Summer in the Scripture

As we begin this summer long journey through the New Testament we start with the book of Matthew. Matthew is written to Jewish people who were looking for the coming Messiah. Matthew’s message, “The Messiah has come and is Jesus!” Throughout this book you will hear that Jesus did things in order to fulfill what the prophets had written about Him. In the first two chapters alone Matthew does this five times. “For this was to fulfill what the LORD had spoken by the prophet. “(Matt. 2:15).

Jesus fulfilled over 300 Messianic prophesies from the Old Testament. These prophesies were not a few days, years, or months old either. All of them were centuries old; the very least was four centuries old. Matthew knows this and attempts to show his Jewish readers how Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, spoken of in the Old Testament; despite the fact that Jesus did not come as a conquering Messiah as many expected and hoped he would, but he came as the suffering servant of Isaiah to redeem the world back to God.

The Jews had not heard from God for 400 years. (If that were to happen today we would go all the way back to 1610, the year of the founding of Jamestown, the Americas first European colony!) And when God finally speaks, he cries as a babe in a manger in a small Mid Eastern town; however, the Father knew, and all of his plans for the Son came to be as they had been planned since before the foundation of the world.

Now to us who are awaiting our Savior to come, we only have to open the pages of history and the Bible to know that just as the Father planned the coming of the Son once, He has surely stated that Jesus will come again. However, beyond Jesus’ earthly return which is our hope, God has also said that He knows each of us closely and has laid out all of our days before we live the first one. The God who had the same power to fulfill over 300 Messianic prophesies in a few years in the life of Jesus now holds your life in His hands. He counts the hairs on your head and the moments in your life. The question now becomes, “Do you acknowledge his grace, mercy, love, and power in your life?” Do you see how God guides you to live each day? It is not to much for the God of the universe, who holds the world together, to hold you together for His glory. Just as the Father brought about the life of the Son so many years ago, God still continues to guide the world for His glory and the good of His people. I leave you with excerpts from Psalm 33:

By the word of the LORD the
heavens were made,
and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
For He spoke, and it came to be;
he commanded, and it stood firm.
The counsel of the LORD stands forever,
the plans of his heart to all generations.
The LORD looks down from heaven;
he sees all the children of man;
from where he sits enthroned he looks out
on all the inhabitants of the earth,
He who fashions the hearts of them all
and observes all their deeds.
Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him,
Our soul waits for the LORD;
He is our help and our shield.
For our heart is glad in him,
because we trust in His holy name.
Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us,
even as we hope in you.

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