REFLECTION 1

FULFILLING SCRIPTURE

The Long-Awaited Messiah

The arrival of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham, was no accident (Matt 1:1). Matthew wants you to know this has long been God’s plan. Do not be misled by your first instincts or natural intuition. Gut feelings are a poor guide. Admittedly, the arc of Jesus’s life does not follow the template of any ordinary Messiah, but Jesus is no ordinary Messiah.

Two thousand years of Christian history have made the story easier for us to digest, perhaps dulling its sharp edges. Yet, for those experiencing it in real-time, Jesus was nothing short of scandalous. Authentic Messiahs don’t get crucified. At least, that’s the intuitive belief that Matthew will challenge over the next 28 chapters.

A heedless glance at Jesus’s life story—impoverished, no official titles, crucified—does not shout King of kings and Lord of lords. But Matthew wants us to take more than a heedless glance.

Matthew challenges us to dig deeper to see the culmination of God’s incredible, unexpected, long-awaited, redemptive story. Matthew tells a story where God anoints His Messiah, establishes His kingdom, and saves His people, fulfilling all of Israel’s hopes and promises and uniting the world into one family. This story is called the gospel, and it’s the journey Matthew has in store for us.

To take us on this journey, Matthew carefully and strategically reads Israel’s Scriptures alongside the life, teachings, and actions of Jesus. He documents how seamlessly interwoven they are. Matthew demonstrates from Jesus’s genealogy that He is the culmination of the story of Israel (Matt 1:1–17). He illustrates how Jesus’s life parallels and exceeds renowned Old Testament figures (like Abraham, Isaac, Moses, Joshua, David, Solomon, Elijah, Jonah, etc.).

And he catalogs the myriad of ways Jesus fulfills passages from Israel’s Bible. Matthew gives the reader confidence that Jesus is no aberration from Israel’s Scriptures, but He is the telos of those Scriptures.

Introducing Jesus

Ten times in Matthew’s gospel, the author stops the story, proverbially grabbing the reader by the collar, and describes an Old Testament text as fulfilled. When Matthew does this, he is basically shouting, Hey reader! In case you were going too fast and missed it, this event in Jesus’s life fulfilled an Old Testament passage. In each of these instances, Matthew, the narrator, inserts his own voice to teach the reader how to understand Jesus in light of the Old Testament (and conversely, how to better appreciate the Old Testament in light of Jesus). He adds these illuminating parenthetical notes to demonstrate how Jesus is the culmination of the entire Biblical narrative.

Matthew 1:22–23 fulfills Isaiah 7:14

Matthew 2:15 fulfills Hosea 11:1

Matthew 2:17–18 fulfills Jeremiah 31:15

Matthew 2:23 fulfills the prophets?

Matthew 4:14–16 fulfills Isaiah 9:1–2

Matthew 8:17 fulfills Isaiah 53:4

Matthew 12:17–21 fulfills Isaiah 42:1–3

Matthew 13:35 fulfills Psalm 78:2

Matthew 21:4–5 fulfills Zechariah 9:9

Matthew 27:9 fulfills Zechariah 11:13, blended with Jeremiah 32:6–8

A few interesting facts emerge as we examine these citations. Matthew cites Isaiah more than any other prophet on this list. All but one of these fulfillment passages (Ps 78:2) come from the Prophets. None of them come from the Law of Moses. Also, most of these citations appear in the opening chapters of Matthew (Matt 1:22; 2:5–6, 15, 17–18, 23; 3:3; 4:14–16). About half of these Scriptures introduce Jesus’s life and ministry, thus impacting how we read the rest of the story. As Richard Hays notes,

This clustering of fulfillment quotations near the beginning of the Gospel conditions readers to expect that nearly everything in the story of Jesus will turn out to be the fulfillment of something prescribed by the prophets. ¹

By using the Old Testament in this way, Matthew demonstrates that Jesus’s life, ministry, and even His death are all compatible with the story of Israel. Not only compatible but necessary. Israel’s Scriptures have been pointing and leading to this reality all along. Jesus’s death was not an unexpected failure but a carefully planned fulfillment of God’s intentions all along.

Apparently, authentic Messiahs do get crucified.

