Prayer – Ephesians 1:13-23

PREPARATION TO PRAY

 

TO KNOW HOW AND WHAT TO PRAY

 

TO PRAY ACCORDING TO THE WILL OF GOD

 

We Must Start as a People SEEKING Christ

When we grow up into Christ we find our prayers are IN CHRIST

We pray “IN THE NAME OF JESUS” – according to His Will and Character. According to the KNOWLEDGE of HIM.

 

Ephesians 1:13-23 (New King James Version)

13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,

“In Christ” so many passages throughout the New Testament make reference to our status, position or condition as being “In Christ”. It is essential that we recognise that outside of Christ we are nothing and that only in him do we attain to the fullness of salvation and eternal life with all its heavenly blessings.

It is in Him the we trust not in any other and this was as a result of hearing the word of truth, which is the gospel of our salvation.

And in Him in whom we believe we are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.

Sealed in the Greek conveys three idea’s “ownership, security, destination”

The Holy Spirit of Promise is the “Promised Holy Spirit”

14 who^[a] is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.  

The promised Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance until we the purchased possession of God are redeemed on the great and glorious “Day of the Lord”.

This great activity of God will be to the praise of His Glory a praise that like our inheritance is eternal.

15 Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints,

Paul states two key elements of the salvation experience which combined prove the position of the saints at Ephesus as “In Christ”. These two elements combined demonstrate the genuine nature of the saved saint. That they:

• Have faith in the Lord Jesus
• Love all the saints.

We cannot have one without the other, both are combined in the life of the saint, were one or both are absent then salvation will also be absent. 1 John 2:9-11

16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers:

Paul prayers for the saints without ceasing, with regularity and continued rememberence. Here we have confirmation  of what we have expected of the Apostle, a reliance on prayer and a love for the saints that directs his prayer life to the express benefit.

If we love the saints then shall we not find ourselves continually in prayer for their blessing!

17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,

Paul prays that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ who is the “Father of Glory”

Will give the saints the “spirit of wisdom” and “revelation” which is to be found “in the knowledge of Him

That they would have a spirit of wisdom to apply the revelation of the knowledge of Him that is given by the Holy Spirit.

We must have been given a spirit of wisdom to be able to understand and apply the revelation which is also given by the Holy Spirit.

This revelation is of the knowledge of Him.

When we first attained our salvation we received a revelation of the knowledge of Christ as

• Lord – that He is the Master of us all, that He is to be followed in total committed allegiance as our God.
• Saviour – that He is our redeemer, our sacrificial substitute and the one who give life to us who were dead.

With this knowledge and with faith in these truths “in Christ” applied we are saved.

In 1 Corinthians Paul says

1 Corinthians 2:1-5

 1 When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.^[a] 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.

Many have used this to restrict their preaching to the simple message of the Cross but Paul explains that they were babes and could accept nothing more:

1 Corinthians 3:1-3

 1 Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3 You are still worldly.

The Ephesians are different and ready for the wisdom and revelation of God, the deeper knowledge of CHRIST.

Ephesians 4:11-13 

13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;

Colossians 3:10-12 

10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, 11 where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.

2 Peter 1:3-5 

3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Pressing On In the Knowledge of Christ

18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,

19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power

This knowledge of Him results in our perception of truth being enlightened, so that we are able to

KNOW:

• What is the hope of His calling
• What are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints
• What is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe. 

 

1. 1.      What is the hope of His calling:

It is “In Christ” that we experience and understand the “hope” of His calling. All that experience is IN Him and therefore His calling becomes ours IN CHRIST

1. 2.      What are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints:

It is “In Christ” that we experience and understand the “inheritance in the saints” that is His inheritance that becomes ours also. We are His inheritance, we are His for all eternity. The riches of this glorious inheritance are realised in the saints, that we His body are united with Him and partakers of this glorious inheritance, eternal life in union with Christ.

1. 3.      What is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe. According to the working of His mighty power

We are to know and experience the greatness of His power, it is we who believe who have the marvellous joy of understanding and experiencing this power

And we are to know this in accordance with its WORKING – so we have an active experience of this in our daily lives and grow in faith IN HIM. 

