Intro:
1. Back in 1988, a man selling costume Jewelry approached Tanya Tokevich, and she ended up buying a ring for $ 20 dollars. She said, "It didn't look like much, it was dull, but I just thought it was nice." Later she decided to get it appraised it turned out to be an antique ring with a 2.05-carat diamond worth
$ 11,000 dollars!
2. When we come to the Genealogy of Jesus Christ, we look at it like that lady first looked at taht ring - we don't place a lot of value on it! But it is extremely valuable and precious .
3. The Genealogy of Jesus Christ.
Matthew 1:1-17 (NKJV)
1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham:
2 Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers.
3 Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez begot Hezron, and Hezron begot Ram.
4 Ram begot Amminadab, Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmon.
5 Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse,
6 and Jesse begot David the king. David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah.
7 Solomon begot Rehoboam, Rehoboam begot Abijah, and Abijah begot Asa.
8 Asa begot Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat begot Joram, and Joram begot Uzziah.
9 Uzziah begot Jotham, Jotham begot Ahaz, and Ahaz begot Hezekiah.
10 Hezekiah begot Manasseh, Manasseh begot Amon, and Amon begot Josiah.
11 Josiah begot Jeconiah and his brothers about the time they were carried away to Babylon.
12 And after they were brought to Babylon, Jeconiah begot Shealtiel, and Shealtiel begot Zerubbabel.
13 Zerubbabel begot Abiud, Abiud begot Eliakim, and Eliakim begot Azor.
14 Azor begot Zadok, Zadok begot Achim, and Achim begot Eliud.
15 Eliud begot Eleazar, Eleazar begot Matthan, and Matthan begot Jacob.
16 And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ.
17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, from David until the captivity in Babylon are fourteen generations, and from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ are fourteen generations.
I. First, the Substance of the Genealogies.
A. A Comparison with Luke's Gospel.
1. Matthew gives the genealogy traced through Joseph; while Luke is that of Mary's. Her name is not mentioned in Luke because Jewish genealogies were given under the man's name.
2. Matthew gives Jesus legal right to the throne of David, through Solomon; while Luke gives Jesus Literal right to the throne of David, through his son Nathan.
3. Matthew goes back to Abraham to demonstrate the theme of his gospel, the King of the Jews; Luke goes back to Adam, because his gospel is designed to focus on Jesus humanity.
B. A few Considerations.
1. The list is not without gaps - "son of" can mean grandson of, etc.
2. The repetition of the number 14 numerically equivalent to David's name in Hebrew.
3. Matthew repeatedly uses "begot" until he comes to Mary, then he says "of whom" which is a feminine relative pronoun showing that Jesus was born of Mary, not of Joseph.
II. Finally, the Significance of the genealogy.
A. First, it is given Mainly to prove the Messiah's credibility.
We must be clear, without this genealogy no Jew would accept Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah...
"A casual reading may cause a person to wonder why it begins with something as seemingly dull as a family tree. One might conclude that there is little significance to be drawn from this catalog of names and, thus, skip over it to where the action begins.
However, the genealogy is indispensable. It lays the foundation for all that follows. Unless it can be shown that Jesus is a legal descendant of David through the royal line, it is impossible to prove that He is the Messiah-king of Israel. Matthew begins his account where he must - with the documentary evidence that Jesus inherited the legal right to the throne of David through his step-father, Joseph." [MacDonald]
His genealogy proved he qualified to be the Messiah. The interesting thing is thing, if He wasnt the Messiah, nobody today can come and prove they qualify to be the Messiah!
"After 70 AD, when the temple was destroyed, all the birth-records were lost. If someone had tried to make the claim of being Messiah, the son of David, after 70 AD, there was no way they could prove it. Whoever the Messiah was, He had to have come before 70 AD."
If you havent found the Savior - there is no other option but Jesus Christ.
Acts 4:12 (NKJV)
12 Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."
John Dyer, "A man may go to heaven without riches; without honor; without learning; without friends; be he can never go there without Jesus Christ."
B. Furthermore, it gives us a sample of Messiah's Ministry.
1. Savior - the ministry of saving people from their sins, but His substitutionary death.
Jesus - a proper Greek name, from the Hebrew name Yeshua, meaning,
"Yahweh saves." It was specifically given to Jesus because He "will save His people from their sins." (Mt. 1:21)
He came to save us from our sins - the "us" in that passage are those:
"still without strength...ungodly...still sinners...enemies..." Ro. 5:6-10
During the Revolutionary War there was a preacher named Peter Miller. He had a neighbor who hated Peter because he was a Christian. He never missed an opportunity to mock and oppose Peter.
The day came when this neighbor was found guilty of treason and sentenced to death. When Peter found this out, he walked to get to George Washington to intercede for this neighbors life.
The President listen and then replied, "I'm sorry but it wouldnt be right to pardon your friend." Peter protested, "Friend! Heis not my friend but my bitter enemy."
Washington surprised reponded, "You mean you walked 60 miles to save the life of your enemy? That puts it in a different light, I will grant your request."
Peter with pardon in his pocket hurried to the place of execution, he got there just as his neighbor was walking to the scaffold.
Jesus did not come to save good people, but rebellious, arrogant sinners who frankly wanted nothing to do with Christ, until God's grace does its work.
