Dear RTB’ers,
I have often encouraged all of us to own a study Bible to read along the STS notes and my posts in our daily reading. One particular advantage of a study Bible is that each book in the Bible is given an introduction to the book itself, typically explaining its authorship, historical and geographic setting, and the author’s purpose in writing his book.
Today my main Study Bible offered one particular purpose in Matthew writing his gospel – his focus on Jesus’ Messiahship. The introduction states that Matthew has nine “proof texts” that prove Jesus’ Messiahship from Old Testament prophesies. Today we have the first of those: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call His name Immanuel… (vv. 22-23, from Isaiah 7:14) I also noticed how very quickly Matthew refers to Jesus as the “Christ” (Messiah) in verses 16 and 17 and uses Jesus’ full name as “Jesus Christ” in verse 18. I’ll be noting these Messianic references as we read further in Matthew’s gospel.
Blessings!
See also: