The world tries to define us in different ways. But who are we really? How does God define us? The gospel of Matthew was written to a group of Christians who didn't yet know who they were. They had been faithful Jews in the synagogue community in Galilee. But Jesus had changed everything. How should they think of themselves now, as Jewish or Christian?
Matthew writes his gospel to help readers understand their identity as followers of Jesus the messiah. Michael Card unpacks how Matthew's emphasis on fulfillment confirms their Jewish connection to the Torah, while his focus on the kingdom establishes their new life in Christ. Matthew presents this process of redefinition as an exercise of the imagination, in which Jesus reshapes who we are in light of his own identity.
Come alongside Matthew in this pilgrimage. Discover the true identity of the one who asks, "Who do you say that I am?" And discover who you are in him.
The imagination is the vital bridge between the heart and the mind, and the means by which the Spirit begins to undo what was disintegrated by the fall. When we allow our imaginations to be recaptured by the Holy Spirit, the facts we know in our heads come to life in our hearts, and then (and only then) do we become more like Jesus.
For years Michael Card's music has imaginatively explored the narrative power of the word of God. Now in the Biblical Imagination Series, Card invites readers to enter into Scripture as he does, at the level of imagination. These volumes help us discover the biblical text for ourselves, ask our own questions and discover deeper truths. Taking seriously the individual life of each gospel writer, the Biblical Imagination Series reintegrates our minds with our hearts to recapture imaginations with the beauty and power of Christ.
