Quick Chapter Summary

1. Jesus is led into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil.
2. After forty days and nights of fasting, the devil appears and tempts Jesus 3 times.
3. Jesus resists the temptations and angels come to attend to Him.
4. Jesus then begins His ministry in Capernaum.
5. He calls His first Disciples: Simon Peter, Andrew, James, and John.
6. Jesus travels throughout all of Galilee preaching, teaching, and healing people of all different ailments and diseases.

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Full Text Matthew Chapter 4

Quick Chapter Summary

1. John the Baptist is introduced preaching in the desert of Judea.
2. John is described as a man of simple clothing and food, wearing camel’s hair and eating locusts and wild honey.
3. Many people come out listen to his preaching. Some confess their sins and are baptized.
4. He rebukes the Pharisees telling them that the time for the coming of the Messiah is near, that He will weed out of all the trees that don’t produce fruit and baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire vs. John baptizing with water.
5. Jesus comes to be baptized by John.
6. John, not without protest, baptizes Jesus.
7. The heavens open and a Dove descends along with the voice of God declaring, “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.”

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John the Baptist in the Desert (Matthew 3:1-6)

In Chapter 3 of Matthew, John the Baptist ministry has begun in the Desert of Judea. John is preaching that everyone should “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” Verse 3 is a direct quote of Isaiah 40:3 referring to the ‘voice of the one crying in the wilderness’ to emphasis the old testament tie in. This is a theme in the book of Matthew used to anchor this new writing on the foundation of the prophets.

John is described as wearing clothes made of camel’s hair with a simple leather belt about him. The food he ate is described as ‘locusts and wild honey’. His ministry drew people out from the whole region including Jerusalem. Many confessed their sins to him and were baptized in the Jordan river.

John Rebukes the Pharisees (Matthew 3:7-12)

Among the people that came out to listen to John in the desert were many Pharisees and Sadducees. He is very harsh with them calling them a ‘brood of vipers’ and warning them that their stubbornness and hypocrisy can only lead to being ‘cut down and thrown into the fire’. He also warns them that their time to do this is running short and that there is another coming (Jesus) who will “baptize with the Spirit and with fire…His winnowing fork is in His hand and He will clear the threshing floor, gathering up all the wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

Jesus Baptism (Matthew 3:13-17)

Jesus comes down from Galilee to see John and to be baptized by him. When Jesus asks John to do this, John points out that it should be John coming to Jesus to be baptized and not the other way around. Jesus replies to John that it is okay, and that John should trust Him that this is what needs to be done. John consents to Jesus and baptizes Him.

Upon completion, the Heavens open and the Spirit of God descends upon Jesus. It is accompanied by a voice from heaven declaring, “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.”

Full Text Matthew Chapter3

Quick Chapter Summary

1. ‘Wise men*‘ go looking for newborn ‘King of the Jews’ based on prophesy.
2. King Herod (the actual ‘King of the Jews’) sends them to Bethlehem to find this newborn king and report back so he can ‘worship’ (kill) the baby.
3. They find baby (Jesus). Give Him gifts (gold, incense, and myrrh).
4. God reveals to the Wise men the plan of Herod in a dream. He also reveals to Joseph that he needs to take his family to Egypt because Herod is coming to kill Jesus.
5. Wise men return home via a different route without telling Herod.
6. Herod becomes furious when the Wise men don’t return. He orders all boys under the age of 2 in and around Bethlehem to be killed.
7. After awhile…Herod passes on and an angel comes to Joseph and says go home.
8. Joseph starts to return home but ends up in Nazareth due to being warned in a dream and the new King, Herod’s son, being such a tyrant.

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Wise Men (Matthew 2:1-12)

Chapter 2 of Matthew starts out after Jesus birth. It opens with the Wise men traveling from the East following a star and prophesies from the Old Testament. They enter Jerusalem and begin asking to see the ‘one who has been born king of the Jews’, whom the prophets had foretold about. This eventually makes its way to King Herod (the Actual king of the Jews). He doesn’t like the sound of there being any competition for his spot, so he secretly plans to eliminate this threat. He got together all the priests to search the scriptures to find where this king was to come from. According to their research, they determined it was Bethlehem (Micah had prophesied about this centuries before: Micah 5:2).

Upon learning this information, he calls for the Wise men and tells them of what his own research has determined. He sends them Bethlehem with the task of finding the newborn baby Jesus and relaying back to him where Jesus is at so that he can in turn go and ‘worship’ Jesus as well. His true intentions are to have the baby Jesus killed because of the potential threat to his throne.

The Wise men head to Bethlehem and find Jesus and His family. They worship Him and present gifts of Gold, incense, and myrrh. As they are returning home, an angel warns them in a dream that Herod has evil intentions in wanting to know the location of baby Jesus. They decide to take a new route home that avoids any run-ins with Herod.

Herod’s Order (Matthew 2:13-18)

After awhile, Herod figures out that he’s been duped and flies into a rage. He orders that all the boys ages 2 and younger within the vicinity of Bethlehem to be killed. Matthew then references a verse from Jeremiah 31:15 that ties into this cruel act. An angel has already warned Joseph of this and he takes his family to Egypt.

Return from Egypt (Matthew 2:18-22)

More time passes on, as well as Herod, and Herod’s son takes the throne. An angel tells Joseph to leave Egypt and return to his home. Joseph begins the Journey back, but learns that Herod’s son is now king. This worries him. To confirm his worries, God sends him another dream and Joseph takes his new family to Nazareth. Being a Nazarene in those days was synonymous with being despised. Matthew ends the chapter noting this and cluing into a few old testament prophesies about Jesus being ‘despised and rejected’ (Isaiah 53:3).

Full Text Matthew Chapter 2

*=Although often referred to as the ‘Three Wise Men’, the bible doesn’t say how many there were. The fact that 3 gifts were given has been attributed to the origination of the legend of there being three.

Quick Chapter Summary

The book of Matthew begins with the genealogy from Abraham to Jesus. Verse 17 notes that there were ‘14 generations from Abraham to David, 14 generations from David to the exile of Babylon, and 14 more generations till Jesus was born. That is 42 total generations.
The rest of Matthew chapter 1 speaks of the conception of Jesus and of Joseph’s dream from God that informed him that Mary hadn’t been cheating on him, but that he was to be the father of the savior of the world.

The last verse of the chapter also states that Mary and Joseph were not together sexually until after Jesus was born.

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Matthew 1 Full Text