We can learn of Him and Know Him as:

Teacher : John 6:44,

Helper (in temptation) : 1 Cor 10:13

Deliverer : Rom 11:26

20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,

This same mighty power was demonstrated in Christ – “He worked” being an active and applied power to raise Him from the dead and then seating Him at His right hand in the heavenly places

This mighty power raised Christ from the dead.

Christ was seated “seated being an expression for accomplishment of His work in redemption “Its is Finished” completed!

That we as Christ’s body are also partakers of the inheritance and seated at the right hand of the Father In the heavenly places and that every resource or need is available IN CHRIST. 

21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.

Our Head “Christ” has placed us with Him above all things and therefore we pray from a position of heavenly authority “but only IN HIM”

22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church,

23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

We the church, the body of true believers are the body of Christ in the world, we are the working and connecting life of Christ to our communities, We are the body of ministry to each other in love, we are the body of Christ to the peoples of the nations who are lost without salvation.

Conclusion

We like Jehoshaphat need to be seekers after God, we need to seek after the knowledge of Him that we might pray with wisdom, understanding and revelation, in order that our prayers that we utter are “In Christ” according to His will. For if we are like Him we will pray like Him and hence pray His will on earth and in the heavenlies.

Thoughts / Inspiration / Revelation

We have looked at the Prayer of Jehoshaphat and seen that some good principles are those of preparation for prayer, praying according to God’s will.

We have in this text a clear indication of God’s will for his people as expressed in this mighty prayer of Paul.

It says that Paul prays continually giving thanks and asking for specific things for the Ephesians.

This is not something that they once had and lost or forgotten, It is clearly a higher thing than the pure beginning of understanding of the saved ones.

Paul mentions in his letter to the Corinthians that he preaches Christ crucified and nothing else. Some have taken justification from this statement to just preach the Cross of Christ and nothing else. But clearly Paul preaches this for the Corinthians because in his own words they are still only fit for milk.

There is far greater for us as believers we are to move on in our understanding and knowledge of Christ.

This is in fact a sanctification process and it is obtained by faith in Him by an ever-increasing faith through revelation and the knowledge of Christ.

He prays for three things

•  may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him
• the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
• what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 

We have seen in the prayer of Jehoshaphat our need to prepare and know the will of God in order to pray effectively.

Here we have a clear and certain objective in prayer.

We can here tonight begin to pray for each other, for ourselves, for the rest of the body

Is it God’s will – with certainty yes – it is obvious

So let us prepare ourselves to pray that we may be willing recipitants of this great blessing and that those we pray for may also partake of such great blessing.

The Blessing Of Grace

Grace

 

Joh 1:14  And the Word became flesh, and tabernacled among us. And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and of truth.

Joh 1:15  John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, This was He of whom I spoke: He who comes after me has been before me, for He was preceding me.

Joh 1:16  And out of His fullness we all have received, and grace for grace.

Joh 1:17  For the Law came through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Most of us have will understand the term grace to speak of “unmerited or undeserved favour”

We understand that our salvation is a act of grace on God’s part as we have nothing within ourselves and nothing that we have done or can do that would put us in a position of deserving salvation…..in fact scripture tells us that we only deserve punishment.

This understanding of Grace is true and accurate but does not actually convey the full blessing of grace and we miss out on the true glory and power of God’s grace when we stop at just this definition.

In John 1:14-17 we learn some facts about grace.

• We understand that Jesus Christ was FULL of Grace & Truth
• We understand that Grace & Truth have a connection or a relationship
• We understand that out of this FULLNESS of Grace & Truth we also receive Grace
• We understand that the receiving of Grace & Truth is unique to us under the New Covenant and they come to us through Jesus Christ.

Therefore we are to be FULL of Grace

This is not limited to forgiveness, for we are to be FULL of Grace & Truth.

Does the term “Grace & Truth” provide us with any further understanding of this Grace.

(Zechariah 12:10 MKJV)  And I will pour on the house of David, and on the people of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of prayers. And they shall look on Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourns for his only son, and shall be bitter over Him, as the bitterness over the first-born.

(Hebrews 10:29 MKJV)  Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy of punishment, the one who has trampled the Son of God, and who has counted the blood of the covenant with which he was sanctified an unholy thing, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?