The Old Testament Really Matters

Matthew also uses Scripture in many other ways. Scriptural citations do not only come from the narrator but also from the lips of the characters in the story. They use Scripture in sermons, prayers, conversations, and arguments. Sometimes, these characters use the words fulfilled/fulfillment, and sometimes they don’t: Matthew 2:5–6; 3:3; 4:4–11; 5:17–48; 9:9; 10:35–36; 11:10, 17; 12:7; 13:14–15; 15:8–9; 19:4–5, 18–19; 21:13, 16, 42; 22:32, 37–39, 44; 26:31, 54–56; 27:46, etc.

Additionally, Matthew constantly uses subtle word plays, echoes, allusions, and themes that depend on knowing the Old Testament to be understood. The Old Testament is the lens through which Matthew sees everything he writes. We’ll address many of these as we journey through the text of Matthew. We’ll spend a good bit of time in the Old Testament. Matthew certainly does. The Old Testament is vital to the story of Jesus.

This is a tough reality for a church that often lacks clarity regarding the Old Testament. We have many questions about the Old Testament. What exactly should we do with it? Is it authoritative today? Should it be read differently than the New Testament? Should we even call it the Old Testament? ²

Some early Christian thinkers (e.g., Marcion of Sinope) wanted to exclude the Hebrew Scriptures entirely from the Christian Bible. Granted, I don’t know any Christian who explicitly takes that view today (maybe they are out there). Still, it is common to relegate the Old Testament to second-class Scripture. I recently had a man complain to me that his church wastes too much time in the Old Testament instead of teaching the gospel.

I know of some who believe the Old Testament presents too many moral difficulties to still be useful in our culture (as if our culture simply loves the ethics of the New Testament). They think the Old Testament hurts our apologetics, and Christians should intentionally distance themselves from it to make the gospel message more palatable. Matthew thinks the exact opposite.

The Gospel of Matthew upholds the Old Testament’s value, integrity, and authority from beginning to end. Jesus, very explicitly, argues that His intention is not to abolish the Law and the Prophets (Matt 5:17–19). Sometimes, the church has forgotten that. Not the smallest stroke of Moses’ pen shall pass away until heaven and earth pass away and all is accomplished. So, we better not relax one of the least of these commandments.

Jesus views Israel’s Scriptures as a source of divine instruction and authority for His disciples. As followers of Jesus, we probably should also. Ultimately, all authority rests with Jesus (Matt 28:18–20), but Jesus has delegated authority to the Scriptures, including the Old Testament.

While it’s essential to know that the Old Testament is still authoritative and valuable today, we must consider how its authority works today. Interpreting the Old Testament properly is vital to our adherence to Jesus. Thankfully, He presents us with interpretive strategies and methods of application that help us along our journey. We should read the Old Testament differently after meeting Jesus. Context matters. Just like the interpretation of the New Testament must be done from a contextual framework, the same is true of the Old Testament.

No Christian explicitly obeys every single word of the New Testament. Not only would that be impossible, but in many instances, it wouldn’t make any sense. Do I really need to come to Paul soon (2 Tim 4:9)? Or can a woman not braid her hair (1 Pet 3:3)? Must I go to a village to find and untie a colt (Mark 11:2–3)? What about kissing, head covering, and going up to a door in heaven (Rom 16:16, 1 Cor 11:2–16, Rev 4:1)? Some of these examples are silly and are obviously not intended as normative for all Christians, everywhere, always, but the point remains: Context is key to interpretation, and Scriptural authority (even for commands) is impacted by the setting of the writing.

For followers of Jesus, the Old Testament is still authoritative, but in many ways, its context has been changed in Jesus. The setting has been transformed. Through the Messiah, we are invited to read (or reread) Israel’s Scriptures anew, with unveiled faces, from a fresh perspective.

Why could Peter, a Jew, rise, kill, and eat unclean foods (Acts 10:12–13)? It wasn’t because he should reject the teachings of Moses or abolish the Torah. It was because God cleansed the foods (Acts 10:15, Mark 7:18–19). I’d suggest one still shouldn’t eat unclean foods, but we should not call unclean what God has cleansed (1 Tim 4:3–5). God changed the context.

