Christ's human genealogy. Look
at Matthew chapter 1. I'm not going to read through
the whole genealogy. 17 verses here. But it starts off, the book of
the generation of Jesus Christ. And you know generation means
beginning. And this is why genealogies are
important, this genealogy, because there's a question that has to
be answered here. So the book of the generation
of Jesus Christ, the son of David, and the son of Abraham. So right
away, we realize that Matthew is concerned with the thoughts
of the Jews concerning the Messiah. Of whom it was prophesied that
he would be the seed of Abraham, and that he'd be the son of David.
And it says in verse two, Abraham begat Isaac, Isaac was the child
of promise, through whom the Messiah would come. Isaac begat
Jacob. Jacob is kind of like the prime
type of sinner saved by grace. Remember in Malachi chapter 3,
where the Lord says, I am the Lord, I change not,
therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. Well, that's what
we are spiritually, if we're sinners saved by grace. We're
sons of Jacob in that sense. Jacob begat Judas, or Judah,
and his brethren. Christ was to come through the
tribe of Judah. So anyway, it goes on down through
the 17 verses, giving the human genealogy of Jesus of Nazareth
to prove that he fits all the qualifications and prophecies
and pictures and types of the Old Testament that pertain to
the Messiah, the Promised One. Now, how important is this? Why
is this even here? Why are we even concerned with
this? Well, I'll start off in your
lesson, and you don't have to turn there, but you can read
this. I've got some of these verses quoted. Over in the book
of Matthew chapter 22, beginning around verse 42. That's the scene
where Christ, throughout that chapter, he was being challenged
by certain people, by Pharisees, Herodians, which were followers
of Herod, probably some Sadducees. And they were asking him questions
for the express purpose of trying to trip him up. You know, when
you talk to a person, you can tell, usually you can tell if
they're asking questions trying to learn or if they're just trying
to trip you up in some way. And it was obvious what these
guys were doing. They were trying to trip him
up and expose him. It's hot in here. I'm gonna take that coat off,
I'm sorry. But anyway, they weren't sincere. They weren't genuine. They weren't wanting to learn.
They were just wanting to try to expose him to be a charlatan. And after, and of course they
didn't succeed. He was too smart for them, too
wise for them. And he put them in their place.
But after they finished their questions, the Lord posed a question
to them. And it says to the Pharisees,
And here's the question that he posed to them as recorded
in Matthew 22, 42. What think ye of Christ? What do you think of the Messiah?
That's what that's saying. Whose son is he? And they answered
him, they said, and they knew this, they said, well, he's the
son of David. Well, he was in his humanity. The generation of Jesus Christ,
the son of David. Scripture teaches that. We must
believe that. The Lord then followed up with
this question, how then doth David in spirit, and I believe
that's the Holy Spirit inspiring David, how then doth David in
spirit call him Lord? And David did that as recorded
in the Psalms when he said, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou
on my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool,
And then Christ said, if David then call him Lord, how is he
his son? Now here's the way it comes down. If he's David's son, how then
can David call him Lord or say that he's God? How can he be
both David's God and David's son? And they didn't know the
answer. Now is that answer recorded in
the Old Testament? Yes, it is in many places. But they didn't know. They showed
their ignorance of their own scriptures because they didn't
know the answer to that. And it states that no man was
able to answer him a word and that was it. Then they shut up. So he shut him up. Well, the
answer to that question, how can he be both David's God and
David's son? The answer to that is one of
the most important truths of the gospel message that we can
consider. Who is Jesus Christ? That's what
it comes down. And that's what this genealogy
is about. It's not about just tracing your family tree or anything
like that. You know, I've always said, you
know, people take great pains to trace their family tree. And
usually it's a matter of pride because they want to find somebody
famous, you know, that they can connect with. And I said, well,
just take it all the way back to Adam. And read Romans 5 and
verse 12, by one man's sin entered into the world and death by sin,
for the death passed upon all men for that all sin. There's
our family tree. That's where it goes to. And
it's a tree of shame for the most part. Now I know we find
some honorable people in our family trees and maybe had done
some great accomplishment, but what does it really mean? You
know, what good's it gonna do us? when we die and go to meet
the Lord. I mean, it doesn't matter who
your ancestors were. So why is Matthew so concerned
with it? Because he wanted to prove to
this Jewish people that this man, Jesus of Nazareth, that
man born in Bethlehem who come out of Nazareth, which I think
it was Andrew who said, what good thing can come out of Nazareth?
