The Lineage of the King

Good morning, everyone. My name is Sean, for those of you who don't know me. It's my joy

and privilege to preach God's Word to you this morning. We just finished a sermon series in the

Book of Ecclesiastes and had a break in the series for baptisms last week. And today we're starting

a new sermon series for Advent in the Gospel of Matthew. So please turn with me in the Gospel of

Matthew. And after Advent and Christmas, we're going to go right on ahead and go through the

rest of the Gospel of Matthew, which is probably going to take us a little over a year, but it's

the longest of the four Gospels. So we're in Matthew, written by one of Jesus' disciples.

It's an account of the life and the ministry of Jesus. If you don't have a Bible, please raise

your hand. We'd love to give you a copy that you can use. Okay. Let me pray for the reading

and preaching of God's Word. Heavenly Father, your Word is truth. Your Word does not return

empty. It always fulfills its promises. The purposes for which it was sent out. And we

believe, Lord, that your Word here, even in Matthew 1, has your purpose to accomplish in

our hearts and in our lives. And we ask that you would do that by the power of your Holy Spirit.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. If you are able, please stand as we honor God in the reading

of God's Word. I'll be reading chapter 1, verses 1 through 17.

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ. The son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father

of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob. And Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. And Judah the

father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar. And Perez the father of Hisron, and Hisron the father of Ram.

And Ram the father of Aminadab. And Aminadab the father of Nashon. And Nashon the father of Salmon.

And Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab. And Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth. And Obed the father of Jesse.

And Jesse the father of David the king. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah.

And Solomon the father of Gehoboam. And Rehoboam the father of Abijah. And Abijah the father of Asaph.

And Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat. And Jehoshaphat the father of Joram. And Joram the father of Uzziah.

And Uzziah the father of Jotham. And Jotham the father of Ahaz.

And Ahaz the father of Hezekiah. And Hezekiah the father of Manasseh.

and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of

Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the deportation to Babylon. And after the deportation

to Babylon, Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel

the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, and Azor

the father of Zedok, and Zedok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, and Eliud

the father of Eliezer, and Eliezer the father of Methan, and Methan the father of Jacob, and

Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.

So all the generations from Abraham to David were 14 generations, and from David to the

deportation to Babylon, 14 generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ,

14 generations. This is God's holy and authoritative word. You may be seated.

I was talking to Charles earlier because he just got back and hasn't slept a wink. He just got back

from China, and he was telling me that I hope I can stay awake through the service this morning,

and I joked with him, well, we are in the genealogy of the Gospel of Matthew, and no, I think this is,

hopefully, with the Lord's help, will not be a sermon that puts you to sleep.

This is an important passage, and it's important because God is included in his word,

and that means it has something to say to us, and some purpose that God is seeking to accomplish

in our midst. This passage begins curiously in verse one as the book of the genealogy of Jesus

Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Matthew claims that this is a genealogical book,

but this is the only place in the long 28 chapters of the Gospel where we find the genealogy of Jesus,

and it doesn't even take the entire chapter, and that's because Matthew is making an allusion here

to the book of Genesis. In the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the book of Genesis is organized

around this recurring phrase, the book of the genealogy of dot, dot, dot. Genesis 2, 4 begins the book of the

genealogy of the heavens and the earth. Genesis 5, 2 begins the book of the genealogy of Adam,

and Genesis 6, 9, the book of the genealogy of Noah. Genesis 25, 19, the book of the genealogy of Isaac.

Genesis 37, 2, the book of the genealogy of Jacob. So for first century believers,

immediately when they read this, the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, they would have made

this connection to the book of Genesis. By using the same phrase, in Genesis, we are introduced to

the beginning, the origin, and the history of the heavens and the earth of all creation, and of the

creation of the people of God, really, through Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. And by using the same

phrase, Matthew is now signaling to us that this, here, what he has written is the history and origin

of the new creation, and the birth and the bringing about of the new covenant people of God.

