The GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW "Ancestors, Concerning Jesus Christ, Royal Line." This Bible
Study is written by Roger Christopherson, and it's
transcription/ location is provided by http://www.theseason.org/plough.htm Matthew in the Hebrew tongue means "the gift of Yah [God]". The word "Gospel" is from the Greek, and in the English means "the good news". In Mark 2:14 Matthew is called Levi, and many feel this is in reference to his tribe. Matthew is the first of the four Gospels, and starts out in the generations of Jesus Christ. Matthew covers His genealogy, and the mission that He would accomplish as foretold by the prophets of the Old Testament. This is why Jesus said over and over; "Have you not heard, it is written...", and then He quotes one of the prophets. Matthew 1:1 "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham." This would be the book of the pedigree of Jesus Christ. We will see that the New Testament is a replay of the Old Testament. In II Samuel 7:12; the prophet Samuel gives record that the Messiah shall come from the seed of David. "And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom." Samuel the prophet is telling David that when he is dead and gone to be with his fathers, God will "set up", as to place one on a throne, a seed or children of his. II Samuel 7:13; "He shall build an house for My name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever." In this prophecy that was written to David, that in his pedigree one would come that would establish His kingdom, and that kingdom would be forever; and that person to come is Jesus Christ. And so it is. Matthew 1:2 "Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren;" Jacob's name was changed by God to Israel, and though the seed line of the scepter was coming through Judah [Judas], he also had eleven other brothers, and the offspring of Judah and all his brothers are called the whole house of Israel. They are the Israelites that grew from one family of twelve brothers, to twelve tribes [later thirteen], and in captivity in Egypt grew into a nation that Moses would later lead to the promised land. Genesis 48 records how the Abrahamic covenant, or blessings were passed to Joseph, but the scepter and law giver rights went to Judah. It is from Judah, the son mentioned in Matthew 1:2 that Jesus Christ would come, and this establishes His right of Ruler ship. The word "begat", in the Greek means to engender. It shows the "father to son relationship"; to sire. This then, is the following of the family tree directly from Abraham to Jesus, as years would go by. We will see a difference in the spelling of names between the Old Testament, and the New Testament, and this is because the New Testament is from the Greek form, while the Old testament, the Hebrew language. Matthew 1:3 "And Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram;" Matthew 1:4 "And Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon;" Matthew 1:5 "And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse;" Matthew 1:6 "And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias;" Matthew 1:7 "And Solomon begat Roboam; and Roboam begat Abia; and Abia begat Asa;" Matthew 1:8 "And Asa begat Josaphat; and Josaphat begat Joram; and Joram begat Ozias;" Matthew 1:9 "And Ozias begat Joatham; and Joatham begat Achaz; and Achaz begat Ezekias;" Matthew 1:10 "And Ezekias begat Manasses; and Manasses begat Amon; and Amon begat Josias;" Matthew 1:11 "And Josias begat Jechonias and his brethern, about the time they were carried away to Babylon:" Matthew 1:12 "And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel; and Salathiel begat Zorobabel;" Matthew 1:13 "And Zorobabel begat Abiud; and Abiud begat Eliakim; and Eliakim begat Azor;" Matthew 1:14 "And Azor begat Sadoc; and Sadoc begat Achim; and Achim begat Eliud;" Matthew 1:15 "And Eliud begat Eleazar; and Eleazar begat Matthan; and Matthan begat Jacob;" Matthew 1:16 "And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, Who is called Christ. Well we have gone through this long genealogy, and now we have found that this is the genealogy of Joseph, the husband with Mary. Joseph was not the father of Christ, but the husband of Mary. Mary had already conceived by the Holy Spirit of God when Joseph married her. We know that Almighty God was the father of Jesus Christ. So we see that Joseph's genealogy has nothing to do with the pedigree of Jesus Christ, with the exception of one thing. This blood line is the adopted lineage of Jesus Christ, through His adopted father Joseph. If you have an adopted son, you could be German, and your adopted son could be Jewish. There is no connection whatsoever, as far as bloodline is concerned. Therefore the bloodline in this first chapter has nothing to do with the bloodline of Jesus Christ. However, when we see through this adoption, we get a better view of what Christianity is all about. Those that believe upon Christ, are automatically the stones raised [children] unto God. The actual date of Jesus birth is represented to be December 25, However this is assumed, and placed there for the convenience for the old Roman Empire. Lets go to Luke 1:5 and see what the scriptures have to say about this. Luke 1:5 "There was in the days of Herod, the King of Judeas [a wicked king], a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth." Zacharias was John the Baptist's father. Elisabeth had to be a full blood daughter of Aaron to be a priest's wife, this is to say, a full blood Levite. What is important in this verse is the identification of the birth of John the Baptist through the feast date that John's father [Zacharias was serving. The "feast of Abia" was the eighth of the ministration in the Temple [I Chronicles 24:10], and occurred twice a year. The conception of John the Baptist was the night following the feast date, or to place that to our calendar, June 24, 5 B.C. Now lets skip on to verse thirty six, in documenting Jesus genealogy. Luke 1:36; "And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. If Elisabeth is a full blood Levite, and Mary is her cousin, then Mary is also of the blood line of Aaron. We see also that there was a marriage, because the actual genealogy is given in Luke 3:24-38. In Luke 3:23; "And Jesus Himself begin to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the Son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli," The phrase, "as was supposed", should read, "as reckoned by law", or in another way to put it, "to lay it down by law". If you are married, then your spouses mother is your mother in law. Do you get the point. This genealogy given in the next fifteen verses is Mary's genealogy. There is one point that should be pointed out, because there is