Matthew and the Messianic King

How do you make Jesus the KING over your life? This is one of the primary questions that the Gospel of Matthew sets out to answer. But before you make someone KING, shouldn't you establish that he has the right CREDENTIALS to hold that position in your life? This is why Matthew begins his gospel by establishing the fact that Jesus is, in fact, the long expected Messiah from the kingly line of David. Matthew wants to show that Jesus has the AUTHORITY to be KING over our lives! But how does he go about establishing Jesus' KINGLY credentials? A GENEALOGY!

It shouldn't surprise us that Matthew begins with a GENEALOGY. After all, we have seen GENEALOGIES throughout the Old Testament (and most recently in the book of Chronicles - the book that ends the Old Testament). By beginning this way, Matthew (at the most basic level) is connecting Jesus to the storyline that has been playing itself out since the book of Genesis. But there is more to Matthew's genealogy than first meets the eye. He intricately crafts his genealogy so as to introduce the main themes that will be developed throughout his gospel. Specifically, he connects Jesus to the three pivotal characters in the Bible's storyline: Abraham, Moses, and David. And so in the next several blogs, we will unveil Matthew's writing strategy and see how Matthew's use of these three Bible characters shows us what it looks like to FOLLOW Jesus.

JESUS IS KING
Matthew makes it very clear in verse 2:17 that the number FOURTEEN is important to his genealogy,

So all the generations from Abraham to David were FOURTEEN generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon FOURTEEN generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ [Messiah] FOURTEEN generations. 

So what is so special about the number FOURTEEN? For one thing, it's a multiple of the number SEVEN which symbolizes completeness! But not only this, the numerical value of the name 'David' (D-V-D) in Hebrew is FOURTEEN! The dalet (D) is the fourth letter in the alphabet and the vav (V) is the sixth letter in the alphabet. And so 4 + 6 + 4 = 14. And so to make his point, Matthew is utilizing a writing technique known as gematria where the numerical value of words or names are given symbolic meaning.

So what is the significance of Matthew doing this? What is he trying to communicate? Clearly Matthew is giving emphasis to King David in his genealogy. And since this is technically Jesus' genealogy, Matthew is communicating that Jesus is the expected messianic king from David's lineage. In other words, Jesus is THE credentialed king who has THE rightful claim to THE throne of Israel.

JESUS HAS THE AUTHORITY
Jesus' legitimate claim to KINGSHIP is good news for many people but not for everyone. Matthew 2:3 tells us that when Herod finds out that the king of the Jews has been born, "he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him." King Herod was an Idumean and so he didn't even have the right credentials to be the king of the Jews. This is why he was troubled. Jesus posed a legitimate threat to his POWER and AUTHORITY.

But King Herod was not the only person troubled; So was 'all Jerusalem'. So to whom is 'all Jerusalem' referring? Well, Jerusalem was the epicenter of Jewish life. Jerusalem was the headquarters of the Jewish religious establishment (the priests, scribes, Sanhedrin, etc.). And so 'all Jerusalem' is most likely referring to the Jewish religious leaders. And so because Jesus posed a legitimate threat to their POWER and AUTHORITY, they too were troubled. Matthew exposes this fact by documenting the many times the Jewish leaders tried to undermine Jesus' authority (9:1-7; 21:23-27). But as Matthew so clearly communicates, "he [Jesus] was teaching them [the crowds] as one who had authority, and not as their scribes" (see also 10:1; 28:18). Matthew wants his readers to know that Jesus ALONE possesses ALL authority in heaven and on earth!

JESUS IS KING OVER AN UPSIDE DOWN KINGDOM
But throughout Matthew's gospel, we see that King Jesus wields His AUTHORITY in an upside down manner consistent with His Sermon on the Mount (5:1-7:29). While Herod and the religious leaders used their AUTHORITY to gain status and wealth, King Jesus uses His AUTHORITY to make 'the last first and the first last' (19:30; 20:1-16). He sets out to level the playing field and restore justice! King Jesus shows that His KINGDOM will be ruled by God's (and NOT mankind's) design. And so whereas the kings of old failed to observe the Sabbatical Year and the Year of Jubilee, King Jesus brings good news to the poor and the lame (11:4-19) and fulfills 'all righteousness' (3:15) and the 'Law and the Prophets' (5:17-20). In short, King Jesus inaugurates the type of KINGDOM that God originally envisioned in the Old Testament...an upside down kingdom where God's curse is reversed!

THE BOTTOM LINE
So what does it look like to FOLLOW JESUS? First, we need to make HIM the ultimate AUTHORITY and KING over our lives. What does this look like? It means living a 'last shall be first, first shall be last' type of life as described in the SERMON ON THE MOUNT (5:1-7:29). To do this, we need to BEGIN pursuing lives of humility, love, justice, mercy, peace, and compassion and STOP promoting ourselves and our selfish agendas. But this will only happen when you ABANDON the ILLEGITIMATE claim you have to RULE your life and then GIVE your life COMPLETELY over to God, the only one with the LEGITIMATE claim to RULE. So this is my prayer: May Jesus' AUTHORITY be evident in the life of His church so that God's glory may shine for our world to CLEARLY see!