Revelations 3-5 Treasure nuggets from the Gospel of Matthew

In continuing my series of revelations posts, here are some more from the first few chapters of the Gospel of Matthew. One observation I do have to make and confess is, though I have read these gospels so many times, every time I read them, I can’t help falling in love with the Lord Jesus more and more. I want to say, as we look upon His Glorious face, it seems like nothing else matters. Like Mary, we can be in awe, wonder, love, and be at His feet and keep asking for more.

Revelation#3: From the Gospel of Matthew: John the Baptist is railing on the Pharisees when they come to see him baptizing common poor people. He calls them a brood of vipers, but interestingly in Hebrew and Aramaic, the word used is ‘akidneh,’ which means a scorpion. A scorpion, after mating, and the female scorpion dies after giving birth, so literally every scorpion born is an orphan. The wordplay is interesting indeed as John uses that word in the Aramaic local tongue of that time as he compares the Pharisees to vipers. To literally convey that, though they were descendants of Abraham, they were not following his ways but born and left as spiritual orphans. But if they only returned to their true Father, God, they would no longer be orphans.

Revelation#4: The Sermon on the Mount is the unveiling of Christ’s new constitution of the Kingdom of Heaven and the invasion of it on earth as well. It begins by giving His followers a far superior way of living than the Ten Commandments dictated by Him to Moses. What I love about Yeshua is that He gives us more than laws; He gives us promises and also the power to fulfill all that He asks of us. Our part: yielding, following, and abiding! Blessings & Shalom.

Revelation #5: The Greek word Ekklesia is used or known commonly among Christians (and the church in general) as ecclesiastically or related to liturgy or a legislative body or assembly of the church. However, I find it fascinating that in ancient Greek culture, it’s also a word used primarily to mean “assemble an army.” The Church of Christ is indeed an army of kings and priests, marching and rejoicing in the ever-advancing Kingdom of God! The good news is Yeshua is in the front 🙂 as King of Kings, Lord of Lords, and Adonai Tzav’ot (The Lord of hosts and commander of Angelic armies)! Shabbat thoughts for Holy Sabbath, blessings, and Shalom!

Revelation from my quiet times - Reading through the Bible

2024 has rolled in and, like many who make New Year's resolutions, I return here after a few years of hiatus to again pen down some new revelations from the Lord. I am not promising myself anything, as old-fashioned writing in my journals using penmanship has caught me pursuing tangible paper, fancy writing instruments, and the messiness of ink. However, I do miss the conveniences of technology in putting my thoughts here from time to time.

At the start of the year, I made some FB blurb posts on a few revelations from the book of Matthew. As a start, I'm going to post or collate a couple of them here and hopefully, it will bless someone.
From my quiet time today: Revelation#1

The Gospel of Matthew in chapter 1 shows the genealogy of Christ, establishing His royal line as the son of David, and Luke’s Gospel shows the genealogy of Christ, establishing Him as the Son of man. Matthew’s genealogy starts with Abraham and Luke’s starts with Adam. The curse was on Jeconiah’s seed that no one of his line would sit on David’s throne, but God’s mercy and plan still establish the throne of David through Mary, who came from David’s line through Nathan. Interestingly, 14 generations are mentioned from Abraham to David, 14 from David to the Babylonian captivity, and 14 from captivity to Christ the Anointed One! To blow your mind more: 14 is the number for Passover, and 14 is the number for Spiritual Perfection. 14 is mentioned three times in Matthew’s genealogy. 14 times 3 is 42, and brilliantly, 42 is the number of generations to Christ and 42 is the number of months Yeshua ministered in His earthly ministry. Coincidence, I think not 🙂

Revelation#2: From Matthew’s Gospel, we are told the Magi visited to worship Jesus after following a shining star that appeared in the heavens, and they followed it to Bethlehem. Their arrival created quite an uproar in Jerusalem. It is quite possible this entourage of the Magi was over a hundred people, and it's very unlikely there were only three people as represented in our cute nativity scenes and sets. It would be rare just three visitors would have created such an uproar in Herod’s court or among the people for a newborn King. They brought treasure chests of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

The word 'branch' of the Lord is translated from the Hebrew word 'netzer', the root word for Nazareth. The teaching “the branch of the Lord” is a concept throughout the Bible from the Tree of Life, seven branches of the lampstand, to Jesus the Vine, and calling us His branches, and furthermore, branches that are transplanted and grafted into Israel etc. However, the word netzer also means keeper, watchman, keeper of secrets, and guardian, and the Aramaic meaning is “the victorious one” or when translated as Jesus being called the Victorious branch of Nazareth. Be Blessed & Shalom!