Matthew 5:17-20 - Law and Prophets

Jesus makes it very clear that He did not come to "abolish the Law and the Prophets". Given the clarity of this statement it is amazing the number of people who seem to think He did just that! 

The Law refers to the first five books of the Old Testament. The Prophets refers not just to what we think of as the prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Micah etc), but also to what the Jews called the "former prophets", meaning Joshua, Samuel, Kings. And the term "Law and Prophets" meant the whole of the Old Testament.

The Law expressed the heart of God. In sending His Son God's character had not changed, he had not changed His mind. Rather Jesus came to fulfil the Law and the Prophets. He did this by perfectly obeying His Father, and by fulfilling the prophecies of the future salvation. 

As I have just said, the Law expresses the heart of God. It was wrong to murder before the ten commandments were given, it was wrong to murder after the commandments were given, and it is still wrong to murder. 

Jesus' words here on not one least stroke of the pen disappearing should help us to interpret the Sermon on the Mount. It is said by some that He was overturning what Moses said. This is not true, rather He is getting to the heart of the matter. As we go on through this sermon we will see that many of the supposed "innovations" are actually there in the Law.

It was the Pharisees who were actually guilty of setting aside the requirements of the Law, though they were seeking to the very opposite. Again, we shall see examples of this later in Matthew. We need to take this as a general warning as well, those who seek to defend something most ardently can end up being guilty of destroying it.

The righteousness of Jesus' disciples has to exceed that of all others. Jesus also makes it clear that the righteousness of the Pharisees would not get them into the kingdom of heaven. Note that "kingdom of Heaven" here means "rule of God". Legalism does not get us into the kingdom of Heaven. We can be guilty of applying this in various areas, eg evangelism and tithing. We rightly seek to be a Church who witness to Christ and who give generously, but if we try to achieve these goals by legalism we will end up failing. 

Sometimes we can be guilty of teaching tithing as a legalistic thing, we do this from the best of motives, but it will produce the wrong results. But note this too. If we live the Sermon on the Mount then we will be doing much more than a legalistic interpretation of the Law would produce. Likewise, if we have God's generous heart, then we will give much more than any teaching on tithing requires.

Matthew 5:13-16 - Salt and light

Having proclaimed the kingdom, Jesus now starts to teach, explaining how it all works out in practice.

"You are the salt ..." This is both a rebuke for Israel and a warning and instructions for all of us. Israel was meant to be a light to the world. God said to Abraham that all peoples on earth would be blessed through him. God's people are meant to be a blessing to the whole world. Yet Israel had become anything but a blessing. She had truly lost her saltiness, and so would be "thrown out and tramples underfoot". Now this does not mean that Israel no longer has any part in God's plans, see Romans 9-11! We too must recognise our purpose and heed this warning. We are meant to be a preservative in society. There are two ways we can fail to do this. One is to withdraw from society, the other is to compromise our standards (or rather God's standards). We need to understand that we will often be going against the tide in society. This is part of our calling.

While being a preservative is in some ways a negative thing, ie resisting corrupting influences, we are also to be light to the world.

We are the light of the world. We need to realise this. Our lives are on display and are meant to be on display as examples of the goodness and grace of God, as examples of His salvation power taking effect. This is how the world will learn of the good news of the kingdom.

Matthew 5:3-12 - Beatitudes

First we come to the beatitudes. At the end of Chapter 4 it says that Jesus proclaimed the kingdom and taught. The beatitudes can be looked at as a proclamation of the good news of the kingdom.

The normal human response is that all the things listed in the beatitudes are actually bad news. It is bad to be poor in spirit. Things are going badly if we are mourning, hungry or thirsty. Things like meekness and mercy are viewed as weakness by the world. To be pure in heart is thought to be simple or naive. The peacemakers just get trouble and little thanks, and the persecuted are, well, persecuted.

The kingdom of heaven comes to such as these. We need to remind ourselves that kingdom of heaven, means the kingdom of God's rule, it is not referring to where we go when after we die.

The kingdom was made for the poor in spirit. The world, and religions, say "you have to be like this". The kingdom says "I will make you like this". The kingdom is about overcoming and healing our sins and weaknesses.

The kingdom brings comfort to those who mourn. Right at the end, as it says in Revelation, every tear will be wiped away, but even now we can experience the comfort of God.

Meekness is seen as weakness by the world, but it means trusting in God, and so adopting a gentle attitude instead of an aggressive one. It is the meek who will inherit the earth, not the forceful and boastful. How can this be? Because it is God who makes the final judgement.

Those who seek to show mercy in this world can be taken advantage of, but we all need mercy, and God will show mercy to the merciful. The peacemakers will be called children of God. 

The final three verses make it clear that Jesus is not promising an easy life in this world, but when the world rejects us it is only because God accepts us. So we should rejoice.

Matthew 5:1,2 - Sermon on the Mount

This is one of the most famous sections in the gospel, but also one of the least well understood, and almost certainly the least well practised!

Some say this represents a summary of a single teaching session, others that it is a compilation of teachings presented on several occasions. The text seems to make it clear that this is a summary of a single period of teaching. However, it is also equally clear from Scripture that Jesus taught at least parts of this message on other occasions. Most prominently in the "sermon on the plain" in Luke. They didn't have printing presses, tape or video recorders, and certainly not the internet. So if someone said something worth saying, they would almost certainly repeat it, or something similar, on many occasions.

