MATTHEW's READERSHIP

Have you ever been to a Bible study and you open up at Matthew ch1 only to hear grumbles from one and all?...        

“Aw, not another boring genealogy!”                                                          

Contrast this with a Jew who finally finds the courage to open the B’rit Hadashah (NT) only to be both shocked and thrilled to learn that Jesus is not a Catholic afterall but that He is a Jew!...                                                       

‘Jesus Christ (Messiah), son of David, son of Abraham’  

The prophets foretold that the coming 'Branch of David' would have 4 aspects:

• The Branch of the Lord – Son of God presented by John
• The Man Branch – Son of Man presented by Luke
• My Servant the Branch – the serving Son of Man presented by Mark

and finally...

• A Branch of righteousness, A KING (Jer 23:5 &
  33:15)            

THE KING of the JEWS gets to be presented by the much despised Jewish tax-collector Matthew on the very first page in ch2:2!

Each of the 4 gospel accounts have an obvious targeted readership: Matthew for the Jew, Mark for the Roman, Luke for the Greek and John for the Christian.                                                                                             

What does all this have to do with End Times? 

It is vitally important that we get this sorted if we are to rightly interpret the Olivet Discourse which Matthew will devote 2 chapters to.

Let’s check all those many references where Matthew shows that his intended readership was the Jews.......NEXT. 

Back to Basics #10: BLESSINGS OF JACOB and MOSES

Notice that Jacob blesses Joseph’s sons first, then all 6 of wife Leah’s sons...and watch for the fulfilments of Genesis 49 & Deut 33, especially in End Times: 

Ephraim (double fruit) ‘shall become a multitude of nations’. Led the division of the nation of Israel, which will finally be healed. Ezekiel 37:16-22

Manasseh (causing to forget) Yup, easy to forget this seemingly insignificant older grandson whose tribe split in half, but... he gets recognised in every tribal blessing... even among the 144,000 witnesses!                                                                                                        

Megiddo in the Jezreel Valley (Manasseh territory) has seen enormous bloodshed and is where oil & gas is being searched for today. Winston Churchill: “Never in the field of human conflict have so many fought so often over so little space.”                                 Watch this space – Armageddon!

1. Lustful Reuben - ‘shall not excel’ yet ‘let him live and not die’.     Settled east of the Jordan and taken captive by Assyria
2. Cruel Simeon – ‘scattered’         Not blessed by Moses!                Warriors reduced by 63% after 38 years in wilderness
3. Cruel Levi – ‘scattered’    Never inherited Promised Land.         Dedicated to Levitical service after faithful response against idolatry at Mt. Sinai. Finally lived in 48 cities among other tribes. 
4. Judah the lion is praiseworthy.  “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes and to Him shall be the obedience of the peoples”
5. Dan - the ‘snake in the grass’   Led Israel into idolatry           Passed over in the spiritual Chronicles and excluded from 144,000 witnesses. Possibly tribe of antichrist but a remnant will survive. 
6. Active Naphtali - uses beautiful words.  Galilee of nations will see a great light (Is 9) and produce 11 disciples/apostles. 
7. War-like Gad will be tramped by Assyria but... a remnant will triumph happy.
8. Asher will enjoy great food yet produce no judge, no hero but....there’s Anna.  No wonder Asher is happy – he gets his foot dipped in oil! Deut 33:24 The gas/oil fields
   under the Mediterranean are offshore from Haifa.
9. Both Issacher and...
10. Zebulun will dwell comfortably mixing with Gentiles.                         The home territory of Nazareth.
11. Fruitful Joseph – will enjoy ‘blessings of the deep that lies beneath’. Finally scores double blessing with Manasseh among 144,000 witnesses.
12. Ravenous Benjamin will nearly self-destroy but still enjoy shelter with Judah

Back to Basics #9: DUST OF THE EARTH

 Rebekah had packed Jacob off ‘for a few days’ and Isaac told him to ’take a wife’ from uncle Laban’s daughters.  That’s a journey more than 1000kms!

On the way, Jacob spent a night on a wooded ridge resting his head on some rocks for pillows. This is his first visit to Bethel: ‘the house of God’. 

