Sunday Morning November 25, 2001 Bel Aire Baptist Church
Series: Christmas Surprises [#1]
THE LINE OF A KING?
Matthew 1:1-17
Introduction:
Through my many years of school, I have taken many history classes. One of the things that always interested me was in trying to figure out if any of those famous people were in my family line. I remember one day talking to my Mamma, my dad’s mother, about her parents and grandparents. I was writing a paper for school and I just knew my Mamma would have some stories of some very important people, and she did. She told me about two boys that lived on the farm next to her grandparents and there was a possibility (if you know what I mean) that we were kin. I recognized this name immediately. One of the boys name was Jesse James. Although this was a pretty “cool” story to tell my friends, did I really want people to know that I was kin to an outlaw?
As we begin our Christmas Series: “Christmas Surprises”, I want us to see that I am not the only person to have some questionable people in my family line. In fact, we are not going to be looking at just any family line but the line of a King. This King’s name is King Jesus and King Jesus is not just any king, He is the King of Kings. But, when I look at His family tree I wonder what God was thinking. Wouldn’t God want to give King Jesus the perfect family tree? Let’s look together at this “Christmas Surprise” and see four women that are found in the genealogy of the Savior.
Turn with me to Matthew 1:1-17.
Tamar (Genesis 38)
In Genesis 37:26-27, we find a man by the name of Judah who proposed that he and his brothers sell Joseph into slavery, rather than to kill him. Judah leaves home, marries a Canaanite woman, and has three sons, two of whom are old enough to marry, and are so wicked that God takes their lives. Abraham was very careful to obtain a non-Canaanite wife for his son, Isaac (chapter 24). Isaac and Rebekah were not as careful, but God provided two wives for Jacob from Rebekah’s brother Laban, in Paddan Aram (Genesis 29). Judah promptly leaves home and marries a Canaanite woman (Genesis 38:1-2). She has three sons. When the firstborn son was old enough, Judah acquired a Canaanite wife for him named Tamar. Judah’s first son, Er, was evil in God’s sight and the Lord took his life (Genesis 38:7). Judah instructed his second son, Onan, to take Tamar and raise up a descendant for his deceased brother, but he prevented Tamar from producing a child. Judah was afraid of losing his youngest son Shelah, so he asked Tamar to live at home until this boy was older.
After the passing of a considerable period of time, Judah’s wife died and Tamar realized that Judah would never give her to Shelah, his only surviving son. She seems to have known Judah all too well, because she disguised herself as a prostitute and stationed herself along the route she knew Judah would be taking to Timnah, along with his friend Hirah. Judah, who hired her as a prostitute, and left some of his possessions as a guarantee of payment, fulfilled Tamar’s expectations. Tamar had concealed her identity by the use of a veil, and so Judah never knew the identity of his companion that night. Some time later Judah was told that his daughter-in-law had become pregnant, and Judah was indignant. He insisted that she be put to death for her immorality. It was then that Tamar produced Judah’s cylinder seal (the ancient counterpart of a driver’s license or Social Security card today), his cord, and his staff – all items that were as good as fingerprints. Judah confessed that Tamar was more righteous than he. She was the one who sought to preserve his line. She bore twins to Judah, and Perez would be the one through whom the Messianic line would be continued, no thanks to Judah.
Pretty interesting person that Tamar. I have a hard time seeing how she is part of this Royal Family Line. Let’s look at another woman listed in this genealogy.
Rahab (Joshua 2; Joshua 6:15-25)
Rahab is mentioned eight times in Scripture and in six of these occurrences, her name is found with a specific descriptive noun. Do you know what it is? It is “harlot” (KJV) or “prostitute” (NIV).
This story wonderfully illustrates God’s grace. He is no respecter of persons. He accepts and forgives us not because of what we are or might be, but because of His Son, because of what He would do and now has done and will do through those who trust Him and act in faith. It matters not what we were or have been. What matters is who Jesus Christ is, what He has done, and whether or not we will put our trust in Him.
This also points to God’s sovereign over the affairs of men and how He directs the steps of those who rest in His provision or are looking to know Him better. God had worked in Rahab’s heart, He knew her faith, her longing to know God and perhaps even to become a part of God’s people, so God worked and brought the spies and Rahab together for their protection and her blessing.
God could have made the spies invisible or smote the people with blindness or used angels, but He chose to use two men and one woman walking by faith with courage to act on their convictions and He chose to use the more normal circumstances of life.
Joshua 2:2-3 indicate the whole city had been on alert and the spies were recognized and seen going into the home of Rahab. Rahab conceals the spies, lies to protect the soldiers, and sends the soldiers of the king on a wild goose chase. Because to do otherwise was an act of treason and punishable by death, the king believed her to be loyal and didn’t even have her home searched.
Why was Rahab saved? Because she had believed in the God of Israel. Hiding the messengers was an outworking of her faith. To hide the messengers was a calculated deception to protect them, just as many godly people hid Jews in European countries during World War II.
First, what Rahab did was a matter of faith. She had come to believe that the God of Israel was indeed “God in heaven above and earth beneath” (2:11) and she is listed in the faith Hall of Fame chapter.
Second, Rahab’s faith, which gave her strong convictions about God, caused her to act on her faith to the point of putting her life on the line. She knew eventually Israel would attack the city and destroy it because their God was the true God, and she wanted to be delivered and to become a part of Israel. She did not know a lot about Israel’s God, His laws of righteousness, or the way of salvation, but she knew He was the supreme God.
Just before the spies left, they confirmed their agreement with Rahab: First, a scarlet cord hung from the window must identify her house. Second, she and her family were to remain in the house during the attack on the city. Third, the spies reassured her that they would be free of their oath guaranteeing her protection if Rahab exposed their mission.