A more vital question is that of application and meaning. Some say the standards are impossibly high, and see it as referring to the future kingdom. Such a notion is complete garbage. The teaching is designed for sinners coming into the kingdom of God living in a fallen world, ie now! So however it should be applied, it is meant to be applied to our lives today.

I will offer my view here so you know where I am coming from. However, this is such an amazing section of Scripture, and I offer these views tentatively, to at least give us a framework within which to work. The framework may well need changing though.

First there are three things that I believe the sermon is NOT:

1. It is not a replacement for the Law. Jesus Himself says that He did not come to do away with the Law or Prophets, but to fulfil them (Matt 5:17).
2. It is not meant to be applied in a legalistic manner, but is more about a change in our hearts.
3. It is not a meant as a system for government. The rest of the Bible makes it quite clear that government is meant to resist evil. It is just not designed for this. Moreover, Jesus said that His kingdom is not of this world.

So how are we to view it? I believe we are to view it as how the kingdom of God operates in our lives today, and how forgiven sinners are to live in a fallen world.


A detailed look at the various approaches taken to interpreting the Sermon on the Mount can be found here.

Matthew 4:23-25 - Jesus' ministry

These verses summarise the ministry of Jesus, and therefore what the ministry of the church should be. This is teaching, proclaiming, healing. We need all three.

Jesus could teach in the synagogues on the Sabbath, and during the rest of the week He taught in public places and the open air.

As well as teaching He proclaimed the good news of the kingdom, ie the good news that the rule of God could come into people's lives. We need to have both teaching and proclamation. In the West we are so prone to thinking that it is only by intellectual argument that we can win people for the kingdom, but this is not true. We need to both teach, and declare the truth. For it is not just us who testify, it is the Holy Spirit as well, and He can take our proclamations and speak to peoples' spirits. 

Equally we must not go to the other extreme and think proclamation is enough. It isn't. It needs to go together with teaching.

This was all bundled together with healing, a demonstration of the reality of the kingdom rule. The people recognised some special happening, and so brought all sorts of sick people and demon possessed people. And Jesus healed them.

There can be much controversy over healing. Some of this is richly deserved, especially when people claim too much, claiming miracles are happening when they are not. Yet it is quite clear from the New Testament, both in the ministry of Jesus and of the early church, that healings and setting people free formed a key part of the mission. It is all part of the package. So we should humble ourselves before God, trust in Him and do what He commands us to do.

Matthew 4:18-22 - Follow me

Jesus now calls the first disciples, Simon and Andrew. Passages in the other gospels (John 1:35-42, Luke 4:38-41, 5:1-11) make it clear that this was not the first time Jesus had met Simon and Andrew. The picture some people give of this being their first meeting with Jesus and being so overwhelmed by Him that they just left their boats and followed Him is not consistent with the Bible. They had had some previous experience of Jesus.

Jesus called them to follow Him. This is the most fundamental call and decision on a person's life. The call is to follow Jesus. It is not to make an intellectual decision about whether or not we believe certain things (though that will undoubtedly play a role), but to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Having decided to follow Jesus He will change us, He will start to make us into what God always intended us to be. In Peter and Andrew's case it was to be "fishers on men".

Following Jesus involves a leaving. Sometimes this may be a physical leaving, but more usually is a change in the direction of our life, a change in what motivates and directs our life. 

Later Jesus called James and John, who were also fishermen. They left their boats and their family. Now later events showed that they all still had some connection with fishing, and they had connections with their family. So we must not read too much into this leaving. Otherwise we make these decisions into something so massive that we feel we cannot emulate them. Now their are times when we may have to leave a job, or choose between Christ and family members, but we must not try and give the impression that we need to do this in order to prove our allegiance to Christ. The decision we make is to follow Christ. This may then have all sorts of consequences, but these will differ from one person to the next, and the root decision is the one to follow Christ.

Matthew 4:12-17 - Jesus begins to preach

John the Baptist's preaching was considered too dangerous and he was put in prison. The true preaching of the gospel represents a sharp challenge to society, government and to individuals. Preaching should be dangerous. On hearing this Jesus withdrew to Galilee, this is a region somewhat north of Jerusalem, see map. 

Jesus went to live in Capernaum for a period. This area was by the Sea of Galilee, and Capernaum was a town of reasonable size.

Matthew sees another messianic fulfilment here. Isaiah 9:1,2 says that in the future God would honour Galilee, and that the people walking in darkness would see a great light. Galilee was looked down upon by many Jews, partly because it was a distance away from the main religious centre (Jerusalem), and partly because it was inhabited by a significant number of Gentiles as well as Jews. 

Jesus then began to preach, "repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand". See that this is the same message that John preached. The kingdom of heaven is the rule and reign of God. A different kingdom is at hand, and the people need to change their ways and turn to God. In this we see encapsulated the basic gospel message. There is a new way of living, a new life, a new kingdom, a new rule. The world need not be the way you think it is at the moment, your life need not be the way it is at the moment. A different rule can come in. But in order to enter that new kingdom we need to repent. We need to turn away from our ways and turn to God's ways.

