It is still unknown as to who the original author was of The Good News According to Matthew. Some scholars believe the author to have been Matthew himself, also known as Levi, a former tax collector and one of Yeshua's 12 disciples. Some regard the The Good News According to Matthew as the most important of all the gospels as it shows the transition from the Old and New Testament in its explanation of the immaculate conception, teaching of the early church, Judaism and the law, and a detailed account of the life and death of Yeshua the Messiah. Filled with parables and life-changing teaching, like the Sermon on the Mount, The Good News According to Matthew teaches us what it looks like to live as a true disciple of Yeshua the Messiah. An important factor in the The Good News According to Matthew is the mention of the Kingdom of God. The word "kingdom" is used 28 times throughout this book. This evokes the question, "What exactly is the Kingdom of God?" We read in other books, "for the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit." It is understood that the Jews were expecting the coming Messiah to set up and rule over a physical kingdom, but as we see in the text of Matthew, Yeshua's heavenly perspective is quite different than what some of the Jews had expected. Most historians agree that John Mark is the author of this account of the good news and it may have been one of the first Gospels written. Some believe that the timeline of the gospel being written was approximately sometime between the years 65-70 AD, which was shortly after the death of Peter. There are details in The Good News According to Mark that are not in the other Gospels which lead historians to believe that this was written by someone who had been an eye-witness to these events.
