Welcome to the first Bible lesson in the Gospel of Matthew!
Genealogy of Jesus
In chapter one, we find the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah through His earthly father, Joseph. The genealogy of Joseph starts with Abraham. Abraham was a man of faith thousands of years before Jesus came. His story can be found in the book of Genesis in the Bible. Abraham was the father of faith, because “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness” (Romans 4:3). From Abraham’s descendants, came the Messiah.
Those who believe in the Messiah are Abraham’s children. Those who believe in Jesus are children of God by faith.
There were 14 generations from Abraham to David. David was one of the greatest kings of Israel, even though he had weaknesses and sins. There were 14 generations from king David to the time of the Babylonian exile. (The nation of Israel went into exile because they kept disobeying God.) There were 14 generations from the time of the exile to Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus.
Because Israel came under the rule of other nations, Israelite kings did not continue their rule after the Babylonian exile. However, if their kingly line were maintained, Joseph would have been a king in Israel, because he was a descendant of king David.
God with us
Jesus Christ is the Son of God who came to earth. Before He came to earth, He always existed. In fact, Jesus claimed to be God when He said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am” (John 8:57-58).
Thousands of years earlier, God’s servant Moses had asked God what His name is, God answered, “I AM WHO I AM… Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” (Exodus 3:14).
So Jesus, by using the same name “I am”, declared Himself to be God.
Here in the book of Matthew, we also see Jesus as God. The name Immanuel was given to Jesus, which means “God with us”. So God truly came to earth when Jesus came 2000 years ago. God was with mankind.
Trinity
God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit are God in three Persons. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are equally God, with the same abilities, powers, and good will toward mankind. God is one. We believe in one God, because God is united. We can think of being one as being close to each other and being on the same team. Similarly, God is one, because He is united in the Trinity = tri + unity.
Jesus talked about oneness in the sense of unity when He prayed for His disciples: “Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are” (John 17:11).
Virgin birth
God the Father placed the spirit of Jesus in a human body. God formed a body for Jesus so that by the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus was born to Mary, who was a virgin. Jesus is fully God. At the same time, He was fully human while He was on earth.
Jesus was born from a woman in Israel. He could feel pain, and He grew tired and hungry just like we would.
Mary stayed a virgin until Christ was born. Afterwards, she and Joseph had other children (Matthew 13:55-56).
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” (John 1:1-4)
Read Matthew 1 (NIV) in the Bible. See other lessons in the Gospel of Matthew.