But why is the genealogy important, of interest to us? Probably only a handful of us, you know,

come to genealogies in the Bible with eager anticipation. Nowadays, most of us, unless you're

John Buckley, only have a passing interest in genealogies. Keeping a genealogical record can

preserve a sense of heritage and tradition, but our ancestors moved to say little to nothing about

who we are, what kind of people we are today. But there are some people in the world for whom

genealogies are very important, and you can probably guess. For example, the British royal family.

The genealogical record for them is critical, because their documented lineage is what provides

legitimacy to their claim to the throne. There are detailed books that are updated annually, like

some of our British compatriots here would know better. Debritt's Peerage, Peerage apparently

is a book of nobility, like people who are of noble status, because the word peer used to mean

nobles, or it's probably used that way in Britain still. Burke's Peerage, they keep a record of the

British nobilities and their genealogies. Here in Matthew 1, 1 to 7, we find the genealogy of Jesus,

and it's important for similar reasons. If, as verse 1 claims, verse 1 is kind of the thesis of the

entire genealogy and the entire book, if, as verse 1 claims, Jesus is the Christ, which is not Jesus' last

name, but it's his title. We can see that clearly in verse 16, which says, Jesus was born, who is called

Christ. That's what people called him. It's his title, which means anointed one, which is a title of

representing the messianic king. So then if Jesus is the Christ, he has to be a descendant of David,

who is the father of all Jews, as we see in Matthew 3, 9. Is Jesus really the Christ?

Is Jesus truly the one that we had all been waiting for? At the onset of the gospel, Matthew is

answering that question with this genealogy. He is telling us that Jesus is the promised messianic king

who restores the kingdom of God. First, we want to see how Jesus fulfills the promise to Abraham.

Secondly, we'll see how Jesus fulfills the promise to David. And thirdly, we'll see how Jesus fulfills

his promise, God's promise to the exiles. First, Matthew shows us that Jesus is the son of Abraham

who fulfills God's promise to Abraham. Verses 2 to 6 follow the summary genealogies found in 1 Chronicles

2 and Ruth 4, and they trace Jesus' lineage from Abraham to David. To a then childless Abraham,

God had promised this in Genesis 12 too, I will make of you a great nation.

And in Genesis 15, 5, he said, look toward heaven and number the stars. If you are able to number them,

so shall your offspring be. This is what God had promised to Abraham. It was a pipe dream,

a fool's fantasy by the standard of any man, except that it wasn't promised by a man. It was promised

by God whose word never falls to the ground. This genealogy proves that God's promise to Abraham

has been fulfilled. Abraham did become the father of a great Jewish nation of which Jesus is a member.

However, this proves Jesus' Jewish heritage. But God hadn't merely promised Abraham that he would

become a father of one nation. He had said to Abraham in Genesis 17, 4 to 5, behold, my covenant

is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called

Abraham, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.

God had promised to bless Abraham and through him to bless all the families of the earth so that he

might be called the father of a multitude of nations. That's in fact what his new name, Abraham, means,

father of multitudes. So the nation of Israel alone, ethnic Israel alone, is not sufficient evidence

that all of God's promises to Abraham has been fulfilled. And it is through Jesus that Abraham,

that this becoming the father of the multitude of nations will be fulfilled. Through Jesus, not only

the Jews, but also the Gentiles, indeed all the nations of the earth who put their faith in him

will be saved and have eternal life and become citizens of the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven.

Where do I get that from this text? The unusual features of this genealogy hint at this point.

