Alright, Matthew opens his book
by writing this. The book of the generation of
Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. And then
from Abraham he traces that lineage on out. But the book of the generation
of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham. Now, my subject
this evening is the genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ as laid
out for us in the Gospel of Matthew. We are to trace out Messiah's
lineage or line, and especially his descent through two of the
greatest of the Old Testament patriarchs, son of David and
son of Abraham. Paul makes them appear together
in Romans 4, Abraham and David again. In fact, Matthew mentions
them both in the opening verse of this Gospel. Jesus Christ,
Son of David, Son of Abraham. Now, David, king of and Abraham,
the father of them that believe. And we will see the connection
of our blessed Lord, why this is so very important, and why
we look at the genealogy of our Lord Jesus Christ, especially
in Matthew principally writing and directing his gospel toward
the Jew and their Messiah King. Now, since we are studying from
the Gospel of Matthew, let's first ask ourselves a question
that maybe you've thought of and maybe not. The question is
the title of a book by A.W. Pink, and that is, Why Poor Gospel? And he wrote an entire book on
it. There's only one book of Genesis.
There's only one book of Romans and Galatians and so forth. And yet there are four major
Gospels that we have in our New Testament. Now, each one of those
Gospels gives an account of the life, the work, the ministry,
the death, burial, and the resurrection of our Lord. But there still
are those who might read the Gospel and count their number
as being four and perceive that there is little or no difference
at all from one gospel unto the other. that as to content and
as to portrayal of the Lord Jesus Christ, they would only notice
or acknowledge that there are slight differences that are to
be found between them. And yet, there are immense distinctions
in the gospel. For example, A.W. Pink answers
the question, why four gospels? He answers this way, quote, each
of the evangelists was guided by the Holy Spirit to record
that of which he was to set forth as the particular part or character
in which he is to be viewed by their gospel." Now, how does
each gospel, therefore, view the Lord Jesus Christ? Let's
go backward. The gospel of John presents Christ
as the eternal Son of the living God. And we notice that John
does not give a genealogy of our Lord. He includes none in
his record, beginning with Christ as the very eternal Son of God. And all that is recorded in John's
Gospel is designed to be a proof of that divinity. and of the deity of the Lord. So only certain miracles are
recorded there in John. No parables are recorded by John,
and he is presented by John as the light of the world, the Lamb
of God, and the Great I Am, the resurrection and the life. Then
we back up to the Gospel of Luke. Luke more portrays Christ under
the order of the Son of Man, and yet not different from them,
Luke's account of Jesus Christ traces him back to Adam, and
that may be surprising unto some of us. You'll find it in chapter
3 and verse 23 through verse 38, tracing the Lord Jesus Christ back to Adam, because
he presents him as the son of man, where Christ is called the
legal son of Joseph and, as a man, a descendant of Adam, though
Luke 1.26-35 makes it very clear that Christ's conception was
supernatural. He was not the product of the
flesh. Then moving back to Mark's gospel,
Christ is there painted as the servant both of Jehovah and of
men. Mark gives no genealogy of Christ
and opens at the beginning of the ministry of the Lord when
he began his public ministry. Now we consider the portrayal
which Matthew makes of the Lord Jesus Christ and the standpoint
from which he would have us to consider Christ, son of David,
son of Abraham. Now note the opening statement,
the book of the generation of Jesus Christ, which might as
correctly be rendered the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ. Or you might see it the table
of the genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is used in the
same sense in in Genesis chapter 5 and verse 1. This is the book
of the generation of Adam, except in Genesis 5-1 the account goes
forward and not backward. The Genesis 5 account, therefore,
traces the origin and the beginning and the origin and the procreation
of the race up until the days of the flood. This is the book,
literally the record, or the genealogy of Adam. Now, the first word used in Genesis
chapter 2 and verse 4 of the creation signifies the generation,
the genealogy of people, of the posterity of a certain head,
or of a certain beginning, and traces out that line. Thus, when
