Matthew: All Authority in Heaven and on Earth

by Douglas Sean O'Donnell, R. Kent Hughes (Editor)

Overview

Jesus is King. Standing as a central theme of the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus's kingly authority has profound implications for how we live in the world and interact with those around us. In this reader-friendly commentary, seasoned pastor Doug O'Donnell leads us through the first book of the New Testament, highlighting key themes and offering helpful illustrations for preaching. Drawing on years of pastoral experience, O'Donnell shows how Matthew's various emphases—including Jesus's messianic titles, fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, teaching on the kingdom of heaven, and present and future role as judge—all relate to Christ's kingship. Designed to help pastors faithfully preach God's Word, this commentary ultimately highlights Matthew's call to all people to worship and obey Jesus, our humble King and gracious Savior.

Part of the Preaching the Word series.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781433539664
Publisher:	Crossway
Publication date:	11/30/2013
Series:	Preaching the Word Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	1088
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Douglas Sean O'Donnell (PhD, University of Aberdeen) is the senior vice president of Bible editorial at Crossway. Over the past twenty-five years he has helped train people around the world to read and teach the Bible clearly. He has pastored several churches, served as a professor, and authored or edited over twenty books, including commentaries, Bible studies, children's books, and a children's curriculum. He also wrote The Pastor's Book with R. Kent Hughes and The Beauty and Power of Biblical Exposition with Leland Ryken.

Douglas Sean O’Donnell (PhD, University of Aberdeen) is the senior vice president of Bible editorial at Crossway. Over the past twenty-five years he has helped train people around the world to read and teach the Bible clearly. He has pastored several churches, served as a professor, and authored or edited over twenty books, including commentaries, Bible studies, children’s books, and a children’s curriculum. He also wrote The Pastor’s Book with R. Kent Hughes and The Beauty and Power of Biblical Exposition with Leland Ryken.

R. Kent Hughes (DMin, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) is senior pastor emeritus of College Church in Wheaton, Illinois, and former professor of practical theology at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Hughes is also a founder of the Charles Simeon Trust, which conducts expository preaching conferences throughout North America and worldwide. He serves as the series editor for the Preaching the Word commentary series and is the author or coauthor of many books. He and his wife, Barbara, live in Spokane, Washington, and have four children and an ever-increasing number of grandchildren.

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

The Melodic Line of Matthew

An Introduction and Overview of the Gospel of Matthew

WHEN VAN HALEN'S album 1984 hit the record stores, many a young lad, myself included, signed up for piano lessons. This was because the great guitarist, Eddie Van Halen, learned to play piano and proceeded to compose the hit single of that album — one still played at many NBA tip-offs — "Jump." In six short lessons I learned how to master this melody, which in those days was enough to impress friends, woo girls, and justify the expense of ten-dollar lessons. My performance at the junior high talent show was enough to bestow upon me that prestigious adjective-noun combination — rock star. I entered the stage. The spotlight moved across my face and fingers. Cameras flashed. A sixth grade girl fainted. Wearing black dress pants, a white shirt, one glove, cool sunglasses, and (yes!) a skinny piano tie, I sat on my poorly padded bench and bum before my Korg 500 digital synthesizer and played perfectly the rudimentary bass line and monotonous melody of Van Halen's masterpiece.

I'm not certain if such an introduction to a Gospel is sacrilegious or just silly. I intended neither. I actually intended to get your attention in order to make a basic point about music and to show how such a point can and does relate to our study of any piece of literature, notably Matthew's Gospel. The point is this: just as every good song has a melodic line (a tune that brings unity to the whole by its recurrence) — think of the chorus of "Jump" or "Ode to Joy" of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Fourth Movement — so too does every book of the Bible.

I'll put it this way. The four Gospels — Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John — all sound the same. That is, they all have a similar bass line. It's as simple as the two C notes I learned for that Van Halen song. They focus on the same person (Jesus), and they were written for the same primary purpose (conversion to Christ; see John 20:31). In all four we hear those same deep, steady notes of Jesus as the Son, Savior, and Christ. We behold him as a miracle-worker. We hear his teaching and his call to faith and repentance. We encounter his passion, death, and resurrection. In these ways, all four sound the same. They have the same bass line. Yet each Gospel has a distinct melody of its own. And just as we can recognize the melody of "Ode to Joy" each time we hear the first four notes or "Jump" when we hear the first four chords, so can we recognize Matthew's melody if we hear the recurring themes.

