Bible Reading Plan | Devotion for the week of June 19, 2022

Weekly Reading: Matthew 1 to 5 | Proverbs 1 and 2
Passages Referenced: Matthew 1 to 5; Matthew 10:28;
Proverbs 1 and 2; and 2 Timothy 3:16

This week in our Bible reading, we land in the gospel of Matthew, Chapters 1 to 5. The goal of Matthew’s gospel account was to prove that Jesus was the Christ and the Messiah of the Jewish people. Matthew quotes from the Old Testament quite often, which is evidence that his account was written to mostly Jewish people. Matthew was an eyewitness to many of the events that were recorded in his gospel. He records many of Jesus’ main discourses, such as the Sermon on the Mount, the parables of the kingdom, the commissioning of the apostles and Jesus’ prediction of His second coming. Matthew wants everyone reading his gospel account to know that Jesus was the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies, and that He is indeed the King of the Jews, as well as the King of all people.

Matthew Chapter 1 begins with a genealogy, which to most 21st Century Christians is boring. The Jewish people who were reading this during the time it was written, however, would have understood it’s meaning. The reason Matthew starts with a genealogy is to show Jesus’ bloodline (family tree). Matthew shows us that Jesus is in the same family as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Ruth, Boaz, David and Solomon. Chapter 1 ends with a summarization Jesus’ birth.

In Chapter 2, Matthew opens with the wise men searching, finding and worshiping the Baby Jesus. This leads to King Herod decreeing to kill every newborn baby boy, so an angel comes to Joseph and tells him, Mary, and Jesus to flee to Egypt for safety. After the king died, an angel appeared to Mary and Joseph and told them to go to Nazareth, “so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that He would be called a Nazarene.”

In Chapter 3, Matthew introduces us to John the Baptist, and again, Matthew references Old Testament prophecies to show the Jewish readers the fulfillment of those prophecies. Jesus shows up and tells John the Baptist to baptize Him to “fulfill all righteousness.” When John baptized Jesus, several things happened at once: the heavens opened, a dove ascended and God the Father spoke, saying “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

In Matthew Chapter 4, Jesus is tempted by Satan in the wilderness. This chapter is familiar to most of us, but it is good for us to remind ourselves of some key verses. One verse is Jesus’ response to Satan in verse 4: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” I love this response from Jesus for multiple reasons. One is that He answered Satan by quoting scripture. What a profound thing for Jesus to do! Jesus was truly God and truly man, and anything He spoke was true, and yet, he quoted scripture. This tells us Jesus had a high enough regard of scripture to quote it to Satan. Jesus saw the scriptures the way Paul did when writing to Timothy under the inspiration, “God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and training in righteousness.” The rest of Chapter 4 is the story of Jesus beginning His earthly ministry and calling his first disciples. Jesus and the disciples travel throughout Galilee, where Jesus proclaims the gospel and heals people.

Matthew Chapter 5, the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, is another familiar passage. The first 12 verses are referred to as the Beatitudes. There is a lot of richness and profound truth in the Beatitudes, making them worthy of a verse-by-verse study. After the Beatitudes, Jesus talks about His followers being the “salt” and “light” of the world, and then He proclaims that He came to fulfill the law and not to abolish it. He  continues to flip the Ten Commandments on their head and turns it into a matter of the heart. 

Here are some of my favorite Beatitudes:

• “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (earthly mourning and mourning over sin)
• “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”
•  “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

The Old Testament readings land us in Proverbs, Chapters 1 and 2. Chapter 1 begins with an introduction by King Solomon, in which he writes that those reading the proverbs should be wise and have knowledge. In verse 7 he writes, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction”.

Solomon points out that wisdom and knowledge come from fearing God. This is one of the most important truths in the Bible. Those who call themselves Christ-followers must have the fear of God in them. Fearing God is not just about being deathly afraid of God, which we should be, according to Matthew 10:28, it is also about having awestruck reverence to the Holiness of God. It’s the fear of God that drives us to obey Him, follow Him and even love Him. Logically speaking, it is wise to love God, and to love God is to know Him.

Chapter 2 shares the context of the book of Proverbs, which is written to the son of Solomon. It tells the son that he will walk in wisdom and knowledge, but just because Solomon’s son is entitled to it, that doesn’t mean we can’t apply it to our lives. Chapter 2 also speaks of the value of wisdom. We would do well to reflect on the wisdom found in verses 4 and 5: “If you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and the knowledge of God.”

I pray that the Lord grants you wisdom, knowledge and understanding as you seek Him today.

Trenton Parker