Matthew 4:5-11 - Temptation of Jesus (2)

The next temptation is for Jesus to put God to the test, and Satan even quotes Scripture (Psalm 9:11,12). The temptation goes something like this "if you really have faith, then throw yourself off the temple so that God will save you". We can sometimes face a similar temptation, "if you really have faith, then do this ...", but this is not faith at all. We do not need to test the Lord. When He needs to intervene miraculously in our lives He will do so, but not before. 

It is also worth looking at Psalm 91 in its entirety. It talks of one who dwells in the shadow of the Almighty and trusts in Him. The one who does this will live securely without fear of danger. The devil has quoted Scripture way out of context. We should always test what people say, and look at Scripture properly. 

When Jesus did need to be rescued, His Father raised Him from the dead. Likewise with us. At the last day we too will be raised, and in the mean time we can rest secure in the knowledge that God will do whatever He needs to do in our lives.

Finally the devil shows Jesus the kingdoms of the earth and claims that he will give them to Him if He bows down to worship him. Note first that it is only the kingdoms of the earth that satan offers. We do not need to worry ourselves about whether he had the right to do this or not, for this world will pass away and there will be a new heaven and a new earth. Moreover, Jesus was going to receive "all authority in heaven and on earth". Whatever the devil may offer us it is absolutely worthless, and God will give us much more.

Jesus responds to this very simply by quoting Deuteronomy 6:13. "Worship the Lord and serve only Him". This is to be a foundation in our lives and will keep us safe from many wrong choices. We must never compromise for the sake of transitory and illusory gain.

Note  that Jesus commands satan to get away from Him. If we are submitted to Christ, then we too can tell the devil where to go.

Finally, the angels come to attend to Jesus. Remember that the devil had sought to get Jesus to force the angels to help Him by throwing Himself off the temple. God's angels will come at the right time. There are also times when we fight the battles without them, for there are some battles that only we can win. In this case it is the battle of where our true commitment lies.

Matthew 4:1-4 - Temptation of Jesus (1)

Immediately the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tested. So we see that one of the roles of the Holy Spirit is to lead us. Testing of people is something that God periodically does. He tested Abraham when He told him to go and sacrifice Isaac (Genesis 22). He tested the Israelites when He led them through the desert for forty years (Deut 8:1-5). Jesus passed the test on man's behalf. We are now to live in His victory and we too can overcome temptation.

Verse 2 must be something of an understatement! Many of us get hungry if we miss a single meal!

The first temptation was to turn the stones into bread. Now two of Jesus' most famous miracles are the feeding of the 5000 and of the 4000, where in a sense He did turn stones into bread. So what is the difference? Why refuse now, why do a similar miracle later? First, the devil was telling Jesus to prove that He was the Son of God. There was no need for such proof, His Father had spoken to Him. Then there is the devil trying to out his agenda onto the Messiah. Saying something like "OK, you are the Son of God, then use your sonship like this". We must never let the world or the devil (who is the prince of this world, John 12:31, 14:30, 16:11) put its agenda onto us. The world is constantly telling the church, "this is what you should be doing". 

We are to live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. This is a quote from Deuteronomy 8:3. This is how we are to live. We need to rely on the word of God much more than we do, we are to make it the foundation of our lives. It is the word of God that gives life to us.

When Jesus fed the 5000 He did things differently than the devil was trying to get Him to do here. He thanked God for the food they had, and then let God multiply it. An attitude of thanks and trust is a good one to have.

Matthew 3:13-17 - Baptism of Jesus

John has just finished telling people how great is the One who will come after him, then a most surprising things happens. Jesus arrives and asks to be baptised by John. Remember how John greeted the Pharisees and Sadducees (v7), indeed in Luke's account it is apparent that calling people a brood of vipers was John's default greeting! John knew that his baptism was a baptism of repentance. It was for sinners, for people who needed to change their heart and their ways. Then the Messiah comes along and He insists on being baptised! 

This posed a deep theological quandary for John and he responded initially be trying to deter Jesus from being baptised. We cannot put God in a box, His ways will always surprise and shock us at some point (remember how Peter reacted when Jesus told him He must die).

Why did Jesus need to be baptised? He was standing as the representative of all mankind, He was going to go to the cross as a sacrifice for everyone. So He needed to be baptised. John then agreed to do this.

After He was baptised the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus like a dove, and a voice from heaven declared that "this is my Son, whom I love, with Him I am well pleased". Matthew is showing that Jesus was anointed by the Father, and was approved by Him.
As an aside, this is one of many places in the Bible where we see Father, Son and Holy Spirit together, ie all three persons of the trinity. Some people object that the Trinity is not found in the Bible. This is nonsense. The word "trinity" is not found in the Bible, but the doctrine of the Trinity encapsulates what the Bible teaches about the relationship between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Matthew 1:23; 3:11 - Immanuel, God with us

I want to go back to Matthew 1:23 where it is declared that Jesus will be "called Immanuel, God with us", and John's words in 3:11 on Jesus baptising with the Holy Spirit, for these express such a fundamental truth that permeates the whole Bible.

