Transcript

Podcast Introduction

Today, we are going to read from the New Testament book of Matthew. Chapters 1 and 2. Before I read the chapters, I’ll give you a brief introduction the Matthew’s Gospel. I’m calling the show “Timing Is Everything”.

Comments on Matthew 1

Chapter one begins with the genealogy of Jesus, and if you are familiar with the Old Testament, many of the names in this genealogy will be familiar to you. Some highlights are Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (of course); Judah (you may have heard Jesus referred to as the “Lion of the tribe of Judah”); Amminadab; Boaz and Ruth; Jesse and his son David; and Solomon.

As we read the OT, more of the names in Jesus’ genealogy will become familiar to you. I used to think that this was just a long list of boring names, but the more we learn of these men, the more interesting the list becomes.

For example, did you know that one of Jesus’ ancestors was a prostitute? Another was a murderer? Stick around.

After the genealogy, Matthew tells us the account of the birth of Jesus. The betrothal of Joseph and Mary. That Mary became pregnant by the Holy Spirit, how Joseph wanted to break off the marriage agreement when he learned that she was pregnant, etc.

What a special family God the father chose to raise the Messiah in. Think about this. At this point in human history, God had been silent for 400 years. Many Jews were Jewish in name only. A bit like today, in fact. Sure, they went to temple but they didn’t have a true faith in God. They lived their lives by the Law of God, not the love of God.

But this man Joseph was a godly man, and a compassionate man. When he learned that his fiance was pregnant, he could have had her stoned to death. At the very least he could have disgraced her publicly. But an angel of God appeared to him in a dream and told him that the baby Mary carried was by God the Holy Spirit. And when he awoke, he did what the angel told him to do. He married Mary.

He could have chalked the dream and the vision up to a bad meal the night before. But Joseph was a man of faith. This was the perfect man to be step father for the Messiah.

And the young girl Mary. We don’t know her exact age, but she was most likely a young teenager. And despite her youth, her faith and humility were astonishing. We aren’t told much about her here in Matthew, so I won’t spend any time talking about her here. We’ll do that when we get Luke’s Gospel.

God waited until the perfect time in history to begin a new agreement, a new covenant, a new testament with humankind. And according to the Old Testament prophecies, it would come through the lineage of David. And both Joseph and Mary were descendants of David. And they were humble and God loving. The perfect family for the Messiah to be born into.

Today’s Bible Translation

Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 1-2 GW

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Transcript

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Matthew 1-2: Timing is Everything (LSFAB S13E007)

[TEASER]
God’s timing is always perfect.

[INTRO S13E007]
Podcasting since 2004, I’m your award-winning OG Godcaster, Steve Webb, and this is the Lifespring Family Audio Bible. I’m really glad you’re here. It’s great to see ya. You know a lot of you are new to this show, and I would love to know what brought you here. How’d you find the show? Did a friend tell you? Did you hear about the show on another podcast? If so, which one? Email me, at st***@*************ia.com and use the subject line “Here’s where I found you”. This is the daily podcast where we’ll read the entire Bible in a year. Stick around and before you know it, a year will have gone by and you’ll be able to say you’ve read the entire Bible. Every time I read through the Bible again, I’ve learned something new. I hope you’ll be able to say the same thing.

Today we’re gonna read from the New Testament book of Matthew, chapters 1 and 2. Before I read the chapters, I’ll give you a brief introduction to Matthew’s Gospel.

[OPENING PRAYER – 01:01]
Our Heavenly Father. I pray for each person who’s listening right now, the Lifespring family members. I pray that you’ll bless them and that the Holy Spirit will speak to their hearts as we read your word. Help each of us to understand and to respond to what we hear. We thank you for revealing yourself to us through your word and now I ask you to bless this time of reading. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Are you ready? Let’s begin.

[INTRO TO MATTHEW – 01:30]
Since this is our first reading of the Gospel according to Matthew, let’s start with an introduction, shall we? First, the word “gospel” means “good news”. It’s the good news of the salvation that Jesus of Nazareth brings to anyone who believes in him. Now, Matthew was one of the Twelve Disciples, and before Jesus called him, Matthew was a tax collector.