Many of the barriers between Jews and Gentiles (Sabbath, temple, food laws, circumcision, holidays, etc.) must be interpreted in fresh ways for the universal, worldwide kingdom of God. Paul spends much of his letters breaking down those barriers while still quoting and upholding Israel’s Scriptures. Paul’s letters could have been so much shorter had he simply said, Forget about circumcision; that was Old Testament stuff. It doesn’t matter anymore. But that’s not how Paul thought or argued. To him, the Old Testament still mattered very much, but the time had come for some fresh interpretations from a Messianic context. Matthew writes the story of how Jesus is changing the context. We’ll see how Jesus changes the context of purity regulations (Matt 8:2–3), food laws (Matt 15:16–20), Sabbath (Matt 11:28–12:14), and temple (Matt 21:12–22:14, 24:1–2).

A valuable (though imperfect) illustration is to view Jesus fulfilling the Law and Prophets as a marriage fulfills an engagement. A betrothal can end either with a breakup or a wedding. A breakup severs/abolishes/destroys the relationship, while a marriage fulfills it. Marriage experiences that old relationship in new and beautiful ways. Jesus didn’t divorce or break up with the Law and the Prophets. He provided rich, fuller, and beautiful ways to experience the Law and the Prophets. In marriage, the agreements, promises, hopes, commitments, and memories made during the engagement still matter as they come to fulfillment. Similarly, for the church, the agreements, promises, hopes, commitments, and memories of Israel’s Scriptures still matter as they come to fulfillment in the Messiah.

Reflection Questions

Does the Old Testament matter to Christians? How does it matter? How can knowing the Old Testament help us understand God, Jesus, and the mission of the church? Should Christians teach and preach from the Old Testament?

In what ways has Jesus changed how we use the Old Testament? Should we read the Old Testament differently because we are Christians? Is the Old Testament still authoritative? In what ways should we use the Old Testament as our authority?

Endnotes

¹ Richard Hays, Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels (Waco: Baylor University Press, 2016), 108.

² For the sake of tradition and clarity, I still use the phrase Old Testament in this book. The Bible, however, usually uses words like Scripture or Law and Prophets rather than Old Testament. I like the title, The First Testament, used by John Goldingay in his translation. John Goldingay, The First Testament: A New Translation (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2018).

REFLECTION 2

PREDICTION AND PROPHECY

Fulfilled in Matthew

Jesus came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets (Matt 5:17). Matthew presents Jesus fulfilling Scripture in both His teachings and in events surrounding His life. For example, when Jesus was born, He fulfilled Isaiah 7:14. During His family’s brief stay in Egypt, He fulfilled Hosea 11:1. When Herod slaughtered the children in Bethlehem, Jeremiah 31:15 found its fulfillment. These Scriptures were fulfilled by events connected to the life of Jesus.

Jesus also fulfilled Scripture with His teaching. In the Sermon on the Mount, after saying that He came to fulfill the Law and Prophets, Jesus shows a fuller way to understand and apply Moses’s teachings. Jesus quotes Moses (and popular interpretations/misinterpretations of Moses), then adds His own fulfilled understanding of those passages.

Moses says not to murder (Exod 20:15), yet Jesus amplifies and fulfills the meaning to include not being angry or insulting a brother (Matt 5:22). Moses says not to commit adultery (Exod 20:14), but Jesus says not even to lust (Matt 5:28). In this section of His sermon, Jesus quotes:

Exodus 20:15 (Matt 5:21)

Exodus 20:14 (Matt 5:27)

Deuteronomy 24:1 (Matt 5:31)

Leviticus 19:12, Numbers 30:2 (Matt 5:33)

Exodus 21:24, Leviticus 24:20, Deuteronomy 19:21 (Matt 5:38)

Leviticus 19:18 (Matt 5:43)

The teachings of Jesus fulfill all these passages.

It’s interesting that events connected to Jesus’s life usually fulfill the Prophets, while His teachings tend to fulfill the Law. Combined, throughout Matthew, Jesus is fulfilling the Law and the Prophets through His life and teachings.

The word fulfilled has a wide range of meanings. When Matthew uses this word, it is tempting to assume he means that something predicted in the Old Testament just came to fruition. But not all prophecy is prediction, and Matthew uses the word to include much more than prediction.

Certainly, there are predictions about a future Messiah littered throughout the Old Testament, and we should understand Jesus to be the ultimate actualization of those predictions. However, Matthew uses the word fulfilled to describe many texts that are not predicting the Messiah or any future event.