He dreams of a ladder reaching to heaven and look!...God the “I AM” of Jacob’s fathers even spoke and UNCONDITIONALLY PROMISED that land to him and his seed:       

“Thy seed shall be as THE DUST OF THE EARTH”                                                      

No stars of heaven for Jacob, like it was for grandad Abe and dad Isaac – this is real down-to-earth stuff.  Jacob then tried his bargaining with God too!...IF YOU HELP ME then ‘the Lord will be my God’.  28:11-22 

Years later after some very ugly family mess, the “I AM God of Bethel” very graciously now calls Jacob back to Bethel (31:13) to finally ratify that great unconditional land grant.

“I AM God Almighty...the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land.”  35:12

It gets even more impressive!            

Jacob has had his name changed to Isra’el: ‘He will rule as God’  32:28

No matter what skulduggery Jacob’s polygamous family of rascals get up to, God Almighty has given this family His prime real estate – the pivot of Africa, Asia and Europe – and this is who He has chosen to bless all families of the Earth thru.

God Almighty has done it – so we’d better get used to it! 

Back to Basics #8: GOD's SICK JOKE ??

 Okay, we found Abraham was a man of faith in God, and son Isaac represents the risen Christ in heaven, but now we come to... Jacob.

Dear God, your unconditional promises have sure painted you into a corner with this one!

This guy Jacob is no man of great faith like Grandad, no heavenly man like Dad – this is mummy’s boy who seems to have hung around for her amazing cooking for 75 years before she finally gave him a nudge! He then cheats his older brother, deceives his dad, and after being outwitted by Uncle Laban, outwits him too!                                                  

C’mon Jacob what’s wrong with you man, falling for weak-eyed Leah?  Too much to drink at the reception? Couldn’t find your spectacles?

Next comes polygamy and a bunch of rascal kids from all those wives who bargain to sleep with him...  Daughter Dinah brings shame on the family; Simeon & Levi murder innocent males and steal women, children & livestock; Reuben sleeps with Dad’s concubine ; they all gang up on young Joseph and keep Dad believing he’s dead for over a decade ; Judah sleeps with his daughter-in-law ... 

You’re going to build this guy’s family into a great nation AND... you’re going to give them all this prime real estate AND... it will be a blessing for all families of the Earth??                                                                         

You even divided the nations at Babel according to the number of Jacob’s family migrating later to Egypt?                                                                                           

You’re kidding us aren’t you God? This must be some sick joke!

Or is it?                                                                                                               

What happened at Bethel.....NEXT  

Back to Basics #7: ISAAC the HEAVENLY MAN

We’re exploring whether God distinguishes between His heavenly people and His earthly people – is this played out in Abraham’s family?                   

Let’s look at Isaac first...

“We brethren, as Isaac was, are children of Promise” Gal 2:28

• 1^st child named by God: “What a laugh!”
• Child of promise, recognised by God as the only son
• 1^st child to be circumcised at 8 days old. Ouch!
• Was loved by his father – the first biblical mention of love!
• Was offered for sacrifice in the land of Moriah ~1900 yrs  before Messiah was crucified there
• Abraham’s servant found Isaac’s bride-to-be. Rebekah said: “I will go”
• Loved his wife Rebekah
• Monogamous: only 1 wife - no concubines for Isaac!
• Inherited all from Abraham
• NEVER HAGGLES OVER EARTHLY REAL ESTATE!
• Never left the Promised Land and was noted for his well-sinking
• Never resorted to worldly Egypt
• Was 50 yrs old when Shem died at 600 – the last personal witness of the Great Flood!
• For his first 40 years, only recorded as saying...                                       “My father, where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

God reaffirmed the Promises to Isaac...                                                                             

“I will make thy seed to multiply AS THE STARS OF HEAVEN, and will give unto thy seed ALL THESE COUNTRIES; and in thy seed shall ALL THE NATIONS OF THE EARTH be blessed.”

Notice how Hebrews reminds us... “Therefore sprang there even of one (Sarah) and him as good as dead (Abe) so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea-shore innumerable” 11:12

...then spells it out for us: “By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said: ‘That in Isaac shall thy seed be called’, accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead; FROM WHENCE ALSO HE RECEIVED HIM IN A FIGURE”  11:17-19

Do you see any likeness in Isaac to the risen and ascended Christ in heaven, worthy of his heavenly people, the virgin bride?