Must have had a bad reputation. This man, Jesus of Nazareth,
was and is the Messiah, the Christ of God, the Savior of sinners. And so who is Jesus Christ? If Jesus of Nazareth is the true
Messiah, promised and prophesied in the Old Testament, and if
we put our trust in Him for our salvation, which we do, and say
he's our savior, he's our only savior, then we have to be clear
on this matter. Who he is, how can he be both
God and man? That's what it's talking about.
Over in the Old Testament, one of the passages of scripture
that prophesied of the Messiah expresses this same truth. Isaiah
chapter nine and verse six, it says, unto us a son is given. Well, what does that mean? That
means he's the son of God. And it says, unto us a child
is born. The son was not born. He had
no beginning. He had no Genesis. No generation. Over here, if you look down at
verse 18 of this chapter, it says, now the birth of Jesus
was on this wise. Now we'll get to that next week,
Lord willing. But that word birth, it's the word Genesis. beginning
of Jesus, Christ was on this wise. Now when you go over to
the book of John, the gospel narrative of John, and you read
about him, what does he say? He says, well in the beginning
was the word and the word was with God and the word was God.
He has no beginning, no beginning and no end. He's the alpha and
the omega. But yet Matthew says his Genesis was on this way. Is there a contradiction? No.
Christ is both God and man in one person. That's the glory
of his person. We've got to be enthralled with
the glory of his person. He must be both God and man in
order to save us from our sins. Matthew says this down in verse
21. Again, I'm not getting ahead of myself, I'm just showing you
where this is headed. It says, she shall bring forth
a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save
his people from their sins. And then in verse 23, it says,
behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth
a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted
is God with us. So how can he be both David's
God and David's son? He's both. He's God manifest
in the flesh. He's the eternal son without
beginning and without end, and yet he's the one who was born
on that given day, whatever day it was, and we don't know what
day it was. So genealogies were important to the Hebrews all
through their history. especially when you consider
the Old Covenant. In the line of Levi, that's where the priest
came from. So if you were a priest, you
had to be able to prove that you were in the line of Levi.
And the line of the kings was the line of Judah. It was especially
important when we consider that the promised Messiah had to come
from the line of Judah. Remember, it was prophesied by
Jacob. on his deathbed when he said, the scepter will not depart
from Judah until Shiloh come. So this is why it's so important
that we understand this. And this is why Matthew was so
concerned with it. That if Jesus of Nazareth is
who he says he is, then it had to be proven by this genealogy
throughout the Old Testament. And that's what he does. He lists
these names. A lot of these names we've never
even heard of. But there are some we have, and we'll talk
about that in just a minute. But it was especially important
when we consider that Jesus of Nazareth had to be who he says
he is. And you know, there's a lot of
people who claim to be Christian who say that Jesus never claimed
to be God. Well, read your Bibles. The I
am statements alone, Christ said, I am the way, the truth, the
light. I am the light of the world. I am, I am, I am. That's his claim of deity. You
and I can't say that. Now I know he says we are lights,
but we reflect his light. He's the source. We're the product,
you see. And the Jews, when they talk
about these genealogies, One of the things that they needed
to understand is that this, that as far as human genealogy, that
meant nothing as far as salvation and a right relationship with
God. I've often told you that the unbelieving Jews had three
points that they bragged about, they boasted in, to prove to
themselves that they were children of God. And number one was their
human genealogy that led back to Abraham. We be Abraham's seed. Physically they were, but spiritually
they weren't. The only spiritual seed of Abraham
are those who believe in Christ, Jew and Gentile. And we read
that in the book of Galatians, the book of Colossians, it's
all the way through the book of Romans. He is not a Jew which
is one outwardly, but he is a Jew which is one inwardly. Circumcision
is not that of the flesh, but of the heart. And then they boasted
in their circumcision, physically, and they boasted in their law-keeping,
which they boasted in in a false way, because they didn't keep
the law. But you know, Paul, I love that passage in Galatians
6, when he says, God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross
of Christ, by which the world is crucified unto me and I unto
the world, Because in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor
uncircumcision means anything. And I love it in John chapter
eight when Christ said, when they claimed to be Abraham's
seed, he said, well, I know that you're Abraham's physical seed,
but you're not Abraham's spiritual seed because you don't do the
works of Abraham. What are the works of Abraham?
Believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, trusting in him for righteousness
and life. So all of these prophecies and
pictures, this genealogy, it's all meant to prove that in his
humanity, that he was a descendant of Abraham and a descendant of
David. This is the Messiah. Now, he
had to be both God and man in order to save us from our sins. Look over at Hebrews chapter
two. This is one of my favorite passages that explains this so
clearly. If he's gonna save sinners, he
had to be both God and man. Why? Well, the wages of sin is
death. The soul that sinneth must die. Sin reigns in death. And what does that mean? That
means justice has to be satisfied by death. of the one who sinned
or a substitute. Well, God cannot die. You can't
kill God. People talk about, they say these
signs, God is alive. God's always been alive. You
can't kill God. So how can this person who is
God satisfy justice in our place based upon our sins imputed to
it? Well, he had to be both God and man. Now, man cannot create
or give life. So how can this person who is
man create and give life? He's gotta be God. Now, I know
all this is mind boggling when we consider, but isn't that as
it should be? This is the gospel, Jesus Christ,
sin of God. Well, look at Hebrews chapter
two, look at verse 14. It says, for as much then as
the children, now that's God's children, that's his elect, Jew
and Gentile, chosen before the foundation of the world, given
to Christ, their names written in the Lamb's Book of Life, they're
partakers of flesh and blood, that's us. We are participants
in flesh and blood. Christ also himself likewise
in the same way took part of the same, In other words, he
had to be a participant in flesh and blood. Yet he was without
sin. And that's stated all through
the Old Testament and the New. Took part of the same, that through
death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that
is the devil. He had to take part in human flesh and blood
without sin so that he might destroy death by his own death. Y'all have seen that little pamphlet
that's written by John Owen, the death of death and the death
of Christ. Well, he had to die. In verse
15 it says, and deliver them who through fear of death were
all their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily he took not
on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of
Abraham, flesh and blood. And the seed of Abraham there
is God's elect. Verse 17, wherefore in all things it behooved him.
He was indebted. Why? Because he was the surety
of God's people before the foundation of the world and our sins were
imputed to him. It behooved him to be made like
unto his brethren that he might be a merciful and faithful high
priest in all things pertaining to God to make reconciliation
for the sins of the people. Now that's why this is so important.
Now look back at Matthew chapter 1. As you read through this genealogy
from verses 2 to verses 16, there's actually two genealogies here.
There's a paternal genealogy coming through the father, and
that was Joseph. And then there is a maternal
genealogy coming through Mary, the mother. Both Joseph and Mary were members
of the tribe of Judah, both in that royal line. And that's where
it was prophesied the Messiah would come from. The royal line
or lineage of Jesus, the royal lineage always passed through
the father. But Christ had no earthly father.
Joseph, was not his physical father. And we'll talk about
that more next week. But Christ was conceived, the
humanity of Christ was not conceived in the womb of Mary by Joseph.
In fact, when Christ was conceived, Joseph and Mary had not even
come together as a married couple yet. So it was a virgin birth. It was an immaculate conception,
meaning Christ. You know, the Catholics call
Mary the Immaculate Conception. She is not the Immaculate Conception.
She was a sinner saved by grace. But Christ was not a sinner in
his humanity. He was conceived immaculately
by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin. So
Joseph was not his earthly father. God the Father is Christ's eternal
Father, and only Father by nature. But in order to reign as man,
his royal or legal lineage had to be traced back to King David.
And it did through his adopted father, Joseph. Joseph was his
legal father by adoption. And so we trace his royal line
back through Joseph unto Solomon. Now, the Bible never says that
Joseph begat Jesus. You know, you go down through
here, look at verse three. Judas begat Phares, Zerah of
Tamar. Phares begat Esram. All of this
begat, begat. The word begat means to procreate. It means to conceive. That's
what he's talking about. But look at Matthew one and verse
16. It says, and Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of Mary.
whom of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. It doesn't
say Joseph begat Jesus, because Joseph didn't begat him. Joseph
was his legal father, adopted father, and you could trace that
lineage back to the royal line, but Mary was of the royal line
too. The humanity of Jesus Christ was not the offspring of Joseph,
because if it had been, he would have been a sinful person just
like you and me. and incapable of saving sinners. Jesus was
born of Mary. Now, what does that make you
think of? Genesis 3.15, the seed of woman. The woman has no seed. The man
has the seed. But he was conceived by the overshadowing
power of the Holy Spirit upon Mary. Luke 1.35, that holy thing. That's what the angel called
him. That unique person. Nothing like him before and nothing
like him after. Unique, sinless, undefiled, the
Son of God. Son of God incarnate. But even
though Joseph was not his biological father, by adoption he was his
legal father. So the line still comes through.
