I have been reading through Matthew chapters 1 through 7 and I am struck by the uniqueness of the Person of Jesus. He had a special family history. He was the Son of Abraham and David with unique women in His genealogy (Tamar, Rehab, Ruth, and Bathsheba). He had a unique birth, not many can claim to be virgin born! There were special individuals who came to His baby shower with gold, frankincense, and myrrh. John the Baptist was a unique advance man bringing publicity to Christ who had captivated the whole nation. Who would argue against the uniqueness of the baptism and temptation of Christ as validation for His ministry? Finally, His supreme ethic proclaimed in the greatest sermon ever given in the Sermon on the Mount is even quoted by those who don’t believe His claims as the Son of God. Christ is truly unique and worthy of our attention even our worship! What do you think?
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Here are my thoughts on Mathew 3.
Exemplifying the faith of Abraham, many of his decedents came to John to repent and be baptized. But the Pharisees and Sadducees, who arrived neither to repent nor to be baptized, were instantly confronted with their fate: “who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” Their only escape from the wrath to come was to look to the example of their father Abraham who by faith believed God. But John – or rather the Holy Spirit - exposed their hearts, for they believed themselves to be Abraham’s children, but failed to look to the rock from which they were hewn (Isa. 51). At a later time Jesus would tell them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham.”
The axe was laid at the root of the non-fruit-bearing trees while the good trees accepted John’s message. Like the branches that bear no fruit from Paul’s analogy are cut off and others grafted in their place, the stones that were not hewn from the rock now rejoice in that great day when our Lord appeared. “God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.” For these stones, representing the same as the branches of the uncultivated olive tree, are grafted in with the faithful remnant and raised up to be Abraham’s children and heirs of the promise. Thus, the hope of the whole world is illustrated in this small but powerful portion of Mathew’s Gospel!
You know, I read all of the chapters, and still didn’t pull out - didn’t grasp, didn’t understand - how much it laid out Jesus’s uniqueness. I guess I’ve just been so used to knowing about Jesus; that He was born of a virgin; knowing about John the Baptist; knowing the Beatitudes; knowing the Lord’s Prayer; knowing about the Sermon on the Mount…
It’s just tough for this stuff to really hit me with how special it is… because I’ve known it my whole life! But having it all laid out like Pastor Ken put it, it is very striking.
Christ is unique! This kind of stuff doesn’t happen to everyone!
I so appreciate the honesty in your reply! I believe that is one of the benefits of our New Testament Challenge Blog. It allows us to interact on the Text of Scripture and sharpen one another as a community of believers.
It’s kind of like one of the magic eye pictures. We can stare at it and never see the picture in the picture until some helps us. I have had so many teachers over my life to help me see the uniqueness of Christ (Chuck Smith, Bil Gallatin, Ravi Zacharias, etc). Now you have that appreciation and can communicate it to others as well. Praise God for the Body of Christ!
I also wanted to post about the ministry of John the Baptist. O that we would listen to this greatest of prophets (Matthew 11:11) and follow his example. He said, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the word” (John 1:29). In addition, “He must increase and I must decrease” (John 3:30). May we look to Christ our Savior and allow Him to take over our lives for His glory. Great post!
Pastor Ken
When the wise men came to visit our Savior, although there were three gifts, we have no info on how many men there were only that they came to a ‘house’ to see a ‘child’ - not to a manger to see a babe. No wonder Herod sent out a decree for children 2 and under. I read recently the suggestion that the extravagant gifts (frankincense being of more value than gold at that time) were the means for this family to get to Egypt and live safely and comfortably (’our Father owns the cattle on 1000 hills’ and Jehovah Jireh is OUR PROVIDER) until called back by the Lord. Then in Chapter 4 when the sons of Zebedee were called, it showed me the variety of folks Jesus calls - from the rich fishermen James and John (Mark 1 shows that servants were doing the work) to the boisterous Peter. But when I look at what Peter became - WOW - what a mighty miracle. May He do the same with me that I may be pleasing to Him.
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