THE SECOND PART: A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
The Gospel according to Matthew
Message One—Christ as the Wonderful Center of the Entire Bible
Scripture Reading: Matt. 16:16; 4:16; 9:12, 15-17, 36, 38; 15:26-27; 28:18-19
I. Although the Gospel of Matthew is a book on the kingdom, it is also a revelation of the all-inclusive Christ; it is a great blessing to see the revelation of Christ in this book—Matt. 16:16-17:
A. Christ is the heavenly King—2:1-2; 21:5:
1. Matthew proves that Jesus is the King, the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament—1:1, 17; 2:1-2; 27:11, 37.
2. The heavenly King did not come with haughty splendor but with gentle, humble meekness—21:5.
B. The Lord Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God—16:16:
1. The Christ refers to the anointed One of God and speaks of the Lord’s commission to accomplish God’s eternal purpose through His crucifixion, resurrection, ascension and second coming—vv. 21, 27.
2. The Son of the living God speaks of His person, which embodies the Father and consummates in the Spirit for a full expression of the Triune God—John 14:10-11a; 1 Cor. 15:45b.
C. Christ is the Son of Man—Matt. 8:20; 11:19; 13:37; 16:13:
1. Christ is the man who brings God’s dominion to earth and makes God’s name excellent on earth—9:6; 12:8; 13:41; 16:27-28.
2. In order for the kingdom of the heavens to be established, the Lord Jesus stood as a victorious man—a man who could defeat Satan and withstand any hardship, opposition, or attack—4:4; 12:40; 26:64.
D. Christ is the Baptizer—3:11:
1. The Lord’s baptism in the Holy Spirit, which is based on His redemption, initiated the kingdom of the heavens, bringing His believers into the kingdom of the heavens—v. 12a.
2. The Lord’s baptism in fire, which is based on His judgment, will conclude the kingdom of the heavens, putting the unbelievers into the lake of fire—v. 12b.
E. Christ is the light of life shining in the darkness of death—4:12-16:
1. Christ’s ministry for the kingdom of the heavens began not with earthly power but with heavenly light.
2. The Lord Jesus did not start a movement or a revolution; rather, He attracted the disciples to Himself as the great light for the establishment of the kingdom of the heavens.
F. In calling people to follow Him for the kingdom, Christ ministered as a Physician and revealed Himself as the Bridegroom—9:9-15:
1. He came as a Physician to heal and enliven us so that we might be reconstituted to be citizens of the kingdom of the heavens—vv. 9-13.
2. We need to appreciate Him as the Bridegroom that we might have the enjoyment of living in His presence—vv. 14-15.
G. Christ is the unfulled cloth for making a new garment—v. 16; Luke 5:36:
1. From His incarnation to His crucifixion, He was the unfulled cloth for making a new garment.
2. Through His death and resurrection Christ was made a new garment to cover us as our righteousness before God that we might be justified by God and be acceptable to Him—15:22; Gal. 3:27; 1 Cor. 1:30.
H. The individual Christ is the new wine, and the corporate Christ is the fresh wineskin—Matt. 9:17:
1. The new wine signifies Christ as the new life, full of vigor and cheering strength, stirring us to excitement and satisfying us.
2. The fresh wineskin signifies the corporate Christ, the outward container that holds the new wine—1 Cor. 12:12.
I. Christ is the Shepherd and the Lord of the harvest—Matt. 9:35-38:
1. In His ministry for the establishing of His heavenly kingdom, the Lord Jesus ministered as a Shepherd—vv. 35-36.
2. If we see the vision of Christ as the Lord of the harvest, we will beseech Him to thrust out workers into His harvest—vv. 37-38.
J. Christ is the Friend of sinners and the wisdom of God—11:19:
1. As the Friend of sinners, Christ sympathizes with their problems and senses their grief—v. 19a.
2. Whatever Christ did was done by the wisdom by God, which is Himself; this wisdom was vindicated by His wise works—v. 19b; 1 Cor. 1:24, 30.
K. Christ is the One who gives rest—Matt. 11:28-30:
1. To take the Lord’s yoke is to take the will of the Father and to be constrained by the will of the Father—v. 29; John 4:34; 5:30; 6:38.
2. Because the Lord was always satisfied with the Father’s will, He always had rest in His heart; now He asks us to learn from Him—Matt. 11:28-30.
