You can
watch the video of this sermon here.
For some
time now, I have been wanting to start a series on Matthew. In my time as a
pastor I have preached through a lot of John, in fact the first ever sermon
series I started was on the gospel of John. I did not finish it, but one day I
will return to it. Then a few years ago, here at New Beith, I did a series on
the gospel of Mark. Both powerful books.
John’s
gospel is very different to the other gospels and is almost written in a Greek
drama style, where the main character, Jesus, is often opposed by the crowd. Mark,
as Chuck Swindoll said many years ago, is the action gospel. Jesus does this
and then he immediately goes and does this other thing. He is flying through
the account, presenting his message, gathering followers, casting out demons
and more. It is the action movie of the gospels.
Matthew’s
gospel, though closer in style to Mark’s than John’s, is different again.
Matthew is much more concerned to show how Jesus fulfilled so many prophecies
in the Old Testament. All of the gospels refer to the Old Testament, but
Matthew writes like a careful Hebrew scholar, seeking to show just how
thoroughly Jesus is the Jewish messiah. You can see Matthew’s heart for his
people, the Hebrews, who in his gospel are tragically lost, whereas in John you
see the Jews more as antagonists and enemies than just lost.
Today, we
are going to begin our series on the gospel of Matthew and we are starting with
one of the most famous genealogies in the Bible. Oh, no you think, I could have
stayed home today, we are looking at a genealogy? How boring and how irrelevant?
But if you think this way, you are a bit behind the times.
Genealogies
are incredibly relevant. It is now a big business today. A massive business.
One of the biggest ancestry companies that I looked up this week, as of June
2023, is worth 1.23 Billion dollars.[1]
In 2020 a large company bought it for 4.7 Billion dollars[2],
because it brings in revenue of over 2/3’s of a billion a year.[3]
Why is it worth so much? Because it is relevant. Genealogy companies have now combined
with DNA companies and this market is worth about 3 billion dollars in the U.S.
alone.[4]
And that was in 2019, it will be more now. Genealogy companies are so relevant
that one company has provided 30 billion historical records[5];
that’s just one company. Wow! And they are so relevant, that in 2018 police
were able to track down the Golden State serial killer, by uploading DNA found
at a crime scene to a genealogy site, which they used to track down his family
tree, and narrow down the search for the killer.[6]
Talk about relevant.
So often we
Christians try to sort through what we think are the relevant and irrelevant
parts of the Bible, only to be shown again and again, by the culture, that
every page of the Bible is relevant. And sometimes the unsaved people of this
world, show us this by the way they search for things we thought were no longer
relevant, or deny things we never thought could be denied. Genealogies are big
business, and really have been for some time, you may have even searched
through your family tree to find out where you came from. I have a family
member who did that for our family. He found some very interesting stuff. So,
genealogies are relevant, and people find a lot of gold in them, sometimes
literally when they find out they are related to someone very rich. And there
is absolute gold in the genealogy of Jesus. Let me show you how relevant the
genealogy of Jesus Christ is, and what we can learn from what the Apostle
Matthew wrote.
A Book of
Genesis – We read in
Matthew 1:1, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of
David, the son of Abraham.” The first words of the gospel in Greek
literally translate to “a book of Genesis”. Which makes it really fitting,
because we begin the first book of the Bible with the Genesis, the beginning of
the world, and we begin the first book of the New Testament with the beginning
of the Messiah according to the flesh.
Of course,
Jesus is not just a man, he is the God man, we will see this as we go through
the gospel of Matthew, it is incredibly clear who Jesus is. But to be the
saviour of mankind he does also have to be a real man and Matthew wants to
establish that Jesus fulfills the criteria of the Messiah. He must be,
genetically two things. The son of Abraham and the son of David.
This is what
he is, “a book of the Genesis of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of
Abraham.” This is the genetic origins of the Messiah, according to the flesh.
God promised
Abraham that his seed would bless the whole earth, Genesis 22:18 – “And
in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast
obeyed my voice” (KJV). So, the Messiah needs to be the offspring of
Abraham.
God promised
David that his heir would rule on the throne forever 2 Samuel 7:12-13, “12
When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise
up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will
establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will
establish the throne of his kingdom forever.” So, the Messiah also has
to be a son of David, as well.