Back to Basics #6: GOD COMMITS IRREVOCABLY!

It’s time we looked at those promises to the Patriarchs, beginning with Abraham.                                                                                                         

Why do we have to go all the way back to Genesis?                         

This is the foundation for all of Holy Scripture – where everything of importance gets its first mention - even the types in Church teaching!                             

Miss this and our understanding of End Times is screwed.

Watch carefully as God paints Himself into a corner with His UNCONDITIONAL PROMISES to this very strange family...

First God begins with 4 ‘I WILLs’ giving a 3-fold promise:                       

• Show you a LAND
• Make of you a great NATION
• Bless you and make you a BLESSING.  "Bless those that bless you and curse those who curse you"       ch12

Next God gives Abraham the tenure over that Land for his seed as the dust of the earth – FOREVER!                            13:14-17

Then the “I AM” defines the boundaries of that Land with a blood covenant: from the river of Egypt all the way to the Euphrates!       Ch 15

Followed by the 3^rd “I AM”...that ratifies the EVERLASTING COVENANT, and promises a son – Isaac.  ch17

Finally Abraham has the blessing – of not just Isaac...

• he has the HEAVENLY BLESSING: ‘the stars of heaven’ and...
• he has the EARTHLY BLESSING: ‘the sand on the sea shore’

There you have the clear distinction between the spiritual and the natural:

“the faith of Abraham who is the father of us all”  Romans 4:16 (spiritual)

“I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham...” Romans 11:1 (earthly)

 Abe is the first recognised prophet, was NOT a Jew, never owned more than cemetery, saw the Promised Land as ‘strange’ – he desired a ‘heavenly country’.

 The distinction between God’s heavenly people and His earthly people is played out in his family – son Isaac & grandson Jacob.....NEXT.

Back to Basics #5: GOD'S SUDDEN BRAINWAVE?

Did God just get a brainwave over making one family special, after seeing a guy named Abram doesn’t worship idols like his father does?                             

Or was it planned long before?

“God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew...” Romans 11:2

In Luke 3, Jesus’ ancestry thru Mary is carefully detailed, all the way back to Adam, ‘the son of God’.   

How is this possible?                                                                                                         

“Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in ALL the Scriptures.”  Luke 24:27

When we go back to Genesis we find the compilation of 11 ‘toledoths’ or family records of Jacob’s ancestry – Mr. Israel. It is the ancestry of the nation of Israel at conception.

According to Deuteronomy 32:8 here is what Moses told Israel...

“When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples, according to the number of the sons of Israel”

How many nations were established at Babel?        70                                                    

Long before the Patriarchs were even born!                                      

How many of Jacob’s family moved into Egypt?           

70       Gen 46:27

God had always planned to use Israel as His witness to the world, and thru whom Messiah would come!  

Back to Basics #4 - CAN GOD NOT KEEP HIS PROMISES?

 Let’s see if God can give up on the nation of Israel even if He wanted to...

“From the standpoint of the gospel they (Israel) are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; for the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable”  Romans 11:28-29 NASB

In case we still think God could change His mind on that, our faith is founded on that same assurance!

“In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things in which it is IMPOSSIBLE FOR GOD TO LIE, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us...” Hebrews 6:17-

IMPOSSIBLE!!

So, we explore what God actually promised to those fathers – Abraham, Isaac & Jacob....NEXT

Back to Basics #3: Promised Land or 'strange country'?

The ONLY mention of Israel’s Promised Land in any apostolic teachings to the Church is about Abraham in Hebrews 11:9...

“By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a STRANGE COUNTRY...”

(Abraham was not an Israelite nor was he a Jew: Jacob being his grandson and Judah his great-grandson who he never saw.)

In other words, the Church has no heritage in the Promised Land of Israel – its citizenship is heavenly! Ephesians 2:6

Back to Basics #2 - Ephesians 3:6

 Here’s another for you in our ‘Back-to-Basics’. Make of it whatever you will but please let’s not get into an argument over translations.

“... the Gentiles are fellow heirs, and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” Ephesians 3:6 NASB

This agrees with the King James Version and the English Standard Version.

However...                                                    

Editors of the ever popular New International Version (NIV) have chosen to add: “with Israel”    (Gentiles are heirs together WITH ISRAEL...)