(John 14:17 MKJV)  the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive because it does not see Him nor know Him. But you know Him, for He dwells with you and shall be in you.

(John 15:26 MKJV)  And when the Comforter has come, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He shall testify of Me.

(John 16:13 MKJV)  However, when He, the Spirit of Truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth. For He shall not speak of Himself, but whatever He hears, He shall speak. And He will announce to you things to come.

(1 John 4:6 MKJV)  We are of God. He who knows God hears us. The one who is not of God does not hear us. From this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

We can see therefore that Truth & Grace are united in their common link with the Spirit of God. When we receive the Spirit we receive the Spirit of GRACE & TRUTH.

And we are commanded to be FILLED

Eph 5:18  And do not be drunk with wine, in which is excess, but be filled with the Spirit

The scripture tells us that the law came through Moses but Grace and Truth came through Jesus Christ.

Yet we know that grace was available to the OT saints.

(Genesis 6:8 MKJV)  But Noah found grace in the eyes of Jehovah.

(Exodus 33:12 MKJV)  And Moses said to Jehovah, Behold, You say to me, Bring up this people. And You have not told me whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.

(Ezra 9:8 MKJV)  And now for a little time grace has been shown from Jehovah our God, to leave us a remnant to escape and to give us a nail in His holy place, so that our God may enlighten our eyes and give us a little life in our bondage.

Yet this grace was limited in its working amongst the people for is was a grace of unmerited favour but grace would abound much more in times to come and scripture promised a coming grace that would overshadow that grace of the OT.

(Zechariah 12:10 MKJV)  And I will pour on the house of David, and on the people of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of prayers. And they shall look on Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourns for his only son, and shall be bitter over Him, as the bitterness over the first-born.

This has reference to the outpouring of the Spirit and finds fulfilment in the promised New Covenant blessing.

Joel 2:28  And it shall be afterward, I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh. And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy; your old men shall dream dreams; your young men shall see visions.

Joel 2:29  And also I will pour out My Spirit on the slaves and on the slave women in those days.

 

Jer 31:31  Behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that I will cut a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah,

Jer 31:32  not according to the covenant that I cut with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which covenant of Mine they broke, although I was a husband to them, says Jehovah;

Jer 31:33  but this shall be the covenant that I will cut with the house of Israel: After those days, says Jehovah, I will put My Law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

Jer 31:34  And they shall no more teach each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, Know Jehovah; for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says Jehovah. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sins no more.

It was this great and wonderful New Covenant of Grace & Truth that was pour out and is still being poured out today in the heart and mind of every new soul that enters into covenant with our great and glorious Father.

Under the Old Covenant we were given the Law through Moses and this was so that sin might abound and grace “externally” abounded even more. God’s grace was seen in the forgiveness of David and many other OT men and women, on a national level it was displayed in the gracious longsuffering of God towards Israel

Rom 5:20  But the Law entered so that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound,

Rom 5:21  so that as sin has reigned to death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

Paul makes it very clear that were “sin reigns in the soul” it will lead to death.

We understand that in the life of the unbeliever “sin reigns” and eventually unto death.

But now under this New Covenant we not only receive the external manifestation of Grace in declaring us undeservedly righteous before God as David experienced and declared,

Rom 4:6  Even as David also says of the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness without works,

Rom 4:7  saying, “Blessed are those whose lawlessnesses are forgiven, and whose sins are covered;

Rom 4:8  blessed is the man to whom the Lord will in no way impute sin.”

But now by the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of Grace & Truth reigns in us. This grace is in us and reigns unto righteousness.

Now we can see the futility of the teaching that being under Grace means that we are without law and can act with lawlessness and remain saved.

By the very implication of Grace reigning we will find ourselves living in truth because Grace reigns in our hearts.

We are UNDER grace – to be under means to be ruled – we are ruled by Grace – the Spirit of Grace & Truth reign and therefore we keep the law.

We stand in much better promises that those of the OT for then grace was an external experience but now Grace is a living, functioning dynamic part of our lives.

In Romans 6 Paul addresses the matter of those who misunderstand and limit the work of Grace so that a form of lawlessness is endorsed.