This should
clue us into something important about this genealogy, it is not meant to be a
literal reading of all the descendants of Jesus. This is seen clearly for a couple
of reasons,
First, there
are generations missing, notice in verse 8 it says, “Joram the father of
Uzziah.” But, if you look up a list of kings, you will find that Joram
was the father of Ahaziah, who was the father of Joash, who was the father of
Amaziah, who was the actual father of Uzziah. This is not a contradiction. Matthew
is seeking to prove something. But what? Well, this leads to our next
observation.
Was Jesus
the actual son of David? No. Was he the actual son of Abraham? Of course not. These
men were long since dead long before Jesus was born to Mary. The word “son”
does not always mean “son” in the Bible. It can be a title, it can mean a
descendant, it can also mean an heir. In the famous and epic movie Ben Hur,
Judah Ben Hur is adopted as the “Son of Arrius”, which means that Ben Hur has
the same authority and rights and dignity of his powerful Roman father. In this
very passage you see these different meanings of son. Jesus is the descendant
of Abraham, the descendant of David. But he also has their mantle, he is their
heir according to the promise.
This is also
why you should not try and calculate the age of the earth precisely off biblical
genealogies. The Hebrews loved their genealogies, but they used them often in
their teachings to prove a point, not just to be specific about who someone’s
ancestors were.
So, what
does Matthew want to prove?
That Jesus
is the son of David, he is the Messiah, the chosen one, the hero, who has come
to save his people. Notice how the word king is used only once, in verse 6, “and
Jesse the father of David the king.” There are many kings mentioned in
this list, even great kings, but only two kings given the title; David, who is
the king, the anointed one, and Jesus who is the Messiah, which means anointed
king.
Even the use
of 14 here reflects David. Matthew writes 14 generations from Abraham to David,
then 14 from David to Jechoniah, then 14 generations from Jechoniah to Jesus. Each
Hebrew letter corresponds to a number, and what is remarkable is that in Hebrew
the letters for DVD equal up to 14. So, from every angle Matthew is emphasizing
the Messianic identity of Jesus.
What the
Apostle Matthew has done is mix the beautiful and the true, to create a
beautiful piece of Jewish art with this genealogy. His aim is to show that
Jesus is truly a descendant of David, and that Jesus is the true heir of
Abraham. And, therefore, that Jesus is the Messiah that his people, the Jews,
and the rest of the world need.
This
genealogy is a beautiful piece of art designed to reach an audience very
familiar with the Old Testament, especially Jews. Just this passage alone shows
us how Hebrew Matthew was and how Christian he was, something that was not
supposed to exist in this era. But something that did exist.
But what
else does this genealogy show us?
Make’s
Jesus Life Concrete – This genealogy also makes Jesus’ life concrete. This is no “once upon a
time story”. We are not even sure when some ancient heroes lived. They have
mythical origins like being brought to earth by magical beings, or being born
under mysterious circumstances, or being found randomly in the wilderness, or
they are so completely mythologized, like Hercules, or Archilles, that we
really struggle to know whether they were just stories or real actual people.
But Jesus’ genealogy counters all of that.
Although,
Matthew was not concerned with listing each and every person in Jesus’s
genealogy. He did not mythologize it either. He squarely places Jesus in a real time and
context.
Though some
of the kings are not mentioned. We have a long and detailed account of who all
of these people are, and their lives correspond to the historical and
archaeological record. Even the life of the nomadic Abraham fits perfectly with
the way that Arameans lived in Canaan in his day.
Because the
Jews kept such meticulous records in this era, we know that Jesus’ genealogy
was verifiable and checkable. This is why we can be so confident of when Jesus
lived, and who he was born to. And his opponents knew all this as well.
None of the
Jews opposing Jesus questioned his Jewishness. It was never an issue. None of
the Jews opposing Jesus, thought he was some outsider, come to cause them
trouble. They saw him as a thoroughly Jewish man, even at times calling him
Rabbi (John 3:2) like his disciples did.