God's plan has always been that He should have fellowship with us. Right at the start God had fellowship with Adam and Eve, but this was broken by our sin (Gen 3:8,9). Yet throughout the Old Testament there is a repeated refrain of "I will be their God, and they will be my people". Ex 29:46; Jer 24:7, 31:33, 32:38; Ezek 11:20, 14:11, 37:23.

Right at the end of the Bible it is declared in Revelation as the culmination of God's plans (Rev 21:3).

In John 14:23  Jesus says that ""If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.".

In the Psalms when God intervenes He does not do so from afar, but comes down to earth to take action. This is precisely what happened when Jesus came to earth.

While Jesus was on earth He told his disciples in John's gospel that He had to return to the Father. Why? So that He could send the Holy Spirit to be with us.

Paul tells us that we are temples of the Holy Spirit.

It is God's will and purpose to live with men. We do not worship God from afar, we are not following a concept or set of ideas, but we are in relationship with the living God. If you are wondering what God is doing in your life at the moment you can be absolutely certain that one of things He is seeking to do is to develop a closer relationship with you.

Matthew 3:7-12 - You brood of vipers

The Pharisees and Sadducees were the two main religious groups, and were later to be involved in many disputes with Jesus. The two groups were normally opposed to each other, a fact used by Paul when he returned to Jerusalem. The Sadducees were well-off and sought to introduce Greek ideas into Judaism, they did not believe in miracles nor the resurrection of the dead. They accepted only the first five books of the Old Testament.

The Pharisees were committed to strict observance of the Law and had developed many additions. These additions were designed to provide a "hedge" to stop people violating the law. They were also dedicated to interpreting the Scriptures. However, they considered themselves somewhat superior to the common people. Despite this, most people held them in great respect. Unlike the Sadducees, they did believe in angels, miracles and the resurrection.

John, patently, did not hold the Pharisees or Sadducees in high esteem! He made it abundantly clear that whatever their position in society, they too needed to repent. They were very proud of Abraham being their ancestor, but this held no sway with John. What mattered was the quality of their life.

John also knew that he was preparing the way for someone much greater than he. The Messiah would baptise with the Holy Spirit and fire. Jesus too would come with judgement. We need to be aware that the common picture of "gentle Jesus meek and mild" is grossly distorted.

Matthew 3:1-6 - John the Baptist

All the gospel writers tell of John the Baptist preparing the way. The wilderness of Judea is a region between Bethlehem and Jerusalem. The Qumran people (associated with the Dead Sea Scrolls) lived here as well.

John  preached a message of repentance in preparation for the kingdom of God. Repentance is a sea change in the direction of our life, acknowledging the sins of the past, and committing ourselves to God's way. Every step of entering more fully into the kingdom of God involves a step of repentance. Matthew is the only one who uses the phrase "kingdom of heaven" rather than "kingdom of God". He does this because Jews were extremely reluctant to use the name of God, out of respect for its holiness.

The kingdom represents the active reign of God. The rule of God is coming into the earth.

Matthew, along with Mark and Luke, quotes from Isaiah 40:3. God calls into the wilderness of our lives, telling us to make straight paths for Him by repenting. No matter where we are God can find us, but in order to receive Him we need to repent.

John wore similar garments to Elijah, and this provides a link to Malachi 4:5, which tells of God sending Elijah ahead of His coming. It was quite normal for desert people to eat insects, and locusts were a clean food under the Law.

Despite being in the wilderness, many people came out to him, confessing their sins and being baptised. In fact if you look at the Bible you will see that God often does significant things in the wilderness.

Matthew 2:19-24 - The return to Israel

Yet another angel helped Mary & Joseph, appearing in a dream to Joseph while he was still in Egypt. The angel tells him to take his family back to Israel "for those who were trying to take the child's life are dead". This is actually reminiscent of Exodus 4:19 where God tells Moses that those who wanted him dead have now died, except that in that case Moses was returning to Egypt.

On the way Joseph learnt that Archelaus was now reigning in Egypt. Archelaus was the son of Herod. Yet again Joseph was warned in a dream, and he withdrew to Galilee. Why did God not warn him in the first place? Possibly because if he had Joseph might have been too afraid to return at all. God does not tell us everything, and sometimes does not tell us of dangers until the last minute. This is not an oversight on God's part, He tells us everything at the right time.

So they went to Galilee, and Matthew sees yet another fulfilment of what the prophets said, "he will be called a Nazarene".

Matthew 2:13-18 - The flight to Egypt

We see an angel again having a role in proceedings. Elsewhere in the New Testament (eg Colossians, Hebrews, and Revelation) we see warnings against focusing too much on angels. At the same time, in Acts we see angels continuing to play a role. As it says in Hebrews 1:14, angels are ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation. God uses angels as part of His plans, so it should come as no surprise (though it probably will be a surprise when it happens) if He occasionally sends an angel to help us. However, we must never start glorying in what we have seen, or our experience of angels, this is a mark of false teachers. In Revelation the angel commanded John not to worship him. Our focus should always be on Christ. As an aside, note that Hebrews refers to them as "spirits". As I said repeatedly when commenting on 1 Corinthians 15, spirit does not equal ghost. Angels often appeared as men, and were most definitely real. The spiritual is totally real, and interacts with the physical.

The angel instructed Jospeh to flee to Egypt until it was safe to return. There are echoes here of the other Joseph taking the Israelites to Egypt during the time of famine in Genesis. Matthew quotes from Hoses 11:1. 