Rom 6:1  What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin so that grace may abound?

Rom 6:2  Let it not be! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?

Rom 6:3  Do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death?

Rom 6:4  Therefore we were buried with Him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father; even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Rom 6:5  For if we have been joined together in the likeness of His death, we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection;

Rom 6:6  knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be destroyed, that from now on we should not serve sin.

Rom 6:7  For he who died has been justified from sin.

Rom 6:8  But if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,

Rom 6:9  knowing that when Christ was raised from the dead, He dies no more; death no longer has dominion over Him.

Rom 6:10  For in that He died, He died to sin once; but in that He lives, He lives to God.

Rom 6:11  Likewise count yourselves also to be truly dead to sin, but alive to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Rom 6:12  Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.

Rom 6:13  Do not yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but yield yourselves to God, as one alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

Rom 6:14  For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under Law, but under grace.

Rom 6:15  What then? Shall we sin because we are not under Law, but under grace? Let it not be!

Rom 6:16  Do you not know that to whom you yield yourselves as slaves for obedience, you are slaves to him whom you obey; whether it is of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness.

Rom 6:17  But thanks be to our God that you were the slaves of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered.

Rom 6:18  Then being made free from sin, you became the slaves of righteousness.

Rom 6:19  I speak in the manner of men because of the weakness of your flesh; for as you have yielded your members as slaves to uncleanness, and to lawless act unto lawless act, even so now yield your members as slaves to righteousness unto holiness.

Rom 6:20  For when you were the slaves of sin, you were free from righteousness.

Rom 6:21  What fruit did you have then in those things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.

Rom 6:22  But now, being made free from sin, and having become slaves to God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end everlasting life.

Rom 6:23  For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Paul makes it clear that we being under Grace and ruled by Grace and therefore should be obedient to righteousness.

 Anyone who claims that they are under Grace and therefore can continue to live a life of sin by this very confession prove that they are NOT under Grace.

The rulership of Grace is the submission of the believer to the work of the Spirit, it is living by the Spirit.

We understand that the Spirit teaches us – He, the Spirit of Truth will teach us all things.

Joh 14:26  But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance, whatever I have said to you.

The Spirit of Grace teaches us to live a holy life

Tit 2:11  For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,

Tit 2:12  teaching us that having denied ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live discreetly, righteously and godly, in this present world

We are taught by this indwelling grace to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts so that we can live holy lives.

But Grace does more than just teach us.

It enable and empowers us to live this life and do the works of God. Paul understood this so well.

Eph 3:7  Of this gospel I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effectual working of His power.

Eph 3:8  This grace is given to me (who am less than the least of all saints) to preach the gospel of the unsearchable riches of Christ among the nations,

1Co 15:9  For I am the least of the apostles and am not sufficient to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

1Co 15:10  But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace which was toward me has not been without fruit, but I labored more abundantly than all of them; yet not I, but the grace of God with me.

In this text we see that Paul considers himself to have worked harder than “all of them” but not of himself but by the “Grace” of God within him.

We will consider the connections between the Gifts of the Spirit and Grace

We do not need to equate Grace as being the same as the Spirit, but that grace is a outworking of the Spirit.

Matthew Chapter 2

Matthew Chapter 2

 

Mat 1:22-25  Now all this happened to fulfill what was declared by the Lord through the prophet when he said, “See, a virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they will name him Immanuel,” which means, “God with us.” When Joseph got up from his sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary as his wife. He did not have marital relations with her until she had given birth to a son; and he named him Jesus.

Read Matthew Chapter 2

 Setting the Scene

The Nation of Israel now under the rule of client Kings of Rome and having spent 400 years without the Holy Spirit “who had withdrawn from the Nation” lived in a time of heightened expectancy. This expectancy not only resided amongst the Jews of Israel but also amongst the Jews of the Dispora “the dispersed Jews who had settled around the known world.

Daniel 9:24-27  -    70 x 7 “seventy weeks of Years” gave an indication of the time of the Messiah to Israel

What was this expectancy ? That soon the Messiah would appear, Israel’s long awaited King.

