Latest / Reformed Thinking / The Coming of the King and His Kingdom (Matthew) | Thomas R. Schreiner

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The Coming of the King and His Kingdom (Matthew) | Thomas R. Schreiner · Reformed Thinking

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  Welcome back to Reform Thinking. Today we are getting into some
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  really foundational material. We're going to be doing a deep
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  dive into the biblical theology of the Gospel of Matthew, and
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  our mission today is pretty direct.
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  We want to look at the source material to see how Matthew
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  presents Jesus as well the climax of the whole Old
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  Testament story. The absolute fulfilment of it
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  all. Right.
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  We're focusing on who Jesus is, his identity, and what it means
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  that the Kingdom has finally arrived in him.
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  What does Matthew really want us to understand?
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  That's such a huge question. It's a spectacular task because
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  you know, Matthew is the gateway.
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  It's the book that connects everything that came before with
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  everything that comes after. The hinge.
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  It is, and to really get why Matthew starts the way he does,
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  you have to remember where the Old Testament left off.
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  I mean the story was so clearly unfinished it.
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  Just hangs there. It does that original conflict
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  from Genesis 3, the one with the serpent.
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  It was never resolved. The serpent was not yet crushed.
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  And all the promises. What about the promises?
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  You have this core identity for Israel, built on covenant
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  promises, inheriting the land, a new covenant, a new creation,
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  and of course, the ultimate son of David.
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  And they were all still waiting. It was a real theological
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  problem. The people of God were
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  technically back in the land, but they weren't really home.
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  They're always under the thumb of some foreign empire.
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  That tension is just palpable, isn't it?
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  The gap between the last page of Malachi and the first page of
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  Matthew? Oh.
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  Absolutely. Even after they returned from
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  Babylon, Israel was living in this sort of already state of
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  partial restoration, but the not yet of true freedom, of true
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  sovereignty. It was painful.
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  Yahweh is always sovereign, of course, but his saving promises
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  for Israel and for the world felt so unfulfilled.
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  So the expectation for some kind of final, decisive act from God
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  must have been enormous. It was.
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  And then Matthew walks onto that stage and basically announces
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  that the wait is over. The resolution is here.
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  He just states it. States it plainly that the
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  Kingdom everyone was waiting for, the one described in the
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  prophets in the Psalms, is now here, completely realized in the
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  person and work of Jesus Christ. The new creation has begun.
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  The New Covenant is here. The new Exodus has started in
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  him. The New Testament writers just
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  call it the coming of the Kingdom.
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  So before we dive into Matthew 1, let's just touch on
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  methodology for a second. For anyone new to this kind of
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  biblical theology, we're using sources that look at the New
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  Testament book by book or in clusters.
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  But that's not the only way to do it, is it?
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  No, not at all. You can study the synoptics
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  Matthew, Mark and Luke as a unit.
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  You can look at Luke acts as A2 volume work, or you could group
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  all of Paul's letters together. So there isn't one right way.
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  Anyone who insists on one right way is mistaken.
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  Studying biblical theology, it's a bit like looking through a
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  kaleidoscope. You turn it and a different
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  pattern emerges, a different facet of the same beautiful
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  picture of God's plan. As long as the text itself is
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  what controls the view. That's the key the text has to
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  validate the approach for today. We are zeroing in on Matthew's
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  presentation because he seems uniquely structured to answer
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  all those questions the Old Testament left hanging.
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  OK, let's do it. Matthew chapter one, verse one.
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  This opening verse is so dense it's almost a whole theology in
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  one sentence. It is.
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  The New Testament just opens with this massive declaration of
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  fulfillment, the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the
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  son of David, the son of Abraham.
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  Every word there is loaded. Every single one.
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  Let's start with that first phrase, Biblos Genesius, the
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  book of the genealogy. That's not a random choice of
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  words. It's a callback.
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  It's a direct callback to Genesis 2 and Genesis 5, which
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  introduced the major sections of history in the Old Testament.