Herod reacts with the infamous "slaughter of the innocent", the killing of all the boy children under two years old. The total numbers would not have been great, so we must not over exaggerate the incident, though of course it is still terrible. It demonstrates how some men will react to the news of Jesus. Matthew quotes from Jeremiah 3:15

Matthew 2:1-12 - Wise Men

Matthew, unlike Luke, gives no further details until after the birth, but he does give more information about some events that occurred around that time. The first is the visit of the Magi, or the three kings, or wise men, as they have come to be known. 

Bethlehem was about 5 miles south of Jerusalem. Matthew refers to it as "Bethlehem in Judea" to distinguish it from another Bethlehem near Nazareth, and to emphasise that Jesus came from Judea, so was in the Davidic line.

Matthew refers to the Magi to show the global importance of the birth of Jesus. Jesus was not just King of the Jews, but is the Lord of All. The Magi had followed a star, and naturally came to Jerusalem.

Herod was disturbed by this news of another king, for it would threaten his power. He asked the religious leaders to tell him where the Messiah was to be born, and they said Bethlehem in Judea, basing this on Micah 5:2,4.

Herod then made plans to find the new king, pretending he wanted to worship him. However, God warned the Magi in a dream not to let Herod know. It is amazing that men think they can foil the plans of God. Either the prophecy in Micah was false, in which case Herod had nothing to worry about, or it was the word of God, and there is no point in trying to oppose the word of God. Today there are many who fight against God, they too are engaged in a futile venture.

The Magi brought three gifts, gold, frankincense and myrrh. This is why traditionally we say there were three wise men, though the number is not actually given in the Bible.

Matthew 1:18-25 - Virgin Birth

Matthew and Luke are the only two gospel writers who focus on the birth of Jesus, with Luke giving the fullest account. 

Mary was "found to be with child through the Holy Spirit". Many people object to the virgin birth, but we should not consider it unreasonable for the situation. We are talking about the incarnation, about God coming to earth in human form. And not just appearing as a man, but coming as a man from the point of conception. If we believe that God became man, then there is nothing surprising about the birth being a "virgin birth". 

[Now this next bit here is a bit speculative, so be warned. While there was no sperm from Joseph involved, most people seem to assume that there was an egg cell from Mary, but I am not convinced that even this is necessary. Could God not have just implanted an embryo, and Mary carried the child? I emphasise that this pure musing on my part. Feel completely free to disagree, not even sure if I believe it myself. If this is any way diminishes the humanity of Christ, then it is definitely wrong. ]

Anyway, lets end speculations now and focus on what we know for sure. Joseph and Mary had not had sexual relations, and Mary was pregnant as a result of the Holy Spirit. 

Joseph was a righteous man, and assumed that she had had relations with another man. The notion that first century people were gullible and believed anything and everything is nonsense, they were perfectly aware of how the world normally functioned. He did not want to cause any unnecessary upset, so was prepared to divorce her quietly. Betrothal, or engagement, in those times was as serious a commitment as marriage.

God sent an angel to Joseph that Mary had conceived by the Holy Spirit, and that the son was to be called Jesus, which means "The Lord Saves". Joseph did what the angel commanded. This must have taken great faith, both in God, and having trust in Mary's fidelity.

Matthew quotes from Isaiah 7:14, seeing this as a fulfilment of this prophecy. Some sceptics make great play of the fact that some versions of the Isaiah verse refer to a "young woman", but within its context it clearly refers to a virgin.
The virgin birth is important, because it demonstrates the humanity and deity of Jesus. He was fully human, being born of a woman. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, being fully God. It also demonstrates that the sin line with Adam was broken. This raises the question about why did Jesus not inherit sin from Mary? This is why the Catholic church has the (erroneous) doctrine of the immaculate conception. It is also the reason for my earlier musings.
Whatever the details, we can be sure that God knew exactly what He was doing.

Matthew 1:1-17 - Family Trees

Matthew begins his gospel with a genealogy. Why does he do this? The reason is to show that Jesus was descended, in human terms, from key people in the Old Testament, especially Abraham and David. Note that the genealogy is different from the one in Luke, and is not complete (nor is the one in Luke). Matthew's purpose was not to present a complete family tree, but to show that Jesus is the fulfilment of the Old Testament promises. As he states in the opening line, Jesus is the Messiah, and is descended from Abraham and David. Both of these are key characters in the Old Testament. It was to Abraham that God gave the promise that through him all peoples would be blessed, and the Messiah was seen as being a Davidic king.

Five women are mentioned in the genealogy (Bathsheeba only indirectly in v7). Three of these, Tamar, Ruth and Rahab were Gentiles. 

The list is divided into three parts, each of fourteen. Fourteen may have been chosen as it is twice seven, the number of completeness. The fact that the lists are not complete (in the sense of including everyone in the family tree) should be a warning to us in the way we interpret the Bible. We sometimes read it as if the writers were writing a book or article such as one that might appear in an academic journal today. They were not doing this (thank goodness). This has two consequences. One, many of the criticisms of sceptics are unfounded. Secondly, people who believe the Bible sometimes draw unwarranted conclusions from the Bible. Many years ago I completed my PhD and had to write a thesis. The thesis did not describe everything that I had done over the preceding three years, nor did it record everything in the same chronological order as they actually happened. Rather it was arranged to give a logical and clear fashion to present the findings. Nevertheless it was all true. In a sense, the gospel writers are doing the same.