Even amongst the gentiles this event was known and so we find a time unlike any other when finally Israel would receive its long awaited deliverer

Suetonius and Tacitus, two Roman historians, mention this. Their words are very remarkable: -

Percrebuerat Oriente toto, vetus et constans opinio, esse in fatis, ut eo tempore Judaea profecti rerum potirentur. Id de imperatare Romano, quantum eventu postea predictum patuit, Judaei ad se trahentes, rebellarunt.

Sueton. Vesp.

“An ancient and settled persuasion prevailed throughout the east, that the fates had decreed some to proceed from Judea, who should attain universal empire. This persuasion, which the event proved to respect the Roman emperor, the Jews applied to themselves, and therefore rebelled.”

The words of Tacitus are nearly similar: -

Pluribus persuasio inerat, antiquis sacerdotum literis contineri, eo ipso tempore fore, ut valesceret Oriens, profectique Judaea rerum potirentur. Quae ambages Vespasianum ac Titum praedixerant.

“Many were persuaded, that it was contained in the ancient books of their priests, that at that very time the east should prevail: and that some should proceed from Judea and possess the dominion. It was Vespasian and Titus that these ambiguous prophecies predicted.”

Histor. v.

That a star appeared is significant and demonstrates God’s way of working within our cultural setting for the star was considered by the gentiles to be an omen or indication of the death of birth of a great person. Even amongst gentile prophets we find this expressed and find it recorded in our sacred scriptures.   See Ballams prophecy in Numbers 24:17

Num 24:14-19  And now, behold, I go to my people. Come! I will make known to you what this people shall do to your people in the latter days. And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor has said, and the man whose eyes are open has said; he has said, he who heard the words of God and knew the knowledge of the Most High, who sees the vision of the Almighty, falling down but having his eyes open; I shall see him, but not now. I shall behold him, but not near. There shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel, and shall strike the corners of Moab, and destroy all the sons of tumult. And Edom shall be a possession. Seir also shall be a possession for his enemies. And Israel shall do valiantly. Out of Jacob shall come He who shall have dominion and shall destroy him who remains of the city.

Matthew 2:3-5  Herod hears of this new King and is troubled and all those with him in Jerusalem

Herod had a terrible reputation and even secular history attests to the fact that he would kill anyone who even so much as appeared to be a threat to his throne. The people of Jerusalem that had found positions of authority including the priesthood would have done so mainly by corruption (Ciaphas the high priest would have purchased his position each year) and so this came as a time of great concern. The ordinary people although looking for the hope of Messiah knew full well the potential of Herod to put down any threat to his throne.

Gen 49:10  The scepter shall not leave Judah; he’ll keep a firm grip on the command staff Until the ultimate ruler comes and the nations obey him.

As we discussed in our introduction to Matthew we can expect him to constantly refer to OT prophecy for his purpose is to win the Jews for Christ and the OT is the ultimate authority for the Jews and during the time of silence of the Holy Spirit in the Prophets they regarded the Scriptures as the means of hearing the voice of God.

Herod asks the Priests and scribes to confirm from their writings the prophetic passages relating to Messiah. Yet in secret he sends the wise men to gather information. He is clearly aware that he must rid himself of this so called leader without causing the people to rise up.

Micah 5:2

Poy mahee no      ποιμανει     —-  Greek “to tend as a shepherd”

Mic 5:2  But you, Beit-Lechem Efratah, being small among the clans of Yehudah, out of you one will come forth to me that is to be ruler in Yisra’el; whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.

Mic 5:3  Therefore he will abandon them until the time that she who is in labor gives birth. Then the rest of his brothers will return to the children of Yisra’el.

Mic 5:4  He shall stand, and shall shepherd in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God: and they will live, for then he will be great to the ends of the earth.

These wise men of finding Jesus present him with gifts befitting a great ruler – some identify the gifts with Gold for his Kingship, Frankincense for his Divinity and Mryh for his suffering.

We may possibly assume that they visited Jesus at the age of about 5-6 weeks allowing time for his family to present him at the temple Luke 2:22-39 (this must have occurred first as they flee to Egypt) Mary was unclean for 40 days after the birth and also needed to present an offering for her purification.

