Testament in proof of our Lord’s Messiahship are more numerous than those of either of the other evangelists.  Peculiar to him is the expression “the kingdom of heaven,” to signify, in accordance with Rabbinic usage, the kingdom which the Messiah was to establish in accordance with the prophecies of the Old Testament; though he takes a spiritual view of its character, and not the earthly and political view of the Jewish doctors.  Another designation of the same idea, common to him with the other evangelists, is “the kingdom of God,” which also was current among the Rabbins.  This “kingdom of heaven” and “kingdom of God” is also the kingdom of the Messiah.  Chaps. 13:41; 20:21.

16.  But precisely because Jesus of Nazareth is the promised Messiah, his mission is not to the Jews only, but to all mankind, in accordance with the original promise to Abraham:  “In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.”  Gen. 22:18.  While he records the fact that our Lord’s personal ministry was restricted to the Jews (chaps. 10:5, 6; 15:24), he also shows from our Lord’s own words that the unbelieving “children of the kingdom”—­the Jews as the natural heirs to the Messiah’s kingdom—­shall be cast out, and the believing Gentiles received into it (chaps. 8:11, 12; 21:43); and he brings his gospel to a close with the great commission:  “Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.”  Chap. 28:19, 20.

17.  A striking characteristic of this gospel is the fulness and orderly manner with which it records our Lord’s discourses.  Striking examples of this are the Sermon on the Mount (chaps. 5-7), his awful denunciation of the Scribes and Pharisees (chap. 23), and the majestic series of parables (chap. 25).  Doubtless, Matthew had by nature a peculiar endowment for this work, which the Holy Spirit used to preserve for the church much of our Lord’s teachings which would otherwise have been lost.  The narrative part of this gospel, on the other hand, has not the circumstantial fulness of the following gospel.  As already remarked, the field covered by Matthew’s narrative is mainly that of our Lord’s Galilean ministry, with the great events connected with his final visit to Jerusalem, though he gives indications of repeated visits to that city.  Chap. 23:37-39.

18.  It has been assumed by some that Matthew follows, as a general rule, the order of time.  But others deny this, thinking that his arrangement is according to subject-matter rather than chronological sequence, especially in the first part (Alexander’s Kitto); and this appears to be the correct judgment.  He follows the exact order of time only when the nature of the events recorded requires him to do so.