Notice how this takes the focus off 'in Christ Jesus' - the whole theme of this letter - and more on Israel.

Back-to-Basics #1 - 'ISRAEL of GOD'

There seems to be much confusion in the ranks so I’m hoping no-one will be offended if we go Back-To-Basics. What have we got to lose?

Let’s start with this favourite that often gets mis-quoted...

“...the Israel of God” in Galatians 6:16

Many say: ‘There you are, that’s proof that the Church is the 'Israel of God’

Hang on a minute...not so fast... let’s check the context:

“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision, but a NEW CREATURE...” in verse 15 that gets skipped over!                                                                                            

There’s the Church right there, with no recognition of Jew or Gentile!                

Reading on...“and as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy,  A N D... on the Israel of God”

There you have it – the Church AND Israel, not the Church is Israel.

The EKKLESIA

 ἐκκλησία : ekklesia

While we’re in Matthew’s gospel we find the word ‘church’ appears twice - before the Holy Spirit had formed the Church in Acts 2.

Why should we look at this on an End Times site?                       

There is much confusion over the profound difference between the Church and the nation of Israel, especially over End Times.                                                           

The translation of the King James Version was appointed by ‘His Majesty’s special command’ in 1610 as ‘the principal mover and author of the work’, with his ‘approbation and patronage’.                  

It is understood that King James I insisted over the advice of the translators that the Greek word ekklesia be rendered as ‘church’.

ekklesia means: ‘a meeting of those called out’  (citizens in particular)                                                             

‘church’ comes from Greek: Kirche, meaning ‘belonging to the Lord’

Let’s look at 4 instances...

·       Matthew 16:18  “Upon this rock I will build my CHURCH”   Nobody seems to have a problem with this referring to the Church founded at Pentecost, and not to Israel.  

·       Matthew 18:17  “...tell it unto the CHURCH”

This is a Jewish rabbi speaking to His disciples who would immediately recognise the ekklesia as the synagogue where Jews meet.

·       Acts 7:38  “the CHURCH in the wilderness”                                 From the context, Stephen is obviously speaking about the assembly of Hebrews with Moses at Mount Sinai.

·       Acts 19:32  “the assembly was confused”                                         This trade union meeting of silversmiths is also an ekklesia but obviously cannot refer to the Church as we know it.

Yes, we are indebted to His Majesty but it sure seems like he overstepped the mark on this one. It’s no wonder the translation my wife and I grew up with never uses the word ‘church’ once, it being so confusing as we have just seen. Consequently many use Stephen’s address to support the claim that the Church is now ‘Spiritual Israel’ – a term never found in Scripture.

(In fact there is more confusion... Matthew 18 is used by churches today to summarily ex-communicate members, just as we experienced 30 years ago for questioning injustice – a chapter that is all about forgiveness!)                                                     

 

TIMES of the GENTILES

It seems common to hear ‘fulness of the Gentiles’ confused with ‘Times of the Gentiles’, so let’s look at this closer...

In Romans 9 thru 11 apostle Paul carefully explains how God has a right to select one family (Jacob’s) and never ever give up on them. In his conclusion he says...

  ²⁵ For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own estimation—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles has come in; (11:25)

Clearly this is about belief in our God of mercy (v30) – a spiritual concept.

 

In contrast to this, ‘Time of the Gentiles’ comes from...

²⁴ and they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled under-foot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. Luke 21:24

Here the Lord is speaking to ‘this people in Judaea’ – Israel, who are still scattered among the nations today. Jerusalem has been ‘trampled under-foot by the Gentiles’ ever since the Babylonian Captivity by king Nebuchadnezzar in ~586BC.  He was told by Daniel interpreting his dream...

³⁸ and wherever the sons of men dwell... He has given them into your hand and has caused you to rule over them all... (2:38)

Subsequent prophecies given to Daniel showed him that Israel must be subjugated by 4 successive empires: Babylon, Medio-Persia, Greece and Rome who ruled Jerusalem when the Lord was here, the same revived empire which must be in place when He returns.   Since that destruction in 586BC, Israel has NEVER held absolute sovereignty over Temple Mount – today it is controlled by the Ministry of Awqaf in Amman, Jordan.

In other words, ‘the Times of the Gentiles’ is a literal Gentile control to this day.