The Book of Matthew Explained

•  The Basics (5W's & 1H)
• Who wrote it? The apostle Matthew, or Levi
• What was his audience? Greek speaking Jewish Christians
• Where was it written? Unknown. Some people think Jerusalem, and others think Antioch in Syria.
• When was it written? Between A.D. 50 and A.D. 65. Before A.D. 70 because that's when the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed, and Matthew talks about the Temple being destroyed in the future. 
• Why was it written? To connect the Old Testament Law with the New Testament Gospel. To prove to the Jews that Jesus was their Promised Messiah.
• How was it written? The Holy Spirit, or God, inspired Matthew what to write. 

• Interesting facts I bet you didn't know, cause I didn't know them
• There are 1,071 verses in Matthew. Only 410 of those verses are recorded ONLY in Matthew.
• 9 parables are 3 miracles appear.
• Matthew is considered a "Synoptic Gospel".
• Similar to Mark in narrative account.
• Over 90% of Mark's verses are found in Matthew. 
• Follows Mark's basic narrative form.
• Was the 2nd Gospel written.

• Overview of Book
• Chapters 1-4 talk about the life of Jesus and the start of His ministry.
• Chapters 5-7 talk about the teachings of Jesus.
• Chapters 8-10 talk about the miracles of Jesus.
• Chapters 11-18 talk about the reactions to Jesus.
• Chapters 19-25 talk about Jesus' parables, discussing His philosophy, prophecies, and healing.
• Chapters 26-28 talk about Jesus' trail, death, and resurrection.

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Matthew 1 Explained

 Most people overlook the genealogy section in Matthew. They think it isn't as important as the rest of the Gospel. But in fact, it's the opposite. This section lays the foundation for Matthew's arguments.

Matthew was arguing and proving Jesus' messiahship. The genealogy was theological and written in proper Jewish style. Matthew leaves out a few names, but the names he does include emphasize that Jesus truly is who He said He was. This genealogy is also historical. It fulfills what was promised to Abraham in Genesis 17:5-7.

Read Matthew 1:1-17

Matthew also included David in the genealogy. This proves even further that Jesus was indeed the promised Messiah.

The rest of the chapter explains how Jesus was born. It also shows how powerful God is and that His plan is bigger than we could ever fathom. 

Read Matthew 1:18-25

Mary and Joseph were engaged to be married. That was questioned when Mary was found with child. According to the Jewish law, Joseph had the right to divorce Mary because she was considered unclean. Joseph respected the purity of the relationship, so that news definitely caught him off guard. 

Before Joseph gave the divorce idea too much though, God sent an angel to explain everything in his dream. Joseph listened and did what the angel commanded. 

Imagine being put in that situation, Mary or Joseph's. What would be your reaction? What happened was out of the ordinary. Matthew made sure to prove this by including Isaiah 7:14. It proves the prophecy was fulfilled.

Joseph and Mary were faithful till the very end. This example should challenge us to be faithful even if the situation seems impossible. God uses the least of us to accomplish His plans, only if we listen. 

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Bible Study Podcast Transcript ~ The New Testament (Episode 1)

 The New Testament Explained

• The Inter-Testament Period
• Greeks conquered the world, made Greek the common language worldwide.
• The Old Testament was translated into Greek during this time.
• The Jews were scattered all over the place taking the Scriptures with them.
• Known as "The Silent Years" because there's no recorded messages from God during that time.
• About 400 years between Malachi and Matthew.

• The New Testament
• "Testament" comes from the Latin word testamentum, which means "will, testament, or covenant".
• Is established by God, we can either accept or reject it.
• Focuses on salvation through faith in Jesus Christ..
• Content can be organized by its writers, time periods, or literary character.
• Was written from around A.D. 45 to A.D. 100.
• God is the Author, He chose certain men to be His penmen.
• There are NO errors, NO contradictions.
• If you accept this as true, you will receive an eternal inheritance.

• Writers
• The apostle Matthew wrote Matthew
• Mark, John Mark, wrote Mark
• Luke, the physician, wrote Luke and Acts
• The apostle John wrote John, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, and Revelation
• The apostle James,Jesus' brother, wrote James
• Jude, Jesus' brother, wrote Jude
• The apostle Paul, once a Pharisee (Saul), wrote Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, and Philemon
• The apostle Peter wrote 1 Peter and 2 Peter
• Unknown wrote Hebrews

• Literary Character
• Historical = narrative of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.
• Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts
• Doctrinal = message is to instruct the church in correct doctrinal belief and practice.
• Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, Hebrews, James, 1 and 2 Peter, 1 John, and Jude
• Personal = written to encourage, instruct, and counsel through personal messages to certain individuals.
• 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, and 2 and 3 John
• Prophetic = things to come.
• Revelation

I hope these notes are quite helpful to you. If you would like to listen to the podcast go on my YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCc0oy2LAEZ2haouKpzv4R4w) or click here (https://www.spreaker.com/show/bible-study-podcast). I'll post another one next week!

~ Madison : )

Good Friday Explained

If you're wondering what Good Friday is, or you need a refresher, I can help with both. This article will be discussing what Good Friday is, what it means, and where it's talked about in the Bible. Let's get started!

Good Friday is the day Jesus died on the cross and went in the tomb. It means Jesus, the most innocent and perfect person on earth, died for us and our sins. He could have saved Himself, that's the crazy thing because He didn't. It just proves how much God and Jesus loves us.