Jesus was
well known to his contemporaries in Judah, Matthew 13:53-58,
“53 And when Jesus had finished these parables, he
went away from there, 54 and coming to his hometown he taught them in their
synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this
wisdom and these mighty works? 55 Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his
mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and
Judas? 56 And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all
these things?” 57 And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A
prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.”
58 And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.”
Jesus’
biggest opponents did not seek to deny he was of Mary, but they did accuse her
of being unfaithful, John 8:41, “41 You are doing the works your father
did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one
Father—even God.” No one denied Jesus was Jew born of Mary, they might
not have believed his father was God. But his life was well and truly tied to a
real time, a real place and real people.
His
genealogy was public knowledge.
It Puts
Genealogies in their place (V. 17) – The genealogy here in Matthew also puts genealogies in their
place. Matthew’s purpose with this genealogy is pretty clear, as we have said,
he is showing who Jesus is, “17 So all the generations from Abraham to
David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon
fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ
fourteen generations.” We then have one more genealogy in the Bible,
the genealogy of Jesus in Luke 3:23-38. This is intriguing when you think about
it, because the Old Testament is filled with genealogies, and we know that the
Jews kept other meticulous lists, but then suddenly genealogies disappear from
God’s word. So why did the genealogies come to a sudden stop?
Because
theologically they serve one main purpose: to help preserve the line of the
Messiah, so it can be clearly identified. This was not their only purpose, they
also showed who could serve in the temple, in what specific role, and who could
not (Deut. 33:8-11).
But at the
end of the day, they existed to show us God protected the line of the promised
king. Jacob prophesied who the true king needed to be, Genesis 49:10, “10
The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his
feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the
peoples.” The true king of Israel needed to be a Jew, and for this to
happen his line needed to be preserved.
I would
argue, that the strict genetic rules about who could do or not do certain
things, served the important purpose of causing the Israelites to keep records,
that show how thoroughly God preserved the line of Jesus. Once Jesus came, for
God, genealogies no longer served a purpose. Which is why the Jews today cannot
trace their ancestry back as far as ancient Israel. The records no longer had
supernatural intervention and were lost during wars and conquests.
And it is also
why Paul says this:
“3 As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia,
remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any
different doctrine, 4 nor to devote themselves to myths and endless
genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God
that is by faith.” (1 Timothy 1:3-4).
The Bible
goes from recording extensive and detailed genealogies, going all the way back
to the beginning, to then saying, “Don’t focus on genealogies guys.” What an
interesting change. I don’t think Paul is saying you can never look into your
genealogy, though you could read him that way. I personally have never cared
that much about looking into my genealogy.
What I do
think he is saying is don’t be devoted to them. It can be translated as “pay no
attention” or do no defer to. Some people in this era were using genealogies to
try and claim special status, a special place in the people of God. “I am
descended from this king.” “I am descended from the priests.” “I can trace my
genealogy to Moses.”, etc, etc.
Paul would
have said, who cares. Genealogy matters nothing in salvation. In fact, he did
say this, directly, Phil 3:4-7,
“4 though I myself have reason for confidence in the
flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I
have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the
tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to
zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.
7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.”
Genealogies
no longer matter much for Christians. They might matter for your physical
inheritance, but not your spiritual inheritance. If more people took this to
heart, a lot would change in the church. Don’t judge people according to their
family and ancestors. It is unchristian.
Don’t
Judge With Human Eyes – These genealogies also show we should not judge with human eyes. Jesus
was the descendant of a long line of younger brothers. Matthew 1:2-6,
“2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the
father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 and Judah
the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and
Hezron the father of Ram, 4 and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the
father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5 and Salmon the father of
Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of
Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of David the king.”
Abraham was
an older brother. But Isaac, Jacob and Judah, were all younger brothers.
Isaac’s older brother was Ishmael, who according to ancient custom was
Abraham’s legitimate son and heir. But not in God’s eyes.
We won’t go
through all the people in the list, but we also know famously that David was
the least among his brothers. And we also know that God said to Samuel, “7
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of
his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees:
man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
(1 Samauel 16:7). God also told Rebekah that “the older shall serve the
younger” (Gen. 25:23). Jesus’ genealogy shows us how God often overturns the
values of the world.