Isaiah 40:10-11”

Joseph again is spoken to in a dream and ordered to flee to Egypt, which was about 60 miles south of Bethlehem and had a thriving Jewish community 

An Apocryphal work exists called “The Gospel of the Infancy” which seeks to give an account of the life of the family in Egypt but it is full of superstition and a work of fantasy.

Its is possible that Herod died just a year after the birth of Jesus and history attests that his death was of a horrible nature.

At his death our Lord is called out of Egypt once again at the command of an Angel and as Matthew takes pain to point out is in fulfillment of prophecy Hosea 11:1

Herod in an attempt to destroy this new King orders the massacre of children in the town of Bethlehem and the surrounding regions. This was not unlike Herod

Macrobins, a Heathen author, though the story is mixed and confounded with other things; who reports (p), that

“when Augustus heard, that among the children under two years of age, whom Herod king of the Jews ordered to be slain in Syria, that his son was also killed, said, it was better to be Herod’s hog than his son.” Saturn. lib. ii. c. 4. The point of this saying consists in this, that Herod, professing Judaism, his religion forbade his killing swine, or having any thing to do with their flesh; therefore his hog would have been safe, where his son lost his life.

Here again Matthew introduces to his Hebrew audience a further link to their authorative OT writings by applying Jeremiah 31:15 to this event as fulfillment of the prophetic.

Herod now dead leaves his rule to three sons, and the kingdom was at his death divided between them. To Archelaus was given Judea, Idumea, and Samaria; to Philip, Batanea and Trachonitis; to Antipas, Galilee and Perea.

Once again Joseph is spoken to in a dream and instructed to leave Egypt and return to Israel

Archeleus had a fearsome reputation like his father and had ordered the slaughter of 3000 worshippers in Jerusalem so Joseph was mindful to avoid his rule and this was confirmed in a dream. Joseph takes his family to Galilee, which came under the governorship of Herod Antipas who was mild in comparison. We see this in his treatment of John the Baptist.

And they came to live in Nazareth and once again Matthew affirms that this is to fulfill the prophets

that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene — better, perhaps, “Nazarene.” The best explanation of the origin of this name appears to be that which traces it to the word netzer in Isaiah 11:1 – the small twig, sprout, or sucker, which the prophet there says, “shall come forth from the stem (or rather, ‘stump’) of Jesse, the branch which should fructify from his roots.” The little town of Nazareth, mentioned neither in the Old Testament nor in Josephus, was probably so called from its insignificance: a weak twig in contrast to a stately tree; and a special contempt seemed to rest upon it – “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46) – over and above the general contempt in which all Galilee was held, from the number of Gentiles that settled in the upper territories of it, and, in the estimation of the Jews, debased it. Thus, in the providential arrangement by which our Lord was brought up at the insignificant and opprobrious town called Nazareth, there was involved, first, a local humiliation; next, an allusion to Isaiah’s prediction of His lowly, twig-like upspringing from the branchless, dried-up stump of Jesse; and yet further, a standing memorial of that humiliation which “the prophets,” in a number of the most striking predictions, had attached to the Messiah.

Matthew Intro & Chapter One

The Good News of Jesus
the Messiah
as reported by Matthew
Hebrew (Mattityahu)

Background to the Gospel

•The Author
•The Audience
•The Purpose
•Date of Composition
•The Cultural Setting

Matthew the author

•Matthew also called Levi
•Jewish Tax Collector in Capernaum
•Understood Greek, Aramaic, Hebrew
•Used Shorthand (invented in 63BC)
•Good knowledge of Hebrew Scriptures & access to Hebrew scrolls

In 63 BC Marcus Tullius, a friend of Cicero had invented a system of shorthand which was widely taught in the schools of the empire and was used to take down the speeches in the Roman senate.

