Matthew Chapters 3-4
Posted on July 19th, 2007 by Reformed Pope into the Reading Matthew categoryMatthew 3 - John the Baptist Prepares the Way
So far, Matthew has not been one for details. I'm not sure why his book is the first in the NT. I tend to think if I were given a copy of the NT to read for the first time I wouldn't make it very far. 1st we cruise through the birth of Christ and suddenly we are talking about John the Baptist. Who the heck is he? There is no background given in Matthew, you have to cheat ahead to the other gospels to get some of the details. No matter, J.t.B. is preparing the way of the Lord…and I find this interesting…people are coming from all around and "Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River"* (vs. 6). Why are they confessing their sins? I guess I always thought that "confessing" was a post Christ practice.
He then goes on to rip the Pharisees & Sadducees by calling them a "brood of vipers" (my personal favorite Biblical Insult) and says in verse 9:
And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.
The note in my little study Bible says "Salvation does not come as a birthright (even for the Jews) but through faith in Christ (Rom 2:28-29; Gal 3:7,9,29)". Now this statement may be true to us now, but at that point Jesus had not yet fulfilled his sacrificial duty. Prior to Christ's death on the cross, would faith in Him save you? Make's me wonder.
J.t.B. goes on to baptize Jesus in verses 13-17, the heavens open and a dove descends. Then (vs. 17) "a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased'." I'm going to assume that when it says "a voice" it's talking about God. I'd hate to find out that some of the angels were messing with Jesus.
Matthew 4 - The temptation of Jesus
After being baptized by J.t.B., Jesus is led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. First he fasts for 40 days and 40 nights then the temptations begin.
Satan, tells Jesus to turn stone into bread, prove He is the Son of God, and then promises Him "all the kingdoms of the world" if He will bow and worship him. At this point Jesus says "Away from me" and then "the devil left him, and angels came and attended him". Again, I'd like to get some more info on what these angels were doing exactly, but I guess that's not all that important.
Jesus then returns from the desert and begins to preach. "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." He gets a few disciples and heals some sick people which ends chapter 4.
I can only hope that Matthew slows his pace as we get into the Teachings of Jesus, which are up next. There are a lot of red letters in the coming chapters, and I expect a lot more detail for the rest of the book.
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July 19th, 2007 at 7:52 am
I can just see some kind of Monty Python sketch or something with the Heaven’s opening up and angels messing with Jesus through some kind of intercom/voice deepening system.
Angel 1: “This is my son, in Him I am pleased.”
Angel 2: “Hop on one foot and wave your hands in the air like you just don’t care.”
Gabriel: (aside to angels) “guys, knock it off.”
Angel 1: “Eat grasshoppers and honey.”
Angel 1: (aside to angels) “oh my gosh, they’re doing it, gross!”
Gabriel: (aside to angels) “that’s it. you’re done. give me that!”
Gabriel: takes the GodVoxBox2000 from Angel 1.
July 19th, 2007 at 8:12 pm
Scholars say that the Gospel of Mark was first, than the others build upon that. Many gospels didn’t make it through the “vote”. And the ones that are in the Bible are written at least 50 yrs later from the events that they talk about.. Now I don’t know if these stories were past down through word of mouth or what. But 50yrs is a long time to remember all the details. So don’t get yourself twisted thinking that you’ll get the details. You won’t. Can you give me the exact details that took place 1,5,10 years ago, of something that took place in your life?
Some people will say that if God wanted you to have all the details than He would of given you all of the details!! And because of a person’s “love and fear” of the Lord they flush their blasphamous way of thinking down the toilet. Whatever happen to the truth will set you free? Well you have to search for the truth first, don’t you?
Jesus went to the desert to be tested and to “perfect” Himself. Now I know that he was already “perfect”, but he went to the desert for something. This strikes me as a very private thing between Jesus and his Father. Would he share this experience with his disciples? Was there more to it than that? And after so many years would it be remembered just like it happend? Once again details.
I am curious to your response to your next chapter readings. I too have read the Word, debated, argued, studied, and sought knowledge concerning the scriptures. What I once thought was not debatable has changed. I look forward to your next entry.
One Love