He's born of the tribe of Judah. And his human genealogy is made
up of sinful, weak human beings. You read through this list here. These aren't perfect people,
because there are none. Many times they're not shining
examples of human ethics and morality. They all had their
weaknesses. So his human genealogy is made
up of sinful, weak human beings, yet he himself was sinless. How's
that possible? He's the seed of woman, born
of the Holy Spirit, conceived in her womb. And so, one of the
things that this shows us is that the salvation that God has
freely and fully provided for his people in Christ was never
conditioned on sinful man. Christ came as the son of Abraham
and the son of David, all of it by God's power and goodness
and grace without any help from human beings. In fact, it was
in spite of them. You think about in the life of
Abraham alone, how many times that line could have been lost
if Abraham and Sarah had gotten their way. That's right. Remember Abraham in Egypt? And
Pharaoh wanted Sarah. And Abraham knew it would make
him mad if he knew that she was his wife. So he said it's his
sister. And Pharaoh was about to come
unto her. And God stopped it. You remember
that? See, that would have broken the
line, you know, if Sarah had become Pharaoh's wife and Abraham
got kicked out of Egypt. But no, God had a plan and a
purpose, and he's gonna work his sovereign will. And the birth
of Jesus Christ is one of the main evidences of that. It also
emphasizes that salvation is totally, totally by God's grace. Think about it. You can look
at Abraham, David, Isaac, Jacob, all of them. What were they?
Sinners saved by grace. None of this, This genealogy
does not tell us that God looked down and He chose the best of
the best and He brought Jesus through these. No. Sometimes
it's the worst of the worst. You've got some names here that
are infamous people. You've got that name Tamar. She was a conniver, an adulteress,
all of that. She's in this line. You've got
Bathsheba. She's in this line. She was an
adulteress. She's the one who bore Solomon.
Think about it. You've got Rahab the harlot's
here. You remember she was a public
harlot, prostitute. And it said, look at verse five.
It says, and Salmon begat Boaz of Raken. She was the mother
of Boaz. Remember Boaz and Ruth? And then
here comes Ruth. Ruth was a Moabitess. She was
an idolater when we first meet up with her. You know what God
called Moab? Moab was born of sin. Trying to think of a specific
word. Moab came out of the incestuous
relations of Lot and his daughters. And the Bible calls Moab God's
washpot. And a washpot that it's talking
about is not something you wash in. It's a waste pot. But here's Ruth, a Moabitess,
who comes out of this. And she's the mother of, let's
see, Boaz, mother of Obed. And Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse
begat David, and David the king begat Solomon of her that had
been the wife of Uriah. Then hold back here. Bathsheba
had been the wife of Uriah, whom David murdered. And in this adulterous
relationship, Solomon, you go on through. So this is no hall
of honor as far as the acts and thoughts and actions of men and
women. It's a list of sinners saved
by grace that God used to bring the Messiah into this world.
Well, look at verse 16. Now it says, and Jacob begat
Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is
called Christ, that's Messiah, the anointed one. So all the
generations from Abraham to David are 14 generations, from David
until the carrying away into Babylon are 14 generations, and
from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are 14 generations. Now, first of all, Christ was
born of the royal, in his humanity, he was born of the royal line.
Well, what shape was the royal line in when Christ was born? It was pitiful. The man who was
king of Israel at this time was an Idumean named Haran. He wasn't from the royal line.
The royal line had degenerated into nothing. Well, what does
Isaiah say about the Lord? He was born as a root out of
a dry ground. All the things that it says in
his humility according to his birth, And then it divides what
Matthew does here, tracing the human genealogy of Christ from
Abraham. Matthew divides the whole time
span into three parts because of the threefold state of the
Jews. From Abraham to David, they were under the patriarchs,
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the prophets and the judges. And then from
David to the carrying away in Babylon, they were under kings.
And most of the kings were evil. Now there were some good kings,
that is kings who followed the ways of the Lord. And then from
Babylon unto Christ, they were under priests and princes. And
these 14 generations, those are multiples of seven. What is that
teaching us? That this whole thing is part
and parcel of God's complete finished work to bring the Messiah
into the world to save his people from their sins. That's what
this genealogy is all about. And Matthew, like I said, he
was intent on proving to his Jewish physical brethren that
Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah. He's the savior of his people. All right.