 Welcome everyone to the New Testament survey class. We have someone who is open as in prayer and then we will get into our content for today. Shall I go and have water? Yes please. Thank you. Thank you for the God for this blessed time in our lives Lord Jesus. Lord Jesus as we learn your word, let your word get deep rooted in us Lord Jesus. Lord Jesus let it be retained and restored in our lives to bear the fruits of your word. Being blessing to others, bringing blessing to each other in our lives. Lord Jesus we commit this time into your precious hands. We also submit each and every one of us into your hands and our faculties into your hands. Lord Jesus to bless this earth and grow in your word richly in our Jesus. In Jesus mighty and holy name we pray amen. Thank you. So let's just do a quick recap of what we covered in our last class last Monday. And then we'll go into today's what we're going to cover today. So last week we started, we just had an introduction to the Gospel accounts. So we looked at the Synoptic Gospels which is Matthew, Mark and Luke and they call the Synoptic Gospels because they all have the content between these three books is all very similar. It's taught by most scholars that Mark was first written and then Matthew and Luke used Mark's account to write their own books. So that is why we see about over 90% of Mark is in Matthew and Luke. So these three Gospels have very similar kind of stories about what Jesus did and some of his teachings, whereas John has a very, very different take on the life of Jesus. And so John, the book of John is not included in the Synoptic Gospels. We looked at why we have four Gospel accounts that each of them was written for a different audience with a different focus with a different perspective and a different purpose for writing. And so each of these Gospel writers together give us a very, I guess, a more holistic view of Jesus' life. Rather than being written by one person to have four different people talking about different aspects of why Jesus came and about his life and ministry, it helps us to get a fuller understanding of the Gospel. We also looked at the fact that they have been several attempts to put all of these four Gospels into a single Gospel but it hasn't worked out well because each of them has such a different theme, such a different way of writing that something is lost when we try and put them all together. And Matthew talks about Jesus as the Jewish Messiah, Mark as the suffering son of God, Luke as the Savior for all people, John as the eternal son of God. And so each of them has their own specific focus in their writing and their presentation of Jesus. So the other question is then why are there only four Gospel accounts? Why don't we have more? We looked at some of the ways in which the Gospels were chosen and as well as other books in the New Testament. They were chosen based on their reliability, the historical reliability that is when it was written, who wrote it and what was written was an agreement with other records about Jesus's life that were existent at that time. Also one of the things was whether it carried spiritual power and authority, whether the content in the books carried spiritual power and authority and the last one was orthodoxy that is, did it agree with Christian doctrine with what the church was teaching as true or was it coming from one of the heretical groups which had been rejected by the church? And so if the theology didn't align with what was viewed as right doctrine by the church, those books were not included in the Gospels and in the New Testament. So we looked at the difference between the meaning of the word Gospel and the Gospels. So there is a single Gospel which proclaims salvation through Jesus' death and resurrection. That is the good news of Jesus Christ. It's also called, we saw a list of different ways in which it's referred to as Gospel of Grace, Gospel of Christ, Gospel of the Kingdom, Gospel of Salvation, Gospel of Peace and that is different from Gospels which is the four different books that talk about the one Gospel. So the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, they all talk about this Gospel of Jesus Christ that proclaim salvation to the world. We also started to look at the background to the book of Matthew. So the Old Testament was pointing to a Messiah who would come and redeem Israel. And between the Old Testament times and the New Testament times, there was an increased anticipation, increased sense of the Messiah's coming during this time of waiting. And some of the expectations were that the Messiah would be a political deliverer who would free the Jews from foreign rule, would rule from Jerusalem and rule across the whole world and would also reclaim the temple, taking it and establishing the true worship of Yahweh in the temple once again. Some of the characteristics of the Gospel of Matthew is that it's written with very short, not a lot of additional words, not a lot of additional descriptions like Mark. If you compare some of the stories between Matthew and Mark, Matthew will have a very short account with some of the main points, whereas Mark may have more details about the people, the things that happened in that story than Matthew will include. Matthew is very, very focused on the Messiah as the fulfillment of the Old Testament. So we will see a lot in Matthew about this happened to fulfill this scripture and so it will point to some scripture from the Hebrew scriptures, which is our Old Testament. So he was