A PROLOGUE TO MATTHEW
The
Gospels: An Exclusive Sneak Peek
Also
known as the“Good News,” the Gospels are Matthew, Mark, Luke and
John, their focus: following the earthly ministry of Jesus from
inception to culmination at the cross. The common misconception is
that these books were primarily written to spread the message of
Christianity: Jesus being God, modern research cries foul. The truth
of Christ's teaching and resurrection lit up the continents, a
hungry blaze built in the souls of men and women, which the apostles
could not feed alone. There was no way they could physically teach
all these converts in all these new places, the New Testament text
and its reproduction became a necessity. The Bible would last longer
than the apostles ever could.
What
about Matthew?
Do you ever find there's this
soul-sucking side to you, this jerky person that uses people to get
what you want, gladly justifying said behavior? Well that was Matthew
24/7. Matthew, one of Jesus' original disciples wrote the book of
Matthew , but that doesn't mean God was always at the center of his
life...he was once after shinier things. Matthew was a young Jewish
man working as a tax gatherer on behalf of the Roman government.
Tax
Collector...Not So Bad Right?
Uh...it kinda was. By 167 B.C.
the Roman government had become so wealthy off its profits from
Spanish mines, it didn't charge taxes to Italian landowners, though
everyone else suffered.
In the 400 years between the
last Old Testament book Malachi and the first New Testament book
Matthew, God had been silent, and his people, the Jews, had been
oppressed by four different regimes, Rome made five.
Abraham's children had already
been forced into the lowest paying jobs, but that wouldn't keep the
empire from using them as an ATM Machine. Provincial governors
encouraged tax collectors to glean their holiday bonuses from the
people's sweat: loaning money with high monthly interest rates and
corroborating with local officials to buy out the food source of
grain only to sell it back to the needy many times the original price
during a shortage. Their evident class earned them the designation:
traitor and sinner
The
people of Israel were fed up, they were still praying and offering
sacrifices, but no God-action. They reread the Hebrew texts several
times over, hundreds of prophetic assurances that had turned out to
be useless. Among them, Malachi 4:1:“For
behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the
arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming
shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts” What happened to
that? Where is the Messiah-King that would slaughter the Roman horde?
They had no idea God Himself was coming down to use it all for His
glory: Roman despotism, the religious lost and a greedy little man
were all about to have their world rocked forever.
Welcome to the New Testament. Welcome to the Book of Matthew
Jean-Marc
P.S.-More to Come...
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