Matthew writes here the book of the generation or the genealogy
of the Lord Jesus Christ, he intends by that to trace out
the ascendancy of Christ from the sonship of David and the
sonship of Abraham. That is, here is his true and
literal genealogy to show, to prove beyond question that he
was son of David and son of Abraham, and that is important to the
character, the prophecy, and such like of our Lord. Now, before
we answer that question again, why is this genealogy of the
Lord Jesus Christ important? Why is it that this is recorded
in the Scripture and that it is important. So let us say,
if we might, the tone of Matthew's Gospel, which being the first,
breaks that long period of silence between the Old Testament and
the New Testament. Since the prophecy of Malachi,
the last book of the canon of the Old Testament Scripture,
flowed some 400 years historians tell us, had passed between that
interval. Why was there nothing said or
written in that period of time? For us, they're just right across
the page. But there was a period, they
say, of about 400 years between that period. Malachi chapter
3, 1 through 4, a prophecy is there given. Behold, I will send
my messenger, and the Lord whom you seek shall suddenly come
to his temple. Malachi chapter 4, verse 2, the
Son of Righteousness shall arrive with healing in his wings. Malachi
4, verses 5 and 6. Behold, I will send you Elijah
the prophet before the coming of that great and dreadful day
of the Lord, and he shall turn the heart of the father to the
children, and so forth. So these are some of the closing
prophecies in the Old Testament from the last book thereof. Then
remember that the New Testament opens this way, the book of the
genealogy of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham. Now, several good commentators
have pointed out that Matthew, in opening statement, ties the
two testaments together immediately with that opening statement.
He ties them together as if to say, Jesus Christ, his genealogy,
Jesus Christ, the one that the Old Testament spoke about and
that Malachi spoke about. And he traces the genealogy of
this Christ to David and to Abraham, and that's important from the
Jewish perspective. Thus, they also are undoubtedly
right to say that the book of Matthew is decidedly flavored
in order to be Jewish. In fact, he calls it, quote,
more Jewish than any other book of the New Testament, unquote.
I don't know about that in Hebrew. But Matthew traces Christ's genealogy
from deep, deep within the roots of Judaism. He goes back deep
into the roots of Judaism. to the two most, I guess, revered
names, we could say, David and Abraham, out of their history. Showing Christ was, in this sense,
a product of Judaism. Christ is a product of Judaism. That is, of the house of David
and of the line of Abraham. Paul says of the Israelites,
in Romans chapter 9 and verse 5, whom as concerning the flesh
Christ came." Christ came as to the flesh, as to His humanity
and incarnation out of the house of Israel. Romans 1 and verse
3, the apostle life, concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord,
which was made of the seed of David according unto the flesh. Now, the Old Testament Scripture
predicted one, which is exactly what Matthew declares in his
opening statement, Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham,
and keeping in sight and mind that word genealogy in this particular
place. By this, Matthew shows that Jesus
Christ is the literal descendant of King David. and therefore
is the fulfillment, the very essence of the Old Testament
prophecy and promises, especially that he was the promised one
of God that was to come out of the loins of Abraham and out
of David. And this is the essence and the
fulfillment of the Old Testament covenant, and it proves it by
Christ's genealogy as we are looking at it. Now tracing Christ
in those holy families from which he was prophesied to descend
and to enter into the world. Now we face an important question. Why is the genealogy of Christ
so important? Let's go back to that. Is he
not the Christ? Is he not the anointed one of
God? Is he not Messiah? Was he not
approved by God among men? by signs and miracles and wonder
which he did in their midst, as we read in Acts chapter 2
and verse 22 and 23, and did not on several occasions God
approve of him by oral, oral voices, this is my son, hear
ye him. Did not John the Baptist, a messenger,
a man sent from God, declare him to be so? Matthew chapter
3 verse 7 through verse 12, as he declares the Lord. Was he
not declared to be so by his resurrection from the dead and
overcoming the power of the grave and an ascension to the right
hand of God? Now, some might think his genealogy