pointing to the fact that Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies and fulfilled the Old Testament, what the Old Testament promised and talked about, which was the coming Messiah. Matthew is also particularly focused on Jewish Christians. So we see a lot of reference to Jewish tradition, Hebrew scriptures, things that only Jews would be familiar with. But at the same time, he also continues to keep the Gentiles very much in the picture. So we see accounts of Gentiles at Jesus' birth. A lot of Jesus' lineage. We see the Great Commission calling Jesus' disciples to go to all nations. So Matthew doesn't forget that the gospel is for the Gentiles. But at the same time, his audience is the Jewish Christians and so a lot of his content will be very relevant to them. Then we looked at the ecclesiastical elements. So the fact that only Matthew talks about the church and how it is that the church is mentioned so early on by Jesus himself. Before the church actually came into existence, we see in Matthew that Jesus talks about the church. And then the last thing is the eschatological interest. So when we say eschatology, we're talking about things related to death, to our judgment, to our final destiny. That is when we will receive either the reward of being in the presence of God or we will go to a place of eternal separation from God. So either heaven or hell. So Matthew actually has a great mention of eschatology than the other gospels. So the whole of chapters 24 and 25 talks about the end times. And we also see a few parables where it's talking about the judgment of people and being sent into eternal separation from God. So that is what we covered till last week's class. And now we'll move into a few things about the gospel of Matthew. So firstly, who is the author of the book of Matthew? In the book itself, there's no mention of the author. So from Matthew we can't know who the author is. But traditionally that is the early church attributed this book to the disciple Matthew. So this is what we continue to follow according to the early church's tradition. We continue to say that this book was written by Matthew. We are just taking the fact that if they said that it was written by Matthew, it was for a reason that they believe that it was done by him. So some things that we know about Matthew is that he was also called Levi. If someone can read Mark 214 for us. Mark 214. As he passed by, he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the tax office and he said to him, follow me so he arose and followed him. Thank you. So here we see the calling of Matthew and he is also called Levi. If someone can read Mark 9.9 for us please. Sorry, Matthew 9.9. Gospel of Matthew chapter 9 verse 9. As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth and he said to him, follow me and he rose and followed him. Thank you. And so we see here again in Matthew 10.3 that Matthew is named as one of the disciples and he is Matthew the tax collector. So some of the things from these Gospels that we know about Matthew is that he was also known as Levi which may also indicate that he was a Levite. Which would make it all the more surprising that he was a tax collector also would have been something that he was despised for because he was a Levite who had then sided with the Romans in the fact that he became a tax collector. And of course we know that as a tax collector he was rejected by the Jewish people. He was excluded from the community. He was viewed as a traitor and so he was someone who was not really welcome. But here Jesus goes up to him and Jesus calls him right from his tax collector collection booth and probably one of the few welcomes that he's received from the Jewish community and he responds to that call and follows Jesus. So some of the things that we see, some of the ways in which we see his skills or his particular characteristics as a tax collector play a role in the way he writes the Gospel is that he has an interest in some of the monetary things that happen in the life of Jesus or some of the parables that Jesus told. That other books, other Gospels don't include. So the parable of the unmerciful servant which talks about returning a debt. That is something that only Matthew talks about and the workers in the vineyard in Matthew chapter 20 is also something that only he talks about. The fact that Jesus betrays Jesus for 30 pieces of silver is only something that he records and talking about the bribe that the priests give to the guards at Jesus's tomb is only mentioned by Matthew. So we see his interest in money or his inclination towards monetary accounts being a playing role in the way he writes the book. In addition to that he would have been quite highly educated compared to the other disciples as a tax collector and he would have been skilled in taking notes and maintaining accounts. So those are some things that would definitely have influenced the way he's written the book. Even in the genealogy, if we look at Matthew 117, he actually mentions like a numerical way in which he's arranged the genealogy. So he says, all those listed above include 14 generations from Abraham to David, 14 from David to the Babylonian exile and 14 from the Babylonian exile to the Messiah. So he see his interest in numbers coming through here. So we covered who the author was. So who was he writing to? We see within Matthew itself about 60 references to Jewish prophecies that were fulfilled in this image here is a few examples. So the virgin birth in Matthew 1 23. He