Matthew (eBook)

Our Loving King

Brian Simmons (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2015 | 1. Auflage
144 Seiten
Broadstreet Publishing Group, LLC (Verlag)
978-1-4245-4972-6 (ISBN)

Infos

Four hundred years of silence. Where was the promised Messiah?  The Jewish people were waiting for word of the prophets to come true, for they prophesied that he would come. Then the angel Gabriel announced his birth.  Wise men sought him. Herod wanted to kill him. John the Baptist presented him to Israel. God anointed him. Satan cruelly tempted him. Then the King came into the Jewish meeting house and announced:  'I am here! I have come to set you free and to wash away sins, And liberate those who love and follow me.'  It is believed that Matthew was the first apostle to write a gospel, possibly as early as 50 AD. He was a wealthy tax collector who profited greatly from his duty of representing Rome. And then one day, the Man from Galilee stood in front of him and said, 'Come follow me.'  

DR. BRIAN SIMMONS is a passionate lover of God. After a dramatic conversion to Christ, Brian knew that God was calling him to go to the unreached people of the world and present the gospel of God's grace to all who would listen. With his wife, Candice, and their three children, he spent eight years in the tropical rain forest of the Darien Province of Panama as a church planter, translator, and consultant. Having been trained in linguistics and Bible translation principles, Brian assisted in the Paya-Kuna New Testament translation project. After his ministry overseas, Brian was instrumental in planting a thriving church in New England (U.S.) and currently travels full time as a speaker and Bible teacher. He is the lead translator of The Passion Translation®.

Autor

DR. BRIAN SIMMONS is the lead translator of The Passion Translation®. The Passion Translation (TPT) is a heart-level translation that uses Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic manuscripts to express God's fiery heart of love to this generation, merging the emotion and life-changing truth of God's Word. The hope for TPT is to trigger inside every reader an overwhelming response to the truth of the Bible and to reveal the deep mysteries of the Scriptures in the love language of God, the language of the heart. Brian is currently translating the Old Testament. After a dramatic conversion to Christ in 1971, Brian and his wife, Candice, answered the call of God to leave everything behind and become missionaries to unreached peoples. Taking their three children to the tropical rain forest of Central America, they planted churches for many years with the Paya-Kuna people group. Dr. Simmons established leadership for the churches that Jesus birthed, and, having been trained in linguistics and Bible translation principles, assisted with the translation of the Paya-Kuna New Testament. After their ministry overseas, Brian and Candice returned to North America, where Brian began to passionately work toward helping people encounter the risen Christ. He and his wife planted numerous ministries, including a dynamic church in New England (U.S.). They also established Passion & Fire Ministries, under which they travel full time as Bible teachers in service of local churches throughout the world. Brian is the author of numerous books, Bible studies, and devotionals that help readers encounter God's heart and experience a deeper revelation of God as our Bridegroom King, including Throne Room Prayer, The Sacred Journey, Prayers on Fire, The Divine Romance, and The Vision. Brian and Candice have been married since 1971 and have three children as well as precious grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Their passion is to live as loving examples of a spiritual father and mother to this generation.

Textauszug

Two

The Wise Men Visit

1Jesus was born in Bethlehema near Jerusalemb during the reign of King Herod.c After Jesus’ birth a group of spiritual priestsd from the East came to Jerusalem 2and inquired of the people, “Where is the child who is born king of the Jewish people? We observed his star rising in the skye and we’ve come to bow before him in worship.”

3King Herod was shaken to the core when he heard this, and not only him, but all of Jerusalem was disturbed when they heard this news. 4So he called a meeting of the Jewish ruling priests and religious scholars, demanding that they tell him where the promised Messiah was prophesied to be born.

5“He will be born in Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,” they told him. “Because the prophecy states:

6And you, little Bethlehem, are not insignificant

Among the clans of Judah, for out of you will emerge

The Shepherd-Kingf of My people Israel!”g

7Then Herod secretly summoned the spiritual priests from the East to ascertain the exact time the star first appeared. 8And he told them, “Now go to Bethlehem and carefully look there for the child, and when you’ve found him, report to me so that I can go and bow down and worship him too.”

9And so they left, and on their way to Bethlehem, suddenly the same star they had seen in the East reappeared! Amazed, they watched as it went ahead of them and stopped directly over the place where the child was. 10And when they saw the star, they were so ecstatic that they shouted and celebrated with unrestrained joy.h 11When they came into the house and saw the young child with Mary, his mother, they were overcome. Falling to the ground at his feet they worshipped him.i Then they opened their treasure boxesj full of gifts and presented him with gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12Afterward they returned to their own country by another route because God had warned them in a dream not to go back to Herod.

They Escape to Egypt

13After they had gone, Joseph had another dream. An angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “Get up now and flee to Egypt. Take Mary and the little child and stay there until I tell you to leave, for Herod intends to search for the child to kill him.”

14So that very night he got up and took Jesus and his mother and made their escape to Egypt 15and remained there until Herod died. All of this fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through his prophet:

I summon my Son out of Egypt.k

16When Herod realized that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated. So he sent soldiers with orders to slaughter every baby boy two years old and younger in Bethlehem and throughout the surrounding countryside, based on the time frame he was given from interrogating the wise men. 17This fulfilled the words of the prophet Jeremiah:

18I hear the screams of anguish,

Weeping, and wailing in Ramah.

Rachel is weeping uncontrollably for her children.l

And she refuses to be comforted,

Because they are dead and gone.m

They Return to Nazareth

19After Herod died, the angel of the Lord appeared again to Joseph in a dream while he was still in Egypt, 20saying, “Go back to the land of Israel and take the child and his mother with you, for those who sought to kill the child are dead.”

