Matthew 1

Chapter 1. The Birth of the KingWhere is the one who has been born king of the Jews? (Matthew 2:2)Matthew is the Gospel of the Kingdom. The four gospels are not four different editions of the life of Christ, but four pictures of the Christ from different standpoints. Each presents a distinct aspect, and together they form the complete whole. It is somewhat like attempting to obtain a photograph of Mount Blanc. They tell you in the valley that there is no single picture of the mountain, but they can give you a number of views from different standpoints, and then you can make your composite view of the mountain. So the four evangelists give us different views of the Lord Jesus, and out of the four comes the complete conception of His character and work. Symbols of the Four Gospels In the ancient tabernacle and temple stood the figure of the cherubim. There were four faces: the first a lion, the second an ox, the third a man and the fourth an eagle. The lion represented Christ as our King; the ox, the toiling and suffering Christ; the man, the human Christ; and the eagle, His divine character. The ancient fathers justly applied these symbols to the four gospels. Matthew is the Gospel of the King, Mark, the Gospel of the Servant, Luke, the Gospel of the Son of Man, and John, the Gospel of the Son of God. The very first picture in Matthew is the King of the Jews, and the last is the Supreme Lord, to whom all power is given both in heaven and in earth, sending forth His ambassadors to the nations and claiming their obedience and loyalty. When we turn to Mark, we find a story of deeds, not words; a toiling Christ who has gone almost half through His ministry before the end of the first chapter. In Luke we have the revelation of His human heart, and a series of most touching manifestations of His sympathy, tenderness and love. The first picture takes us to the cradle of the Babe, and the last gives us the walk to Emmaus, and the charming revelation of His human heart, unchanged even after the cross and resurrection. When we turn to John, it is indeed the soaring eagle bearing us up to the sublime heights of His primeval deity and the mysteries of His oneness with the Father. And yet none of these gospels attempts to give us a complete biography of Jesus Christ. Even the longest presents but a few fragments from the story of His life, the sketch of an occasional day or hour gleaned from much more that has been left unrecorded—so much indeed that the Apostle John could say that if all that He said and did were written, “even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written” (John 21:25). It has been well said that the New Testament evangelists were not reporters but editors. They did not give a chronicle of complete facts so much as a selection of special incidents, clustered together for the purpose of illustrating certain points and principles which were more important than even the facts themselves. The Gospel of the Kingdom Returning to the gospel of Matthew, a brief analysis will show that it opens with the birth of the King, and after the briefest reference to His childhood, passes on to His forerunner and inauguration. Next comes the manifesto of the King, containing the laws and principles of the new kingdom which He was to set up. This is found in the Sermon on the Mount, as it is generally called, which is an unfolding of the righteousness of the kingdom which He came to establish, the reenacting of the Old Testament law with its larger liberty and deeper spirituality. Next come the credentials of the kingdom, the works of power in which His ministry began and by which it was approved of God to the faith of His followers. This in turn was followed by the rejection of the King and His preparation for the next stage of the kingdom after He has been condemned, crucified and called away from the earthly scene. This preparation consisted of the appointment of His apostles, the provision for the organization of His Church, the constitution and government of the new kingdom, the announcement of His second coming, and then the crown of thorns, the triumph over death, the revelation of the Prince of Life and the messages which He gave as the mediatorial King to those that were to represent Him during His absence and until He should come again. All this will come before us in due order. At present our subject calls us back to the first chapter, the royal birth of Israel’s King.