L. Christ is the greater Jonah—12:39-41; 16:4:
1. Jonah is a type of Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection—12:39-41.
2. For the evil and adulterous Jewish and religious generation, the Lord Jesus would do nothing but die and be resurrected as the greatest sign to them that they might be saved if they would believe—16:4.
M. Christ is the bread and crumbs under the table—15:21-38:
1. God’s economy is not a matter of outward things but of Christ coming into us as food—vv. 26, 34, 36.
2. We need to take in the edible Christ by eating Him as bread, even as the crumbs under the table—v. 27.
N. Christ in His humanity is the resurrected One with all authority in heaven and on earth—28:18-19:
1. In His humanity, as the Son of Man and the heavenly King, all authority was given to Christ after His resurrection—v. 18.
2. Because the Gospel of Matthew is concerned for the kingdom and the kingdom requires authority, in Matthew Christ’s resurrection is a matter of authority for discipling the nations—v. 19.
II. The Gospel of Matthew is full of the riches of Christ; we need to worship Him, enjoy Him, and experience Him as the wonderful, all-inclusive One—2:11; 28:9, 17; 17:5.
Ministry Excerpts:
The first name and the last name (Rev. 22:21) in the New Testament is Jesus, proving that Jesus Christ is the subject and content of the New Testament. The Bible is a book of life, and this life is a living person, the wonderful and all-inclusive Christ. The Old Testament gives a portrait, in types and prophecies, of this wonderful person as the Coming One. Now, in the New Testament, this wonderful person has come. The first page of the New Testament, in recommending this wonderful person to us, gives us His genealogy. This genealogy can be considered an abstract of the Old Testament, which in itself is the detailed genealogy of Christ. To understand the genealogy in Matthew, we need to trace the origin and history of every incident.
Christ, as the wonderful center of the entire Bible, is all-inclusive, having many aspects. The New Testament at its beginning presents four biographies to portray the four main aspects of this all-inclusive Christ. The Gospel of Matthew testifies that He is the King, the Christ of God prophesied in the Old Testament, who brings the kingdom of the heavens to the earth. The Gospel of Mark tells us that He is the Servant of God, laboring for God faithfully. Mark’s account is most simple, for a servant does not warrant a detailed record. The Gospel of Luke presents a full picture of Him as the only proper and normal man who ever lived on this earth; as such a man, He is the Savior of mankind. The Gospel of John unveils Him as the Son of God, the very God Himself, who is life to God’s people. Among the four Gospels, Matthew and Luke have a record of genealogy; Mark and John do not. To testify that Jesus is the King, the Christ of God prophesied in the Old Testament, Matthew needs to show us the antecedents and status of this King, to prove that He is the proper successor to the throne of David. To prove that Jesus is a proper and normal man, Luke needs to show the generations of this man, to attest that He is qualified to be the Savior of mankind. For the record of a servant, Mark does not need to tell us His origin. To unveil that Jesus is the very God, neither does John need to give us His human genealogy; rather, he declares that, as the Word of God, He is the very God in the beginning. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Matthew 1:1, footnote 1)
A SKETCH OF CHRIST IN THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW
Jehovah Plus
Therefore, we need to see the real structure of this book. The first chapter tells us that Christ was the son of David and the son of Abraham, and He was born of a virgin, Mary, and given the name Jesus. Yet, His name shall be called Emmanuel. Jehovah is included in the name Jesus, and God is included in the name Emmanuel. So in both of the names of Christ, Jesus and Emmanuel, Jehovah God is included. This indicates that this wonderful son of David and Abraham is not simply human, but also divine. He is God Himself plus something more. The Jewish people have God, but they do not have God plus. They have Jehovah, but they do not have Jehovah plus. But we have God with us, and we have Jehovah the Savior. This is something in addition to what the Hebrews have, and this is Jesus. Hallelujah for such a wonderful One!
For Jesus to be Jehovah plus and God plus, there was the need of a long, long journey. He started this journey from Genesis 3:15, just at the time Satan came into humanity. The incarnation of Jesus was purposeful, planned by God in eternity past, even before the heavens and earth were created. In eternity past God made a plan with Himself. Then He came to accomplish His plan firstly by creation. “And God said, Let us make man in our image” (Gen. 1:26). It seems that God had a conference. There is only one God, yet this mysterious one God is triune! He had a conference with Himself in order to make man in His image.
Why did God make man in His image? It is because man was made to be God’s container, and the container must be in the form of the content. If something is square, we would not make a round container. A glove is made according to the image of a hand, because a glove is made for a hand to be put into it. Praise the Lord, man was made in God’s image with the intention that one day God would be put into him. Romans 9:23 tells us that we are vessels. We are God’s vessels; we are God’s container.