Now, when Jesus was on Earth, Israel was under Roman rule, actually was Roman occupation. And Matthew, a Jew, collected taxes for the Romans, so most Jews considered Matthew a traitor. Tax collectors were hated by the Jews, not only because they were working for the Romans, but because they often took more in taxes than they actually owed, and whatever excess they took in they kept for themselves. And many of those tax collectors became rich.

The book of Matthew was probably written somewhere between 55 and 65 AD during the early life of the church. And at that time, most Christians were Jewish converts, and that’s probably why Matthew wrote with a very Jewish perspective. He shows, often by quoting from the Old Testament, how Jesus fulfilled all the prophecies regarding the coming Messiah.

So let’s get started.

[MATTHEW 1 (GW) – 02:48]
Matthew, chapter 1.

(1) This is the list of ancestors of Jesus Christ, descendant of David and Abraham.

(2) Abraham was the father of Isaac,
Isaac the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.
(3) Judah and Tamar were the father and mother of Perez and Zerah.
Perez was the father of Hezron,
Hezron the father of Ram,
(4) Ram the father of Amminadab,
Amminadab the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon.
(5) Salmon and Rahab were the father and mother of Boaz.
Boaz and Ruth were the father and mother of Obed.
Obed was the father of Jesse,
(6) Jesse the father of King David.
David and Uriah’s wife Bathsheba were the father and mother of Solomon.
(7) Solomon was the father of Rehoboam,
Rehoboam the father of Abijah,
Abijah the father of Asa,
(8) Asa the father of Jehoshaphat,
Jehoshaphat the father of Joram,
Joram the father of Uzziah,
(9) Uzziah the father of Jotham,
Jotham the father of Ahaz,
Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,
(10) Hezekiah the father of Manasseh,
Manasseh the father of Amon,
Amon the father of Josiah.
(11) Josiah was the father of Jechoniah and his brothers.
They lived at the time when the people were exiled to Babylon.

(12) After the exile to Babylon,

Jechoniah became the father of Shealtiel.
Shealtiel was the father of Zerubbabel,
(13) Zerubbabel the father of Abiud,
Abiud the father of Eliakim,
Eliakim the father of Azor,
(14) Azor the father of Zadok,
Zadok the father of Achim,
Achim the father of Eliud,
(15) Eliud the father of Eleazar,
Eleazar the father of Matthan,
Matthan the father of Jacob.
(16) Jacob was the father of Joseph, who was the husband of Mary.
Mary was the mother of Jesus, who is called Christ.

(17) So there were

14 generations from Abraham to David,
14 generations from David until the exile to Babylon,
14 generations from the exile until the Messiah.

(18) The birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way: His mother Mary had been promised to Joseph in marriage. But before they were married, Mary realized that she was pregnant by the Holy Spirit. (19) Her husband Joseph was an honorable man and did not want to disgrace her publicly. So he decided to break the marriage agreement with her secretly.

(20) Joseph had this in mind when an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. The angel said to him, “Joseph, descendant of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife. She is pregnant by the Holy Spirit. (21) She will give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus which means He Saves, because he will save his people from their sins.” (22) All this happened so that what the Lord had spoken through the prophet came true: (23) “The virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they will name him Immanuel,” which means “God is with us.”

(24) When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him to do. He took Mary to be his wife. (25) He did not have marital relations with her before she gave birth to a son. Joseph named the child Jesus.

[MATTHEW 2 (GW) – 06:22]
Matthew, chapter 2.

(1) Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea when Herod was king. After Jesus’ birth wise men  from the east arrived in Jerusalem. (2) They asked, “Where is the one who was born to be the king of the Jews? We saw his star rising and have come to worship him.”

(3) When King Herod and all Jerusalem heard about this, they became disturbed. (4) He called together all the chief priests and the experts in the Scriptures and tried to find out from them where the Messiah was supposed to be born.

(5) They told him, “In Bethlehem in Judea. The prophet wrote about this:

(6) Bethlehem in the land of Judah,
you are by no means least among the leaders of Judah.
A leader will come from you.
He will shepherd my people Israel.”

(7) Then Herod secretly called the wise men and found out from them exactly when the star had appeared. (8) As he sent them to Bethlehem, he said, “Go and search carefully for the child. When you have found him, report to me so that I may go and worship him too.”

(9) After they had heard the king, they started out. The star they had seen rising led them until it stopped over the place where the child was. (10) They were overwhelmed with joy to see the star. (11) When they entered the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary. So they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

(12) God warned them in a dream not to go back to Herod. So they left for their country by another road.

