Jesus Comes to Save
God Himself came to save us from our sins and to live with us. The Gospel of Matthew begins with this incredible truth. The first chapters tell of the birth of a baby who is to be called “Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (1:21). With this explanation, we understand from the beginning that Jesus is our Saviour. Another name reveals that this child was God Himself: “‘They shall call his name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us)” (1:23). God had chosen to become like the people He so dearly loved, to live among them, and to rescue them from their sins.
Matthew’s Gospel ends with the same message of salvation and the same promise of God’s presence. Jesus had been raised to life after death on the cross. He sent His disciples into the world to share the good news He had told them. And He assured them, “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (28:20).
In between these first and last chapters of Matthew’s Gospel, we read about Jesus’s life. We see God Himself living, teaching, and acting among real people. These men, women, and children had real hurts, hopes, questions, and doubts that are not that different from ours. Over the next months as we study Matthew, we will learn what it means to become a disciple of Jesus, receive His rescue, and live in His kingdom.
The first four books of the New Testament are all accounts of Jesus’s life. We call these books Gospels. The word gospel is our English translation of the Greek word that means “good news.” When we refer to the Gospel of Matthew or the Gospel according to Matthew, we are talking of the good news about Jesus Christ as recorded by Matthew.