In Beethoven's Fourth Movement of the Ninth Symphony, the beginning and the end are important. Matthew's Gospel is the same. We hear the melody most clearly at the top and tail. Look at the first words with which Matthew begins: "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David" (1:1). Notice the first two titles applied to Jesus. The first is "Christ." That is not a last name. That is a title. It means "anointed one" or "king." This is a book about King Jesus. That point is reiterated with the next title, "the son of David." David was the great king of Israel, the one to whom a great promise was made. In 2 Samuel 7 we are told that through his offspring God would establish a forever kingdom. So with those first two titles you can hear the first note of the melodic line: Jesus, the King. Jesus is a sovereign who will be sovereign over an everlasting kingdom!

From that note of kingly authority Matthew subtly drops a half-step to the next note. He does this by moving from Jesus being "the son of David" to also being "the son of Abraham."

Who was Abraham and why does he matter? Abraham was the non-Israelite Father of Israel. That is the point Paul will make in Romans 4, that Abraham of Ur wasn't a "Hebrew" (Genesis 14:13) until he became one (you'll have to think about that to get it). And why is he important? Abraham is important because he too received a great promise from God. In Genesis 12:1–3 God explained how through him and his offspring all "nations" would be blessed (cf. 17:4; 18:18; 22:18).

So, the point of these two persons and promises is this: Jesus will be that Davidic King who will reign over that eternal kingdom that will be a blessing to all peoples of the earth.

Jesus is King. That's the first note. Jesus is the King of Jews and Gentiles. That's the second. The third is a necessary admonition: Therefore, this King Jesus is to be worshipped. Read 2:1–11. This is perhaps the best summary picture of Matthew's Gospel. Here we find very non-Jewish people — "wise men from the east" (2:1). What have they come to do? They have come to finish the melodic line. They have come to worship the newborn king — to give their allegiance to him.

That's how this Gospel begins. That's the top.

Next let's turn to the tail. Like a fine symphony, Matthew's melodic line resurfaces time and again through each chapter, oftentimes like a cello quietly playing in the background, until finally we come to the finale, where the whole orchestra, chorus, and even the audience stand up, play, and sing in one voice! This happens in the last three verses — the Great Commission. Listen for yourself. Listen for the culmination of all the subtle and strong sounds.

And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." (28:18–20)

Underline all the all phrases: "all authority," "all nations," "observe all" (cf. "always" in v. 20). Those are the same three notes found in 1:1 — 2:11 and found, as we will see throughout our study, everywhere in this Gospel. If it helps, you can think of it like this. Here's my prosaic summary: Jesus has all authority so that all nations might obey all he has commanded, or more simply and poetically, like this:

All authority All nations All allegiance

I don't like to say any one passage in the Bible is more important than another, for they are all divinely inspired, but I will say that if you understand the Great Commission in its context, you will very well understand the Gospel of Matthew.

This chapter will not be an exposition on the Great Commission per se. I will do that later in chapter 89. This is only a preparation for it. That is, at the start of our exploration of Matthew, I want to show you these three notes — this melodic line — so you might better hear them when we come to them.

All Authority

So listen to the first note of this Gospel — all authority. After his sacrificial death and glorious resurrection, Jesus says, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me" (28:18).

That is not a statement you hear every day, is it? Yet, it is so familiar to us that we don't recognize how bizarre it is. Think of the most famous and powerful man alive today. Let's say, for the sake of argument, it's Barack Obama (the President of the United States at the time of this writing). If he said what Jesus said, what would you say of him? If he called a press conference and said, "I have all authority in Chicago," what would you think of him? How about if he said, "I have all authority in America"? What if he said, "I have all authority over the world"? If he said any of those, you'd think he was (to borrow from C. S. Lewis) either a liar or a lunatic, or more precisely an unrealistic egoist or an overly ambitious idiot.

Nobody talks the way Jesus talked. Those today who have great authority, even if they overestimate their power and over-esteem themselves, do not talk like Jesus talked. They do not claim to be the king of Heaven and earth. They do not claim, as they sit on their glorious throne no less(!), that every person from every time and everywhere will one day come before them to be judged. They do not claim to have authority to forgive sins. They do not claim to be greater than the temple and the Torah or to be the fulfillment and embodiment of the Hebrew Scriptures. They do not claim that their rule will spread to every corner of the world. They do not claim to establish an unconquerable church and institute new sacraments that have themselves as the foundation and focus. They do not claim that all their commandments are to be obeyed.