of little importance. After all, does not Paul depreciate
any attempt to revel in genealogy? Paul takes that away from the
Jew in his later writing. He takes away and depreciates
any attempt to revel in their genealogy. But that was toward
a particular end. He said, for example, 1 Timothy
1 and 4, Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogy
which raise question. Titus 3 and 9 avoid foolish question
and genealogy and again here we are Matthew and Mark's genealogy
do not agree that is they are not exactly the same genealogy. Why therefore an emphasis on
the genealogy even or especially that one of Christ, the Son of
God. Why is it important that we study
the genealogy of Christ? We've already seen a couple of
things. Number one, that it is an Old
Testament expression. Genealogy is something that we
find in the Old Testament and important. Second, we find that
it is strongly Jewish. We can find at least 13 times
in the scripture all but one in the Old Testament where there
is given a generation, a genealogy, a history, a line of a particular
family. And there are several of them
we find early in the book of Genesis. This is a genealogy
of Adam. This is a genealogy of Abraham
and such like. Now, no Jew or Levitical priest,
you remember, could serve in the priesthood unless he had
the proper qualifying genealogy. He had to have or be of a certain
genealogy in order to serve in the priesthood. In fact, every
Jewish male three years and older was required to have a genealogy. You find that in 2 Chronicles,
and I believe it is in verse 31, verse 16 through verse 18. Especially was it important for
the office of priest to have a clear and a good genealogy. Now, in the return from the captivity,
a Levite was not allowed to resume the work of a priest unless he
could produce an accurate genealogy of himself. In Ezra 2 and 62,
these sought their register among those that were reckoned by genealogy,
but they were not found. Therefore were they as polluted
put out of the priesthood." You can see that again in Ezra chapter
8 verse 1, Nehemiah chapter 7. and verse 5 know then that the
jews understood to keep their genealogy which was a history
of their tribe of their family of their house of their parents
of their progenitors and such like some say that genealogy
were a source of debate among gentile and jew christians early
on the jews reveling in their jewish ancestry and depreciating
the Gentile for not having one or having any. Be that as it
may, we move on. There are some that are interested,
we meet them all the time, in tracing out the genealogy of
their family, of their ancestor, tracing their family line, looking
in their family tree, going back to their roots and source and
the country of their origin. But it's not with them a religious
thing as it was with the Jews, for genealogies were essential. They were required by God that
they keep them and keep them up and especially, I repeat,
in the case of the priest, of the Levite and the Levitical
priest. Now that raises an interesting
contrast, and that being that the Jewish priest kept and accurate
genealogy. They had to. They were required
to. While Melchizedek, of which priesthood Christ is after, had
no genealogy. There is none recorded of him. We see that in Hebrews chapter
7 and about verse 3. He had no record of father, of
mother, of His birth, of His death, of His family, of His
siblings, and such like. But now is a good time to make
a point about Christ, about His genealogy, and His connection
to His Messiahship. Messiah would have to have a
true and a documented genealogy. It might be one of the first
things that you would question. This might be one of the first
things that they would raise up. Who was his father? What tribe? What family? What
qualification is there for him to act as the priest? And the
point, if Christ were not the Jewish Messiah, if we should
look for another, none could now, after 70 A.D., none could
prove themselves to be the Messiah sent from God by genealogy. Why is that? all genealogy, all
records of the Jew, were destroyed, and they perished in the fall
and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. I think this was by
God's intended design and purpose, having caused His Son to appear
as Messiah in the flesh, which could be confirmed by His genealogy,
and God then destroyed all Jewish genealogy, and particularly that
of their priests. So the conclusion is, it is now
impossible for any other to prove themselves to be the Messiah
sent from God by a genealogy. It just cannot be done, for they
are destroyed. And in this way, God confirmed
Christ as the legal heir to David's throne. then caused a way whereby
no other could claim Messiahship, none other at all, whoever they
might be. None ought to be deceived about
