Matthew chapter 1

Matthew is the first book of the New Testament and thus where I will begin...

Authorship:
Although there is no certain evidence that the book of Matthew was written by the apostle of the same name it is a popular, and not challenged assumption that it was. Jesus first meets, and calls Matthew in Matthew 9:9-13. This is a beautiful scene where Jesus is walking by a tax collector's booth, where Matthew is the tax collector, and simply says "Follow me" to which Matthew responds by simply dropping what he doing and got up and followed Christ from that day onwards. Mark and Luke call him 'Levi', which may have been his birth name, in which case Matthew would be the name Jesus gave him, as he had given Simon the name Peter. The name Matthew actually means 'God's gift' which I think is awesome. A Tax collector, one of the lowliest professions of the time, given the chance to be an apostle of Jesus and from then on is called 'God's gift'.

Chapter 1:
Matthew 1:1-17 gives the lineage of Jesus as a descendant of Abraham and, more specifically, David. This lineage is important, as well as being a logical place to start, for two main reasons.

1. Family records are very important to Jews, they are the evidence by which one claims to be a Jew. Only if you can trace your ancestory back to Abraham can you be concidered Jewish, as from Abraham a nation was created. The Messiah was to come from through Abraham, (Genesis 12:3 & Genesis 22:18) and more specifically David (2 Samuel 7:12, Psalm 132:11). Thus, unless Jesus is a son (son here simply means decendant) of David, and a son of Abraham, he is not the Messiah. Now this is here, proven from public records, that Jesus was in fact both a 'son of Abrham' and a 'son of David'.
2. The usual practice of a Jewish genealogy is to only list the men ie, from father to son to grandson etc. However there are 5 women listed here. Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba (mentioned as the wife of Uriah) and Mary. Mary is significant as Jesus was a divine conception and the mention of His mother allows Him to be Human as well as divine. He was still the 'legal' son of Joseph but Joseph was not his biological father, Jesus is the son of God. The other four women have special significance also. Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba were all gentiles. Although Jesus is the Jewish Messiah, the salvation His blood and Grace provides is not only for Jews, but for "whoever believes in Him". Three of the women were also guilty pretty big sins, Tamar had sex with her father-in-law, which was a stoneable offence (Genesis 38). Rahab was a prostitute in Jericho (Joshua 2:1-7). Bathsheba had sex with David before she became his wife (2 Samuel chapters 11 and 12). This demonstrates that God can use people in his plans, even if they are pretty bad sinners.

Matthew 1: 18-25 gives a fairly straight foward account of the virgin birth. Yes a VIRGIN birth. This Virgin birth is vital if Jesus is the Messiah. Isaiah delivered a prophesy that "the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son." Thus the account here of the miraculous and divine conception of Jesus is another prophesey fulfilled concerning the Messiah's identity, Jesus.