Yet with that said, as striking as such statements are, the more striking fact about Jesus is not only that he made such claims, but that somehow such claims are believable. Jesus is believable! Right? You believe him. I believe him. Maybe we're just extremely gullible. Maybe we were all just brainwashed as children. That might explain some of us, but it doesn't explain all of us. It doesn't explain how for so many centuries very sensible, non-superstitious people have taken Jesus at his word. There is something very believable about Jesus, about the testimony of him that a fisherman, doctor, and tax collector put together.

And as I come to this tax collector's testimony, I compare it to the preaching of Martyn Lloyd-Jones, which can be called "logic on fire." Matthew has a certain logic about him. He gives us various reasonable proofs for Jesus' crazy claims. But such proofs are not like a mathematical equation. Rather, they are like the burning bush that Moses encountered, a bush that burns but never burns out. You have to come close enough to feel its heat to know it's true. Logic on fire!

Think of it like this. I won't go too far from the burning bush analogy. I'll just update and extend the metaphor. Think of Matthew's case for Christ and his absolute authority like one of those metal fire pits. In the fire pit itself are these burning but not burning-out claims of Christ — "I have authority over all things," etc. Then there are those four sturdy, cast-iron legs that hold the pit up and in place. Each leg by itself would not necessarily hold up the claims, but together they make a pretty solid base.

Let's briefly examine the legs that hold up his claims.

The first leg is fulfillment. Matthew will repeatedly use the word "fulfilled" and phrases like "This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet" to show that what was promised in the Old Testament is now being fulfilled in Jesus. He highlights general characteristics of what to expect in the Messiah as well as specific prophecies — e.g., "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son" (1:23) or "Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey" (21:5). Near the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus will say of himself, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them" (5:17). The idea is this: check what the Old Testament says. Check what Jesus does and says. Then you might very well say, "By golly, the shoe fits!"

The second leg is teaching. If you have one of those Bibles that has all the words of Jesus in red, in Matthew you will see a lot of red. But the point is not simply that Jesus taught a lot. It is that he taught with authority. That is what the crowds noticed. He taught them "as one who had authority" (7:29). This will be the constant criticism of his critics, who will ask, "By what authority" he does this or says that (cf. 21:23–27).

Jesus taught with authority, but an authority unlike any other. It's nice to say, as so many today do, "I like Jesus — the good moral teacher." But that is to listen to only half the story. That is to read only half the red. Jesus once said, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away" (24:35). That is a remarkable statement. How can he say that and get away with it? I think he can do so because so far he has been right! It has been nearly 2,000 years since he first said those words, and we are still talking about them today. I am quoting from Jesus' teachings to people who still read commentaries on Jesus' teachings and who have, in fact, experienced the life-changing power of his words.

The third leg is character. A wise person can say some wise things, and some of those wise things can be remembered, even many years later. We still quote Socrates. But nobody worships Socrates. Why? Well, because he never claimed to be God, and because his character never had to fit his claims. As John Stott says, "There is no dichotomy between [Jesus'] character and his claims."

I am a student of church history. And there is a certain sadness to such study, for whenever I study popular figures in Christian history, I am always left with a bittersweet taste. I admire them. But I also don't aspire to be like them (at least not precisely). I recognize their flaws. However, I've been looking and listening to Jesus and reading about him for two decades now, and I haven't yet found the flaw. Even what seems like a flaw — like his anger over the fruitless fig tree or his overturning the tables — when I understand what he was doing, all makes marvelous sense. I like Jesus more. I love Jesus more. I want to be like Jesus more. Jesus' character is so compelling. It supports his claims. And it is his humility, ironically, that I and many other Christians have found to be Christ's most compelling characteristic. John Stott puts it this way,

[Jesus'] claims for himself are very disturbing because they are so self-centered; yet in his behavior he was clothed with humility. His claims sound proud, but he was humble. I see this paradox at its sharpest when he was with his disciples in the upper room before he died. He said he was their Lord, their teacher and their judge, but he took a towel, got on his hands and knees, and washed their feet like a common slave. Is this not unique in the history of the world? There have been lots of arrogant people, but they have all behaved like it. There have also been humble people, but they have not made great claims for themselves. It is the combination of egocentricity and humility that is so startling — the egocentricity of his teaching and the humility of his behavior.