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  So Matthew is signaling right from the get go that this isn't
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  just a new biography. We are witnessing the start of
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  the new creation. Wow, so it's a cosmic new
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  beginning for. Humanity and for the world.
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  And then right after linking Jesus to creation, he pivots to
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  covenant. Abraham and David it's.
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  Covenantal shorthand, starting with Abraham, tells you that the
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  promised blessing is finally going to reach the whole world,
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  Jews and Gentiles, and that Jesus is the specific seed, the
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  offspring. Who makes that happen?
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  So the people of God is being redefined.
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  It's expanding. It's becoming the new Israel,
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  just like God promised Abraham. And then you have the Davidic
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  link. The king which defines his
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  kingship, the promise of an eternal dynasty made to David,
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  is completely realized in this one person.
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  The kingship has come because the king has come.
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  And Matthew? Really, Camera is this point
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  home, doesn't he, in the structure of the genealogy
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  itself? He does.
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  He organizes it into three sets of 14 generations, and the
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  sources point out this is likely intentional.
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  A subtle link to the numerical value of David's name in Hebrew
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  DVD adds up to 14. He wants the reader to see Jesus
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  as the climax of all of history. Which is why he uses the title
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  Christ meaning King so often right there in the birth
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  narratives. He wants us to know Jesus's
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  royal identity from the very beginning.
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  Exactly. It's intentional, but here's the
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  interesting part. Jesus himself.
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  He rarely uses that title, Christ or Son of David during
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  his public ministry. Right, he kind of keeps it
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  quiet. He does, and you have to ask
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  why. Well, in 1st century Judaism,
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  those titles were politically explosive.
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  They were loaded, people heard Christ, and they immediately
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  thought of a military conqueror who would overthrow Rome.
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  If Jesus had LED with I am the Christ, he would have been
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  instantly misunderstood. So Peter's declaration when he
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  finally says you are the Christ, that's a huge turning point in
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  the story. It's.
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  A climax. The disciples are finally
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  starting to get it, but even Peter moments later shows he
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  still doesn't understand the nature of that kingship.
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  He's still thinking in terms of a political conqueror, not a
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  suffering servant. Which creates this incredible
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  irony that Matthew develops. The people who do recognize him
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  as the son of David are often the ones on the absolute bottom
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  rung of society. The blind men shouting it from
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  the roadside. Or the King and night woman.
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  A Gentile, an outsider, she saw the king when the religious
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  establishment in Jerusalem was completely blind to him.
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  The common crowds get it, even children get it.
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  But the religious leaders? They're stumped and Jesus
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  challenges them on it directly. How can the Christ be both
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  David's Son and David's Lord? And they have no answer because
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  they refused to accept the evidence standing right in front
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  of them. This brings us back to the
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  genealogy structure, specifically the mention of the
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  exile to Babylon. Matthew highlights it three
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  times. Why so much focus on an event
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  that was technically over? Because for Matthew, the
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  physical return wasn't the real end of the exile.
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  The exile continued in a theological sense.
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  They lacked true freedom. God's presence wasn't manifest
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  in the temple of the same way, and sin and foreign rule
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  persisted. By highlighting the exile,
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  Matthew is signaling that this long national trauma is finally,
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  truly ending. So Christ's arrival is the
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  beginning of the new Exodus. That's it.
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  And this new exodus is about a comprehensive salvation.
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  Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us, and as Emmanuel He will save his
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  people from their sins. The rescue is redefined.
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  It's not about geopolitics, it's about sin.
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  Precisely. And Matthew links this to Isaiah
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  7 and 8. Just as God was with Judah to
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  save them from their enemies back then, God is now with His
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  people in a definitive, final way through Jesus and He.
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  Frames the entire gospel with that idea.
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  Does it opens with Emmanuel, God with us in chapter 1 and it
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  closes in chapter 28 with Jesus saying I am with you always to
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  the end of the age. That divine presence is the
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  foundation for everything else in the book.
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  OK, so this theme of fulfillment, of tying Jesus life
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  directly to Old Testament texts is a major feature of Matthew.