says, all of this occurred to fulfill the Lord's message through his prophet, so that is Matthew 122. And then he quotes from Isaiah about the virgin birth. And then we see Matthew 2 6 where the wise men come searching for the king of the Jews. And King Herod asked the scribes to look for to tell him where the Messiah is supposed to be born. And they quote from Micah 5 to saying that he would come from Bethlehem. Matthew 2 15 talking about the Old Testament passage saying God brought his son out of Egypt. So saying that that was a reference to Jesus when Jesus returns from Egypt once King Herod has died. So different passages like that we see where Matthew is specifically pointing to the fact that Jesus's life fulfilled some of the prophecies from the Hebrew scriptures. And that points to the fact that he was kind of strengthening their faith in the fact that Jesus truly was the Messiah who was promised in the Old Testament. Who was promised in the Hebrew scriptures. And then if someone can read Matthew 10 5 and Matthew 15 24 we just look at some of the other things that Matthew talks about. Matthew 10 5. Matthew 10 5. These 12 Jesus sent out instructing them go now we're among the Gentiles and entered no town of the Samaritans. You can just go into verse 6 as well. And 7. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and proclaim as you go saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Thank you. And Matthew 15 24. He answered I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Thank you. Thank you. So we see here Matthew specifically highlighting Jesus's mission or ministry to the people of Israel again because of his focus on the Jewish Christians. So why did he write the book to encourage Jewish Christians. So the Jewish Christians obviously were people who were facing persecution from the Jews right because they had left the Jewish faith and had followed Jesus who was viewed as someone who had blasphemed God who was a false teacher. He was a false messiah but these Jews had believed in him and left their families or their tradition and begun to follow this person named Jesus. And so Matthew writes to a form to them that what you have chosen is true. It is of God. It is a true fulfillment of God's promises. He also at the same time talks about judgment about on the Jewish establishment. So if someone can read Matthew 24 1 and 2. Matthew 24 1 then Jesus went out and departed from the temple and his disciples came up to show him the buildings of the temple and Jesus said to them. Do you not see all these things assuredly assuredly I say to you not one stone shall be left here upon another that shall not be thrown down. Thank you. So we see here while Jesus is encouraging while Matthew is encouraging these Jews who have come to faith in Jesus. He is also talking about the judgment that is going to come upon the that was the Jewish rulers and leaders of that day and the temple that the temple itself in the process would be destroyed. We see that in Matthew 24. At the same time he also talks about this future new kingdom that is going to be established. We see that in chapters 24 and 25 and he ends with this promise with this hope that even in this present time Jesus is with them until that kingdom is realized. So surely I'm with you even to the end of the age. The focus on God with us Emmanuel. So some of the key words we see in Matthew our kingdom fulfilled kingdom of heaven. So Matthew like we talked about is very focused on Jesus as the king of the Jews. And so he is language is very much kingdom oriented. So kingdom kingdom of heaven. And then the other aspect of Jesus fulfilling the Hebrew scriptures. And so we'll see fulfilled this happened to fulfill the oldest. This happened to fulfill the scriptures that say this. And so Matthew will use a lot of that language as well. The date of writing. Now in your in your notes it says I think 50 to 60 AD. But you can just correct that. So many scholars think it was sometime it could be a wide range before 72 even up to 90 AD. But usually it's not dated before 64 AD which is when people think that the scholars think that Mark was written. So because Matthew is based on the book of Mark it's usually dated to after 64 AD. And sometime sometime after that till about 90 AD. So some some of them think that it happened before the destruction of the temple and some others think it happened after the destruction of the temple which was in 70 AD. There is a wide range of views on that. But usually later than 64 AD. So the gospel of Matthew is laid out in a very very organized way which is also why people attribute that to the fact that Matthew was tax collector was trained to make notes and to have make detailed records. Some people also liken the gospel of Matthew to the Pentateuch. So the Pentateuch is the first five books of the Old Testament. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy and they say that Matthew was presented as the new Moses and the greater Moses. Whereas Moses in the Old Testament came to proclaim this he was used by God to establish the covenant with the people of Israel. Jesus himself establishes a new covenant with with all those who will believe in him. And so Jesus is a new and greater Moses. So if we look at the gospel of Matthew the first two chapters are sort of an introduction to who Jesus is. So chapter one has a genealogy chapter two has stories about the birth of Jesus. Then in the gospel we have five discourses. This is what is compared with the Pentateuch. So the Sermon on the Mount chapters five to seven Jesus sending out the 12 chapter 10 parables about the kingdom in chapter 13. Greatness in the kingdom in chapters 18 and then 19 and 20. And I'll talk a little bit about why this division is there. So chapters 18 and then 19 and 20 separate and then judgment and the coming kingdom from chapters 23 to 20. So each of these at the end of each of these chapters. You usually see something that says when Jesus had finished saying these things or when Jesus had finished teaching the disciples. And then it goes into the next part. So almost to mark the end of that sermon or the teaching that Jesus was giving. So we see that at the end of chapter 18 in chapter 19 verse one that's why we have this division here. Chapter 19 verse one says when Jesus had finished saying these things and then he travels from where he is to Galilee. Let me just open that up. So it says when Jesus had finished saying these things he left Galilee and went to the region of Judea east of the Jordan River. He leaves Galilee goes to Judea and then the teaching continues in chapters 19 and 20. So that's why there's that division. And then the end is the epilogue which also includes the great commission. So that's a larger structural overview of the book of Matthew. So some of the distinctive features is that what we mentioned earlier. It's the only gospel containing the word church or ecclesia. Matthew records these five sermons by Jesus. So those five great sermons that people mention it's sometimes different. So some people this is one of the views that this is one of the sermons. And then 24, 25 is another sermon. And then they don't include what we looked at which is greatness in the kingdom chapters 18, 19 and 20. But many people do see it as divided into five sermons. Matthew also he divides his book not chronologically. So when he's recording the life of Jesus, he's not doing it as per Jesus's day to day life or recording it in that same timeline. Rather he groups it according to topics. So he groups it according to his discourses, according to his parables, according to his miracles. And that's how he records Jesus's life and ministry. And as we looked at earlier also that Matthew is very interested in eschatology. So final rewards and punishments. And so there's a lot of views of words like judgment, hell, fire and then judgment specifically on the Jewish leaders. So the wars on the Jewish on the Pharisees and yeah, this is the word hypocrite. We see all of that in the book of Matthew. So if we compare the book of Matthew with a few other biblical books, we see that Matthew presents Jesus as king, whereas Mark presents Jesus as a servant as the son of God who came as a servant. And Matthew, he talks about Jesus' resurrection, whereas Luke talks about Jesus' acceptance of people coming to faith in Jesus. Matthew and Mark talk of the crucifixion as something where Jesus was a victim, whereas Luke and John talk about Jesus as a victor. And Matthew 24 explains the seal judgments that are mentioned in Revelation 6 to 1. So we can see that connection between Matthew 24 and the book of Revelation. Now there are different ways in which the book of Matthew or the gospel of Matthew is looked at. Some people will see the gospel of Matthew as very focused on the kingdom. And so they'll divide the book of Matthew according to those things how Matthew presents the kingdom of heaven. This outline of Matthew is looking at how Matthew presents Christ as king or as Jesus as king. And so the whole gospel, the outline that's given is showing how Jesus' kingship is presented, how people respond to Jesus' kingship and how all of that plays out, plays a role in the way he presents Jesus' life throughout the gospel. So we'll just quickly go through this outline and also request you to keep your bibles open so that anytime we need to refer to scriptures as we're looking at the outline, we can do that. So we begin Matthew with a genealogy of Jesus. This presents Jesus in the lineage of David. So as the promised Messiah who comes in the line of David and so ends with Joseph being the father of Jesus. And then we have the birth of Jesus in chapter 1 verse 18 to 25. We have the visit of the wise men. We have Jesus, so Joseph taking the family to Egypt, Herod killing the children. This is where we see also that comparison between Moses and Jesus, right? So when Moses was born, the Jewish children are killed or the Hebrew children are killed. And even here in this story, we see when Jesus is born that all of the Jewish sons below the age of two are killed. We see that similarity in the record that Matthew is giving. And then Jesus returns to Nazareth from Egypt. So this is looked at as the advent of the king. And then the next section is where Jesus is being presented to the people and by John the Baptist. So we have an introduction to John the Baptist and then we have a little summary of John the Baptist's message. And then the next part is the approval of the king and this approval of the king comes from God the Father himself. It's not from the people. So we see in the baptism of Jesus in chapter three where the voice from heaven says chapter three verse 17. A voice from heaven said this is my dearly loved son who brings me great joy. So the Father himself presents Jesus as his son and affirms who he is and his ministry that is about to begin. And then we see Jesus' temptation and his ability to remain free from sin even in the face of temptation. From chapter four onwards, we see Jesus being