Section I: His Pedigree

Section I—His PedigreeThis, however, is preceded by the account of His pedigree. It was necessary that it should be demonstrated to Israel that He was her true King. The obvious design of this genealogical table is to show that Jesus was the actual and legal heir of David. Joseph, while not His actual father, was His legal father, and Jesus was the heir of Joseph. He was recognized by all the people as the son of Joseph, and entitled by every form of law and justice to inherit his rights and titles. If Joseph, therefore, was the lawful heir of David, Jesus must also be. This genealogical table was prepared with great accuracy, and establishes without question, the title of our Savior to sit on the throne of David. When He appears on earth again, no member of the Hebrew race will be able to lawfully dispute His title, that He is alive, and the only living heir to David’s throne. Two Genealogies Many Bible students have been perplexed by the difference between the two genealogical tables given respectively by Matthew and Luke. Luke also gives us a long genealogy. The difference consists in this, that the genealogy of Luke is Mary’s, not Joseph’s. Luke has given us the human side of Christ; therefore it was natural that he should trace His mother’s pedigree, and she also could trace back her lineage to David by an unbroken line through Nathan, the son of David, rather than through Solomon, from whose line the family of Joseph came; so that we have two lines of genealogy connecting Jesus with Israel’s history and David’s throne. Matthew’s genealogical table contains three groups of names, each group consisting of 14. The first consists of patriarchs from Abraham to David, the second of kings from David to the captivity, the third of persons of royal extraction, though not kings. Gradually the line descends until it reaches the carpenter’s shop at Nazareth. These three groups form six series of seven each. Seven is the number of perfection, and six of imperfection. The six series that preceded Christ were all imperfect human links, the seventh is reached in Him, the perfect and golden link which makes the chain complete. Types of Grace Some names have been omitted among the kings, noticeably the wicked descendants of the house of Jezebel. The most remarkable feature, however, is the presence in this genealogy of four women, all of them women on whom rested a shadow of shame. The first was Tamar, of the family of Jacob, the story of whose dishonor is well known. The next was Rahab, the notorious woman of Jericho, who was saved by the spies because of her friendship. The third was Ruth, the daughter of Moab, herself a virtuous woman, but her race accursed. The fourth was Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon, but the partner of David’s sin, when he stole her from her husband, Uriah. Why should these four dishonored women be named in the lineage of the Son of God and the Son of David? The reason is not far to seek. He came to be the Savior of sinners, and He was not ashamed to include even in His royal line the most lost and sinful of the race, and thus to set the pattern which the whole story of redemption has fulfilled that Christ “welcomes sinners” (Luke 15:2).

Section II: His Birth

Section II—His BirthHaving proved His pedigree and established His title, the evangelist next gives us the story of His royal birth. Seven witnesses stand forth to establish His lofty character and claims. Joseph’s Testimony The first is Joseph, His reputed father. We are told that Joseph was a “righteous man,” and when he found that Mary, his betrothed wife, was about to become a mother, with a rare blending of justice and gentleness, he had made up his mind to divorce her, but so privately that no disgrace would fall upon her (Matthew 1:19). Of course, he looked upon her as one of those unfortunates who appear all along the course of human history. The fact, however, that immediately after his determination we find him taking her to him as his wife and treating her with honor, affection and respect, is the strongest evidence that such a man must have had some convincing proof that she was innocent and virtuous. We are told what that proof was, namely, the vision of an angel from heaven bearing a divine message to Joseph, saying, “Do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:20-21). Joseph, therefore, is the first witness to the spotless and supernatural incarnation of the Son of Man. The Testimony of the Angel The angel that appeared to Joseph is the second witness. His message has been already quoted, and so we have not only the testimony of Mary’s husband, but of the supernatural messenger that brought his orders from the throne. Isaiah’s Testimony A third witness was the prophet Isaiah. For all this had been precisely in accordance with the announcement which for centuries had been waiting unfulfilled in the sacred Scriptures of the Jews. Recorded there in the seventh chapter of the book of Isaiah, in words which no Hebrew has ever dared to question to this day, is the strange announcement, “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14). Such a thought had never entered the human mind as a virgin bringing forth a son, but God had long ago announced it, and now it was at last fulfilled. How are we to explain this ancient prophecy and other repetitions of it in Micah and Jeremiah, if the miraculous conception of Christ is a delusion? The Testimony of the Star The very heavens themselves were witnesses of the royal birth. A strange star appeared in the sky which brought from distant lands a company of the sages of other nations who knew, from their reading of astrology, that some distinguished ruler was being born in Palestine, and that they must come to visit the place of His birth and pay their worship at His feet. Astronomers tell us of remarkable combinations of the planets which certainly happened at that very time. Just as the material universe shuddered over the cross of Calvary, so likewise it sent its signals to bear witness at His cradle, too. The Magi There was the witness of the world. The wise men that came from eastern lands represented the great heart of the world bearing witness to Jesus Christ. Humanity is crying out for God. In every age and every land there have been men whose attitude to the unseen world is well described by the apostle, who says, “God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him” (Acts 17:27). These sages had been watching the heavens for some light on the other world, and at last they felt the answer had come. Ancient legends love to represent three of these Magi as respectively a king, a priest and a prophet. The first represented the riches of the world, and brought his gold; the second represented his worship of the world, and brought his frankincense; and the third represented the sorrow of the world, and brought an offering of myrrh, the perfume with which they anointed the dead, and the old legend adds that in response to his touch, the infant Christ looked up and touched the worshiper’s hand. It is perhaps a legend, but at least it suggests a truth, that the sweetest offering we can bring our King is the gift of our sorrow and our sin. These men were types of the myriads who all through the Christian age have pressed to the cross and found in the Incarnate One the answer to their sorrows and the remedy for their sins. The Rulers The best of all the witnesses to the Holy Babe were the scribes and rulers of Jerusalem, the very men that afterwards condemned and crucified Him. When the wise men came to Jerusalem they inquired for the King that was born, and Herod called a council of the ecclesiastical rulers and asked them where the Christ should be born. They referred to the Hebrew Scriptures, and replied that it was Bethlehem, and quoted Micah’s (Micah 5:2) prophecy locating the little village. The wise men followed and found the Holy Christ in the very place the prophecy had foretold. So the Scriptures of the Old Testament and the rulers of the Hebrew nation combine to identify Jesus, the Babe of Bethlehem, as the promised Messiah and Israel’s King. Herod’s Testimony Herod himself, the false king of Israel, became unconsciously a witness to the true King by the jealous fear which the advent of the Babe of Bethlehem brought to his troubled mind, and the cruel, murderous hate with which he pursued Him and sought His very life. When Herod heard of His birth, we are told, “he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him” (Matthew 2:3). What a compliment to the lowly Babe in yonder manger that He should shake the very throne of the reigning monarch! The cruel tyrant never rested till he had butchered all the little boys of Bethlehem in the hope of exterminating his dreaded rival. But God had hidden His Son from his hate and wrath. Yet nonetheless does Herod’s jealousy bear witness to the kingship of Jesus Christ.

