DECEMBER 20 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#1-33 SUMMARY-06 The Gospel of Matthew: A Study of the Life, Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ

 DECEMBER 20  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#1-33 SUMMARY-06   The Gospel of Matthew: A Study of the Life, Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ 

LIVING FOR JESUS - Daily Prayer   

JESUS, today is another day with the Light that You have provided for all. All deserve death and were it not for Your Mercy, Your Grace, and Your Great Sacrifice on the Cross at Calvary to purchase our Redemption from the punishment of our many iniquities, we would still be lost in darkness — Lord let us “lean not” on our own understanding but give us the wisdom to let You Guide our steps and Light our path! 

Jesus we are so undeserving of the Mercies that You Renew each morning because of who You ARE, You shower us with blessings, so Lord Jesus I offer up that which I have — my praise and prayers; praise for You and prayers for others — keeping neither for myself for Your Grace is Sufficient for me! Forgive me for all the ways that I have failed You and keep me centered in Your Will!    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus was not only proven to be the Messiah by the evidence of His Birth to a “virgin” (a young Jewish girl who had nothing to gain but death from stoning by claiming her Child was the Son of the Most High God) Jesus was also linked to the “purpose” of the Messiah by outside forces that He could not have manipulated as a Child. The purpose of the “Messiah” in both Jewish tradition and today’s Christian denominations is one of “Kingship” which became an issue that pointed to Jesus as the “Anointed One” when the then King of Israel, King Herod met with the “wise men from the East” who had traveled to Jerusalem and were asking, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.” (Matthew 2:1-2)

This inquiry from credible “wise men” that knew of the “birth” of the “King of the Jews” that had seen a “sign” in the heavens and knew that the event had happened in Judea as noted by their statement “has been born” caught the attention of the then seated king of Judea, King Herod. “When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when [Herod] had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, [Herod] inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. So they said to him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judea…’ and then the chief priests and scribes quoted the prophet Micah who wrote ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are not the least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you shall come a Ruler who will shepherd My people Israel.’” (Matthew 2:3-6 and Micah 5:2) 

Modern Jews do not accept that Jesus is the “Messiah” and their main argument is that the “mashiach” is a human and not God and will be a human leader like King David, and this human “mashiach”  will win great battles for Israel and not just be a “savior” who will save “His people from their sins”. The Judaism concept of “mashiach” is of a human that will rebuild the temple, re-establish traditional Jewish worship in the re-built temple, and also “mashiach” will establish a government in Jerusalem making it the center of all world government.  

Herod however was not concerned about these concepts of the “one born King of the Jews” but Herod was concerned about the “kingship” of one that had fulfilled prophecy! Herod was concerned enough that he tried to enlist the services of the wise men in finding the “King of the Jews” but when the wise men did not return to Herod, Herod “sent forth [Herod’s soldiers] and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under…” (Matthew 2:7-16) 

But this act of Herod reacting to prophecy about “one who has been born King of the Jews” was also prophetic in its execution as the prophet Jeremiah had noted that there would be “A voice heard in Ramah, lamentation, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”  (Jeremiah 31:15)  Matthew documented that “Divine Intervention” on behalf of Jesus came as an “angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream” after the wise men had bestowed gifts on the “young Child” Jesus and the angel said, “Arise take the young Child and His mother, and flee to Egypt” … thus fulfilling the prophecy by Hosea stating “Out of Egypt I called My Son” (Hosea 11:1) 

The simple fact that all these events came about while Jesus was still a “young Child” are events that are historical facts and had they been fabricated after the crucifixion of Jesus they would have been quickly refuted by the Jewish rulers and the chief priests and scribes that had called for the Crucifixion of Jesus; however, the only records that exist support Jesus as having fulfilled the prophecy of the “Messiah/mashiach” according to the prophets of old. 

So Matthew in the first 3 chapters of his Gospel of Jesus Christ has established as historical fact that Jesus has already, at the young age of 2 or 3 years old, fulfilled 4 prophecies written hundreds of years earlier by God’s own prophets and these 4 critical prophecies and their fulfillment could not have been “fabricated” without receiving great criticism from the chief priests and scribes! If it were the apostles and disciples of Jesus that had “fabricated” the stories after the death of Jesus, their fabrication would have resulted in their own deaths and the Gospel of Jesus Christ and His Divine Truth would not be documented so well in the New Testament which has been Divinely Protected for thousand of years, which only adds credence to the claim that Jesus IS CHRIST!!!