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Matthew 1:1: The Book of the Genesis of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
We've concentrated this morning on the first two words of Matthew – the "book of the Genesis." We'll pick up the pace as we go, and cover more than two words next week. But these words are worth stopping over. Matthew may well have intended these as a title to his entire gospel – a gospel of new beginnings, a gospel of new creation, good news that the end has come in the middle of history to create a new beginning.
Part of that new beginning is that Jesus comes, as Matthew says, as the "son of Abraham." What does it mean for Jesus to be "son of Abraham"? Matthew makes an immediate reference to "Isaac," and thus may specifically be identifying Jesus with Isaac. Jesus is the greater Isaac, who bore wood to the place of His sacrifice, who offered Himself on the cross, who rose again to new life.
That phrase also indicates that in Jesus, the promises to Abraham have come to fruition. These are promises about an abundant seed, about inheritance of the land, and particularly about the inclusion of Gentiles in the people of God, about Yahweh's blessings extending beyond the boundaries of Israel to the nations.
When Matthew mentions Abraham elsewhere in his gospel, he has this promise to the Gentiles in view. John warns the Jews not to trust in their descent from Abraham since God can raise up "children to Abraham" from stones (3:9), and Jesus tells the Jews that many will stream from the four points of the compass to take their places at the feast of the kingdom, in the company of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (8:11).
This is the feast of the new creation because this is the feast of the Son of Abraham, who brings blessing to the nations, and has gathered and is gathering a people from the four corners of the earth to recline at table in the kingdom of heaven.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Sunday, April 22, 2007 at 08:07 AM
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