Because God appointed men to be heads of their respective households, biblical genealogies are

all patrilineal. They're traced through the father's genealogical line. But there's unusually here in

this genealogy, four women in addition to the mother of Jesus and Mary who are included that you would not

have otherwise expected to be included. First in verse three, it mentions that Judah fathered Perez by

Tamar. The Bible doesn't tell us much about Tamar's background, but Genesis 38 tells us that she was a

Canaanite woman, a Gentile. And this is most likely the case since Judah himself took a Canaanite wife,

and then he's the one who took wives for his sons, including heir. And because there's no mention of him

going back to his fatherland, homeland, to find a wife for his son. Second, verse five says that

Solomon fathered Boaz by Rahab. The only human being named Rahab mentioned in the Bible is a

Canaanite woman who helps the Israelite spies escape Jericho in Joshua 2. So she too is a foreigner,

a Gentile. Third, verse five says that Boaz fathered Obed by Ruth. And Ruth, more famously,

as many of you know, is a Moabite. She's also a Gentile. Fourth, verse six says that David was the

father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, Bathsheba, we know her as, whose father was Eliam,

Eliam, according to 2 Samuel 11, verse three. And if he's the same Eliam mentioned in 2 Samuel 23,

34, he was also a Canaanite. There are four mothers. Mary, you understand why she's mentioned.

Four mothers alone mentioned in this entire genealogy of Jesus, and all four of them are foreigners.

Non-Jews. And that is not a coincidence. This, the inclusion of the Gentiles in this genealogy of

the Christ foreshadows the inclusion of the Gentiles in the kingdom of God through the Christ.

This is for me profoundly moving in two different ways. First, how is it that after all these years,

God still keeps the promises he made to Abraham and to the nation of Israel? Israelites have sinned

and have broken their covenant with God a hundred times over. And yet, God still keeps every last

promise he made to Abraham and to Isaac, to Jacob. And the son of God. Think of what kind of privilege

that is. The son of God, the savior of the world is born a Jew. So that as Jesus says in John 4, 22,

salvation is from the Jews. Because Jesus is a Jewish Messiah. It's moving to me in another way.

Secondly, how is this? After all these years, God grafts Gentiles into his promise of the kingdom.

These Gentiles that have hated and persecuted and warred against and killed countless Jews,

the people of God. I love the story of the Canaanite woman in Matthew 15. She begs Jesus to

cure her daughter who is severely oppressed by a demon. And then Jesus says, I was sent only,

I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, which at the time Jesus says that is true

because it's before Jesus' death and resurrection. It's only after that the great commission to go out

to all the nations, it is given. But the woman replies, she insists, yes, Lord, it is true. I'm not one of

God's people. I'm not one of your people. She says, yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall

from their master's table. And dog is the derogatory way that Jews refer to Gentiles. And she applies it

to herself. Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master's table. And Jesus answers, oh, woman,

great is your faith. And he heals her daughter so that even this Canaanite woman, like Bathsheba,

like Rahab and Ruth and Tamar before her, is included in the kingdom of God,

delivered from the oppression and dominion of the evil one. We have a few Jewish brothers who are

members of our church, but the rest of us are uncircumcised Gentiles

who are, according to Ephesians 2.11, once separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of

Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

I am a Gentile dog,

descended of man and woman who have opposed God and have oppressed his people all throughout human history.

And yet, how is it that God, in his mercy, would count me as one of his own?

In Jesus, it says in Ephesians 2, the dividing wall of hostility between Jews and Gentiles have been

broken down so that there is now one new man in Jesus Christ in place of the two, so that we are no

longer strangers and aliens, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.

So that while salvation is from the Jews,

it is no longer only for the Jews, but for all nations.

Which is why Jesus commissions us to go make disciples of all nations at the end of this gospel,

at the gospel of Matthew, chapter 28.

Matthew 28 · chapter mention

And that means, it's something important, no matter how different from us people may look,

no matter what language they might speak, no matter how they might dress,

there is not a single person in this world that we can look at and say,

you cannot come into the kingdom of God.

No, every person is invited.

If only he or she would repent of their sins and turn and put their faith in Jesus Christ alone.

Even the Babylonians and the Persians who massacred God's people and exiled the Jews,

even the Romans who oppressed and killed the Jews, including Jesus himself,

even the Germans descended of the Nazis,

even Hamas militants who have raped and killed Jews,

all of them, by God's radical mercy,

can be grafted into the family tree of the Messiah

and become citizens of the kingdom of God.

