Testament Studies Apostle Mathew
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Added on 2020-03-28
Testament Studies Apostle Mathew
Added on 2020-03-28
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UNIVERSITY NAME Student’s name Student’s IDIntroduction to New Testament studies1
Apostle Mathew in his book talks in great length about the Messiah Jesus Christ the sonof God. His work is the first book of the New Testament and was first written in Greek languagebefore being translated into other languages. In Matthew 11:28, the great Apostle zerosin on core mission of Jesus Christ when he came down to the world, to saveGod’s people from evil and provide them with a chance to lead eternal lifedevoid of the tribulations on earth. The verse points out to the ability of JesusChrist in salvaging the human kind so long as they are ready to repent andturn away from their sinful ways and follow him. It urges the Jews and byextension all the Christians to follow the Messiah so that they can find rest.In the Ancient Greek, people believed it was extremely hard to reachGod even though they continually tried their best to see if they will be ableto reach him. This verse can be interpreted to be a message and anencouragement to Greek at that particular time that they should leave this toJesus and follow his teachings which will eventually lead them to God thefather of Jesus Christ. “It says come to me all you who are weary and I willgive you rest”. The Greek were worried lot in the sense that they may not beable to find God. The verse speaks to their hearts to stop being worriedabout the possibility of not finding God and leave that to Jesus to lead themin finding God. The Apostle presented Jesus Christ as a bridge through whichthe troubled men will finally be able to find their God. God had stayed 400years without revealing himself to the people in anyway before the Messiahwas born and it is understandable why the Greeks were now becomingrestless worried about why God had abandoned them. (Kittel, Bromiley and Friedrich2014)The verse can also be interpreted to mean message of relieve to theJews who were heavily burdened by rigorous rules and laws set by thePharisees in order to be viewed as a righteous person. The Phariseesthemselves did not follow these laws as they indulged in life and had it easywhile the majority of the Jews people labored or struggled to follow each andevery law put in place by them. At that time it was widely believed that theywere other laws that God told Moses orally and so the Pharisees would cameup with a myriad of complex laws and regulations and claim that they werepart of what God told Moses orally. The Apostle Mathew message to the Jewscame to inform them of a Messiah who can take way all those burdens andrelieve them of the heavy loads of sticking to myriad of laws in pursuit ofGod. The verse talks Jesus Christ as the son of God who came to earth toprovide a true way to God devoid of many laws and rules that Jews struggledto strictly adhere to as required by the Pharisees. (Copeland 2012)The scripture also refers to a man heavily burdened and disturbed byhis consciousness having committed transgressions that he would not haveliked to commit, the man who is struggling to re-establish himself before the2
eyes of God but doesn’t fully understand how to go about it. The Apostle inhis book in Matthew 11:28 reassure this man that there is way in which hecan reconnect with God again through his Son Jesus Christ, the Messiah.(Cairns 2011) The Christ is standing with his open arms welcoming his people tofollow him as he leads the way to God. The heavy sinner is thus provided anopportunity by the Christ to have all his sins washed away and he remainsclean and acceptable before God’s eye. The Apostle is talking to the Jewsurging them the follow Jesus Christ and he will help them. The verse pointsout to the presence of a helper who will help sinners do away with the sinsand give them peace of mind having mended there ways with God. At thattime people used to connect directly to God through series of actions whichGod used to reveal himself to the people. But he had stayed for many yearswithout doing so people were struggling to it that they are forgiven sins thatthey commit, thus Mathew is teaching the Jews and by extension all theChristians about the presence of Messiah, the savior who will clean them andlead them to God, the Father. (Palmer 2015)The verse can also refers to the hearths of the troubled men in theworld full of diseases, robbery, violence and general lack of peace. The earthwhere no one stays without his guards on and manages to survive on hisown might. The men’s own might is insufficient to the might of the world.The scripture therefore in Matthew 11:28 provide solace to the men, tellingthem there is someone who would provide that peace of hearth in wake ofthe earths tribulations and challenges. That all they need to do is to followJesus Christ and will see all these problems taken away by him. The reasonbehind this is that Jesus Christ the son of God is mighty before all the earth’sproblems and challenges none of them can even provide slightest challengeto him thus he dispenses with them with ease. On the other hand the men ofthe earth do not have these powers against the earth’s forces thus it mountsa great challenge to them and more often than not it overcomes them andthrows them into problems. The Apostle therefore in this verse reaches outto all Jews and Christians in general to stop being troubled and worried bythe problems and challenges in the earth and cast all those to Jesus Christwho will not only give them rest them but also provide peace in theirhearths. (Heaster 2014)The scripture is also urging the Jews to be people of good work. Whenthey follow Jesus they should not be people of do evil for in so doing they willcontinue suffering and facing all the problems in the earth. It says “Come tome you all who are weary...” This is Jesus speaking to his people through theApostle. By saying “come” it means leave what you are doing and followJesus. The scripture directs that those of Christ must leave their earthly waysand follow the narrow and righteous path of Jesus Christ which will grantthem peace. That one can not do earthly things and yet claim to be followingthe footsteps of the Messiah for he is righteous and pure and can nottherefore be party to the earthly things. The Apostle is reinforcing the3
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