Section III: His Names

Section III—His NamesThis story presents to us a number of remarkable names and titles of Christ full of instructive meaning. Immanuel Immanuel (Matthew 1:23) means “God with us.” It stands for the first great truth of redemption, namely, the incarnation of Jesus Christ, God in human form, God united to our nature and revealed in our flesh. This is the highest honor possible for humanity, to sit on yonder throne as the very form of deity. Jesus “You are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). This marks the second great truth in redemption, not only incarnation, but atonement. Not only has He visited us, but He has also redeemed us. It stands for the cross of Calvary, the blood of cleansing and the gospel of salvation. Have we accepted Him in this glorious name and has He indeed saved us, not only from the guilt, but the power of sin? Christ “Jesus, who is called Christ” (Matthew 1:16). This marks a still higher spiritual meaning. Christ means “anointed” and it suggests the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Christ is the one that received the Holy Spirit and dispenses that precious gift to hungry and consecrated hearts. He is the One who not only saves, but sanctifies. Have we accepted Him as the Christ and have we received from Him that holy chrism, that sacred anointing which makes us Christians in the true sense, anointed ones, baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit? The King “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?” (Matthew 2:2). What the world needs is a king. Human nature is made for obedience and subjection to a leader. Men want somebody to do their thinking for them, and that is the secret of the success of so many ambitious pretenders. We have our political bosses, and how subserviently they are followed; we have our industrial leaders, and how disgracefully they have abused their power; and we have our religious bosses, and with what blindness and fanaticism their disciples are following some of these impostors and false apostles. But none of them have ever done or ever will do anybody any good but themselves. The world is waiting for the true King, and Jesus is that King, the only One who will ever right our wrongs, and rule humanity with unselfish authority and righteousness. The Holy Child The Child, the Babe—this name also He bears. “They saw the child… and they bowed down and worshiped him” (Matthew 2:11). Thank God our King has the spirit of a child. Jesus is crowned and enthroned tenderness, meekness, humility and self-sacrificing love. Although King of kings, and Lord of lords, He is as accessible, as simple, as lowly as a little child. He comes to us in lowly disguise as the Babe of Bethlehem, the homeless wanderer, the Crucified of Calvary. But He is coming back in all His majesty and glory as the King of kings and Lord of lords, and only those who accept Him in His humiliation will be with Him in His kingdom. We must learn, like Joseph, to pass from the depths to the heights; we must go with Jesus from the manger to the throne. It is said that one of the Russian emperors used to disguise himself and go out among his subjects at night as a poor tramp. One night, after having been turned from every door, at last he found refuge in a peasant’s cottage, and lay all night upon a bed of straw, eating only of the crust the poor man shared with him. The next day he came back with his royal retinue round about him and called at that peasant’s door. The poor man thought his doom had come, but it was to his amazement to have his sovereign take him by the hand, thank him for his kindness to him the night before and load him with rewards and honors. Some day our King is coming back in majesty and glory, before which the sun and stars will cease to shine. Happy then for you if He who sits upon that throne shall meet your eye, shall stretch out His hand to welcome you, shall bid you rise, and seating you by His side, shall say, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For… I was a stranger and you invited me in” (Matthew 25:34-35).