an error made by an Kenite scribe, and that error is because Cainan simply does not exist here in the Massorah text, Cainan was Ham's son that was cursed by Noah. In Genesis 11:13 we read, "And Arphaxad lived after he begat Salah four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters." This was the custom that if there were no sons born to a family, then the lineage would be passed on to the daughters husband, in that marriage, as by law. Therefore Joseph took on the genealogy of Mary. Then through Joseph the seed, or genealogy would continue; the seed of the family. There is another thing to pay attention to here; Do you see any "begats" in this lineage? Of course not, because this is Joseph's lineage by his legal wife, it is his wife Mary's lineage. This lineage is by law, and not by siring, through the marriage. This bloodline is through the tribe of Judah. Mary's father was of the tribe of Judah, and he married a Levite, therefore Mary was a mixture between the tribe of Levi, and Judah. So we see that Jesus was of both houses, that is to say the King line, and also of the Levitical priest line of Aaron. This is the priest line after the order of Melchizedeck, the king of the elect [just], as also given in Genesis14:18-20. When our Lord comes as the King of kings and Lord of Lord, he carries the full title by lineage of the authority that God gave to Abraham, and passed on to Jesus Christ. So we can see by all this that the conception of Jesus Christ on December 25, is not His birth. There is no problem with this, for this also establishes that God began to dwell with man at the time of conception. The spirit of the baby [soul] in Elisabeth [John the Baptist] was six months maturing; and when Mary entered the room following the conception of Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit, John leaped at the presence of the Christ in the womb of Mary. Matthew 1:17 "So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations." This genealogy is divided up into three parts. These divisions are the periods marking the times before, during and after king David's families. Matthew 1:18 "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: when as His mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit." "Was on this wise", states that this is exactly as it happened. When Jesus' [Jesus'] mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, and before they were married, Mary, the virgin was conceived by the Holy Spirit. Matthew 1:19 "Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily." Joseph, the man engaged to Mary, was a just man, and had no desire to ruin Mary's reputation. He did not want Mary to be held up to public ridicule, decided to put her away privately, so she would not be embarrassed in public. Joseph did not want Mary's child to be a illegitimate child. Matthew 1:20 "But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that Which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit." As Joseph was considering what to do about all this, at night an Angel of the Lord God came to Joseph, and revealed to him exactly what had happened between Mary and the Holy Spirit. Keep in mind that the entire society were students of God's Word, they knew the Old Testament of the prophets. He understood exactly what this meant in the term; "for that Which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit." This was the Messiah that they were all looking for, that was prophecied from the very beginning in the Garden of Eden. Genesis 3:15; "And I [God] will put enmity between thee [Satan] and the woman, and between thy [Satan's] seed [the Kenites] and her Seed [Eve's Seed who is Jesus Christ]. It [Jesus] shall bruise thy head [put Satan to parish], and thou shalt bruise His heel." The bruising of Christ's heal was done at the cross of Calvary by Satan's offspring the Kenites. All the books of Moses were well known to all, and especially to Joseph. Joseph know what it meant to be "conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost." Matthew 1:21 "And she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His name JESUS: for He shall save His People from their sins." In the Hebrew language "Hoshea", and Greek language, "Jesus" means "Yah [God] Savior", or "God Who is our salvation" to man. Matthew 1:22 "Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the Prophet, saying," This is prophecy that was written by Isaiah saying; Matthew 1:23 "Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a Son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us." In other words, God with us in the flesh. Let's go to Isaiah 7:14; "Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." Isaiah was a well known prophet, and all his writings, and this Angel of God repeated exactly what the prophecy of God was from Isaiah. Joseph knew exactly what that Angel was telling him, for it was well written, and prophesied. That sign was given through Joseph to Mary. This is only one case where the virgin birth was written of in the Old Testament, by the prophets of old. As we continue studying the words and works of Jesus Christ, it has to be completely obvious that a supernatural person had to have walked on this earth, to accomplish the things that Jesus did. Jesus conquered death so that we could have life, eternal life. This eternal life starts at the instant you repent, for should death come to the flesh today, the soul continues eternally with the Father in Heaven. The New Testament is the fulfillment of the Old Testament, and though we call it "New", it is the continuation of the promises of the Old Covenant. What is interesting is that most of the New Testament is history to us today, whereas most of the Old Testament is still prophecy that is future to us living in this final generation. The Old Covenant [Testament] is alive today, and don't let others rob you of the wealth of information that we need to stand against the Antichrist in these serious times ahead. Matthew 1:24 "Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:" Joseph did exactly as the angel of God had told him to do. He went right out and married Mary. Joseph had no problem with doing this, because he understood what was about to happen with Mary. She was going to give birth to the promised Messiah. He now understood that Mary's pregnancy was of God, and Mary would be the mother of our Savior. Matthew 1:25 "And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn Son: and he called His name JESUS." There is so much truth jammed into this one chapter, that volumes of books could be written, with all the prophecies surrounding it. This chapter relates Joseph's relationship to Mary, and to our Heavenly Father.
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