The following is the first sermon in our series on the Gospel of Matthew. It deals with the reality that Jesus is true Israel. I know many claim to be Israel, as in the modern nation. But as Paul astutely and divinely wrote: not all Israel is Israel. To be the true, and lasting Israel, one must be in Christ, who replaced Israel and the true Son of God.

Next, I also deal with the date that Matthew wrote his gospel. Modern scholarship seems to think that the gospel was written in 60 AD or 70 AD. But this makes no sense. Why would Matthew, who was use to taking notes all the time as a tax collector, and a Pharisees, wait 40 years before writing the gospel. I make the case, along with others, that Matthew wrote the book within a few years of Pentecost. After all, this is when there was the greatest need, with all the Jews coming to know Christ on the Day of Pentecost.

I then turn to the central point of Matthew’s gospel, that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant.

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Early on in my pastoral career, I had a crisis of belief. This is not uncommon for pastors, or to Christians everywhere, however, for me, I thought at the time that something was clearly wrong with me.

I was right. There was something clearly wrong with me, and Jesus was working some of that wrong out of me through the crisis.

It was not only a crisis of calling, but also a crisis of understanding. For when I took the pastorate of that small, dying Baptist church, I thought for certain, I had what it took to right that ship, and get it going on the right direction.

This is what seminary does for a fella.

Yet, in that, the LORD continued on in His faithfulness toward me, and one of the things that He took away from me, was my fleshly understanding of His Kingdom.

He did that through one verse.

Matthew 2:14-15

¹⁴ When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, ¹⁵ and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”

 It was actually two verses, but verse 15 was the key. “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”

What Matthew was doing in this verse is showing that it wasn’t the people who were His Son, but Jesus Christ. If you look at Hosea 11:1, we see where Matthew found the quote.

“When Israel was a child, I loved him,
And out of Egypt I called My son.

Now when you first look at that verse, it seems simple enough. Hosea made the prophecy that the Messiah would be called out of Egypt, and we will see that He does go to Egypt for a time. (This also shows that Jesus makes the same journey as the patriarchs did, and the people during the Exodus. But will get to this in a few weeks.)

When Matthew quotes from Hosea, he knows that his audience will know Hosea 11 and what is found there. It is not just a prophecy about the coming Messiah, but a description of Israel at the time. They had fallen into idolatry, and rejecting the loving hand of YHWH. (Go to the text ).
² As they called them,
So they went from them;
They sacrificed to the Baals,
And burned incense to carved images.

What Hosea 11 actually shows us is that the nation of Israel, was and is not true Israel, Christ is.

Listen to the full sermon.