The Audience & Purpose

Matthew wrote for the Jews
“To fully win the Jews for Christ”
His Gospel is Hebraistic making numerous references to the Old Testament and constantly referring to OT Scriptures to prove the Jesus is the Davidic Messiah

Date of Composition

Linguistic evidence points to a date of 44AD
Suggested date of 63AD – Irenaus Wrote
“Matthew issued a written gospel among the Hebrews in their own language while Paul and Peter were preaching in Rome”

Cultural Setting

•Palestine of the 1st Century ruled by Rome
•Christianity considered a sect of Judaism
•Majority of early converts Jewish

This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, son of David, son of Abraham

•This genealogy begins with Abraham unlike Luke’s which begins with Adam
•Three generations of 14
•Hebrew DVD (David) 4+6+4 = 14
•The origin of Israel, The Rise & Fall of Israel, The eclipse of Israel.

The genealogy may seem boring to us but this was of great importance to the Jewish reader who had been raised with a deep reverence for genealogical records as these would establish the validity of the priesthood, the descent of Israel’s kings and finally would establish the right to Messiahship.
The beginning of this list is understood to be a supernatural event with “Abraham becoming the father of Isaac” a supernatural birth…..the end of this list is supernatural “Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ”
It should be noted that the line of the Messiah does not follow the natural or expected route and every Jew would have to admit that “Judah” assumed the line of blessing rather than the firstborn “Reuben”.
Not only does this genealogy reveal that God doesn’t restrict himself to human tradition or standards but that he acts with sovereignty to establish his purposes.

God makes His own path

•Isaac – Supernatural child of promise
•Perez – Child of Judah’s sin
•Boaz – the son of Gentile Prostitute Rahab
•Solomon – Chosen out of David’s sons
•Jehoiachin – the Jewish dilemma

Isaac – not the firstborn
Judah & Tamar — tell the story
Rahab – Jericho
In this section three gentile women are included Tamar, Rahab & Ruth.
Jehoiachin – the Jewish dilemma – see OT Jer 22.30 no one of this line shall sit on the throne of David.

Joseph & Mary Betrothed

•Betrothal – Legal Binding Agreement
•Matthew 19:7 “Certificate of Divorce”
•Matthew 19:7 “Hardness of Heart”

Betrothal should not be confused with our engagement, this was a legal and binding covenant and unfaithfulness during this period was punishable by death
We see this elsewhere in the bible and this practice of a binding agreement prior to consummation explains difficult passages elsewhere.
The Jews said to Jesus “Moses said we could divorce if their was something we didn’t like” Jesus said it was not always this way and that this was given due to the hardness of heart.
We must realise that this allowance made by Moses was for the period of betrothal only as after consummation divorce was not an option. Deuteronomy 24:1

Joseph’s Dream

Joseph encouraged and instructed in a dream.
•God’s angel speaks clearly with no need for interpretation.
•Dream reveals the work of God in the introduction of Messiah.

“Joseph Son of David”

Joseph is spoken to by an angel in his dream, clearly he is instructed to take Mary as his wife and to understand that this child is “God among Us” the deliverer promised to Israel ….. See Abraham
Joseph Son of David – the angel affirms the legal title and lineage of Joseph and his right to confer on this son of Mary the legal right to David’s throne.
Joseph is introduced to the new concept of Virgin Birth and now see’s the answer to the long held Jewish dilemma
Joseph is shown that this child would be the deliverer of Israel, one who would take away the sins of his people.

The Culmination of God’s Special Revelation

•General Revelation
•Providential Revelation
•Special Revelation
•“The Virgin will conceive and bear a son, and they will call him Immanu El”
(The name means “God is with us)

The peoples of the nations had received from the very beginning a general revelation of God
They had also received and experienced a providential revelation of God
But these although sufficient to demonstrate the existence of God and His active concern for His creation it did not reveal the way of salvation
This special revelation began in the revealing of God’s acts in history, recorded in Holy Scripture so that His plan could be found and understood.
Jesus is the culmination of this special revelation both in scripture and by His appearance to men on earth “God among Us”

Awakening to obedience

The Example of Joseph
•He did not demand his rights
•He was compassionate
•He thought
•He listened
•He obeyed
•He had reverence

He obeyed despite the fact that by taking Mary as his wife he would be giving an indication of possible premarital sex and therefore damaging his reputation amongst his fellow Jews. “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife”

Promises fulfilled

•Messiah by legal descent
•Messiah by God’s order not man’s
•Messiah by miraculous promise & birth
•Messiah according to God’s chosen time
•An appointed birth, life & death