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  He uses these fulfillment quotations over and over.
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  Even ones that seem a little strange to us today, like
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  connecting the birth in Bethlehem to Micah 5, linking
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  his identity to the return from exile.
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  Which brings us to probably the most surprising one, the use of
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  Hosea 11.1. Yes.
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  Out of Egypt I call my son Matthew applies this to Jesus
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  return from Egypt. But the original text in Hosea
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  is clearly talking about the nation of Israel's Exodus.
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  It's an historical statement about the nation's past.
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  So how can he apply a national story to an individual?
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  This is where you have to understand the idea of typology.
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  Matthew sees Jesus as the true Israel.
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  He is the Son of God who perfectly relives the history of
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  the nation. So just like God delivered the
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  nation Israel from Pharaoh. He now delivers Jesus, the true
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  Israelite, the true son from Herod, who is act like a new
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  pharaoh trying to kill the male children.
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  Jesus succeeds where the nation failed.
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  He goes through Israel's history, Egypt, the water of
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  baptism, the wilderness, temptation, but with perfect
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  obedience. That's the key.
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  And the same kind of thinking applies to that last fulfillment
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  formula in Chapter 2, The Mystery of the Nazarene.
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  Right, that he would be called a Nazarene.
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  There's no single verse in the Old Testament that says that.
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  No, there isn't. So our sources suggest Matthew
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  is doing something clever. He's likely weaving together 2
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  Old Testament ideas that rely on some Hebrew word play.
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  OK, what are they? 1st The instructions for a
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  Nazarite in the book of Numbers, which points to Jesus being
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  completely set apart and dedicated to God, but the
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  primary connection is probably Isaiah 11.1.
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  Where the branch from Jesse Stump is called a nezer.
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  The word for branch or shoot, yes, Jesus, is that promised
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  descendant, the true Davidic King.
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  And if you read the rest of Isaiah 11, this Nezer is the
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  Messiah anointed with the Spirit, who brings in the new
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  creation. Matthew is making a profound
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  claim about Jesus's identity. This whole theme of fulfillment
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  then gets picked up by John the Baptist.
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  Right. He comes proclaiming the Kingdom
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  of heaven and quotes Isaiah 40, the prophecy about preparing the
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  way for the return from Babylon. It's all new Exodus language.
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  Even his appearance is a signal. His clothes, his food, it's all
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  meant to remind you of Elijah. And that confirms the timeline.
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  Malachi promised that Elijah would come to prepare the way
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  before the Lord comes to his temple.
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  So when Jesus later cleanses the temple, it's.
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  It's the Lord coming to his temple to judge the impurity.
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  Just as Malachi predicted, John sets the stage perfectly.
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  Let's talk about the baptism. John agrees to baptize a sinless
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  Jesus to fulfill all righteousness.
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  What does that mean? Well, the ACT itself is deeply
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  symbolic. Jesus, as the true Israel, is
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  representing his people. His baptism in the Jordan is
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  like a new exodus crossing into a new reality.
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  And the dove descending. That signals the start of the
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  new creation. You have echoes of the Spirit
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  hovering over the waters in Genesis 1, the dove from Noah's
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  ark, and the promises of the Spirit being poured out in
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  Isaiah. So.
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  Exodus, creation and identity all converge in that one moment.
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  They do, and the righteousness Jesus fulfills is His entire
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  mission of obedience, which climaxes in His death and
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  resurrection. Remember, He came to save His
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  people from their sins. That requires His death as the
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  servant of the Lord. And the voice from heaven
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  identifies him as the Beloved Son.
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  That's another one of those loaded titles.
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  It connects him to Israel as God's son, to the Davidic king,
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  and even to Isaac, Abraham's beloved son.
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  He embodies all of those promises.
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  And then the voice adds, With whom I am well pleased.
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  Which is a direct quote from. Isaiah 42.1, the introduction of
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  the suffering servant that tells you right there that this Son,
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  this king, is also the servant who will give his life.
