The Gospel of the Kingdom: The Book of Matthew

The Gospel of the KINGdom

MAIN POINT

Jesus is

AUTHOR

the tax collector, one of the Twelve disciples chosen by Jesus (9:9; 10:3) is the author.

DATE

I would argue that Matthew is the first gospel written, probably between , as the Jewish audience to whom Matthew writes would have necessitated a gospel sooner than other audiences.

AUDIENCE

Matthew’s primary audience is , though its usefulness expands to the whole world.

PURPOSE

Matthew writes to that Jesus is the KING of the world promised by the Old Testament.

Therefore, as we study Matthew, we must ask ourselves “what does this me about Jesus?”

Matthew is a manual of for every believer because Jesus is KING and believers sit under His rule and are to live as he lived.

Titles Matthew chooses for Jesus

1. Son of

Communicates a of Jesus’ humanity, deity, and rule as KING all in one title and that He alone is worthy of everyone’s worship.

This title speaks to Jesus not only being a ruler, but of a nature, equal to God.

1. Son of

Jesus’ origin is

Means God us..

1. Son of

Matthew’s point is that Jesus is the who will rule forever.

Means One.

A key theme very import to Matthew is the idea of .

A kingdom involves three things:

• A
• A ruled
• A that they live under that rule

When you become a follower of Christ, you are into God’s kingdom, new citizenship, and you are now to live under His rule and reign and represent His ethic of righteousness in every way, and where you are, where you live, is an outpost of God’s kingdom that one day will be inaugurated in full at His return.

Think about some terms we will see in Matthew and how they are connected to their idea of Kingdom:

• The term gospel refers to the of the kingdom (Matt. 4:17)
• The term disciple refers to of the kingdom (Matt. 5-7)
• The term refers to the demands of the kingdom (Matt. 10:39)
• Our is the spread of the kingdom (Matt. 16:18)
• Our is the coming of the fullness of the kingdom (Matt. 23-28)
• The is to be an outpost of the kingdom while we await our King’s return

Jesus is who everything pointed to and is .

APPLICATION

God’s kingdom is by righteousness, because its King is righteous.

Jesus embodied and ushered in righteousness and can offer righteousness to sinners thru faith in His work on the cross.

Matthew will introduce us to three audiences:

1. Religious leaders who Jesus
2. Crowds of people who follow for
3. A small group of people who follow Jesus even if it means down their lives

Which audience am I in?