God purposed that one day He would be incarnated. Then He created man in His image and built a wife for him. But the wife became the back door through which the subtle one came into humanity. He thought that he had caught man, but he did not know that he was the one that was caught. Humanity eventually became a trap to Satan. He got into man, but he was also caught in man. Therefore, immediately after Satan came into man, the prophecy concerning the incarnation of Christ began. Genesis 3:15 says that the seed of woman will bruise the serpent’s head. Therefore Hebrews 2:14 tells us that Christ in the flesh through death destroyed the devil.
The incarnation was not an accident. It was planned and scheduled from eternity past. And, praise the Lord, it was accomplished! And by the accomplishment of incarnation, a wonderful Person came. As soon as He was born religion rose up against Him, and He was forced to go to Galilee of the Gentiles (Matt. 4:15) to settle in a small, poor, and lowly town by the name of Nazareth. This is why He was called a Nazarene according to the Scriptures. He was a wonderful Person, yet He became a Nazarene (Matt. 2:23).
The Seed of Woman to Bruise Satan
As the righteous One, He was tempted by Satan in the wilderness (Matt. 4:1-11). But Satan’s temptation was God’s test. God put this righteous One under Satan’s temptation. God seemed to say, “Satan, try this One. You tried Adam, and Adam failed. Now try this One.” Satan tried, but this time he failed! Satan tempted Him to abandon His standing of being a man. He said, “If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread” (Matt. 4:3). If you or I were the Lord, we would probably have answered his challenge, and turned the stones into bread. But listen to how the Lord Jesus answered. “It is written, Man shall not live….” (Matt. 4:4). It seems that the Lord was telling Satan, “I am a man. Yes, I am the Son of God, but I take the position of a man. Don’t you remember what God said in Genesis 3:15? He said the seed of the woman would bruise your head. Now I have come as the seed of woman. Don’t tempt Me to act as the Son of God. I am the Son of Man, and I have come to bruise you!” Hallelujah! This is Jesus, the seed of woman!
In His answer to Satan, He also told us how He lived by feeding on the Word of God. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4). The word that proceeded out of God’s mouth was His nourishment. He was a man who lived by feeding on God’s Word.
The Attracting Light
It was such a man that eventually became the great light. “The people which sat in darkness saw a great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up” (Matt. 4:16). Before this man came, the whole situation was in darkness. But He came as a great light, shining over all the darkness. Then this great light attracted the disciples (Matt. 4:18-22). When I was young I could not understand why Peter and Andrew, James and John left their fishing and mending works so quickly to follow the Lord. Jesus just asked them to follow Him, and immediately they came. If you or I were to say this, no one would follow us. But the disciples abandoned their works, gave up their father, and their boat, and followed Jesus. Why? It must have been some kind of attraction. This man Jesus was really an attraction. Once Jesus appears, you will be attracted; you cannot escape. He is the great light, and by His shining so many were attracted.
One with God
Following this, we have Matthew 5—7, where Jesus gives the teaching on the mount. When He came down He began to travel through the promised land. In all those travelings He behaved in a marvelous way. On the one hand He suffered persecution, but on the other hand He was approved by the religion that existed. However, He was always one with God. There was no discrepancy between Him and God. When the circumstances were poor, He would still thank the Father (Matt. 11:25). When we are in good circumstances, it is easy to thank the Lord, but it is not so easy otherwise. To build up the church, we need such a life. We need a life that is one with God the Father. We need a life that has no discrepancy with God’s work. Our life is not this kind of life. Therefore, we are not qualified for the church building. There is only one life that is qualified, the life of Jesus. Jesus is the life that is absolutely one with the Father. There is no discrepancy between Him and the Father.
Greater than Everything
During this time Jesus revealed Himself to the people as the greater Temple (12:6), the greater Jonah (12:44), the greater Solomon (12:42), and the Lord of the Sabbath (12:8). Many Christians love the Gospel of John because it tells us that Jesus is the life, the truth, the way, the door, and so many other things. But some of the things Matthew revealed, John never touched. John did not tell us that Jesus was the greater Solomon. Neither did he tell us that Jesus was the Lord of the Sabbath. In Matthew, we see that Jesus is greater than everything, because He is everything! If we have Him, we have God’s dwelling place. If we have Him, we have God’s prophet, God’s insight, and God’s wisdom. If we have Him, we have God’s authority and kingship. And if we have Him, we have the real rest.