2. The Supplier.
Christ - it means to anoint. Anointing was a ceremony reserved for setting one apart as Prophet, Priest, and king. The Hebrew term is Mashiach, that is, Messiah.
a. Supplied with a Potentate. [A Sovereign]
1 Timothy 6:14-15 (NKJV)
14 that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ's appearing,
15 which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords,
In our day of democracy we dont like the idea of a Potentate - but the best form of Government you can have is not a democracy but a theocracy. It should be viewed as a great joy to live under a good, wise, loving King.
One day Christ will reign over an earthly kingdom, so we pray "Thy kingdom come" but in that same prayer ends with "Yours is the kingdom." Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world..." (Jn.18:36), it is a spiritual kingdom today. Another way of saying He is Lord.
Jesus asked "But why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do things which I say?" (Lu.6:46)
Romans 14:17 (NKJV)
17 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Righteousness is doing things God's way - which always results in peace and joy!
We either live by King or Chaos!
Before Woodrow Wilson became President of the United States, he was a noted teacher. He once declared about Alexander Hamilton, an American politician (1775-1804), he established the national bank and public credit system:
"Nobody defeat Alexander Hamilton; whether he was in office or not, he alone had the constructive program and they either had to submit to chaos or follow Hamilton." It's yield to Christ or Chaos.
b. Supplied with a Prophet.
Acts 3:22 (NKJV)
22 For Moses truly said to the fathers, 'The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you.
John 4:25 (NKJV)
25 The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ). "When He comes, He will tell us all things."
Our Wonderful Counselor (Isa. 9:6) instructs us by the Spirit through the Scriptures all things we really need to know...
Talking about the ministery of the Messiah:
Isaiah 50:4 (NKJV)
4 "The Lord GOD has given Me The tongue of the learned, That I should know how to speak A word in season to him who is weary. He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear To hear as the learned.
Are you weary? Your Prophet has a word for you - how? It is in His Word!
"God is not silent. It is the nature of God to speak. The Second Person of the Holy Trinity is called "The Word." The Bible is the inevitable outcome of God's continuous speech. It is the infallable declaration of His mind."
c. Supplied with a Priest.
Hebrews 7:25 (NKJV)
25 Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
We have a real Prayer-warrior! Jesus is always, every single day, of our lives we are being bathed in prayer by our Priest! He intercedes; He is our advocate;
He is the only sacrifice we will ever need!
"By the sacrifice of His death, he wiped away our guilt, and made satisfaction for sin...There is no access to God for us or for our prayers until the priest, purging away our defilements, sanctify us, and obtain for us that favor, of which the impurity of our lives and hearts deprives us." [Calvin]
It gives us just a sample of the Saviors ministry!
The question is - is He your Savior? Prophet? Priest? King?
King Edwards VII of England and his wife were taking a walk, it was getting dark and Edward tripped over something and sprained his ankle. It was very painful, and they knocked on the door of the nearest house.
The man called out, "Who is there?" "It is Edward. It is the king let me in."
The man did not believe him, "Enough with your pranks - be off with you!
Edwards persisted in knocking, until finally the man opened the door, prepared to clobber the intruder with a stick - to his amazement there stood the king! He later took delight in retelling the story, he always concluded with the words, "And to think, I almost didnt let him in!"
C. Thirdly, it was the fulfillment of Many prophecies.
From the "seed of the woman" (Gen. 3:15); to Abraham; to Judah; to David; all the way down to Jesus Himself...
The interesting thing is that this "seed line" was sovereignly chosen by God. Sometimes it was the firstborn; and sometimes it was not. Ishmael is not even mentioned; Judah is chosen over all is brothers; Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated (Rom. 9:16). It is not based on human goodness or merit but on God's providence.
Without Providence there could be no Prophecy.
Thomas Watson, "There is no such thing as blind fate, but there is a Providence that guides and governs the world...Providence is God's ordering all issues and events of things, after the counsel of His will, to His own glory.
The wheels of the clock seem to move contrary one to the other, but they help forward the motion of the clock, and make alarum strike; so the providences of God seem to be cross wheels; but for all that they shall carry on the good of the elect."
D. Next, this fulfillment happened Miraculously.
1. This genealogy Began with a miracle - the birth of Isaac.
2. It Continued with one miracle after another.
Cain killed Able, but God replaced him with Seth...
Satan tried to corrupt the godly seed by intermigling them with the ungodly seed, but Noah found grace in God's sight...
As soon as David was old, "Adonijah exalted himself saing "I will be king" but again God intervened because the seed line was through Solomon...
We could go on and on and on!
The power of God guarantees the Providence of God. And we have Joseph who was in the seed line, some 1900 years after Abraham; about 100 years after David, and over 500 years after the end of the Babylonian captivity...
3. It Ends with a miracle - the virgin birth of Jesus Christ.
We should never doubt God's Promises, Providence, or Power. Jer. 32:17/
Rom. 4:20-21.
Con:
1. Back in the 1890's a book was published called Beside the Bonnie Briar Bush. It was written by John Watson, under the pen name of Ian Watson. It was about a young man who planned to enter the pastoral ministry. His godly mother died, and he went to live with his aunt.
He went to seminary and began to pastor his first church. The time had come to give his first sermon, he read it to his aunt and asked for her opinion of it.
She said, "It is very scholarly. But you must keep in mind that many in the congregation have had little schooling." It was then she shared with him his mothers last words before her death.
"Your mother told me, tell him, "When you stand up to preach, always say a good word for Jesus Christ." That is excellent advice!
Johnny Palmer Jr.
www.strugglingthruscriptures.ning.com
www.blogtalkradio.com/strugglingthruscriptures