Isn't that amazing?

Then in verses 6 to 11, Matthew traces Jesus' genealogy from King David to Jeconiah

to show that Jesus is the promised messianic king who fulfills God's promise to David.

There are significant discrepancies between Matthew's genealogy of Jesus and Luke's genealogy of Jesus.

I was just talking with Josh about this before the service.

In Luke 3, you find the genealogy of Jesus.

For example, Matthew lists 41 male heads of families,

while Luke lists 57.

And from David to Jesus, there are in fact only two overlapping names,

which is surprising, right?

You'd expect the genealogies to look the same.

There are several reasons for these discrepancies.

First, the word father can be used narrowly,

more specifically to refer to one's immediate biological father,

or it could refer more broadly to someone's ancestor.

And that's the same in English as it is here in the Greek.

So similarly, the word son can refer narrowly to one's immediate biological son

or broadly to one's descendant,

which is why Matthew can say that Jesus is the son of David.

He's not the literal son of David.

He's a descendant of David.

So there's some flexibility in the way the words father and son are used.

Second, genealogies are not always exhaustive.

Rather, they are often selective.

For example, Matthew, Matthew explicitly says in verse 17,

so all the generations from Abraham to David were 14 generations.

And from David to the deportation to Babylon, 14 generations.

And from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ, 14 generations.

So he has a clear organizational structure.

He has a scheme to this genealogy.

And this scheme possibly is related to the Jewish numbering system called gematria.

Gematria is a method by which Jews assigned a numerical value to every Hebrew letter

so that someone's name can be added up each letter into a number.

According to this method, the name David has the numerical value of 14,

which may be why Matthew lists three sets of 14 names.

Now, just a warning, I don't want you to go home and then try to use gematria

to find the hidden meaning of every single number in the Bible.

I think that's a recipe for interpretive disaster.

And will no doubt engender many heresies and fringe ideas.

There are only two places in the Bible where I'm personally convinced that gematria is used,

and that's Matthew 1.17 and Revelation 13.18.

I don't think it's all over the place.

And I think we should only use it when there seems to be exegetical warrant for doing so.

And I think it is there here in this text because Matthew knows that we can count,

and we can easily count 14 with each section.

But he explicitly tells us three times in the last verse, in verse 17,

that there are 14 generations with each of those sections.

And I think that's his clue.

He's wanting us to make the connection between 14 and David to prove

that Jesus really is the son of David, to emphasize that point.

So that's the second reason, because the genealogists are selective,

why there's a discrepancy between Luke 3 and Matthew 1.

A third reason, Jews practiced what you call levirate marriage.

Deuteronomy 25, 5 to 10 stipulated that if a man dies without a son to carry on his name,

then it was his brother's duty to produce a son for his deceased brother

by taking to himself the surviving wife of the brother as his own wife.

This was important because in Jewish inheritance laws,

if you weren't included in the genealogy, you didn't have an inheritance.

And so he was connected to being a part of the people of God.

Although God does make an exception for the daughters of Zelophehad,

who had five daughters and no son.

Jeez, God does make an exception for them so that the daughters inherit there.

But this rule, levirate marriage, understandably can complicate genealogies.

Because a son of a levirate marriage would be the legal son of the deceased man,

but the physical son of his brother.

And so that may also account for some of the discrepancies.

Overall, the discrepancies between Matthew and Luke's genealogies

are best accounted for when we understand that Matthew's is a royal genealogy,

genealogy, and that Luke's is a biological genealogy, a physical genealogy.

The line of people that Joseph, Jesus' adopted father, is physically descended from.

However, Matthew focuses on the royal genealogy,

people who are the legal heirs of the Davidic line.

I think there are several evidences of this.

We can see this because the middle section of this genealogy

comes from 1 Chronicles 3, 10-17,

which is a summary of the succession of Judah's kings.