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  It points straight to Isaiah 53. And Jesus confirms this himself
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  later on in Matthew 20.28. The Son of Man came not to be
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  served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.
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  Yes, and that phrase for many is another clear echo of Isaiah 53.
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  His death is the ransom price that liberates his people from
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  sin, that sacrifices the basis for all forgiveness.
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  Which is why the scene with the paralytic is so shocking to the
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  religious leaders. It is when Jesus says your sins
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  are forgiven, they're appalled. But then he proves He has the
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  authority to forgive sins and authority that belongs to God
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  alone. By healing the man, He's
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  demonstrating who He is. And all of this is sealed in the
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  New Covenant at the last meal. This is my blood of the
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  covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of
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  sins. It's the fulfillment of the
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  Sinai covenant. But more than that, it's the new
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  covenant promised by Jeremiah, where forgiveness is final and
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  complete. We also have to talk about the
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  title Jesus uses most for himself, the Son of Man. 30
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  times in Matthew. It's his preferred self
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  designation and it comes straight from Daniel 7.
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  Where the Son of Man is this exalted cosmic figure who
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  receives an eternal Kingdom. Right.
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  He fulfills the role that Adam was originally meant to have,
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  ruling the world for God's glory.
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  Jesus is the true Adam, the true human.
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  But during his ministry, that authority was mostly hidden.
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  That's the tension. It was veiled by his suffering,
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  his poverty. He had nowhere to lay his head.
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  So Matthew constantly reminds us of the coming, suffering and
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  death of the Son of Man. His glory was there, but
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  obscured. But the future glory is
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  guaranteed. Absolutely, the Son of Man will
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  return in glory to judge the world, vindicate his people, and
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  bring all of God's promises their final completion.
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  So beyond the titles, Matthew shows us Jesus's unique stature
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  through his actions. The way he calls his disciples,
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  for instance. It's completely different from
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  how other rabbis operated. He doesn't wait for Susan to
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  come to him. He takes the initiative.
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  And calls that it's a lifelong commitment.
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  It's an all-encompassing call. He tells them they'll be fishers
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  of people, which again is new Exodus language from Jeremiah,
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  and he demands A loyalty that surpasses everything else, even
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  family. He even claims to offer REST,
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  which sounds like a divine claim it.
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  Is come to me and I will give you rest.
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  He's offering the true Sabbath rest, the peace that was
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  intended from creation. He's the one who can finally
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  provide it. And his authority isn't just
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  spiritual, he has authority over the natural world.
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  And authority that belongs only to Yahweh.
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  He steals a storm with the command, which is exactly what
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  Psalm One O 7 says the Lord does.
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  He walks on water, which Job says is something only God can
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  do. His kingship is over everything.
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  Which brings us to the central theme of the book, the Kingdom.
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  Matthew almost always calls it the Kingdom of Heaven.
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  Yes, 32 times. And for a long time, the
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  scholarly consensus was that he just used heaven as a respectful
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  substitute for God because he was writing to a Jewish
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  audience. But the sources we're looking at
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  challenge that idea. They do, and for good reason.
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  I mean, if Matthew was trying to avoid the word God, why does he
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  use it over 50 other times? And why does he use the phrase
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  Kingdom of God four times? The evidence for that kind of
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  reverential substitution just isn't that strong.
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  So there's a deeper theological reason for using heaven.
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  There is the work of scholars like Jonathan Pennington
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  suggests that Matthew uses heaven to contrast God's ways
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  with human earthly ways. Think of the Sermon on the
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  Mount. Treasures on earth versus
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  treasures in heaven. The Father is always in heaven,
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  transcendent and exalted. So Kingdom of Heaven isn't just
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  another way of saying Kingdom of God, it's a statement about the
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  kingdom's nature. Exactly.
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  It emphasizes that this Kingdom is from above.
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  It's not a human political project.
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  It's God's transcendent, sovereign rule breaking into the
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  world from the outside. And that transcendent nature is
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  what leads to the great mystery of the Kingdom.
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  They already, but not yet. Right.
