The Geneology Of Jesus Christ

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."