For example, when Jesus fulfills the words of Moses in the Sermon on the Mount, He was not bringing into reality a future predicted by Moses. Likewise, when Jesus fulfills righteousness during His baptism (Matt 3:15), it has nothing to do with a prediction about the future.

Similarly, when Jesus fulfills the Prophets during events in His life, as we will see, He’s not bringing predictions to reality.

A New Way of Reading

One easy way to see that fulfilled in Matthew is not just about predictions is to go back to the Old Testament and read those supposed predictions. Read the passages that Matthew cites.

Doing so reveals that most of those passages are not predictions at all. They are not even usually about the future. Or at least not about the distant future. Most of them are about circumstances in the prophet’s own lifetime.

However, when Matthew cites Micah 5:2 (Matt 2:6), which actually does predict a future ruler arising out of Bethlehem, he does not use the word fulfilled. That’s when we would expect it most! Contrary to our expectations, Matthew does not use the word fulfilled to indicate Messianic predictions. Instead, the word fulfilled exhibits the congruence between the life of Jesus and the Scriptures of Israel in a new and more full way than was ever expected.

As noted in the first reflection, we should read the Old Testament differently because of Jesus. We should read with Christ-centered eyes of faith. Because we believe that Jesus is God and is the ultimate source of revelation, He holds the authority over our understanding of Scripture. He rightfully changes how we read the Bible. Without Jesus, we would not read the Old Testament the way we do. Neither would Matthew.

Near the end of the Gospel of Luke, two times, the resurrected Jesus has Bible studies with His disciples. The first Bible study is with two disciples on the road to Emmaus. On that occasion, we read, Beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself (Luke 24:27). During the second Bible study, over some broiled fish, Jesus says to his disciples,

These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures … (Luke 24:44–45).

I would love to have sat in those Bible studies. Undoubtedly, along with explaining Messianic predictions, Jesus elucidated new ways of reading Scripture with Him at the center of the Law, Prophets, and the Psalms. Luke goes on to give us some of these readings in Acts. But I think we see these new ways of reading throughout the New Testament. And Matthew is full of them.

The resurrection of Jesus must be the foundation of any Christian reading of the Old Testament. In 2 Corinthians 3, Paul describes how nonbelieving Jews read Scripture differently than disciples of Jesus. Paul has expertly read the Bible both ways.

After describing how Moses veiled his face after meeting with the Lord on Sinai, Paul writes,

For to this day, when they [unbelieving Israel] read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed (2 Cor 3:14–16).

Paul’s point is that Moses used to veil his face to dim the radiating glory of the Lord (Exod 34:29–35). When people read the Old Testament without Jesus, that glory-dimming veil remains. But those who have turned to the Lord take off the veil when they read Moses and the glory of Christ shines through more vibrantly than ever imagined.

Consider what this means. While reading the Old Testament can lead us to Christ (Gal 3:24), the flip side is that turning to Christ is essential to read the Old Testament accurately. We cannot properly understand the Old Testament apart from turning to Christ. Matthew reads the Old Testament with an unveiled face, and his Gospel presents a beautiful introduction to early Jesus-centered biblical interpretation.

Studying with Matthew

I like apologetics. Defending the Christian faith is an important Christian task. However, we must be careful not to make apologetic arguments (even with the best intentions) that do not faithfully represent the Bible. I think this happens more commonly than we’d like to admit. For example, I’ve heard apologists claim something like: There are over 300 Old Testament predictions about Jesus, and He fulfills every one of them. The odds of that happening are mathematically impossible if Jesus is not who He claimed to be.

These arguments sound wonderful but are problematic. There are certainly not 300 predictions about Jesus in the Old Testament. There are some straightforward Messianic predictions, but that’s not primarily how Jesus fulfills Scripture. In this book, we will examine how Matthew’s fulfilled passages reveal Jesus’s unity with the story of Israel, radical Messianic mission, and mysterious divine identity. These Old Testament passages, understood through the Messiah, draw us deeper into the gospel story.