While Luke's genealogy lists no kings, no king of Judah, save David.

So Matthew starts the section with David,

who is the first king of the Davidic monarchy,

and then ends with Jeconiah, also called Jehoiachin,

who reigned until he was taken captive to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar.

So he's tracing the line of the Davidic kings.

God had promised to King David in 2 Samuel 7, 12-14,

I will raise up your offspring after you,

who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.

He shall build a house for my name,

and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son.

That was the promise that God had given to King David.

In the immediate term, that prophecy is fulfilled by Solomon,

who builds the temple, and who reigns in his father's stead,

his father's place.

However, that prophecy is not ultimately fulfilled by Solomon,

because Solomon's reign ends,

and so does all the kings, their reign come to an end with Jehoiachin.

Because God's promise to establish his kingdom forever

is not going to be fulfilled through them,

but through Jesus, who is the greater son of David,

and the final son of David.

In fact, he is greater than David himself,

because he's not merely man, but God.

That's why he's called the Christ,

the prophesied king who would come to rescue the people of God.

Think about it this way,

how long awaited Jesus was as the Messiah.

In Tolkien's novel, The Lord of the Rings,

only the heir of Elendil,

who can claim, can claim the leadership of the Dúnedain.

Only the heir of Elendil can claim the kingship of Gondor.

Only the heir of Elendil can wield the sword, Narsil,

which once defeated Sauron,

and can be used again to finally defeat him and destroy him.

And that's why it's so exciting,

as you're reading through the novel or watching the movies,

when Aragorn Elessar is revealed to be the true heir of Elendil.

Perhaps now, finally after all these years,

it raises the hope among the characters

that Sauron can be destroyed for good,

because the true king has returned.

That's the premise of the book, The Return of the King.

Similarly, for centuries,

the Jews had been suffering the consequences of their sin and rebellion.

Because of their idolatry and unfaithfulness to God,

they were conquered and oppressed by foreign nations,

the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, and the Greeks,

and then the Romans.

They would return to the Lord and repent for brief periods of time,

but then they would backslide again,

and then in their suffering,

they were yearning and waiting for the Christ to come.

Now, you could imagine some of the conversations

that housewives would have,

or people at the bar would have,

or a conversation that workers would have

as they're doing their duties together.

When the Christ comes,

he will make all things right.

When the Christ comes,

he will establish his kingdom forever.

When the Christ comes,

he will rescue us once and for all.

When the Christ comes,

he will rule.

This government is unrighteous,

but when the Christ comes,

he will rule with righteousness and justice.

We don't have a true king right now,

but when the Christ comes,

we will have a king.

We will have a king, all right,

and we will have a kingdom,

and we will be citizens there,

not aliens.

And here, Matthew is announcing,

unmistakably to all,

Christ, the Christ has come.

The king that you've been waiting for has come.

And Jesus came not to abolish the Roman Empire,

to establish an earthly kingdom,

but he came to establish a heavenly kingdom,

and in order to do that,

he needed to wage war against Satan,

to unseat him,

because Satan is called the ruler of this world

in the Gospel of John.

In Ephesians 2,

he's called the prince of the power of the air,

who is now at work in the sons of disobedience.

Jesus dons the crown of thorns,

and then he hangs on the cross,

and he dies to pay the penalty

for the sins of his people.

And then he rises again from the dead

to defeat sin,

and to defeat death,

and to destroy Satan's claim over his people,

to transfer us from the dominion of darkness

to the dominion of light

and the kingdom of light.

This is how Jesus sets into motion

the restoration of the kingdom of God.

And that's why the evil one

has no longer any claim on us.

We have a king,

and it's not Satan.

It's the Christ,

because he has come.

So Jesus,

to use some analogies,

establishes during his ministry,

during his life here on earth,

a beachhead,

a beachhead in the spiritual warfare.

Beachhead is when,

like, you know,

an army goes in

and establishes some ground,

takes some ground

of the enemy territory

from which then they can operate further

to take over the rest of the territory.