The fourth leg is his miracles. By themselves, the miracles are not what is unique about him. But as the last and final leg, his miracles hold everything in place perfectly. The healing of the blind men, the lepers, the multiplication of the fishes and loaves, and the resurrection itself all point beyond themselves to Jesus' identity. They point to his authority — his authority to forgive sins, his authority over disease, and his authority to conquer even death, of which there is nothing so powerful and prevalent in this world. If you can conquer death, you have a lot of power!

All authority is the first and key note in Matthew's Gospel. Tragically it is the most disregarded thought in the world today. Non-Christians don't mind if we sing to them of Jesus' compassion or humility — just don't sing of his exclusive authority. Do you hear how people talk today? They staunchly and arrogantly hold their doctrine — "doctrines do not matter" — and with a tinge of moral superiority and intellectual enlightenment (as if able to look over all the cosmos and overlook all religions), they say to us dogmatically, "All belief systems are morally equal and should thus coexist."

We are to coexist. Perhaps you have heard that spiritual slogan or seen it written across a bumper sticker. I actually saw it carved into a pumpkin sitting outside a church one Halloween. Do you know what I'm talking about? It is the word "coexist" with each letter a symbol of one of seven world religions or philosophies. It's a popular slogan because it's a popular sentiment.

Now I assure you, I don't have a problem with coexisting. I don't have a problem with tolerance if tolerance means what it should mean. I will tolerate you; that is, I won't persecute you for your beliefs. I will coexist with you. Christianity, Islam, and Judaism can and do coexist in most places. But I will not put my brain under a bushel basket. Since I am convicted by Matthew's logic on fire that Jesus has all authority in Heaven and on earth I'm not going to say, "Your god is as true or as real as my God." Jesus either has all authority or he does not. And if he does not, then let's move on. Let's close up shop. Let's stop calling ourselves Christians. But if he does have all authority, then we can certainly coexist with our fellow human beings who believe differently than we do, as long as we know that we won't coexist forever, for as Jesus said in Matthew 25:31–34, 41 (quite strikingly and offensively):

When the Son of Man comes in his glory ... then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ... Then the king [King Jesus] will say to those on his right, "Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world...." Then he will say to those on his left, "Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels."

All authority is the first note of Matthew's melodic line. And I know, as you know, that note doesn't resonate with our culture. Which either means the note is off or our ears are bad. Jesus will tell everyone who rejects his claim that it is the latter.

All Nations

Whatever we might think of the first note, thankfully the second note does appeal to our American ears. It is right, and it sounds right. That note is all nations. In the Great Commission, Jesus commissions his followers to take the gospel to the world, to "every tribe and language and people and nation," as the book of Revelation repeatedly describes (5:9; cf. 13:7; 14:6).

(Continues…)

---

Excerpted from "Matthew"
by .
Copyright © 2013 Douglas Sean O'Donnell.
Excerpted by permission of Good News Publishers.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

---

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Even for the most seasoned of preachers, the thought of expositing the Gospel of Matthew could be overwhelming. Thanks to Doug O’Donnell’s newest commentary, chock-full of impressive insights and engaging wit, the first and perhaps greatest Gospel has suddenly become much less daunting. When Kent Hughes called on O’Donnell to write this volume, he knew exactly what he was doing.”
—Nicholas Perrin, President, Trinity International University

“This commentary grows out of wide reading and solid learning—the footnotes alone are a gold mine. O’Donnell writes with a zest for real life, wit, and (controlled) whimsy. The outcome: sermons that both revel in Christ and reveal Christ in fresh and striking ways. The author proves to be a hard-working and natural expositor of Scripture. This book goes to the top of my list of sterling homiletical commentaries on the first Gospel."
—Robert W. Yarbrough, Professor of New Testament, Covenant Theological Seminary

“The market is full of critical commentaries, but not many actually deal with what is ‘critical’—the centrality of the gospel, the mission of the Church, and the life of the Christian. Doug O’Donnell’s commentary on Matthew is a clear exception. With sensitivity to all the important narrative and exegetical details, O’Donnell offers an interpretation of the first Gospel that is pastoral throughout, and in some instances, truly profound. Relevant illustrations are used in almost every passage, and numerous issues are addressed with theological vigor and often from the pastoral heritage of the Church. There are times when the critical commentaries are useful, even necessary, but I cannot imagine a pastor preaching through Matthew that would not want to use this commentary as a significant resource.”
—Edward W. Klink III, Senior Pastor, Hope Evangelical Free Church, Roscoe, Illinois; author, The Local Church and John