Matthew 1–2: Jesus, History, and the Unexpected Paths to Christmas

The opening chapters of Matthew are loaded with more than we often realize. In this episode of the Sermon Notes podcast, Jay Strother and Brian Ball guide listeners through a Matthew 1–2 Bible study that begins with Jesus’ genealogy and extends back through Israel’s story. They explain why genealogies mattered so deeply to first-century Jews, how Matthew anchors Jesus in the line of Abraham and David, and what it means to call Him the true King of history.

From there, the conversation zooms out to the 400 “silent” years between the Old and New Testaments. Jay and Brian trace the rise and fall of world powers—Persia, Greece, and Rome—the spread of the Greek language, the development of synagogue worship, and the emergence of Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Zealots, Herodians, and Herod the Great himself. All of these “cultural mechanics” prepared the world for the gospel, even as politics, tradition, and cultural compromise blinded many who knew the Scriptures best.

Finally, they explore the unexpected paths God used to bring people to Jesus: humble carpenters and teenage girls, obscure priests, rural shepherds, and pagan magi who traveled far to worship a newborn King. As we prepare for Christmas, this episode invites us to read Matthew 1–2 with fresh eyes, practice humility in our approach to Scripture, and join the “nobodies” who recognized the true King when He stepped into history.