That's what Jesus does.

He establishes a beachhead

for the kingdom of God.

He establishes his church.

He builds his church.

And this church is representative

of the ultimate kingdom

and the rule of God.

And we are an outpost

or an embassy of the kingdom of God.

Because in this world,

there is still much rebellion against God.

And we daily endure countless indignities

to our Lord

and to our Lord's name

and to his glory

and to his people.

In this world,

we have persecutions

and we have trials

and we have tribulations

and we have temptations.

But whenever we gather together

in the name of Jesus Christ

as the church

and we lay aside our burdens

and distractions

and we look and fix our eyes

on Christ our King,

we are declaring to the world,

here is the beachhead.

Here is the embassy.

We have a king

and we are citizens of a kingdom.

It's not this one.

And as we celebrate Advent,

the first coming of Jesus the King

to establish this beachhead,

we also celebrate

and we await the second coming,

the second Advent

when Jesus will return

this time to complete,

to usher in,

to complete the kingdom of God fully.

The kingdom of God is already here

but then it will be fully here

when Jesus returns

and he will wipe away

every tear from our eyes.

And finally,

in verses 12 to 17,

Matthew traces Jesus' genealogy

from Jeconiah to Christ

to show that Jesus is

the promised messianic king

who fulfills God's promise

to the exiles.

Even though none of Jeconiah's seven sons

would sit on Judah's throne,

the Davidic line continued

through his eldest son,

Shealtiel.

And Shealtiel fathered Zerubbabel.

Zerubbabel played a significant role

among the Jewish exiles.

Ezra and Nehemiah

recount in their respective books

how Zerubbabel led the first round

of the first band of Jews

that returned from Babylonian exile

to Jerusalem and Judah.

And then he served

as the governor of Judah.

And in Haggai 2, 21 to 23,

God says to Zerubbabel,

on that day declares

the Lord of armies,

I will take you,

Zerubbabel,

son of Shealtiel,

my servant,

declares the Lord.

And I will make you

like a signet ring,

for I have chosen you,

declares the Lord of hosts,

Lord of the armies.

God's choice of Zerubbabel

and his description of Zerubbabel

as his signet ring

shows that that Davidic line,

God's chosen line,

continues through him,

even though it has officially

ceased to exist

after the reign of Jehoiachin.

And we have to remember

what desperate situation

these exiles were in,

these Jewish exiles were in.

They were thinking to themselves,

they lost the temple,

they lost the promised land,

they're in exile

in a foreign land,

and they're thinking to themselves,

well, this time

we've really done it.

We've sinned too many times.

We've messed up once too many times.

Now all hope is lost.

The Davidic line is terminated

and we shall never be saved.

And yet God promises

to these exiles

in Jeremiah 33, 14 to 17,

behold, the days are coming,

declares the Lord,

when I will fulfill

the promise I made

to the house of Israel

and the house of Judah

in those days

and at that time

I will cause a righteous branch

to spring up for David

and he shall execute justice

and righteousness

in the land.

In those days,

Judah will be saved

and Jerusalem will dwell securely.

And this is the name

by which it will be called,

the Lord is our righteousness.

For thus says the Lord,

David shall never lack a man

to sit on the throne

of the house of Israel.

Another amazing promise,

a pipe dream by human standards.

They're in exile.

How can you, God,

make sure that there's no one,

that the Davidic line continues

when it's clearly ended?

And God's promising here

about Jesus,

the Messiah,

the righteous branch

who is to come,

through whom the new Israel

is established in him

and the new Jerusalem also.

For those struggling sinners

in our midst

who struggle

and who think

that they've struggled,

that they have strayed

a little too far,

far beyond restoration.

For those exiles in our midst

who think that they are forgotten

and that they can never

be restored to the fatherland.

For people who think

that they are damaged goods,

this is a reassurance

and a promise from God

that Jesus did come

to redeem and reclaim

such people.