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  John and Jesus both announced that the Kingdom is here.
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  It's imminent, but it didn't look like anything people were
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  expecting. They were expecting a massive
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  final world ending event. Total victory.
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  Immediate judgement on enemies. Instead, Jesus teaches that the
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  Kingdom is already present in his ministry, but it's not yet
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  consummated in its final glory. And that means the blessings of
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  the Kingdom arrive in a paradoxical way.
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  We see that right away in the Beatitudes.
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  It's the poor in spirit, the persecuted, who possessed the
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  Kingdom now in the middle of this broken world.
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  Matthew then uses the parables in chapter 13 to unpack these
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  mysteries of the Kingdom. And the most surprising mystery
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  is that the Kingdom arrives without an immediate final
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  judgement. The Kingdom of Heaven now
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  coexists with the Kingdom of Darkness.
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  Like in the parable of the sower.
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  The word of the Kingdom goes out, but it doesn't conquer
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  every heart. Many people are still too
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  focused on earthly realities. And the parable of the weeds and
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  the wheat makes that even clearer.
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  Yes, the sons of the Kingdom have to live right alongside the
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  sons of the evil 1. The separation has to wait until
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  the final judgement. The vindication of the righteous
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  is delayed, but it is guaranteed.
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  The parables of the mustard seed and the leaven speak to the
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  kingdom's hidden beginnings. Right.
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  Which was so counterintuitive. Everyone expected this
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  overwhelming display of power. Instead, Jesus says it starts
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  small, almost unnoticed, and grows quietly from within.
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  This mismatch is why so many people just couldn't see that
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  Jesus was the Christ. But for those who do see it, its
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  value is immeasurable. That's the point of the treasure
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  in the field and the Pearl of Great price.
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  Once you see the Kingdom for what it is, you realize nothing
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  else compares. You'd gladly give up everything
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  to possess it. So how is this new creation,
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  this Kingdom, made visible? You mentioned Jesus's works.
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  Matthew's summary statements are key here.
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  He proclaimed the Gospel of the Kingdom and healed every
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  disease. The healing ministry of Jesus
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  and his disciples is the tangible evidence that the
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  Kingdom has arrived. His authority extends over
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  sickness, demons, and even death.
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  And Matthew explicitly links those healings to his atoning
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  work, quoting Isaiah 53. He took our illnesses and bore
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  our diseases. It's a profound connection.
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  Sickness and demonic oppression are consequences of the fall of
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  sin entering the world. So when Jesus heals, he's
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  reversing the effects of the curse.
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  He's giving a foretaste of the new creation.
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  He's showing that the Serpent's Dominion is being broken.
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  Yes, and the final victory comes to the cross.
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  But the initial skirmishes are one in these healings and
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  exorcisms. As Jesus himself says, if it is
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  by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the Kingdom of
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  God has come upon you. It's the undeniable proof.
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  So if the Kingdom has arrived, who gets to be a part of it?
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  And what does life in this Kingdom look like?
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  Well, those who enter are the ones saved from their sins by
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  Jesus, the ones he ransomed. But for Matthew, that saving
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  trust always results in a changed life.
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  Faith and obedience are two sides of the same coin.
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  The Beatitudes, then, aren't requirements to enter the
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  Kingdom, but descriptions of those who are already in it.
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  They describe the character of a Kingdom citizen.
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  The poor in spirit are those who have no pride and rely only on
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  God. The mourners grieve over sin and
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  brokenness, and they're promised the comfort of the new creation.
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  And the meek will inherit the earth.
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  The new Earth, that is. They are the ones who trust in
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  God's timing instead of taking matters into their own hands.
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  The core of this life is righteousness.
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  Jesus says he came to fulfill the law, not abolish it, and
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  that our righteousness has to exceed that of the scribes and
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  Pharisees. Right.
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  And he shows that God's law was never just about external
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  actions. It's about the heart.
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  Murder includes anger. Adultery includes lust.
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  It's a radical internal righteousness.