21So he awoke and took Jesus and Mary and returned to the land of Israel. 22But when he heard that Archelaus, Herod’s son, had succeeded him as ruler over all of the territory of Judah, he was afraid to go back. Then he had another dream from God, warning him to avoid that region and instructing him instead to go to the province of Galilee. 23So he settled his family in the village of Nazareth, fulfilling the prophecy that he would be known as the “Branch.”n

a   2:1 Bethlehem, or Byt-lehem, means “house of bread,” the prophesied birthplace of Messiah. However, the Hebrew word lehem can also mean “fighters.” Jesus was born in “the House of Fighters!” This is the city of David, one of the greatest fighters in the entire Bible. Perhaps this is why the people of Jesus’ day expected him to fight the Romans and free their land from foreign occupation. Jesus fulfilled both aspects of the meaning of Bethlehem in Gethsemane and on the cross, where he fought the “Goliath” of our souls and won, becoming Bread for the world. God controls all events, proven by the prophecy that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem even though his parents were living in Nazareth. See Micah 5:2 and Luke 2:1–19.

b   2:1 Or “in the land of Judea.” The Hebrew gospel of Matthew is “the land of Judah.”

c   2:1 Herod died in 4 BC, which helps in dating the birth of Christ.

d   2:1 Or “astrologers,” known as dream interpreters. These wealthy priests would have traveled with an entourage for protection as officials from the East. The Greek word magos is taken from the Mede language and means “spiritual advisors” or simply “priests.” They were appointed by Darius over the state religion as priests of Persia, which is modern-day Iran, and served as official advisors to the king. By the time of Jesus’ birth, Persia had been conquered and was being governed by successors to Alexander the Great. It is possible these Magos came from the Mesopotamian region of Seleucia. See also Daniel 2 and 5:11, where the prophet Daniel is given the title of “Chief of the Magio.” It is probable that these Magos were descendants of those who had been taught by Daniel, and because of his prophecy of the Messiah being “cut off,” they may have been able to decipher the date of his birth along with the interpretation of his star rising.

e   2:2 Or “his star in the east” or “shooting star” or possibly “comet.” Note that it is also called “his star,” not the star of Bethlehem.

f   2:6 As translated from the Aramaic. The Greek is “the Leader who will shepherd my people Israel.”

g   2:6 See Micah 5:2. Both the Septuagint and the Shem-Tob (Hebrew Matthew) have “out of you will come to me a Ruler who will be King of Israel.” The Septuagint adds, “He will shepherd my people in the strength of the Lord.”

h   2:10 The Greek is hard to translate since it contains so many redundant words for joy in this one verse. It is literally, “They rejoiced with a great joy exceedingly.” They were ecstatic!

i   2:11 Turning their backs on human wisdom, these “wise men” bowed low before the true Wisdom of God. See 1 Corinthians 1:24.

j   2:11 These “wise men” were extremely wealthy. They presented gifts that totaled a great sum of money—not tiny presents wrapped with bows, but treasure chests full of financial wealth. Although we are not given the monetary value of each type of gift, we know that frankincense and myrrh were extremely costly. These gifts would have financed Joseph and Mary and Jesus’ exodus to Egypt and supplied their living expenses for a number of years, even after returning to Israel. Gold is an often-used symbol of the deity of Christ. Frankincense points to His perfect life of holiness, excellence, and devotion. Myrrh, an embalming spice, speaks to us of the suffering love that would lead him to the death of the cross.

k   2:15 See Hosea 11:1. Both Jesus and the nation of Israel came up out of Egypt.

l   2:18 As translated from the Septuagint. Rachel becomes a metaphor for all of Israel.

m   2:18 See Jeremiah 31:14–15.

n   2:23 Or “a Nazarene.” The Hebrew Scriptures give us a wonderful truth about the Branch (Sprout) of the Lord that would come and establish righteousness. The word for “branch” or sprout is netzer, the root word from which Nazareth, Nazarene, and Nazarite come. The teaching of the Branch of the Lord is a concept taught throughout the Bible, from the Tree of Life, to the seven branches of the Lampstand, to Jesus the Vine calling us his branches. Jesus is a Scion, a Branch that can be transplanted and grafted into a human life. Another variant form of this amazing word netzer can be translated “keeper, watchman, one who keeps secrets, guardian, one who keeps watch.” All of these words are true of Jesus, the Branch who was raised in the village of the Branch (Nazareth). Additionally, the Aramaic word for Nazareth means “heir of a powerful family” or “victorious one.” So it is entirely possible to translate this “He will be called the Victorious Branch (of Nazareth).” See Daniel 11:7, Isaiah 11:1 and 60:21. See also Isaiah 4:2, Jeremiah 23:5, and Zechariah 6:12, which uses a Hebrew...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 15.1.2015
• Reihe/Serie: The Passion Translation
• Verlagsort: Savage
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Religion / Theologie ► Christentum ► Bibelausgaben / Bibelkommentare
• Schlagworte: active faith • Aramaic • bible heroes • Bible translation • Biblical Figures • Christ • devout • disciple • Faith • Forgiveness • God • gods love • Gospel • Grace • Greek • Hebrew • humility • Jesus • jesus life • Messiah • ministry • modern christianity • modern faith • modern world • New Testament • Parables • piety • Prayer • Prophecy • Redemption • relationship with God • religion and spirituality • Revelation • Righteousness • Salvation • Scripture • secular world • Sin • Spiritual development • spiritual journey • Theology • Transformation • Truth • Walk with God • wisdom • Word of God
• ISBN-10: 1-4245-4972-8 / 1424549728
• ISBN-13: 978-1-4245-4972-6 / 9781424549726