Matthew is the most Jewish-centric of the four gospels. The apostle regularly invoked the writings of the Old Testament prophets in an effort to illustrate Jesus’s identity as Israel’s long-awaited Messiah. However, the gospel of Matthew has been notoriously difficult to date. Several factors speak to a date ranging from AD 60–65. First of all, the book makes no mention of the destruction of the temple, an event which occurred in AD 70. Such a cataclysmic event likely would have received some comment, particularly in a book so clearly influenced by Judaism. The largely Jewish character of the book also suggests it was written at a time when much of the evangelism by Christians was directed more exclusively at Jews, something that became less and less common as the decades passed. Finally, many scholars believe Mark to have been the first gospel composed, making it most probable that Matthew was written soon after

https://www.insight.org/resources/bible/the-gospels/matthew

Day 1 (December 5)
Matthew 14:22-36
Focus Text: 14:28-33

Day 2 (December 6)
Matthew 15:1-20
Focus Text: 15:10-11

Day 3 (December 7)
Matthew 15:21-39
Focus Text: 15:36-38  

Day 4 (December 8)
Matthew 16:1-12
Focus Text: 16:9-12  

Day 5 (December 9)
Matthew 16:13-28
Focus Text: 16:16-19  

Day 6 (December 10)
Matthew 17
Focus Text: 17:19-21

Memory Verse

Matthew 15:28

“Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.”

The apostle Matthew, a Jew himself, offered a decidedly Jewish perspective on the ministry of Jesus. He included more than fifty direct citations—and even more indirect allusions—from the Old Testament. This exceeds any of the other gospels and indicates that Matthew had the Jewish population in mind when he sat down to write. Matthew’s extensive connections between Jesus and the Old Testament provide ample prophetic evidence for Jesus’s ministry but also give contemporary readers a glimpse into how first-century readers approached the Old Testament with a Christ-centered mind-set. In addition, Matthew’s gospel answers the question on the mind of every Jewish reader: “If Jesus is the King of the Jews, then where is God’s promised kingdom?” Matthew reveals that Jesus did offer the kingdom to Israel, but the offer was rejected (Matthew 4:17; 16:13–28; 21:42–43). God’s primary work in the world is now accomplished through the building of Christ’s church, after which Jesus will come again to earth and establish His kingdom—ruling the world from Israel          

https://www.insight.org/resources/bible/the-gospels/matthew

Day 1 (December 12)
Matthew 18:1-20
Focus Text: 18:1-6

Day 2 (December 13)
Matthew 18:21-35
Focus Text: 18:21-22

Day 3 (December 14)
Matthew 19:1-15
Focus Text: 19:4-6  

Day 4 (December 15)
Matthew 19:16-30
Focus Text: 19:16-22  

Day 5 (December 16)
Matthew 20:1-16
Focus Text: 20:11-16  

Day 6 (December 17)
Matthew 20:17-34
Focus Text: 20:26-28

Memory Verse

Matthew 19:14

“But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”

Matthew wrote his account of Jesus’s ministry to show that Jesus was and is indeed the King, Israel’s long-awaited Messiah. He reflected this concern in his opening line, “The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matthew 1:1). From there, Matthew consistently took his readers back to the Old Testament, providing Old Testament testimony regarding the birth of Jesus, Bethlehem as the location of Jesus’s birth, the flight to Egypt, Herod’s slaughter of the infants, and the beginning of Jesus’s ministry. In a world where many in the Jewish community had claimed the role of Messiah for themselves, Matthew’s commitment to grounding the life of Jesus in the Old Testament raised Jesus above the multitude of these false messiahs. The apostle painted a portrait of our Lord that highlights His uniqueness among all others to ever walk this earth        

https://www.insight.org/resources/bible/the-gospels/matthew

Day 1 (December 19)
Matthew 21:1-22
Focus Text: 21:12-13

Day 2 (December 20)
Matthew 21:23-46
Focus Text: 21:23-27  

Day 3 (December 21)
Matthew 22:1-22
Focus Text: 22:9-14  

Day 4 (December 22)
Matthew 22:23-46
Focus Text: 22:29-32  

Day 5 (December 23)
Matthew 23:1-22
Focus Text: 23:8-11  

Day 6 (December 24)
Matthew 23:23-39
Focus Text: 23:37-39      

Memory Verse

Matthew 22:9

“Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.”

After enduring four hundred years of prophetic silence, God’s people must have wondered whether or not He had deserted them. After centuries of regular communication from God, the people found themselves without a genuine prophet or spokesman for God. However, the ministries of John and Jesus reminded God’s people that He had not forgotten them. God’s silence during that period was merely a precursor to pulling the linchpin of His redemptive plan. God hadn’t forgotten—He remembered His people. Matthew made that clear. It was true then, and it is certainly true today. Do you ever feel as though God has deserted you or that He sits in silence in the face of your requests? As we read through the pages of Matthew, not only do we see Jesus Christ revealed as Israel’s King and Messiah, but His coming to earth as God in the flesh reminds us of His deep love for us. Now resurrected and ascended, the Lord Jesus will always be with us, even to the end of time (Matthew 28:20).
Christ’s commission to His followers is still His mandate to us today: “Make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:19). Christ’s work of building His church is the work He does through each of us.

https://www.insight.org/resources/bible/the-gospels/matthew

 Day 1 (December 26)
Matthew 24:1-28
Focus Text: 24:1-4

Day 2 (December 27)
Matthew 24:29-51
Focus Text: 24:32-35

Day 3 (December 28)
Matthew 25:1-13
Focus Text: 25:13  

Day 4 (December 29)
Matthew 25:14-46
Focus Text: 25:29-30  

Day 5 (December 30)
Matthew 26:1-16
Focus Text: 26:14-16  

Day 6 (December 31)
Matthew 26:17-35
Focus Text: 26:33-34    

Memory Verse

Matthew 24:36

 “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.”