What is the Gospel of Matthew about in the Bible? Watch as we explain its major themes and gain a deeper understanding of its place in the biblical story.
How were the Israelites expecting the Messiah to deliver them?
How did Jesus’ sufferings challenge their expectations?
How does Jesus’ suffering challenge your own expectations of God’s promises?
Matthew’s Gospel is full of quotations and allusions from the Hebrew Bible, emphasizing that Jesus is the surprising fulfillment of Israel’s messianic prophecies. At the end of Matthew’s account, he specifically alludes to Isaiah 53 while telling the story of Jesus’ sufferings, death, and resurrection. Many Israelites expected the Messiah to come as a military warrior, who would punish the ruling empire and deliver the people from oppression. But through the lens of Matthew’s eye-witness testimony and Isaiah’s scroll, we learn that Jesus is so much more than the savior the people were expecting. He actually bore the punishment of those who rejected and wounded him. His humble suffering led to healing and redemption that could overcome all forms of oppression.
Let’s reflect on how Isaiah 53 is alluded to in Matthew's Gospel.
Read: Matthew 27:38-44, Isaiah 53
Each Gospel account emphasizes a unique angle on Jesus’ time on Earth. Matthew’s Gospel makes clear, from its opening sentence, that Jesus is the fulfilment and continuation of the Hebrew Scriptures. He is the Messiah from the royal line of David, he is a new Moses, who has come to lead his people into a new covenant, and he is God with us—Immanuel.
From the calling of the disciples to the Great Commission, every part of this Gospel account shows readers how the promises and prophecies God made to his people in the Old Testament came to pass through Jesus.