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  And the standard is perfection. Be perfect, therefore, as your
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  heavenly Father is perfect. It's the standard of the new
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  creation. And Matthew is clear.
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  Only those who are genuinely transformed, who seek the
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  Kingdom and this righteousness above all else, will enter.
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  So obedience becomes the test of genuine faith.
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  The narrow gate is this path of greater righteousness.
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  Yes, you'll know them by their fruits.
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  Jesus gives that stark warning that even spectacular spiritual
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  gifts, prophecy, exorcisms mean nothing without a life of
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  obedience. The real test is hearing His
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  words and doing them. And that carries through to the
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  final judgement. It does.
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  People will be judged according to what they have done.
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  The separation of the sheep and the goats shows that the
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  evidence of true faith is how we care for our brothers and
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  sisters. Let's shift to the corporate
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  identity of God's people. The promise to Abraham was for
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  universal blessing, so this new people of God must include
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  Gentiles. Absolutely, those who belong to
• 20:10
  Christ, Jew or Gentile are the true Israel, but Matthew's
• 20:14
  Gospel shows a bit of attention here in the timeline.
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  At first, Jesus restricts the mission.
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  To the lost sheep of the House of Israel, that was a necessary
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  temporary phase. The promises came to Israel 1st
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  and Jesus had to fulfill them first.
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  But the inclusion of Gentiles is foreshadowed right from the
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  beginning. It's woven all the way through.
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  The genealogy includes Gentile women.
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  The Magi, who are Gentiles, are the first to come and worship
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  the king, while Jerusalem is hostile.
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  Matthew quotes Isaiah to show that a great light has come to
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  the Gentiles. And then you have the story of
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  the Roman centurion whose faith astounds Jesus.
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  That becomes the model. Jesus predicts that many
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  Gentiles will join the Messianic feast, while some of the natural
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  sons of the Kingdom will be cast out.
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  It's a shocking reversal. Membership is about faith in the
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  King, not ethnic heritage. Precisely, and any doubt about
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  this is erased by the Great Commission at the end of the
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  book. A final mandate?
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  The exalted Son of Man, with all authority, commands his
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  disciples to make disciples of all nations.
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  The Gospel must go to the whole world.
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  The promise to Abraham is fulfilled.
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  And Matthew is unique in how he talks about the ecclesia, the
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  Church. Yes, the 12 disciples formed the
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  core of a new Israel, and Jesus promises to build his ecclesia,
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  his assembly on the rock of Peter's confession that he is
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  the Christ. And this church is given the
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  keys of the Kingdom. What does that mean?
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  It's the authority to proclaim the Gospel and certify who
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  belongs to the Kingdom community.
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  It's the power to bind and loose, which means applying the
• 21:44
  King's law to the life of the community.
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  So the Church is meant to be a holy and accountable community.
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  A community of love, but also one that disciplines sin in a
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  way the Church on earth anticipates a the final
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  judgement by maintaining A distinction between those who
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  are living in obedience and those who are not.
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  So to pull it all together, Matthew's Gospel presents Jesus
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  as the complete fulfillment of all of God's promises to Abraham
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  and David. He is the true Israel, the
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  Messiah, King, the Son of God, Emmanuel.
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  And his kingship is established through his sacrificial death
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  and resurrection, which secures forgiveness and creates a new
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  people for God. The transcendent Kingdom of
• 22:24
  heaven has broken into history. The new creation has begun, the
• 22:27
  victory over the serpent is 1 and those who belong to Christ
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  live transformed lives of obedience as citizens of this
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  new Kingdom. That's a great summary.
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  They form the core of the new Israel, the Church.
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  So here's a final thought to leave with you the community of
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  disciples. The Church is meant to
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  anticipate that final separation of good and evil that will
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  happen at the judgement. If this small, hidden, and often
• 22:48
  persecuted community now is meant to reflect the perfection
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  of the Father, what should that mean for how we interact with
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  the world around us? How visible should our distinct
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  righteousness really be? Something to consider as you
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  reflect on this deep dive into Matthew.
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  Thanks for joining us.