18 So you'd think that the long-awaited King 21:20 would skip past a guy like Matthew because, 21:23 at the very least, having Matthew tell his story, 21:26 well, that would be really bad PR. 21:28 But according to more than one gospel account, 21:31 Jesus actually approached Matthew at work 21:35 and asked him to become a disciple. 21:37 And, of course, that created quite an uproar 21:39 among the religious leaders 21:41 who were watching Jesus like a hawk, 21:43 hoping to find something wrong with him. 21:46 Here's the story the way that Matthew himself tells it, 21:48 beginning in chapter 9:10, where it says, 21:52 "Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, 21:55 that behold, many tax collectors and sinners 21:58 came and sat down with Him and His disciples. 22:01 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, 22:04 "Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" 22:09 When Jesus heard that, he said to them, 22:11 "Those who are well have no need of a physician, 22:14 but those who are sick. 22:15 But go and learn what this means. 22:17 I desire mercy and not sacrifice. 22:21 For I did not come to call the righteous, 22:24 but sinners, to repentance." 22:27 It was just inconceivable to these people 22:29 that someone like Matthew Levi 22:31 could be considered a religious acolyte. 22:34 Matthew might have had some kind of genetic claim 22:37 to the land of Abraham, but he didn't have a moral claim, 22:41 not after selling out to the Roman Empire. 22:45 But then Jesus points out 22:46 that none of God's people have been faithful 22:48 and that Messiah had come as a physician 22:50 to heal the sickness that permeated everybody. 22:54 "You think you know God," He told the Pharisees, 22:57 "but then please explain why 22:58 you don't seem to know anything about God's mercy." 23:02 Now, from where I sit, 23:04 I can see that the story of Matthew continues to this day. 23:07 We often hear about religious leaders 23:09 who fall way short of the glory of God. 23:11 But then we see the humble, the down and out, the despised, 23:15 the people to whom nobody gives a second thought, 23:18 and somehow when they see who Christ is, 23:21 they manage to display his character to the world 23:25 far better than the rest of us. 23:27 I was reading a Scottish preacher 23:29 from the 19th century the other day, 23:31 and he was imagining the scene at a party for Jesus. 23:34 A party that, according to Luke, 23:36 took place in Matthew Levi's house. 23:39 Now, given the fact that Matthew 23:41 collected money for the Romans, 23:42 it was probably a pretty nice house. 23:44 And he's so excited to meet the long-awaited King of Israel 23:48 that he invites everybody he knows. 23:51 So we have this collection of people 23:53 the Pharisees call publicans and sinners, 23:56 and it's no surprise that these people would show up 23:59 at a Matthew Levi party. 24:01 The publicans were probably looking for opportunities 24:04 to network and make even more money. 24:07 And the sinners were probably 24:08 just looking for another excuse to get drunk. 24:11 But both of these groups 24:13 were in better shape than the Pharisees, 24:15 who went to the party to discover scandal. 24:19 I'll be right back after this. 24:26 - [Narrator 2] Are you searching for answers 24:28 to life's toughest questions like, 24:30 where is God when we suffer? 24:32 Can I find real happiness? 24:33 Or, is there any hope for our chaotic world? 24:37 The Discover Bible guides will help you 24:38 find the answers you are looking for. 24:40 Visit us at biblestudies.com 24:43 or give us a call at [888] 456-7933 24:48 for your free Discover Bible guides. 24:51 Study online on our secure website 24:54 or have the free guides mailed right to your home. 24:56 There is never a cost or obligation. 24:59 The Discover Bible guides are our free gift to you. 25:02 Find answers and guides like; 25:04 Does My Life Really Matter to God? 25:06 And, A Second Chance at Life. 25:08 You'll find answers to the things that matter most to you 25:10 in each of the 26 Discover Bible guides. 25:13 Visit biblestudies.com and begin your journey today 25:17 to discover answers to life's deepest questions. 25:25 - Here's what I find interesting about Matthew. 25:27 He's the only one who records the parable of the two sons. 25:31 One of the boys in that story says 25:33 he will not do what his father asks, 25:36 but then he regrets saying that, and he does it anyway. 25:39 The second son obediently says, 25:42 "Whatever you ask Dad, I'll do it." 25:44 But then he never does it. 25:47 "Which of the two did the will of his father?" Jesus asked. 25:50 And, of course, the answer is the first boy 25:52 who ended up obeying his dad. 25:55 And then comes the moment 25:56 when Jesus confronts the priests of the temple 25:58 and reveals the point of that story in Matthew 21:31. 26:04 Jesus said to them, "Assuredly I say to you 26:06 that tax collectors and harlots 26:09 enter the kingdom of God before you." 26:13 At the feast of Matthew Levi, 26:15 the Pharisees confronted Jesus disciples saying, 26:17 "What kind of religious leader is this? 26:20 I mean, just look at the company He keeps. 26:23 This is a house full of really despicable people." 26:26 And honestly, I'm guessing that 26:28 some of these brand new fans of Jesus felt, 26:31 well, a little uncomfortable. 26:32 Some of them were likely wondering if Matthew 26:34 really should be included in their number. 26:37 And now, toward the end of Jesus' ministry, 26:40 He says that people like Matthew Levi 26:42 are going into the kingdom 26:44 ahead of the people who appear to be righteous. 26:48 It's no small wonder that Matthew was floored 26:51 by the discovery of the long-awaited King 26:54 and that somehow a guy like him 26:56 was brought into the inside circle 26:58 in spite of who he was and what he'd done. 27:01 And not only that, he was actually preferred by the King 27:05 over the people who had spit on him 27:08 when he was sitting in his toll booth. 27:11 Matthew could see that the kingdom of God was at hand, 27:14 and it was nothing like most people expected. 27:17 And Jesus the King 27:18 was defying a lot of people's expectations. 27:22 For hundreds of years, 400 years of prophetic silence, 27:27 the religious authorities 27:28 had been re-casting God in their own image. 27:31 But then, when the silence finally broke, 27:35 humbled tax collector was able to say, 27:37 "The Son of David is here, 27:39 and he's nothing at all like I was told." 27:43 The lion of the tribe of Judah 27:44 is the point of Matthews gospel. 27:47 And I'm guessing that if you took the time to read it, 27:50 you might just discover that God 27:52 is also nothing at all like you thought He was. 27:56 I'm Shawn Boonstra, and you've been watching "Authentic". 28:00 [gentle upbeat music] |
Revised 2023-01-11