(13) After they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. The angel said to him, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, because Herod intends to search for the child and kill him.”

(14) Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and left for Egypt that night. (15) He stayed there until Herod died. What the Lord had spoken through the prophet came true: “I have called my son out of Egypt.”

(16) When Herod saw that the wise men had tricked him, he became furious. He sent soldiers to kill all the boys two years old and younger in or near Bethlehem. This matched the exact time he had learned from the wise men. (17) Then the words spoken through the prophet Jeremiah came true:

(18) “A sound was heard in Ramah,
the sound of crying in bitter grief.
Rachel was crying for her children.
She refused to be comforted
because they were dead.”

(19) After Herod was dead, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt. (20) The angel said to him, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to Israel. Those who tried to kill the child are dead.”

(21) Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to Israel. (22) But when he heard that Archelaus had succeeded his father Herod as king of Judea, Joseph was afraid to go there. Warned in a dream, he left for Galilee (23) and made his home in a city called Nazareth. So what the prophets had said came true: “He will be called a Nazarene.”

[COMMENTS – 09:32]
Chapter 1 begins with the genealogy of Jesus, and if you’re familiar with the Old Testament, many of the names in this genealogy will be familiar to you. Some highlights are Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Judah, maybe you’ve heard Jesus referred to as the lion of the tribe of Judah. That’s this Judah. Another one would be Boaz and Ruth and Jesse and his son David. Yes, King David. And then David’s son, Solomon.

Well, as we read the Old Testament, more of the names in Jesus’ genealogy will become familiar to you. I used to think that this was just a long list of boring names and I usually skipped over it. But the more we learn of these men as we read the Old Testament, the more interesting the list becomes.

For example, did you know that one of Jesus ancestors was a prostitute and another was a murderer? Well, stick around.

After the genealogy, Matthew tells us the account of the birth of Jesus, the betrothal of Joseph and Mary, that Mary became pregnant by the Holy Spirit, how Joseph wanted to break off the marriage agreement when he learned that she was pregnant and so forth.

What a special, special family God the Father chose to raise the Messiah in. Think about this. At this point in human history, God had been silent for 400 years. Many Jews were Jewish in name only, a bit like today, in fact. Sure they went to Temple, but they didn’t have a true faith in God. They lived their lives by the Law of God, but not the love of God.

But this man, Joseph was a godly man and a compassionate man. When he learned that his fiancée was pregnant, he could have had her stoned to death. At the very least, he could have disgraced her publicly. But an angel of God appeared to him in a dream and told him that the baby Mary carried was by God the Holy Spirit. And then when he awoke, he did what the angel told him to. He married Mary.

He could have chalked the dream and the vision up to a bad meal the night before. But Joseph was a man of faith. This was the perfect man to be the stepfather for the Messiah.

And the young girl, Mary. We don’t know her exact age, but she was most likely a young teenager. And despite her youth, her faith and her humility were astonishing. Matthew doesn’t tell us much about her in his book, but we’ll spend more time talking about her when we get to Luke’s Gospel.

God’s timing is always perfect, and he waited until the perfect time in history to begin a new agreement, a new covenant, a New Testament with humankind. And according to the Old Testament prophecies that would come through the lineage of David. And listen up, both Joseph and Mary were descendants of David and they were humble and God-loving. The perfect family for the Messiah to be born into.

[LEAVE A COMMENT – 12:35]
Tomorrow is Epistles Sunday, and we’ll be back in the book of Romans, one of my favorite books of the Bible. We’ll read chapters 3 and 4. Romans is such a rich book. I’m always open to your comments. Call the Lifespring Family Hotline at 951-732-8511. If you’re outside the US put a +1 at the beginning of that number.

You can also comment on the show notes page for this episode at lifespringmedia.com/s13e007, or email me at st***@*************ia.com. There’s a good chance I’ll play your audio comment or read your comment on the show.

[DONOR THANKS AND WAYS TO SUPPORT THE SHOW – 13:13]
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[SIGN UP FOR THE NEWSLETTER – 14:47]
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[OUTRO S13E007 – 15:10]
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Until tomorrow, may God bless you richly. Thank you for being here today. My name is Steve Webb. Bye.

Transcript corrected by Denise