We read from Hebrews 2

from the assurance of pardon

that in order to redeem

human beings

who have sinned,

who are flesh and blood,

that Jesus had to himself

take on flesh and blood.

And it's only by sharing

in our humanity

that he then lifts up

those who put their trust in him

out of their quagmire of sin

and death

to the kingdom of God.

And that's the wonder

of the incarnation.

That the creator

put on the robes

of human flesh

and became a creature.

That the son of God

became a son of man.

That Jesus,

the word of God

who braces

all of the cosmos

and upholds it,

became a babbling infant

in the arms of

Virgin Mary.

And we can see

the wonder of the incarnation

in the genealogy itself.

Let's look at some of the

fine characters

that are mentioned

in this genealogy.

Verse 7 tells us

that Jesus' ancestor,

one of them,

was Rehoboam.

You might remember

that Rehoboam

was the son of Solomon.

It was Rehoboam's folly

and unnecessary cruelty

that split

the kingdom of Israel

in half.

Northern kingdom

of Israel

and the southern kingdom

of Judah

in 1 Kings 12.

And according

to 1 Kings 14,

under his reign,

Judah was led

into all kinds

of idolatry

and cult prostitution

and abominations.

He was succeeded

later by Ahaz

who succeeded

Jotham

and then Ahaz

even burned his son

as an offering

according to the

despicable practices

of the nations

whom the Lord

drove out

before the people

of Israel.

2 Kings 16,

3-4,

Manasseh was even worse.

Even though his father,

Hezekiah,

sought to bring reform

to Israel

and get rid of the idols,

Manasseh rebuilt

all of them

and even desecrated

the temple of God

by building pagan altars

and idols inside it.

2 Kings 21,

9 summarizes

this way,

Manasseh led Judah

astray to do

more evil

than the pagan nations

had done

whom the Lord

destroyed before

the people of Israel.

And then,

of course,

famous Jeconiah

under whom Israel

is sent into exile

in Babylonian exile

due to Nebuchadnezzar.

And in Genesis 38,

Judah sleeps with

the woman

that he thinks

is a prostitute

only to discover

that she was Tamar,

his daughter-in-law,

who had disguised herself

in order to get

impregnated by him

since Judah

had been unjustly

withholding his son

from her

that he owed to her

according to

the Levitic marriage principle.

So Tamar

is included in Jesus'

genealogy,

the woman

who prostituted herself,

and Perez,

who was born

through their incest

between Judah

and Tamar.

Verse 5

tells us

that King David's

great-great-grandfather

Salmon,

father Boaz,

by Rahab,

and some of you

know the story

from Joshua 2.1,

she was also

a Canaanite prostitute.

And verse 6

is the kicker

of them all.

It says,

David was the father

of Solomon

by the wife

of Uriah.

He could have said

Bathsheba,

he doesn't say Bathsheba.

The wife of Uriah.

To make the point

abundantly clear,

that David

committed adultery.

Bathsheba was not

his wife,

the wife of Uriah.

And then David

tried to cover it up

by committing murder,

by killing Uriah.

Look at this genealogy.

David,

wife of Uriah,

Rahab,

Tamar,

Judah.

It's a very

checkered genealogy.

It's the kind of stuff

that if you were

trying to establish

your royal kingship,

you might want to

take a sharpie

and let's get

rid of that.

Let's erase this one.

But it's all in here.

Because in his genealogy,

Jesus embraces

all of our humanity

and all of our sin

so that he can

carry us

and he can take

that sin

upon himself

and die

and hang

on the cross.

So no matter

where you came from,

no matter how

checkered

your own history is,

no matter how

checkered

your own

genealogy is,

no matter

what sort of sins

are in your past

or even in the present,

that if you repent

of your sins

and turn to Jesus,

Jesus is a savior

who can embrace you,

who can lift you,

who can save you.

I pray that all of you

will embrace

Jesus as your savior

this morning.

Let's pray.