PREPARATION of THE KING

“The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” Matthew1:1 (ESV)

What do you say about genealogies? What do you say about family trees? Matthew wrote to reveal that Christ is the Messiah through the revelation of Christ’s Jewish heritage. The messiah who is prophesied of in the Old Testament. The King who will return.

The King Who Is Revealed

Matthew presents Christ as King. Christ’s genealogy plays a very significant role in Matthew’s gospel. By no accident does this genealogy head this gospel. Matthew first establishes to his readers that Christ indeed is of royal lineage going as far back as Father Abraham, the father of King David himself.

Matthew’s kingdom terminology confirms his Jewish address. This was an attempt to evangelize the Jewish community. Matthew was writing about no ordinary king. Matthew presented a king who did not rule through “law or with an iron fist”, but through grace alone.

The Grace of Our Lord Seen In One Woman

God showed grace to Mary by choosing her to give birth to Jesus. Nothing in particular was special about Mary. She was an ordinary teenage girl. However, when God bestows extra in ordinary people, extraordinary things ensue. Thus, the birth of our savior. Therefore, it is not Mary who should be worshiped, but to the very God who showed great grace to this woman.

The Grace of Our Lord Seen In the Seed of Two Men

Both Abraham and David we know to be men of great significance in the roles they played in the Lord’s covenants. What is often overlooked is the fact that both these men were horrific sinners. David was an adulterer, murderer, and failed as a father. Abraham was a liar and slanderer, who lacked faith more than when he displayed faith. However, through God’s sovereign grace He used these two men to be the seed bearers of Christ the savior. Jesus overcame all of their failures. “The King of grace came through the line of two sinful men. That’s grace!”

The Grace of Our Lord Seen In Three Eras

First, we see God’s grace exhibited during the time of Abraham to David, better known as the period of the Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, and the Judges). There was wandering, enslavement, deliverance, covenants, and The Law. This was a time of conquest and victory where grace always existed.

Second, we see God’s grace exhibited during David to the captivity in Babylon, better known as the period of the Monarchy. “Israel insisted on having human rulers rule over them instead of God leading them.” Degeneracy, apostasy, and decline divided the kingdom during this time, which eventually lead to the destruction of the Temple. There was a great absence of godliness. However, God displayed his grace to a few chosen men (King David, Jehosaphat, Hezekiah, Josiah, and the prophets).

Third, we see God’s grace exhibited during the Babylonian Captivity until the time of Christ, better known as the intertestamental period. This is Israel’s dark ages. Not much is known during this time. God’s grace was at work on behalf of His people throughout these periods. “The genealogy is one mingled with glory and suffering, heroism and disgrace.” Israel rises, falls, and eventually reject and crucify the very messiah that God sent to them. God in His sovereign grace used these same people to bring forth the messiah that would save them.

The Grace of God is Seen in Four Outcasts

Other than Mary there are only four women mentioned in Jesus’ genealogy. Women were not typically mentioned in Jewish genealogies. Matthew wants us to see something significant in the lives of these women.

Tamar is the first woman mentioned. Tamar disguised herself as a prostitute in order to bear children. She eventually gave birth to Perez and Zerah. They are the next people mentioned in the line of the messiah. Then we see Rahab. Rahab was a professional prostitute, who eventually married Salmon. With Salmon she gave birth to Boaz. Boaz was in Jesus’ lineage. Third we see Ruth. Ruth was a gentile, a Moabite. She married Boaz after the death of her first husband. She became the grandmother of King David. The last woman we see is Bathsheba. She is not named in the genealogy but is referred to as the wife of David the former wife of Uriah, the man David had killed. Their first son together died, but eventually gave birth to Solomon. These woman’s lives are full of nothing but God’s grace even through great sin.

This gospel of Matthew is a “knock-out punch” to the antagonistic, legalistic, unbelieving Jews. Christ came to save sinners. He used sinners as instruments as His means. He still saves and uses sinners today. We can be so sure and glad for this. It is through God’s sovereign grace that we are heirs in Christ’s Royal Lineage!

QUESTIONS FOR APPLICATION

1. Knowing Christ’s diverse genealogy, has your view/attitude toward your own family history changed? How?
2. Knowing the people that God used to bring forth the birth of Jesus Christ, has your outlook changed in how He might use you? Has your outlook changed regarding your sinfulness?
3. Knowing the people that God used to bring forth the birth of Jesus Christ, has your opinions of other believers changed? Has your opinion changed regarding their sinfulness?
4. Has your perception of grace changed due to the fact of who God used to bring forth the birth of the savior of the world?
5. Has your assurance of salvation been strengthened knowing that God used sinners to bring forth the birth of Christ?

“If Jesus was not ashamed to be born of a woman, whose pedigree contained such names as those we have read today, we need not think that He will be ashamed to call us brethren, and to give us eternal life.”

J.C. Ryle 1856