Matthew - Introduction

Matthew's is the first gospel in the New Testament, though probably not the first one written. Mark is generally assumed to be the first, and Matthew seems to use Mark, or at least use the same source material as Mark, for a  lot of his gospel.

The book does not state that Matthew was the author, but early tradition has identified him as such, and he is  Matthew the tax collector who was a disciple of Jesus (called Levi in Mark and Luke). The date of the gospel is taken to be some time prior to the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70.

There are a number of distinctive features of Matthew, and it is the most Jewish of the gospels. This is why it is aptly placed as the bridge between the Old and New Testaments. Matthew uses more quotations from the Old Testament, and makes more allusions to the Old Testament, than the other gospels. Matthew is at pains to show that Jesus is the promised Messiah.

Matthew usually refers to the Kingdom of Heaven, rather than the Kingdom of God. In this he is following the Jewish habit of considering God's name to be too holy even to mention.

There is an emphasis on ethics, with the Sermon on the Mount being the most famous example of this. There is also an emphasis on eschatology, or the last days, both in the parables and the Olivet discourse.

Then, as with all the gospels, the gospel finishes with the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Keys to understanding Matthew include (i) looking out for references and allusions to the Old Testament; and (ii) teaching on the kingdom of God.

Exodus 39:32-40:38 - Just as the Lord commanded

Moses inspected the work and found that everything had been done just as the Lord had commanded. This is how things should be. It is also one of the few times this happened in Israel's history.

The ark of the covenant was to be placed in the tent of meeting, and this would be shielded by a curtain. Unlike the new covenant, there was a separation between the presence of God and the people. The tabernacle was only pointing to the greater reality that would come with Christ. When Jesus died on the cross the veil was torn in two. All who believe can now approach the throne boldly, as it says in Hebrews.

Everything was set up just as the Lord commanded. Then the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. When we come to Christ we are filled with the Holy Spirit, God makes His home with us.

The people travelled only if the presence of the Lord lifted. Likewise, we are to follow the the guidance of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Exodus 36- 39 - Building of the tabernacle

The generosity of the people reached such a level that Moses had to give a command for them to stop. Imagine this in our churches today, a leader telling the church to stop giving! But this is what it should be like. Giving should be a joy, a privilege, part of life. We were created in the image of God, so we were created to give. It is when we give, not when we get, that we find our true purpose in Christ.
Much of the next few sections are very much a repeat of what has been said earlier in Exodus, so I will not say much (good tip for life: when you have nothing to say, don't say it!), except to give the parallel passages, and the odd comment.
One comment that is worth making is this. In the previous passages the instructions were given. In these passages the instructions were executed. Again, this is the way things should be. God gives an instruction, we carry out the instruction.
The parallel passage information is taken from TNIV study Bible:
The Tabernacle 36:8-38 pp Ex 26:1-37
The Ark 37:1-9 pp Ex 25:10-20
The Table 37:10-16 pp Ex 25:23-29
Lampstand 37:17-24 pp Ex 25:31-39
Altar in Incense 37:25-28 pp Ex 30:1-5
Altar of Burnt Offering 38:1-7 pp Ex 27:1-9
Courtyard 38:9-20 pp Ex 27:9-19
Ephod 39:2-7 pp Ex 28:6-14
Breatpiece 39:8-21 pp Ex 28:15-28
Other priestly garments 39:22-31 pp Ex 28:31-43

Exodus 35 - Gifts for the Tabernacle

Note that the Sabbath regulation includes both a command to work and to rest. Some people are so prone to major on one or the other, ie to spend too much or too little time working. It seems that the death penalty of breaking the Sabbath was not implemented very often, but the Sabbath was taken very seriously, and in Jesus' time was the major cause of contention between the religious leaders and Jesus. Why is the Sabbath treated so seriously by God? Maybe it is because it is a key test of whether or not we are really trusting Him. Do we trust Him enough that we know we can afford to rest from our own labours from time to time, or do we really believe that everything is dependent upon us?

Moses then calls on the community to bring all sorts of offerings to the Lord, from gifts of precious stones, to offering their skills. As it said in the previous chapter, no one was to appear before the Lord empty handed. Many freely brought offerings to the Lord.

Finally two people are singled out by Moses as having special skills. Note that these skills are artistic and are given by the Spirit. Spiritual gifts are not restricted to clearly "spiritual" things like healing or prophecy, but can include "natural" gifts as well.

Exodus 34:18-35 - Resting

Now we come to the more positive commands. They were to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread, remembering the exodus. In the same way Jesus commanded us to celebrate the Lord's Supper, remembering what He achieved for us on the cross. For it is the cross that has set us free.

They had been spared the slaughter of the firstborn, so they were to dedicate the firstborn of everything to the Lord. "No one is to appear before me empty-handed". We should all bring offerings to the Lord. We should all be under sentence of death for our sins, but have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus. So every part of our lives belongs to Him.

