Matthew 7:24. “Therefore whosoever heareth these saying of mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a man which built his house upon a rock: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded on a rock.”
(What I think might have happened when the Gospel of Matthew was first written) A Jewish Christian had heard the preaching of Paul and Barnabas and had repented of his sins to God, and put his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Savior. He had relief and joy that is common to most people when the Lord saves them. But every day as he opened his store for business, he was being challenged by Jews who were committed to Judaism to show some written proof on which his faith was based. They would quote the Talmud and the writings of the Old Testament, as their authority for what they professed to do as religious Jews. He could do that too because he had been brought up in the same way they had. Then they would say, “How can you believe in someone just because an articulate stranger told you about him? All you have is their word, and for all you know, they are false teachers.”
He would likely have been challenged day after day as to the authority of the apostles and their teaching. It was not a question to him because he knew “in whom he believed,” and was experiencing the blessings of faith in his own life. But to be challenged all the time about what you believe and have no written authority behind it, is hard: and sometimes it can lead to doubts.
Then a copy of the Gospel of Matthew came to the local assembly of believers in Christ, of which he was a part, and was read and studied. Perhaps one morning as he opened up his store for business, the same ones came again to challenge his faith in Christ. They kept coming back to his store because since he became a Christian, his prices were more reasonable. His weights on the scale were fair. He didn’t try to cheat people like he once did. He had become an honest businessman since he became a Christian. He was doing well in business but it was because he was honest and people knew it. He was just a good man to do business with except he went to worship with those “Christians” instead of taking his place as a leader in the synagogue. He was a Jew, but he wasn’t doing the things Jews always did.
He was putting his money into the assembly offering without anyone knowing how much he gave. He started praying in private instead of at the front door where everyone could see him.
Actually, he became a better man in every way, except he didn’t do Jewish things according to the Talmud. Those people who did business with him would ask him, “How do you know all that stuff about Jesus, and think He is God who came here as a man when you never saw Him or heard Him speak?”
The written Gospel of Matthew gave clarity to the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, in a way that was very important to all believers, but especially to Jewish Christians. It began with clearly defining the kingly line of Jesus and establishing His right to be the Messiah/King; by giving His genealogy. That is chapter one that opens the Gospel message as a new day in which Light has come into the dark world of sin and religious formalism that doesn’t change anyone inside.
That businessman could say to his friend the customer, “The account of the miracle birth of Jesus we read in the Gospel of Matthew at the assembly meeting, also talks about wise men, foreigners from a far country, who came to worship the One “born King of the Jews.” The Person of promise written in chapter two is identified as the One who fulfilled prophecies that were believed by Jews. At the birth of Christ, prophecies began to be fulfilled and continued through the years of His life and ministry.
The skeptical customer likely became interested in spite of himself, when the Christian Jew talked about the preaching and baptizing work of John the Baptist that was written about in Matthew’s Gospel. He would have heard from Matthew chapter three that the voice of John was the fulfillment of Isaiah 40:3. The scribes had taught the Jews that Elias would first come, and Matthew’s Gospel made it clear that John was the one who came in the spirit and power of Elias. John was the fulfillment of that very thing. He was the “Elijah” that was prophesied to be the forerunner of the Messiah. John said that Jesus was the Son of God. He saw the Spirit sit upon the Lord Jesus Christ as a dove. He heard the voice of God say “This is My Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased!” John knew Jesus was the Lamb of God who would bear away the sin of the world. John knew and testified to the fact that Jesus is the Messiah.
These things would have been able to be read at the assembly and likely the customer would have realized, “This Jesus really is the Messiah of us Jews.” The businessman who was a Christian Jew would think, “Yes! All that we have been taught by word of mouth is verified by the written words of Matthew who was a Jew and he was there when all the things we have been taught actually happened. He was an eyewitness for over three years as he followed Jesus!”
That scenario would have happened wherever the Gospel of Matthew was read. Likely after an assembly meeting in some distant place in the Roman empire, a couple of Jewish Christians were talking outside the door of the meeting place, and they had just heard read what we call, Matthew chapter four. The testing time in the wilderness, and how the Lord Jesus answered Satan with scripture would have resonated with them. One of them might have said, “I know what challenges like that are like. There are people at work who poke at me all the time because I am saved. They keep testing me by saying, ‘Do a miracle if you have faith in Jesus who did miracles. Why don’t you just turn stones into bread or dirt into vegetables? If your Jesus is so important to you, tell Him what you want Him to do?’”
By hearing about the testing time of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew, how Jesus was tested like we are – only a whole lot more and a whole lot harder, their confidence in Him would be strengthened. He was tested physically and emotionally. He was tested as to His calling and His future. In each case, he answered with passages from the scriptures of the Old Testament that answered the test very plainly. In my mind, I can see those two brothers in Christ finding strength and courage for the days ahead from what they heard read from the Gospel of Matthew.
Yes, they were Jews by birth and nationality. So was Jesus. They were tested and tormented because they were Jews. So was Jesus. The more they did what was right and even helpful to others; the more religious leaders criticized them. They did the same thing to Jesus when He was here. He knew what it was like to have your own family and friends reject you because of your faith. He knew what it was like to help people, and then they put a whole different spin on that event to make them look good and you look bad. He knew what it was like to be watched like a hawk by people who want to see you do something wrong. He knew what it was like to have people accuse you of something and it is an absolute lie without a grain of truth in it.
How good it was of God to have chosen men to write the New Testament scriptures the same as “holy men of old” wrote the Old Testament. The written words of the Bible give form, clarity, and substance to the oral teaching and doctrinal practices that are so important to a life of faith and testimony. When the canon of scripture was established, God had arranged an order so that it would best meet the needs of His people and strengthen their faith. Matthew’s Gospel comes first in that order because our Lord came to “His own” first. His first disciples were Jews. The apostles were Jews. The history of redemption is in the context of Jewish history. The first people in the church were Jews from many different places.
To consolidate the teaching of the Lord Jesus that follows in the book of Matthew, the Person of Jesus and His right of Kingship were identified and authenticated. When the first chapters were read and understood, then the privileges, principles, and practices of the kingdom of heaven were taught. No longer was God dealing in a special way with the Jews. Now “any man” or “whosoever;” can be a follower of the Lord. “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden…” includes everyone.
It is from this viewpoint of practical living and how we can use what we learn to positively affect others, is how I want to look at this journey through the Bible this time. The word of God is not just to be studied and understood. It is to be practiced and we are to live by its teaching. We hear His word and we are to be doers of His word in our daily lives.