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.