Messiah according to the genealogy, especially was it safeguarded
to the Jew and was it safeguarded concerning Christ for the sake
of the Jew. So let's look closer then at
Matthew's genealogy of the Christ, as he traces the pedigree of
Christ from David and from Abraham, especially now noticing David. Though he is tracing Joseph's
lineage here, who was a descendant of King David, yet it is Christ
that is foremost in this passage and the first chapter of Matthew. Matthew showing that Christ Jesus
being the son of David is therefore a legal heir to the throne of
David. This means that he is legal heir
whilst fully entitled to sit upon David's throne to be recognized
as king of kings and lord of lords. Now we notice that this
genealogy of Matthew unlike that of Luke gives not merely the
human ancestry of the God-man, but also traces out his royal
ancestry from King David. For after all, how is it that
one comes to be a king after the manner of the Old Testament? How is it that one comes to be
a king and to sit upon the throne? Neither he nor the people appointed
or elected him, rather he came to kingship by right of blood
descent, the father succeeded by the son and such like. By
being by the blood of the king, by virtue of being in the royal
family, He therefore came unto the throne. It is said that is
why Matthew gives the royal descent of the Christ here, showing that
he was fully entitled to exercise a kingly reign and to rule and
to reign over his people. This was prophesied to David
and is recorded in Acts chapter 2 and verse 30, taken from Psalm
132 and verse 11. The Lord hath sworn, and in truth
unto David, he will not turn from it, of the fruit of his
body will I set upon my throne." Now, the Jews, therefore, expected,
they knew, they understood that Messiah would be the son of David,
and they confessed it in Matthew 22 and verse 41 through verse
46. Christ asks, whose son is Christ? Whose son is Christ? And they answer without hesitation,
David's son. And then, of course, our Lord
carried them even further. But it might prove interesting
when we compare the genealogy of Christ to that of Paul, where
perhaps to our surprise, we find that Paul had a curer, genealogy
than Christ did as to his human ancestor. Now, I'll explain that
in a minute. In Philippians 3, Paul traces
his fleshly descendancy. Verse 5, circumcised the eighth
day exactly as the law had prescribed. Verse 5, of the stock of Israel
neither foreign-born nor a proselyte was born. Thirdly, in verse 5,
of the tribe of Benjamin, which tribe was beloved of the Lord,
and it gave Israel their first king, came out of this tribe.
It had the capital, and it had the temple, and it stayed truer
to God when the other tribes fell away in time. And in verse 5 again, and Hebrew
of the Hebrew, that is, Paul is saying purebred, a Jew without
any Gentile blood in the lineage whatsoever. His whole line of
descendancy was as a pure Hebrew from Abraham, tribe of Benjamin,
not a trace of thorn blood anywhere in his veins or in his family
tree. Now, the last is something that
could not be said of Messiah. That is, his genealogy was not
in the sense of Paul and Hebrews. The Jews pointed to four names
included in the lineage of Jesus Christ, and they are Tamar, Rahab
the harlot, Ruth the Moabitess, and Bathsheba. Especially do
we look at Rahab and at Ruth who had mixed Gentile blood,
therefore, as to the human descendancy of our Lord and Jesus Christ. But we ask ourselves, does this
defile the nature of Christ or spoil Him so as to disqualify
Him from being the King of His people and the High Priest of
God Most High? Absolutely not. because Matthew
gives an account in chapter 1, 18-25 of that supernatural birth and
conception of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So here we have
Son of David, and when Matthew lays that down and writes that
out, It has an influence under the Jews. This one, Jesus Christ,
Jesus of Nazareth, he born of Mary, is a son of David. Yes, we see then the importance
of the genealogy of our Lord and of our Savior. Then Matthew
writes, Now the birth of Jesus was on this wife. There is no
mistaking in verse 18 how our Lord took his humanity. He took it not through the energy
of the flesh, not by natural progeny, not by natural procreation,
but supernaturally by a conception of the Spirit of God in the womb
of the chosen virgin, but Son of David. As I just said, the
Jews said, Son of David. Whose Christ or whose Son is
Christ? David, they said, because that's
what the Old Testament Scriptures taught them and led them to believe. So, we've laid the ground for
a look at the genealogy of our Lord, why it's important, and
the fact that it has a tie to his kinship and to his priesthood. We thank the Lord for that.