In each of the 4 Gospels, there is an account of Jesus dying on the cross. I'll list them for you. Read them all, see how some of them add more detail, compare them. 

    - Matthew 27:32-56

    - Mark 15:21-32

    - Luke 23:26-43

    - John 19:17-24

Jesus was alive on the cross for 3 hours, then He died. Before He died, He cried out a phrase with a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" (Mark 15:34). The writers were kind enough to translate that for us, He said "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?".

What do you think of that statement? I thought I would see what the dictionary definition of forsake is. It said "abandoning, deserting, leaving someone when they need you". Does that change your thoughts. Jesus was crying out for God to help Him, but God turned His face away. It was difficult, but it had to be done. The prophecies in Isaiah, and some of Psalms, were being fulfilled. And mankind was receiving salvation.

Unlike other people who've been crucified, Jesus' body was taken down on the same day He was crucified. With courage, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate if he could have Jesus' body. Pilate made sure Jesus was dead first before he granted Joseph's request. 

Joseph was taking a large risk because he could be associated with Jesus' alleged treason. God made sure nothing happened to him. Joseph bought fine linen, wrapped Jesus in it, then buried Him in his own burial tomb. A large stone was rolled in front and guards were to stand watch and make sure no one would steal the body.

We all know what happens from there. I will be discussing that more in another article in a few days. 

Thanks for reading this! I hope you got a lot from it. If you want me to write about any topic, feel free to email me. 😃

Passover Explained

On every calendar, there is a special day marked a week before Good Friday. Want to take a guess on what it is? You probably already know because of the title of this blog article. It's.... Passover! If you didn't guess that, I don't know what to say to that. 😄

The first mention of the Passover is in Exodus 12. I'll give you a brief summary up to that point.

Moses used to live in Egypt, but he ran away and lived in Midian. He ran away because he killed an Egyptian that was beating a Hebrew. The Pharoah wanted to find Moses and kill him for this act. 

Moses married this lady named Zipporah. The king of Egypt died while Moses was in Midian. The children of Israel were groaning and crying out to God to save them. God heard their cries and he sent Moses to save them. How God told Moses to go was peculiar. He, God, talked to Moses from a burning bush. The bush was not consumed! That would be a crazy sight to see!

Moses tried telling God that he couldn't be the spokesperson for Israel. He was afraid people wouldn't believe him, even after the signs that God performed for him. He also used the excuse that he was a bad speaker. God got angry at Moses and decided his brother Aaron could be the spokesperson. However, Moses would have to speak the words first. 

Moses and Aaron go to Egypt to tell the Pharoah what God had told them, which was simply "Let My people go" (My is God). This was Pharoah's response, "Who is the LORD, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, nor will I let Israel go." (Exodus 5:2). 

Moses was confused. He questioned why God sent him there if the Hebrews weren't going to be delivered. God responded,  with assurance, that they will be delivered and Pharoah's strong hand will fail.

10 times Moses and Aaron went to the Pharoah with the same message. 10 times he, the Pharoah, said no. Because he hardened his heart, his country recieved 10 different plagues.

1. All water becomes blood

2. Frog infestation 

3. Lice <-- This one is where the magicians recognize and tell Pharoah that the plagues were God's doings.

4. Flies, swarms of them

5. Livestock diseases

6. Boils

7. Hail

8. Locusts (grasshoppers and crickets)

9. Darkness for 3 days

10. Death of the firstborn child

The tenth plague is where the Passover comes into play. God told Moses He was going to kill all the firstborn at midnight, livestock included. The only way the Hebrews would be saved is if they killed a male lamb, without blemish of the first year, and smeared/painted the blood on 2 doorposts and on the lintel of the house. This sign let God know He could pass over them. 

Does that help you understand Passover a little bit more now? I hope it did! God gave the Israelites rules on how, when, and why to celebrate it. 

As Christians, we don't usually celebrate Passover, since it's intended for the Jews to remember that miracle from their past history. Jesus celebrated this though, and He commanded us to do something else instead. The Lord's Supper, or communion. I will dive into that deeper in another blog article that will be coming up very shortly.

Thank you for reading this! Good job if you read all the way through! 🙂

Who is the Easter Bunny???

During Easter, we have a tradition, and that is the Easter Bunny. I will tell you the history of how he came about, and why we started celebrated him.

According to Wikipedia, the Easter bunny is a "folkloric figure", "symbol of Easter", and "rabbit bringing Easter eggs".  He first appeared in the year 1682, which means he's been around for 339 years! German physician and botanist Georg Franck von Franckenau wrote about this new tradition in his book De Ovis Paschalibus, which is translated to About Easter Eggs. 

The original purpose of the Easter bunny was to judge and evaluate kids behavior from the start of Eastertide. In a way, he was similar to Santa Claus on Christmas. They both delivered toys to children the night before the holiday. The Easter bunny would carry colored eggs, candy, and sometimes toys in his basket. German Lutherans created this tradition. 

This year, Eastertide will start on April 12th, 2021 and end on May 31st, 2021. 

I hope this helped you understand the Easter bunny a little bit deeper, and why some people choose to celebrate it. Unfortunately, the world has turned it into the main thing for the holiday instead of Jesus rising from the dead. 

Thank you for reading this article!