Broken Reeds and Smoking Flax
Jesus is such a wonderful person! He is not only wonderful with God, but also with man. He never breaks a bruised reed, and He never quenches smoking flax (Matt. 12:20). In ancient times, the Jewish children made the reeds into a kind of musical instrument. Whenever the reed was bruised, it would not emit the proper sound, so the children would break it. But Jesus never breaks any bruised reed. Sometimes we are just as these bruised instruments. We should give forth a good sound, but we do just the opposite. As a rule we should be broken, but Jesus would never do that. He would come in to rearrange us that the beautiful music might come forth.
The Mysterious Jesus
While Jesus was traveling and saying so many wonderful things, the religious ones were continually questioning Him. The Pharisees, the ancient fundamentalists, and the Sadducees, the ancient modernists, joined together with the political parties to question Him (Matt. 22:15-40). They tried their utmost to pin Him down, but they just could not. He is the wisest of all men; He answered all of their questions. When they finished, He asked them a question. “What think ye of Christ? whose son is he?” (Matt. 22:42). The religious ones who had the knowledge of the Bible quickly answered that He was the son of David. Then Jesus answered, “How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool? If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?” (Matt. 22:43-45). They could not answer Him. And from that time they asked Him no more questions.
The Cross-bearing Life
Another point about Christ which we must see is that He saved others, but He would not save Himself. “Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him” (Matt. 27:41-42). To be qualified for the church life we must have such a life. Never save yourself. When others put you on the cross, you must remain there. This is the right place for you to be. Let others say that you can do so many things to save others, but you cannot save yourself. You have to say, “Amen!” This is the cross-bearing life. We can save others, but we cannot save ourselves. This is the life that bears the cross all the time.
The Processed God
To reach the resurrected Christ, we have traveled from chapter one to chapter twenty-eight of Matthew. Before the incarnation in chapter one, the promise of the seed of the woman traveled four thousand years from Genesis 3:15. Then the seed of woman came in chapter one and from chapter one to twenty-eight, He was fully processed to become the resurrected Christ. Now He is no longer just God, but the God who has traveled through incarnation, human living, crucifixion, burial, and resurrection. He is God, plus so many items. He is God, who after being made flesh took a further step by death and resurrection to become the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45). This is the processed God. The resurrected Christ is the processed God. Before the incarnation He was the “raw” God, but now He has been fully processed. For God to be incarnated was a real process. For Him to live thirty-three and a half years on this earth, raised by a poor family, persecuted by religion, and finally crucified on a cross was also a real process. Then He passed through death and went into resurrection. By resurrection He was fully processed to become the life-giving Spirit.
A Mystical Union with the Triune God
To baptize people into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit really has a deeper meaning than most have realized. For years I had seen that this verse signifies the putting of people into the Triune God, but I did not have the confirmation of any other record. Therefore, I hesitated to say this. Then one day I obtained a set of books entitled, Word Studies of the New Testament, by M. R. Vincent. In one of these books, Mr. Vincent comments about baptizing into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as recorded in Matthew 28:19. He says, “Into denotes union or communion with, as in Romans 6:3. Baptizing into the name of the Holy Trinity implies a spiritual and mystical union with Him. The name is the expression of the sum total of the divine being. It is equivalent to His person. His name is of no avail detached from His nature. When one is baptized into the name of the Trinity, he professes to acknowledge and appropriate God in all that He is and all that He does for man.”
Isn’t this wonderful? Now we can understand what it means to be baptized into the name of the Triune God. It is to be put into this mystical union with Him, and to appropriate whatever God is into our being. The purpose of this is to produce the church.
Now we have seen a sketch of Christ in the Gospel of Matthew. He was the son of David and the Son of Abraham, born of a virgin with the names of Jesus and Emmanuel. Eventually He passed through all the processes to become the life-giving Spirit. Now we are to be baptized into Him, into the Triune God.
Having been baptized into Him, we can partake of all that He is, for He is in us. To do this we must exercise our spirit. “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (Matt. 5:3). We have a willing spirit (Matt. 26:41). Our flesh is weak, but our spirit is strong. So we must exercise our spirit and call Him Lord as David did (Matt. 22:43). We can call Him Lord in spirit. When we do this, He becomes so practical to us in our daily life. This is for the building up of the church. (The Wonderful Christ in the Canon of the New Testament, ch. 5)