Matthew’s reading of the Old Testament is troublesome for those without faith in Jesus. Matthew does not strictly follow the literal, historical interpretive style we modern readers prefer. It may look like Matthew uses verses out of context. Some accuse him of blindly proof-texting a random, hodge-podge assortment of unconnected and irrelevant passages to bolster his argument about Jesus. But Matthew is not dumb and has no interest in dishonesty.

If Matthew’s quotation seems out of context, he is probably well aware. And he is probably doing something you are not expecting. We may need to broaden our Biblical horizons, alter our Scriptural expectations, and expand our restricted interpretive strategies. Matthew’s interpretive style is not rooted in classical apologetics, modern historiography, or Western exegetical assumptions but in the miraculous revelation of the resurrected Jesus. The resurrection of Jesus changes everything, even how we read the Bible.

Matthew’s methodology, whether we like it or not, is divinely inspired. We may want Matthew to read the Bible like us and do apologetics like us, but he’s not going to. He is going to faithfully tell the story of Jesus. Our responsibility is to open our minds to the possibilities within Scripture and let Matthew lead our study. We are going to find out that Jesus fulfilled the Law and the Prophets, and Matthew is going to show us how.

Reflection Questions

What is prophecy? Is every prophecy a prediction? Can prophecy be fulfilled through events beyond its original context? Does God view prophecy the same way we do?

What is the value of apologetics? What is the value of Bible study? What are some possible ways apologetics might harm our Bible study? How might apologetics help our Bible study?

REFLECTION 3

GENEALOGY AND HOPE: READ MATTHEW 1:1–17

The Book of Genesis

Matthew, never too subtle in his use of the Old Testament, begins his gospel with the words: The record of the genealogy … or, more literally, Book of Genesis … Seriously, that’s a legitimate translation of the first words in Matthew. The first sentence in Matthew’s gospel, which introduces both the genealogy and the entire story to follow, calls itself the Book of Genesis of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham (Βίβλος γενέσεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ υἱοῦ Δαυὶδ υἱοῦ Ἀβραάμ). What a fitting introduction to the first book of the New Testament.

Let’s break down this opening sentence a little. Nearly every single word draws upon the Old Testament. Book of Genesis should make readers think of the first book of the Bible. ³ The terms Christ (Messiah), son of David, son of Abraham, and even Jesus (which is another way to translate the name Joshua) should bring Old Testament characters and concepts to mind.

Matthew is a continuation of the story started in Genesis that reaches fulfillment in Jesus, the Messiah, from the royal line of David, a true descendant of Abraham. None of those words make sense without an Old Testament backdrop. This reminds us that Matthew is not beginning a brand-new story but is continuing the ancient story. The story that started in Genesis did not end in Malachi or 2 Chronicles, but the Genesis story continues in Jesus Christ.

History and Theology

Be honest. Did you read every name in that genealogy? If you’re anything like me, it’s easy to skim/skip this material. Our eyes gloss over, and we start jumping from line to line until reaching the end. That’s sad because Matthew’s genealogy is relatively short (imagine your name being recorded forever in Scripture as part of the line of descendants leading to the Savior of the world, and folks skip you because it’s boring). Have you ever read the beginning of 1 Chronicles? If so, I am impressed. It is nine chapters of weird names. It is a genealogical marathon. Matthew’s is only 15 verses. I think we can make it through.

Biblical genealogies are fascinating. They convey far more than historical facts and names. They trace a line in history from one person to another. They take you from a beginning point to a preferred destination. Along the way, they may skip names or omit generations, but the line reaches its conclusion and often provides theological rather than just historical information.

There are many ways to write a genealogy. Just compare Matthew’s genealogy to Luke’s (Luke 3:23–38) to see how different they can be. Why does Matthew begin his Gospel with a genealogy? Why did he head the genealogy with Abraham? Why not Tarah? Or Nahor? Or Noah? Or Adam? Why highlight Abraham, David, and Babylonian exile along the way to Jesus? Why structure and arrange the genealogy by sets of fourteen (Matt 1:17)? Why mention five women along the way?

To answer these questions, we must examine the theological purpose of genealogy. This genealogy reveals central themes for understanding the Gospel of Matthew and has theological designs revealed in the details. Let’s consider just four of them.

