Christian Martyr - Matthew the Apostle***By Clicking Here*** Let's take a quick moment to mention a few things about Matthew the Apostle. When it comes to his name, know that it signifies "The Gift of God."
The Scared Record would inform us that when Jesus had called him into His inner discipleship circle, he was at the time a tax collector. Also know that Matthew was the "recorded sinner" who'd invited Jesus to come back to his house in order to dine with him and his friends. This dinner would be part of a great banquet that Matthew was having. Jesus would agree to go to the great banquet that Matthew was having, in which He would find Himself amongst other tax collectors and sinners: "Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples." -- Matthew 9:10 And of course when the Pharisees who were also there, had saw this, they questioned Jesus' judgment, for they asked the other disciples: "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" Needless to say, Jesus had heard the questions that the Pharisees had asked His disciples - so Jesus took it upon Himself to answer them: "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." -- (Matthew 9:12-13) However what Matthew didn't know at the time, is that he would be found to be in a privileged and honorable position of being able to come into Jesus' inner circle of disciples. And because of this Matthew would be able to witness first hand the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ up close and personal. And not only that, because of his unique position that he held within Jesus' inner circle he would be given a great responsibility, when it came to writing the gospel that's known as -- "The Book of Matthew." Know that Matthew's book would become part of a greater ensemble that dealt with the story of Jesus Christ - which is also known as "The Four Gospels." I would also like to take this time to point out that each of the four Gospels were written within a certain style, and each one was geared towards a certain group of people: The Book of Matthew: This book was written in a style that was best suited for teaching and was geared towards the Jewish people. The Book of Mark: This book was written in a style that was best suited for preaching and was geared towards the Romans. The Book of Luke: Was written in a style that was best suited for history and was geared towards the Greeks. The Book of John: This book was written in a style that was best suited for theology and was written for the world as a whole. Also note that history would lead us to believe that Matthew had written his book about eight years after our Lord Jesus Christ had ascended into the heavens and had taken His place within the Eternal Kingdom by sitting on the right hand side of the Almighty God. As I pointed out earlier, it's to be believed that this particular Gospel was written specifically for the Jewish nation and as I've stated before, Matthew's writing was very unique, being that it was compared to a style that was best suited for teaching. Also when it came to his writing, Matthew put a strong emphasis on Jesus in such a way, that constantly reminded his readers that Jesus was indeed, the "Promised Messiah" - the one who had fulfilled all of the Old Testament Messianic prophecies. Matthew would also focused more on the sermons that Jesus had preached, which were more than any of the other four Gospels did.
Also know that there isn't much history that is written on Matthew and how he was killed. But we're lead to believe that he had preached in the land of Palestine for some years. It's also rumored that he had traveled to different foreign countries which would eventually lead him to the land of Ethiopia. It was here, at this place, where Matthew had become associated with Candace the reining queen of Ethiopia during that day. Sadly, it's also rumored that later on Matthew was pinned to the ground and was then later beheaded by the ax within the Ethiopia city of Nadabah, somewhere around the time of 60 A.D.. 4) <-CURRENT CHRISTIAN MARTYR PAGE-> 7) John Rogers  |
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