So far we have found a woman that slept with her father-in-law and a prostitute. Top of the line right? Let’s keep looking.
Ruth (Ruth 1-4)
Ruth was a Moabite woman. The Moabites were the race that resulted from the union of Lot and his oldest daughter. The Moabites were forbidden from entering into the assembly of the Lord to the tenth generation (Deuteronomy 23:3), the Israelites were not commanded to annihilate them, and they were not forbidden to marry them.
The Book of Ruth begins with a famine in the land of Israel. This famine prompted Elimelech to leave Israel with his family and to sojourn temporarily in Moab. Elimelech seems to have died relatively soon after they came to Moab. Elimelech and his wife, Naomi, had two sons. Each son married a Moabite woman, and eventually, both sons died without having any children.
Naomi was left with only her two daughters-in-law, Ruth and Orpah. She heard that God had visited His people and that there was once again grain in Israel. Naomi purposed to return, but she urged her daughters-in-law to remain in Moab. She managed to persuade Orpah to return to her parents, but Ruth was determined to remain with Naomi, no matter what. She would not be persuaded otherwise, and so Naomi, along with Ruth, returned to Israel.
When they arrived in Naomi’s hometown of Bethlehem, the people immediately recognized her and were excited that she had returned. Naomi was quick to tell them her woes, blaming her troubles on God, who seemed to have it out for her, or so she implied (Ruth 1:20-22).
Ruth immediately set out to provide for Naomi’s needs. She began to glean in the nearby field of a man who “just happened” to be a near relative of Elimelech (Ruth 2:3). Ruth quickly caught the eye of those laboring in the field because she worked diligently, hardly stopping to rest (Ruth 2:7). Boaz noticed her as well and made sure that Ruth was protected and provided with grain to glean as she sought to care for her mother-in-law.
Naomi realized that Boaz was showing great kindness to Ruth, and so she acted as a matchmaker, seeking to arrange the marriage of Ruth and Boaz. Naomi devised a plan whereby Ruth could indicate her need for a husband and her desire to marry Boaz. The plan worked, and Boaz indicated that he would be delighted to marry Ruth, except that he was not the nearest kin. Boaz met with the nearest relative in the city gate, giving him the opportunity to purchase Elimelech’s land, and to acquire Ruth as a wife. The nearest kin was willing to purchase Elimelech’s land but did not want Ruth’s hand in marriage, and so Boaz acquired both the land and Ruth. They married, and the child Ruth bore to Boaz was named Obed. Obed was the grandfather of David.
Here we have a foreigner who somehow gets into the line of Jesus. So this makes a conniving woman, a prostitute, and a foreigner. Let’s look at the last woman listed in this genealogy.
Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11)
It was evening, and David was just getting out of bed. If we had any doubt about why he stayed home, it is all gone now. And it was not to catch up on his paper work. David was goofing off! “And from the roof he saw a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful in appearance” (2 Samuel 11:2). If he had used his head, he would have gotten off of that rooftop patio pronto. But he lingered, and let his eyes feast on every inch of Bathsheba’s fleshly charms, until he could think of nothing but having her for himself.
Bathsheba is not guiltless either. She may not have purposely enticed David, but she was immodest and indiscreet. To disrobe and bathe in an open courtyard in full view of any number of rooftop patios in the neighborhood was asking for trouble. She could easily have bathed indoors.
David found out that the beautiful bather was, sent for her, and the thought became the deed. Her husband was off to war and she was lonely. The glamour of being desired by the attractive king meant more to her than her commitment to her husband and her dedication to God. They probably cherished those moments together; maybe they even assured themselves that it was a tender and beautiful experience. Most do! But in God’s sight, it was hideous and ugly. Satan had baited his trap and they were now in his clutches.
The inevitable happened, and Bathsheba sent word to David that she was pregnant. This was a crisis in that culture, for it would have meant death by stoning according to the Law of Moses (cf. Lev. 20:10). No crisis had ever shaken David before, and he was certainly not going to let this one destroy him. His plan was to bring Bathsheba’s husband home from the battle for a few days; then nobody would ever know whose child she was carrying. But Uriah was too patriotic to enjoy his wife while his countrymen were endangering their lives on the battlefield, so he slept in the barracks with the king’s servants. Then David had to put Plan B into operation. He calmly wrote Uriah’s death warrant, sealed it, and sent it to Captain Joab on the front lines, delivered by Uriah’s own hand. It ordered Joab to put Uriah in the fiercest part of the battle, and then retreat from him. And David added murder to his adultery. After a short period of mourning, Bathsheba entered David’s house and became his wife, and the two lovers finally had each other to enjoy freely and uninterruptedly … except for one thing: “But the thing that David had done was evil in the sight of the Lord” (2 Samuel 11:27).
It is interesting that in this genealogy that Bathsheba’s name is not mentioned but instead it says, “Whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,”
Conclusion:
As we have seen this morning Jesus came from the line of a woman who slept with her father-in-law while pretending to be a prostitute. A woman who was a prostitute. A woman who was a foreigner and whose people served other gods. Lastly, a woman whose name is not even mentioned because of what she had done is listed.
So what do we gather from this? The Savior of the world came from people that we would not even have anything to do with. The Savior of the world came from people that we would ridicule. The Savior of the world had to come to this earth because of people like his relatives. So why?
God wants us to see this morning that through Him anything is possible. Through Him, even you and I can be used. Through Him, it does not matter how bad our past is. Through Him our lives can be changed although we don’t deserve it. Through Him, our lives can have an eternal impact on many people.
Philippians 4:13 says, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”
What a strange way to save the world! Praise God for this Christmas Surprise because with this gift of Christmas comes the strength to do all things through Jesus.
