Read Matthew 1 & 2
Key Verse: Matthew 1:20 “…that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.”
Matthew is the only one of the gospel writers who starts his record of the life and ministry of Jesus with a genealogy. Genealogies aren’t fun to read. In fact, they can be downright boring, but Matthew seeks to clearly demonstrate that Jesus Christ was the Son of David and the Son of Abraham. He sees it important that Jesus comes from the line of men who had a special relationship in history with God and His plan. God gave a promise to Abraham, and He gave a promise to David. Jesus Christ, in Matthew’s eyes, is the fulfillment of that promise. But once you get past the genealogies in verses 1 through 17 of chapter one, you get into the meat of Matthew’s high view of Jesus Christ.
The key verse is verse 20. Jesus, although descended from Abraham and David, is unlike them in that there is a supernatural dimension in His life. Literally conceived in the flesh by the supernatural agency of the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ is set apart from any other human being who has ever lived. So, right off the top, we have the history of a man who not only claims to be the Son of God, who not only rises from the dead and ascends to the Father later on in His life, but is also supernaturally conceived. In every sense of the word, He is the Son of God.
It’s interesting that Matthew follows up this comment on Jesus’ conception by recording the word of the angel in verse 21, “And Jesus’ conception by recording the word of the angel in verse 21, “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” Jesus’ function, His purpose, is that salvation come to the world. All have sinned, all need salvation. There is only one way for salvation to be achieved, and that’s through the Son of God shedding His blood for the sins of the world. And so, when He says, “this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet,” we see there is an historical continuum. Jesus comes to save people from their sins both now and in the future, in accordance with God’s word to Israel through the prophets in history past.
