Introduction To The GospelsSample

Distinctive Themes in Matthew

Of all the gospel writers, Matthew is the one who is most concerned to communicate that Jesus is the messianic king of Israel that was foretold in the Old Testament. 

A small sampling of the places Matthew mentions Jesus’ kingship includes: 2:2 in which the Magi asked where they could find the “one who has been born king of the Jews”; 7:21-23 in which, as Lord, Jesus said He would not admit all who call Him “Lord” to the kingdom of heaven; 20:20-28 when the mother of the apostles James and John requested that her sons be given a privileged place alongside Jesus in the kingdom; 25:31-46 where Jesus told a parable about His judgment as King at the final day; and 27:37 in which Matthew ironically noted that the Roman soldiers put a sign above Jesus’ head at the cross that read, “This is Jesus, The King of the Jews.”

It was expected that God’s messianic king would bring to earth God’s messianic kingdom. He would deliver Israel from exile and her enemies. He would rule with righteousness, establishing peace and prosperity. Jesus did all this, but He did not do it in the way the Jews expected. Consider Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:17:

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 

Jesus understood that many Jews who witnessed His ministry would think that He was destroying the law of God and failing to fulfill the promises of the Old Testament. That’s why He said with emphatic clarity that He was fulfilling the Law and the prophets even if it didn’t look that way. 

Not only in this passage, but time after time, Matthew reported that Jesus fulfilled one aspect or another of the Old Testament Scriptures, demonstrating that He was truly the messianic king of Israel. 

So, according to Matthew, how do we follow Jesus? Jesus perfectly kept the law of God, but that isn’t all He did. He said that keeping the outward demands of the law wasn’t enough. God has always required the citizens of His kingdom to obey Him from the heart. The good news of the gospel is that the kingdom has come, bringing forgiveness and salvation to God’s people, and giving us new, obedient hearts. And our changed hearts give us both the power and the motivation to follow Jesus with a loving, thankful, joyful obedience.