006 Matthew in Seven Movements: Messiah the Way - And So It Begins

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 3 God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. 6 And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters below from the waters above.” 7 And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above. And it was so. 8 And God called the above sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day. 9 And God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. 11 And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so.  12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day. 14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the sky to separate the day from the night. And let them be for seasons,[f] and for days and years, 15 and let them in the sky give light upon the earth.” And it was so.  16 And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. 17 And God set them in the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day. 20 And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds[g] fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.” 21 So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23 And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day. 24 And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. 25 And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 26 Then God said, “Let us make man[h] in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image,     in the image of God he created him;     male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”  And it was so.  31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. You would recognize this reading as the Creation Account from Genesis 1. This is a very well-known passage if you have just been in the faith for a short while.  As the first words of our Scripture open we see the Spirit of God hovering over waters and beginning to create.  As He created, it is as if He steps back and looks and says, “Good.”  Waters, land, sky = good; Plants, stars, seasons = Good; Creatures, birds, fish, animals = good. He gets to the end of day six, looks at man, the very created thing made in His image and likeness and considers all that He has created and says, “It was very good.” Then God places man in this Garden named Delightful.  I can also mean pleasure. That is the Hebrew word Eden: delightful, pleasure. It is not until we get to Chapter 2 and verse 18 that we see the first occurrence of the phrase, “It is not good.”   This, of course, is before the fall of Adam so we see in this statement, it had nothing to do with sin.  Sin was not a part of the world yet. So, we can have something that is not good and it not be related to sin.  And God made Adam fall asleep and when he woke up, Eve.  He said, “Woah man!”  That was Adam’s way of saying, “It is good!” (true story) Chapter 3 we all know it is the introduction of the serpent. Tempting Eve and causing her and Adam to sin was the plan of the enemy and he was successful. Eve saw that the three was good . . .for food and that it was a delight . . . to the eyes and she ate. Enter God.  This was not good.  So much was this not good that it brought the curse of death and separation from God. A String of Not Goods Then we get a STRING OF NOT GOODS.  There are decades, centuries of not good. After the sin of Adam and Eve and their removal from Eden, Adam had children, not in the likeness of God, but in the likeness of himself (Genesis 5:3). Through time God chose to work through and closely with those made in the image of Adam. These begin a very long string of failures of which today I will only hit the highlights.  These failures that were friends of God. Noah: It says (Gen 6:5) the deterioration of sin had gotten so bad that every inclination of the heart was always evil. God is pronouncing JUDGEMENT. The creation that was “very good” had become “very bad.” He chose Noah and had grace upon him and saved Noah and his family (Genesis 6:8).  Noah and family were only saved because God was gracious to them.  We see that in Noah, old habits die hard.  The earth was flooded, the water receded, and it is time for a second creation. Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth.  This Noah who had received God’s grace and was saved from the destructive flood acted like a drunken sailor, passed out and then was disrespected by his son Ham. Cursed! Abraham: An idol worshiper (Josh 24:2) was chosen by God to begin a new people.  T THE MAN OF FAITH THAT MOST OF THE TIME WAS FAITHLESS To save his own life he (potentially) sacrificed his marriage and life by lying who his wife was.  He also, in attempt to help God along with the promise He made, participated in a plot to impregnate his wife’s servant and this turned out really well. David: A shepherd boy who grew into a mighty warrior and great king.  We are aware of his sin and rebellion.  He stole a wife, impregnated her and to cover it, killed her husband. All to keep his sin hidden. These are the highlights.  There is a long history of failure, Judges, kings with shallow courage and faith, false prophets and grumbling citizens. These were NOT pleasing in God’s sight.  These were NOT GOOD.  A string of not good and more not good.  Then there is one who was chosen.  This one is different.  Isaiah lets us know of what this future chosen one is like.  God speaking through Isaiah we hear the word “delight” again.  Hope for the first time since the Garden, which was the last time anything GOOD was mentioned. Is 42:1, “Behold my servant, who I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit on him,” The Baptism of Jesus The water of the Jordan was the scene of John the baptizer. Person after person coming to repent of their sin and be symbolically cleansed.  (WE NEED THIS. We NEED WASHED.  WE NEED CLEANSED.  WE ARE REBELLIOUS.  We CAN’T GET OUT OF OUR WAY TO REBEL” Then arrives Jesus.  Can you imagine?  It’s like it is mid-sermon/mid-baptism. Jesus Baptism was covered in all four Gospel accounts.  John the Baptist and the baptism of Jesus, the feeding of the 5,000 and the Passion week of Christ are the only events that are found in each of the four gospel accounts.  JESUS was the one for whom John was looking. There is the uncertainty when we combine the texts from John and Matthew.  Matthew says that as a part of John’s preaching he was telling people - I AM NOT THE MESSIAH.  I am not the Christ.  He who comes after me, one I am not worthy to carry the sandals.  He is the Christ. There were people designated to carry sandals. They were lowly servants.  They were the lowest of servants.  