The first page of the New Testament opens in the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew was a tax collector who had been disbarred from the temple and excommunicated from his faith because of his profession. He became a follower of Jesus and witnessed His resurrection. Matthew’s book is one of four biographies of Jesus’ life in the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Each account takes a slightly different angle on the Messiah’s life.
Matthew starts his account, “This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matthew 1:1 NIV). Matthew was making clear that this wasn’t just the story of one man’s life. It was the story of how God kept His promise to Abraham – that because of his faith, his family would become a nation and they would bless the world. It was the story of how God kept His promise to David – that from David’s line, a King would be born who would reign over a kingdom that would never end.
Matthew packed a lot of meaning into that first line of the New Testament.
The genealogy itself is interesting if you get into it. It’s a list of all the messy, real people whose lives led to Jesus’ birth. Then Matthew gets to the part of the story we are very familiar with. “This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 1:18 NIV).
Joseph considered quietly divorcing Mary because she was obviously either lying or crazy. Either option was easier to believe than a virgin becoming pregnant with God’s child. An angel came to Joseph in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:20-21 NIV).
Jesus became the dividing line between BC and AD, between before and after. In Matthew’s account, the angel said to call him Jesus, “ because he will save his people from their sins.” Jesus did that for us. In His name, there is life, there is hope, and there is healing. In His name, there is grace for sinners. In His name, there is resurrection, because He made it so life could come from death.
Matthew ended his account by saying, “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’ (which means “God with us”)” (Matthew 1:22-23 NIV). The key phrase here is “all this.” Matthew tied everything from the Garden of Eden all the way to Jesus’ birth up in a neat little package for us. The Old Testament was about Jesus, and the Old Testament matters to us because of Jesus.
“All this” happened so God could keep His promises: His promise in the Garden to send a Savior, His promise to Abraham of a descendant that would bless the world, and His promise to David that a King of his line that would never be toppled from His throne.
“All this” happened so God could be with us: Immanuel. Whenever you read the Christmas story, remember that. The Author of the story entered into the story to make us a part of the story. That story is all about God with us – God with you and God with me. No matter how dark and how quiet life may get, you never have to wonder where God is. He is with you.
