Matthew Mainen - Being familiar with the Gospel of Matthew

and Why it Matters - Portion one

Matthew Mainen

But the trustworthy reliable in God's promise, and waited expectantly for the coming Messiah.
Nevertheless lots of generations came and went all through this period of waiting, mothers
and fathers and grandparents ensured that the small children were properly educated in the
tales of the early saints and the promises that God had manufactured to their forefathers. As
time passed and Israel was created captive to Roman rule, the expected Messiah started to
be explained a lot more and extra like a military hero who would lead the Israelites to political
independence. These Jews failed to recognize that their greatest bondage was to their sin,
not the Romans. The emperor had burdened them with large taxes, but their sin had
condemned them to non secular dying. The Messiah they needed was a warrior, but the
Messiah they necessary was a Savior.

Abruptly, soon after four hundred decades of silence, God started once again His unique
function in Israel. 1st an angel appeared to the aged Zechariah , then John the Baptist
emerged as the forerunner of the Christ , and then Jesus Himself, "like a root out of dry
floor," appeared in a small stable outside an inn in Bethlehem. Matthew's gospel is the
faithful recounting of the story of this person. It is a clarion call to the Jewish individuals of
previous and present declaring "The wait is more than! Your Messiah has come!"
We could speculate about numerous reasons why God waited until finally the first century to
send out His Son to earth. I am confident that God was delaying till the proper time when the
followers of Jesus would greatest be in a position to take His concept significantly past the
borders of Israel to the Gentiles. Right here are just a couple explanations why the very first
century was excellent:

* The Hellenistic Greek language experienced grow to be a prevalent language during most
of the Roman Empire, furnishing various cultures the capacity to communicate with 1
another. This permitted the concept of Christ to be shared additional very easily and
proficiently with non-Jews than would have been doable in prior generations.

* With the increase of the Roman Empire came the beginning of urbanization. Towns
commenced to surface in several distinctive areas of the empire, allowing for the very first
missionaries to affect a bigger number of people today in a shorter volume of time.

* The Roman street program was groundbreaking for its time, generating travel much faster
and safer than it experienced ever been before.

* The Roman conquests had triggered several pagan nations to drop religion in their gods.
This was compounded by the rise of the Greek philosophers, which affected a lot of to
consider critically about existence and to reject mythological deities. This made a "non
secular vacuum" prepared to be crammed by the information of Christ.

Even though the 1st century was perfect for Christ's message to get to the Gentiles, it was
also suitable for the Jews. By the time of Jesus' birth, a movement known as Pharisaical
Judaism had risen to prominence in Israel. Theses religious conservatives imposed
extremely rigorous rules on the Jewish folks, proclaiming that God's favor could only be
acquired by all those who conformed to the challenging rules place forth by the Pharisees.