This is the first of a series of a study on Christology or the study of the person and work of Jesus Christ.

In the Gospel of Matthew chapter 1 we see Jesus is the Messiah, a descendant of King David and Abraham. He is sinless and the God/man but His family tree is far from being perfect. Judah married his daughter in law named Tamar and she gave birth to Perez {see Genesis 38}. Salmon married Rahab who was the former prostitute of Jericho {see Joshua 6}. David had an adulterous affair with Bathsheba who was married to Uriah {see 2 Samuel 11}. Though the family tree of Jesus does not have perfect people, God specifically chose these these people to redeem them and use them to play a role in the family lineage of Jesus. In a similar way God can redeem us and use us for a special purpose that God designed specifically for us. In Matthew 1:18-22 we see He is called Jesus the Messiah and He is born of the virgin Mary by the power the Holy Spirit {conceived by the Holy Spirit}. The Lord tells Joseph to name Him Jesus because He will save His people from their sins. {Not could save, not might save, not hopefully will save, but the fact of the matter is Jesus will save His people from their sins. } His birth was prophesied and He would be called Immanuel which means God with us.

Matthew 2 says Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea during the reign of King Herod; wise-men from the East recognized who He was and asked, "Where is the newborn King of the Jews? We have seen His star as it arose and have come to worship Him. The wise-men gave Jesus gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Jesus escaped death because He and His family fled to Egypt. They fled because Herod wanted to kill Jesus. Jesus was then taken to Nazareth fulfilling the prophesy saying He would be a Nazarene.

Matthew 3 says John the Baptist was prophesied as the voice crying in the wilderness making straight the road preparing the pathway for the Lord's coming. John baptized with water but Jesus baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire, Jesus is also the judge of us all and He judges with righteousness. John baptized Jesus. The Holy Spirit then descended upon Jesus like a dove and God the Father said, " This is my beloved Son and I am well pleased with Him."

Matthew 4 shows us that the Holy Spirit lead Jesus to the wilderness where He was tempted by the Devil. Jesus fasted 40 days and 40 nights and became hungry. The Devil tempted Jesus with food but Jesus responded with Scripture, "People need more than bread for this life, they need to feed on every word of God." Jesus said we need to eat every word of God which means we need to read the Bible which is where we find the words of God. The Devil then tempted Jesus in the supernatural in terms of protection of the angels by telling Jesus to jump off the highest point of the Temple, Jesus responds, " The Scriptures also say, do not test the Lord your God." Here is a claim of divinity of Jesus stating He is the Lord your God to the Devil. Satan then tells Jesus to bow down and worship him but Jesus says, " you must worship the Lord your God, serve only Him. " Through these temptations we see that Satan knows the Scriptures but takes it out of context to try to get Jesus to worship him but Jesus would have none of that and rebuked Satan and said God alone must be worshiped and served. Jesus fulfilled the prophesy in Isaiah 9:1-2 by going to Caparneaum in the region of Zebulum and Naphtali near the Sea of Galilee. From then on Jesus preached, " Turn from your sins and turn to God, because the Kingdom of God is near. Matthew 4:18-22 shows Jesus was a fisher of men and 4 men; Peter, Andrew, James, and John followed Him and became His disciples. Matthew 4:23-25 says Jesus preached the Good News or the Gospel of the Kingdom, healed the sick, diseased, pained, epileptic and even the demon-possessed people and large crowds followed Him wherever He went.

In Matthew 5-7 Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount and topics include:
1. The Beatitudes- 5:2-12
2.Teaching about Salt and Light- 5:13-16
3. Teaching about the Law- 5:17-20
4. Teaching about Anger- 5:21-26
5.Teaching about Adultery- 5:27-30
6. Teaching about Divorce- 5:31-32
7. Teaching about Vows- 5:33-37
8. Teaching about Revenge- 5:38-42
9. Teaching about Love for Enemies- 5:43-48
10. Teaching about Giving to the Needy- 6:1-4
11. Teaching about Prayer and Fasting- 6:5-18
12. Teaching about Money and Possessions- 6:19-34
13. Don't Condemn Others- 7:1-6
14. Effective Prayer- 7:7-11
15. The Golden Rule- 7:12
16. The Narrow Gate- 7:13-14
17. The Tree and its Fruit- 7:15-20
18. True Disciples- 7:21-23
19. Building a Solid Foundation- 7:24-29
Jesus Christ our precious Lord and Savior was also our example for expositional preaching. He preached 19 mini-sermons in one larger sermon known as the Sermon on the Mount.

In Matthew 8 Jesus heals:
1. a man with leprosy- 8:1-4
2. a servant of a Roman Official- 8:5-13
3. many people- 8:14-17
In Matthew 8:18-22 Jesus says there is a cost to becoming a disciple and a follower of Jesus.
In Matthew 8:23-27 Jesus calms the storm.
In Matthew 8:28-34 Jesus heals 2 demon-possessed men.

I pray this Christology study will be beneficial in your personal growth in the relationship you have with Jesus Christ.

Grace, love and peace,
Mark Cannon