In the
ancient world, as with much of the world today, the honour usually goes to the
oldest. And there is nothing wrong with being the eldest brother, Jesus was the
eldest brother. Some of us here are. But God often overlooked the oldest
brother, and chose the younger brother, or the written off man, or the formerly
immoral woman, or the least of these, to shame the wisest, the strongest, and
those people saw through human eyes as successful.
Never envy
those who seem greater than you. As someone once said, “God must love the poor,
because he made so much of them.”
If you judge
with human eyes and human reason, you will often either find yourself missing
what God is doing, or setting yourself against him. We can all to easily do
this. People might look at the most successful churches, or the richest people,
and think: how could God not be behind that? If you wait long enough, often
what appears the most successful burns out and flames out in a big way. I have
seen this in church circles continually.
Babylon was
more successful than Israel, and it was not God’s people, it was the enemy.
Weeds often grow faster than crops. Don’t judge with human eyes. What is the
greatest in man’s eyes will often offend God and vice versa.
Formerly
Scorned Women – Finally,
we see something remarkable about the women that Matthew lists. Five women are
mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus, and four of them are formerly scorned
women. Look at these women, Matthew 1:1-6 –
“1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son
of David, the son of Abraham. 2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the
father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 and Judah
the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and
Hezron the father of Ram, 4 and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the
father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5 and Salmon the father of
Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of
Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of David the king. And David was the father of
Solomon by the wife of Uriah,…”
There would
have been many women of great stature and dignity in Jesus’ line. Great Queens,
noble wives, likely women as remarkable as Mary. But these four scandalous
women get pride of place.
Let’s deal
with Ruth first. Her character is not under question, she was actually one of
the most remarkable and noble women in the Bible. And she was so remarkable,
she has her own book of the Bible, one of very few named after a woman. Her
nobility and faith in giving up the pagan gods of her people to follow God, was
rewarded. But that is where the scandal lies, she was a Moabite. This was not
encouraged in Israel. Not exactly forbidden, but it was still a scandal.
Of the other
three women, one tricked her father-in-law into procuring her sexual services,
another one was a woman of the oldest profession, who left her people to follow
God, and the last one is not even mentioned by name, because she was stolen
from another man, “David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah.” This was the famous, beautiful and forbidden
Bathsheba.
And Jesus is
descended from each of these women. This is so scandalous Matthew could not
bring himself to list one of these women by name. But all of these women were
redeemed and played an integral role in the salvation plan of God.
God has a
habit of taking those both the culture and his people would sometimes scorn,
and turning them into mighty instruments of his will. Indeed, he specializes in
this. To this day many Christians would still not associate with many of the
people Jesus reached in his ministry.
But even
Jesus’ genealogy shows how God redeems the sinner, and I got this point from
Matthew Henry showing it is an old school observation. Jesus was incredibly
compassionate to women just like Rahab, and this turned many of them away from
their life of sin. And just as Ruth displayed incredible faith, so too did the
Canaanite woman that came to Jesus.
The mention
of these women again shows we should not judge people according to human eyes,
and that we need to err on the side of grace more and more.
Application
– So how do we apply
this sermon?
- Don’t just skip passages like this one in Matthew. Meditate on the names of the people listed, and God will reveal things to you, which will encourage, challenge and rebuke you.
- Don’t be too quick to judge with human eyes. God will often use people in incredible ways, that we would overlook.
- Don’t let your past hold you back from following God. There are many people in Jesus’ genealogy who had less than stellar lives in their younger years. It is never too late to turn it around and contribute to God’s kingdom.
- Never forget the importance of family. We live in a day and age where the importance of family, the importance of a mother in the home, and the importance of biblical family values is being ignored. Never forget that our Lord Jesus Christ, according to the flesh, is descended from a long line of people who emphasized family. The devil is against family. Christians should never be.
Conclusion
– Genealogies are
still relevant, not because we should be devoted to them, but because the ones
in the Bible have incredible nuggets of truth to teach us. Many people become
obsessed with their own genealogy. But really, we should be more focused on
building the family of God. There are two ways the kingdom grows: evangelism,
and marriage with children. Satan hates both, in all the ways in which it is
possible for you, dedicate yourself to these things as much as possible. Let’s
pray.
List of
references
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