The book of Acts is the expansion of this wonderful Person. It is the branching out of the all-inclusive Christ. This Christ has expanded from one Person to thousands and thousands of persons. He was once the individual Christ, but in Acts He has become a corporate Christ. Following the Acts, we have all the Epistles, which give a full definition of this wonderful, universal, great Man. Christ is the Head, and the church is the Body: this is the universal Man, Christ and the church. Finally, we have the book of Revelation as the consummation of the New Testament. This book gives us a full picture of the Body-Christ, the individual Christ incorporated with all His members to become the New Jerusalem.
Let us return to the four Gospels. If I were to arrange the four Gospels, I would put the Gospel of John first. When reading the Bible, many Christians start with John and then proceed to read Luke, Mark, and Matthew. The human concept is the exact opposite of the divine. The divine concept starts with Matthew and proceeds through John; the human thought starts with John and goes back to Matthew. Many of us would begin reading the New Testament with John because John is so wonderful. It is a book of life. After John, we would read Luke because Luke is a book of the Savior, telling us of many cases of salvation. Then, of course, we would come to Mark because Mark is short and simple. People read Matthew last because Matthew is too difficult, too mysterious. Not only is chapter one difficult to understand; the parables in chapter thirteen and the prophecies in chapters twenty-four and twenty-five are also difficult. Chapters five, six, and seven, the Sermon on the Mount, are especially difficult. No one can practice it! You strike me on the right cheek, and I turn to you the left. You force me to walk one mile, and I walk two miles. You take my outer garment, and I give you my inner garment. This is too much! Only Jesus can do it! Thus, many place Matthew last. John is dear and precious. In John, Jesus is everything, and we do not need to do anything. Hence, we like John, but not Matthew. We may not say this in plain words, but we have such a feeling in our heart. Nevertheless, the divine order is best. God put Matthew first.
With every book of the Bible we need a general sketch. The general sketch of Matthew is:
Christ is Jehovah God incarnated to be the King-Savior who came to establish the kingdom of the heavens (the heavenly rule) by saving His people from sin (of rebellion) through His death and resurrection.
With every book of the Bible we also need to find the central thought. The central thought of Matthew is:
Christ, as Jesus (Jehovah the Savior) and Emmanuel (God with us), is the King, the Baptizer, the light, the Teacher, the Healer, the Forgiver, the Bridegroom, the Shepherd, the Friend, the wisdom, the rest, the greater temple, the real David, the Lord of the Sabbath, the greater Jonah, the greater Solomon, the Sower, the seed, the Feeder, the bread, the crumbs under the table, the Christ, the Son of the living God, the rock for the church, the Builder of the church, the Founder of the kingdom, the present Moses, the present Elijah, the Head of the corner, the Lord, the resurrected One, the One with authority, and the One ever-present to His people in resurrection.
How rich Christ is in the book of Matthew, even richer than in John. As Jesus and Emmanuel He is another thirty-three items to us. We must enjoy Him and partake of Him. We need to experience Him in all these aspects in resurrection, not in the natural state. He is the ever-present One. Matthew begins with “God with us” and ends with “Lo, I am with you all the days, even unto the completion of the age.” How wonderful this is!