proclaimed as the king. Chapter four verse 12 to 729. We first have a little introduction to Jesus' ministry. It's calling of his disciples and some of the healings that happen. So in verses 23 to 25 we see in Galilee that Jesus is teaching in the synagogues. He's announcing about the kingdom of God and his healing people. And there are crowds of people who are following him and starting to experience his miracles and witness his ministry. And yes, this Jesus ministering in Galilee. And then we go into the first discourse, the first sermon, which is the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus teaches on various topics. On the kingdom, on Jesus himself in relationship to the Old Testament scriptures, to the Hebrew scriptures. On Jesus' teaching about entering God's kingdom and then it ends with the response of people to his sermon. The crowds were amazed at his teaching because he thought he taught with real authority quite unlike their religious teachers. Okay, so I'm sorry this is a lot of content, but please do keep your bibles open also so that we are also keeping in line with scripture, not just looking at all of these outlines apart from the scripture. So chapters 8 to 11 talks about the power of Jesus' king. And so we see demonstrations of Jesus' power through healing, through calling of disciples. So in verses 18 to 22, Jesus talks about the cost of discipleship. So if someone can just tell us, I'm hoping everyone has their bibles open, what is it that Jesus says in these verses? 18 to 22, what does he say is the cost of following him? To follow him now, not to wait until a certain time in the future, but to that true disciple will sacrifice everything and make that decision to give up all things for the sake of Christ. Then the book goes into miracles of power. What are some miracles we see here? We see Jesus calming the storm, we see him healing the two demon possessed men. So this is where he sends the demons into the herd of pigs. We see Jesus healing a paralyzed man. And then we see Jesus also calling the disciples in between. So we see Matthew is calling in Matthew 9.9. So there there is a little description of what are some of the distinctions of being a disciple. We see Jesus saying it's not healthy people that need a doctor. So people who really recognize that they need a savior are the ones who will follow him. And this is in response to the Pharisees questioning Jesus because Matthew is among his disciples. We also see this question on fasting via the disciples, not fasting. So all of that is addressed here. And then we see miracles of restoration. This is the woman with the issue of blood, of Jesus healing the blind. So all of that included here in revelation of Jesus and his power in relation to him being king. And then in this next section we see delegation of power. So this is where Jesus sends out the 12 disciples to minister. And he gives them instructions about how they have to go out and how they have to minister to people. That we come to the next section. So this was proclaiming the power of the king, Matthew proclaiming the power of the king. And this is starting to look at his rejection, Jesus' rejection as king. So starting from chapter 11, we see first that John the Baptist is put in prison. And John himself starts to question, is Jesus the true Messiah that they had been waiting for? Then we see that Jesus talks about him being rejected by that generation of people in verses 16 to 19 of chapter 11. Then Jesus talks about the people of Cape alarm, of Bethsida and Corazin who have rejected him. And this ends with an invitation to all of them to come to Jesus. Can somebody read that for us? Matthew 11, 25, 30. At that time Jesus was declared, I thank you Father, Lord of heaven and earth that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed to them to little children. Yes, such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my father and no one knows the son except the father and no one knows the father except the son and anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal him. You can go on to verse 13. Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Thank you. So we see after all of those rejections where John the Baptist, that generation and then the few cities that Jesus mentions, he makes this invitation for all people to come to him. All people who recognize that they are carrying burdens and they need somebody to help them. At the same time, he also says that this is something that is revealed by the father. He himself can only be known if the father reveals him to people. And the father has chosen to reveal himself to the child like not to those who think themselves wise and clever. And we saw that previously as well when when Jesus was being questioned for having Matthew amongst his disciples where Jesus says so neither sick who need a doctor. So if you don't recognize that you are sick, then you won't recognize that you need somebody to heal you. You don't recognize that you need a savior. I saw a hand raised. Was that to read the passage or did you have a question? I think it was Sabita who had her hand raised. Okay. I think we've come to the end of our time. So what we'll do is on Thursday, we'll continue from where we stopped here at. Okay, no problem, Sabita. So we stopped here at the end of Matthew 11. We'll continue from Matthew 12 on Thursday. Thank you all. And Thursday's class will also be online. So for the on campus students, please join online. Thank you. Thank you very much, sister.