They were to rest, even during the ploughing season. So even when the pressure was greatest they should have times of rest. We most definitely need to apply this principle to ourselves. Yet we can find it so hard. The reason is that we think success is dependent entirely upon our own efforts. This is not true. We can afford to rest. Moreover, we must rest. We must say no to the pressure, and yes to the gift of rest from God.

In the offerings and the resting our natural reaction is that we are losing something, giving something up. But in all these things we are actually gaining.

When Moses came down the mountain his face was radiant because he had been in the presence of the Lord.

Exodus 34:1-17 - A merciful God

Moses has to chisel out two new tablets of stone, God reminding him that it was Moses who had broken them. However, God would write the commandments on them. The fact that it is God who wrote the commandments stresses their lasting value. We live in a world of extreme relativism, and that is one of the reasons why society is collapsing in many ways. Any society would do well to get back to the ten commandments as its foundation. Only Moses was allowed on the mountain. The Lord appeared to him and declared who He was. He also declared His mercy. We read that God shows mercy to thousands and forgives sins, but also will punish sin and the punishments has effect for three or four generations. We tend to think that this second aspect is at odds with the first, but it is not. We sometimes mistakenly treat the gospel as if it was saying sin does not matter. Sin does matter. In fact in Romans Paul says that part of the purpose of the cross was to demonstrate God's justice.

Moses then bows down to God and pleads with Him to go with His people. See that Moses is dedicated to the people, he does not see his position as a means of self-glorification or self-fulfilment. 

God says He is making a covenant with the people. They must obey His commands, then He will do wonders among them and drive out their enemies. They must not make treaties with the peoples, nor bow down to their idols.

They must not intermarry with the other nations, for this will lead them astray. Today this means that a Christian should not marry a non-Christian. (The case where they are already married, and then one gets saved is different). Now sometimes this will lead to the non-Christian getting saved, but it is much more likely to lead to the Christian drifting away from God.

Exodus 33:12-23 - The Presence of the Lord

In verse 11 we read that God spoke with Moses as a friend. Now we see the reality of that friendship. Moses asks God how the promises to him will work out. God had given him a task, and had promised him favour, but He hadn't told Moses how this would all transpire. In particular He has said He would send an angel with them, but this was not good enough for Moses.

Moses asks God to teach him His ways. This is a constant refrain in the Psalms as well, and it should be a repeated prayer of ours too. 

"My Presence will go with you and I will give you rest". The presence of the Lord is what we need. No matter what we face in life, if we have the presence of the Lord with us then we can handle anything.

God had promised that His presence would be with Moses, but Moses insists that is must be with all the people. The presence of God was the only thing that could distinguish the Israelites from all other peoples. In our lives it is the presence of the Lord that makes the difference. No religious or spiritual technique, no type of music, no other cultural difference is enough. The presence of the Lord is to by our hallmark.

Jesus said that He would answer all our prayers asked in His Name, and here we see an example of this. God promises that He will go with the people.

The implication of this chapter is that if Moses had not asked of God, then God would not have gone with the people. There are things that God will only do in response to prayer. We need to be a people who ask.

Moses then asks to see God's glory. God cannot fully grant this. It is only at the end of time that we will see God face to face.

Exodus 33:7-11 - Spending time with God

Moses had a tent of meeting, a place set outside the camp. Wherever the camp went Moses took his tent and set it up somewhere outside the camp. Jesus often sought secluded places, and often early in the morning, in order to spend time with His Father. We too need to have a "tent of meeting". Obviously not a physical tent (though you can if you want!), but times and places when we cut ourselves off from everyday life and spend time with God. It is true that He is with us all the time, but we need time when the only communication is between us and God, instead of it being clouded by all the stuff that life throws at us.

Moses was special, no one else could enter this tent. Now, anyone who believes in the Lord can have the same relationship with God. Indeed anyone who believes in the Lord should make sure that they do have the same relationship. In the Old Testament the Holy Spirit had not been poured out on all people, but the promise was (Joel 2:28-32) that a day would come when He would pour out His Spirit on all people. That day has now come.

The Lord made it obvious that He was present. We should expect to be aware of His presence. Now we need to be realistic as well, there will be sometimes when we are more aware of His presence than others, and some times when He seems a million miles away, but we should still expect to meet with God.

God spoke to Moses as a friend. Jesus said told His disciples that He called them friends (John 15:15). This spending time with God is a tremendous privilege, yet we find it so hard to do. We let all sorts of things crowd in. We believe that there are many things in life that we have to attend to, and if we don't things will go wrong, and we will be irresponsible. Have you got your life under total control? Can you deal with absolutely everything? No you haven't and no you can't. We need time when we just receive from the Lord Almighty, the Only One who does have everything under control and can deal with anything.

Joshua stayed by the tent. This was probably to guard the tent, though he may have got some "residue" benefit from the presence of the Lord, but we must be careful about reading too much into this. However, we do need to guard our times with the Lord, otherwise things will crowd in to take these times away.

Exodus 33:1-6 - The importance of the promise and the presence

"Leave this place." Revelation had been given, sin had been dealt with. The next step is to move on. When God took them out of Egypt it was with a promise. This was the same promise He had given to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Many things had happened,  some of them seeming to mitigate directly against the promise ever being fulfilled, but God's plan and purpose never changes. His purpose for our lives has not changed. It may seem that we have been on some tortuous routes, but the purpose has not changed. 