Kings and people of status had these servants. John is essentially saying, “I am a servant of Christ, but I am not even worthy to be the lowest of servants.” So here in Matthew, John the Baptist is LOOKING for Jesus.  (John the Baptist and John the apostle and writer of John are two different people.  John (Johannes) is a popular name, kind of like Bubba in the south. There seems to be a partial recognizing here of Jesus (the Matthew account).  I say only partial because John seems to know who he is but it not fully certain.  We will find this later in Matthew 11, the last time we hear of John the Baptist.  He is in prison and he sends messengers to Jesus, “Are you the one?”   John says, “I did not know him but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on who you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptize with the Holy Spirit.’” (John 1:33)   John sees Jesus, “Behold the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.” (Jn 1:29) This is NOT just the sin of the Jewish people.  Not just the family of Abraham.  This is the sin of the Gentiles too.  The Passover lamb.  The lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world. (Rev. 13:8). The lamb that was to take away our sin. (Before Genesis 1:1)   This lamb comes to be baptized.   “Uh, no!” John says. “What are you talking about baptism?  Me baptize you?  No, You need to be baptize me!”   Jesus says, “John, I’ve got to do this.  It is fitting.  I have to fulfill all righteousness.”   These people lined up to be baptized.  Convicted and recognized their sin.  Feeling the need to be purified.  We are sinners.   Not Jesus!  He is not a sinner.   Jesus, pure, the second Adam (more on this next week), having never committed any offense and perfect in every way, righteous in every way.    I have to do this.   He was numbered with the transgressors (Isaiah 53:12).   Let’s put in this circle all the guilty.  Just lump them all here.  Transgressors ALL of them.  You know who is in that circle?  Jesus.  Numbered with the transgressors.   Even though perfect, he looked just like you and me.  He is God in the flesh: he has hands, legs, and feet.   He is NOT in the image of Adam.  He went into the waters as if He was.   This moment the sky opened and the Spirit . . . remember that Spirit that hovered over the waters at creation?  This is that Spirit that was creating back in Genesis 1?  He is hovering, once again, over water.  It descended upon Jesus at the waters of the Jordan.   There is debate on interpreting this concerning the dove.  Was it a real dove?  Many say, not really.  As he baptized Jesus, John saw something and the people saw something.    This something was the Spirit of God and it descended.  They could literally see the Spirit entering Jesus and it appeared like a dove.    Like the dove that returned to Noah?  A sign of new beginnings.  The dove that brings back the olive leaf?  There is life!  Here is proof.  And this Spirit descends up our peace, Jesus.   From heaven, the Lord said, “Very good!”  There is a theme here in Matthew where Jesus matches with Genesis.  “This is my son, in whom I am well pleased.”   Filling full the prophet Isaiah, “Behold, my servant, whom I have chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him” (42:1)   This is the first time since the fall that God has spoken and said this is good.  With Jesus, “I am well pleased!”   This is significant.  This is pivotal.   Jesus in the baptism, is humbling himself – though in the FORM of God did not consider equality with God a thing to hold on to but made himself nothing taking on the form of a servant and was born in the “LIKENESS” of sinful flesh.  But he is not a sinner.  Yet he takes on the image of a sinner.   He became like you and me in every way, but the sin.    Noah = failure Abraham= failure David = failure Every king = failure Every priest = failure   Jesus, “I am well pleased.”   What Does This Mean? There were many people APPEARING before John the Baptist to repent because there was a lot of rebellion, and this continues to be the case. I was praying earlier this week concerning our nation.  Much pondering to the rebellion that is happening.  Tina and I chat about, I just miss the old days.  But as I was praying I said to the Lord, Going back to the old days is not going to fix anything.  There was rebellion then, it just wasn’t as contentious.  It is more visible and in your face. It is so easy to idolize a time period and think that just a return to that and things will be fine.  Absolutely not.  There was sin in 1985. There was sin in 1971.  There was sin in 1950.  There was sin in 1800, 1700, 1492 and you just name the date, Jesus was always needed.  In Genesis there were four people and one of those committed murder.  25% of the Earth’s population was guilty of murder.  The people in John’s day felt the need to repent, to be washed and they were.  There were a lot then and there still remain a lot.  We have right here what many people need.  Not a lot of finger wagging and I told you so’s but Jesus, the Savior.  Jesus the righteous.  Jesus, the one in whom God is well pleased. He is the ONLY one in whom God is well pleased.  You think God is pleased because you come to assembly?  You think God is well pleased because you read Scripture occasionally?  You think God is pleased because you come from a family that has gone to church since Thomas Jefferson? He is well pleased because of Jesus.  And those who are IN JESUS, God is well pleased.   Jesus is the ONLY offering that is not filthy rags (Isaian 64:6) If we go back to the first part of this study on the Advent, we had Joseph.  He finds out that his wife to be in pregnant and he knows he is not the source of that pregnancy.  Joseph had every right to put Mary away! You know what he had the right to do?  He was fully and legally right to put her away.  But he did not. The angel came and instructed him about what was taking place.  He did not put Mary away, though he had the legal right to do. This made for an interesting public appearance.  In every way our Savior appears as fallen, yet He is the only one in Whom the Father delighted. THE HEBREW WRITER SAYS: He became like us much in every way, He was made like his brothers that he might be a service to God. For those of us in Christ, for those of us who are by faith in Jesus, this is how we stand before God.  We don’t stand before Him putting on our fig leaves to hide our shame. We appear before God in Christ.  This is the one in whom God delights.  I am with Him! In Him we are a new Creation 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.    Spirit hovering over us and sprinkling us with water Those in Christ are a new creation – old things have passed, the new HAS come!