Day 207. Matthew 1-3
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Today we are going to start a new journey through the New Testament.

Matthew is obviously the first Gospel in the New Testament.
It is often called the Gospel of the King. it is written to a primarily Jewish audience who were looking for their promised King, the Messiah.

Before meeting Jesus, Matthew was named Levi.
He was a tax collector for the Roman government which made him among the most hated of people by the Jews.

He had been a dishonest tax collector driven by greed.
But…
When Matthew met Jesus, he became a new man.

His name changed from Levi to Matthew which means “gift of God”.
He walked away from a very profitable job and many friends to follow Jesus.

God can use anyone to help Him in His work.
We should not feel unqualified because of our appearance, lack of education, or our past.
Jesus looks for sincere commitment. We should also remember that the highest calling in life is serving God, no matter what the world says. Money, fame, and power cannot compare with being a follower of Jesus Christ.

Here we can see two other honoured people too… Mary and Joseph.

Joseph was an inhabitant of Nazareth. A humble carpenter by trade, he was, like Mary, a descendent of King David.

He was a man of love.
A Man of Faith,
a man of obedience.
a man of patience.

In verse 19 says that Joseph was a “just“ man. A righteous man.

Why God should choose such an ordinary man to be the father of His incarnate Son is a mystery that we will never fully understand.

It highlights once again, however, ..
even a common carpenter, in God’s hands, becomes a man of great spiritual importance.

He uses completely ordinary people to accomplish his purposes.

If God has a history of using ordinary people to unleash the kingdom of God, then ask ourselves!!!!!!!!………..

… Why not me and you?

God Can do the most remarkable things through us…. .

• Give our heart and our life over to Jesus Christ,
• be filled with the Holy Spirit, and
• minister this world effectively for Him in His Power. Jooley Mathew Z
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🕯️🧬🪔💎🧬The Gospel according to Mathew is very interesting. It begins with the genealogy of Jesus Christ. In Hebrew Jeshua means “the Lord is Salvation” and Christos means “the anointed one” or Messiah.

Jesus is the Son of David a messianic title; Son of Abraham takes His royal lineage to all the way back to the father of our Faith …Abraham.

In the gospel according to Luke we see the genealogy being traced backwards from Jesus to Adam, the son of God. (Luke 3:23_38.)
It is unusual to mention women to be named in genealogies but here we meet 5 women. Tamar was a Canaanite woman who seduced Judah in Genesis38: 13_30.

Rahab a Gentile prostitute in Joshua 2:1. Ruth a Moabitess and a worshipper of idols. Bathsheba the wife of Uriah who had an illicit relationship with David in…2 Samuel 11.And Mary a Virgin who bore the stigma of having a Baby outside of wedlock. Each of these women are object lessons about the workings of Divine Grace.
14 Generations are mentioned …from Abraham to David. though several are skipped. Matthew skips over Ahaziah, Joash and Amaziah and goes directly from Joram to Uzzaiah may be to aid memorization. Then from David to Babylonian captivity another 14 generations. Yet another 14 generation from the return of the captives to the birth of Jesus another 14 generations. This may be to facilitate recalling. Jeconiah is mentioned twice…in the third and fourth groups, representing the last generation before captivity and the first generation after the captivity by Babylon.

Jeconiah’s presence presents a dilemma. A curse on him forbade any of his descendants to the throne of David. (Jeremiah 22:30). In some versions the name is Jehoiachin in Greek it is Jeconiah.This curse was broken when Jesus was born in David’s line… even though He was not the direct son of Joseph. Joseph acted in faith to God’s call to be the father to His Son. The curse was broken.

It is interesting to note how God works through the lives of sinners and royalty to realize His plan for Salvation. This establishes our Faith and we await the Second Coming with expectation.

Molly Mathew
Palmcourt Trivandrum