If you look at your life right now some of you may feel confused, having no idea what God is doing. Be assured that His purpose has not changed. His purpose is that we become more and more like Christ. We may be tempted to settle down along the way, or to give up. We must do neither, but always press on towards the goal to which Christ has called us (Philippians 3:12-14).

Then we get some very surprising words. God tells them that He will send an angel ahead of them, but God Himself will not go. The reason is that they are a stiff-necked people. This raises two questions. First, some people would be delighted if God said He was going to send an angel with them. Now God may and does use angels, but we have a much greater promise, the presence of Christ Himself with us. In fact a common feature among many false teachers and false teaching is an over emphasis on angels. If someone starts boasting about their experiences of angels be on your guard. Secondly, we cannot hope to travel with Christ if we are stubborn or hard-hearted. Sometimes we work ourselves into a state over whether or not we have made the right decision in a particular situation. Actually it is much more important to ensure that we do not have a hard or proud heart. If we are open to God, then even if we have made a mistake He can guide us back to the right path. If we are hard -hearted we are in big trouble.

The Lord was then going to deal with the people.

Exodus 32:15-35 - Judgement

These first tablets were inscribed by God Himself, and contained the Ten Commandments. God had spoken to Moses only about what was happening in the camp, Joshua did not know what was going on.

Although God had told Moses what the people were like, Moses had not appreciated just how true it was. Most of us find it difficult to come to terms with the reality of hell, but when the Last Day comes we will not be shocked at how severe God is, but at how lenient He has been. We do not appreciate the awfulness of sin.

Moses had a bad temper, and it was to get him into trouble, as it had done when he killed the Egyptian. Here he smashes up the tablets of stone and makes the people drink water containing them.

Aaron tries to placate Moses, and tells a few lies in the process. He claims the calf came out of the fire all by itself. As humans we are expert at manufacturing reasons for our own sins. 

Next a terrible thing happens. Moses calls those who love the Lord to his side and the Levites come. Then he instructs them to go about the camp killing people who were worshipping the idol. I am no more comfortable with this than you are, but then it is not meant to be a comfortable tale. Jesus said we must love Him more than our family, and this is a vivid illustration of that. The Lord must be first. (May I hasten to add that that does not mean you go and kill anyone!)

Moses then goes up to the Lord again, offering himself as a sacrifice. The Lord replied that it was for Him to judge. The Lord does this both in exercising judgement, and He did it in providing Himself as the atonement for sin.

Finally we see that the Lord inflicts a plague on the people. We need to keep our lives free from idols. Idol worship of any sort always has terrible consequences, both for ourselves and for others.

Exodus 32:9-14 - I will destroy this people

God now gives His view of the people, and it isn't favourable! God threatens to destroy the people because of their stubbornness. Instead He will make a nation out of Moses.

Moses objects to this and appeals to God. First he reminds God that He had brought the people out of Egypt by His power. If God destroys the Israelites, then the Egyptians would think that He had just brought them out of Egypt in order to destroy them.

Then Moses reminds God of His promises to Abraham, Isaac and Israel. God had promised them that He would make a nation out of them, and had promised to give the land to their descendants. How would God look if He did not fulfil this promise.

Then the Lord relented and did not fulfil His threat.

An immediate question that all this raises is did God really mean it when He made this threat? Or was He doing it to test Moses? Maybe we can view this incident as a parable of the whole salvation story. On the one hand God was perfectly justified in wanting to get rid of the people, just as all mankind are guilty before Him, and judgement is what we deserve. On the other hand, Moses stood in the gap and pleaded for the people, just as Jesus is our high priest and advocate. This analogy must not be pressed too far, for we can easily fall into the trap of the wrathful God on the one hand, and the merciful Jesus on the other. We must remember that it is the Father who sent the Son. The Father and the Son were in perfect agreement about the plan to save mankind.

Exodus 32:1-8 - The Golden Calf

This is one of the most famous incidents, and the most tragic. Moses had gone to meet with God, to receive the Law. In the meantime the people got fed up waiting and so made an idol. God often seems to take a long time to answer, His concept of time is totally different from ours. Things can happen much more quickly than we ever imagine, at others they happen much more slowly than we would like. If our "faith" is based on God doing things then we are at intense danger during the waiting times, for we will decide "God isn't doing anything therefore I must do something". Too often our approach is "God does things therefore I will believe in Him", rather it should be "I believe in God, therefore He does things". God will act, He will always act, but it will usually not be in the way we imagine, and especially not in our timing. We need to have faith in the person of Jesus Christ, in who He is and what He is like. Then we will be secure.

Aaron does not respond well. He goes along with the people. One thing that immediately strikes us is the stupidity of it all. How on earth did they imagine that this golden calf brought them out of Egypt, this calf which they themselves had fashioned? Yet it is always easier to see the stupidity of others than the stupidity of ourselves. We very easily attribute the cause of something to the wrong thing. 

The worse thing is that the people imagined they were still worshipping the Lord, they did not seem to realise what they were doing. Just because we go through some religious rituals (and Charismatics are as good at having rituals as high Anglicans or any other denomination or grouping) does not mean we are actually worshipping God.