Four Strange Details

1. By beginning with a genealogy, Matthew connects Jesus to the long story of Israel. Each name represents a person, a story, and a life. Genealogy is the quickest way to summarize and retell the story of a family. Each person plays a crucial role in the coming of the Messiah. Jesus does not appear out of thin air to initiate some new religion. Jesus is the culmination of a long, winding, dramatic narrative. As succinctly as possible, Matthew gets the reader from Abraham to Jesus (from Genesis to Messiah), summarizing the entire history of the people of God that leads us to Christ.

2. Matthew includes five women in this genealogy: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Mary. Take a gander through the other genealogies in the Bible, and you’ll see that virtually no attention is paid to women. ⁴ Matthew’s genealogy is different, and we’re supposed to notice. As the virgin mother of Jesus, Mary is obviously a key figure. While Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba are less directly involved, remembering their stories may help us figure out why they are mentioned.

Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba are all women with questionable reputations. That’s not to say they are evil or immoral women. In fact, they are all presented as innocent. But none have a clean, easy, traditional life story. Tamar, after being deceived and deprived of a husband by Judah, her negligent father-in-law, disguises herself as a prostitute and sleeps with him. After becoming pregnant, she shrewdly proved that Judah was the father and demonstrated herself to be more righteous than him (Gen 38:26).

Rahab was a prostitute from Jericho whose faith (and deception) led to her household’s survival. Ruth was a Moabite woman who arranged an eyebrow-raising private encounter with Boaz at midnight (which turned out to be innocent, but a risqué setting nonetheless), which led to their marriage. Finally, Bathsheba, the wife of a Hittite named Uriah, was summoned and violated by King David while her husband was away. Matthew omits her name, calling her the wife of Uriah. Instead of her name, Matthew reminds us of the sordid content of the story.

Think of what these names have in common: each belongs to a woman. Like Mary (pregnant outside of wedlock), each has some scandal in her story (even if she is righteous and innocent). Each of these women is either a Gentile or deeply connected to Gentiles. ⁵ Four scandalous Gentileish women brought about Israel’s Messiah. This Savior is not only for Jews but also for Gentiles (a significant theme culminating in the mission to the Gentiles in Matt 28:18–20). Jesus is not only for those squeaky-clean folks with spotless reputations but for real people: the sinful, neglected, mournful, and abused of all backgrounds.

3. Matthew structures this genealogy around the number fourteen (Matt 1:17). This detail might seem random or pointless, but it definitely is not. Many possible explanations float around for why Matthew does this.

One suggestion is that Matthew is nodding subtly to David's royal line. The Hebrew method of calculating the numerical value of certain words and names as a means of interpretation, known as gematria, may lie behind the number fourteen.

If I want to write the alphabet, I’ll write the English letters A, B, C, D, and if I want to count, I’ll use Arabic numerals, 1, 2, 3, 4. In Hebrew, however, the alphabet also serves as a numbering system. So, each letter in the Hebrew alphabet, alef, bet, gimel, dalet, etc., has a numerical value associated with it:

—     א- alef (1)

—     ב -bet (2)

—     ג -gimel (3)

—     ד -dalet (4)

—    ה -he (5)

—     ו -vav (6)

—       etc.

Interestingly, the Hebrew name David (דוד—dalet, vav, dalet) has a value of, you guessed it, fourteen. Perhaps Matthew is illustrating from beginning to end, by the very structure of the genealogy, that Jesus is the son of David.

Another suggestion focuses more on the significance of seven than fourteen. Mathematically, three sets of fourteen are also six sets of seven. Therefore, Jesus was born at the beginning of the seventh seven. Reading this passage along with the Old Testament reminds us of the laws concerning the Sabbath, Sabbath year, and Jubilee (Deut 5:12–15; Lev 25, 27:16–25; see Dan 9:24–27). Jesus enters the story to initiate the seventh seven. He brings the Sabbath of Sabbaths and the Jubilee of all Jubilees: debts are canceled, freedom is guaranteed, and hope is restored! The Messiah has arrived.

4. Matthew highlights Abraham, David, and Babylonian exile leading to the Messiah. Highlighting Abraham demonstrates that Jesus, as a descendant of Abraham, is indeed the fulfillment of promises made to Abraham. Abraham’s story leads directly to Jesus. Highlighting David assures us that Jesus is the royal Messianic son of David. David’s kingdom leads directly to Jesus.

The Babylonian exile