Jesus the Christ

a servant taking on humanity upon himself in order to save us.

So we're going to be in a series, a mini-series,

in the first two chapters of Matthew for the Advent season

through Christmas Eve,

and then we will resume our series in the Book of Acts.

So please turn with me to Book of Matthew.

It's the first book in the New Testament.

If you guys don't have a Bible, you can also raise your hand.

We have ushers that can bring you a Bible you can use.

We're in Matthew 1.

It looks like there's one there.

We're looking at Matthew 1, verses 1 to 17.

Matthew 1:1–17

Let me pray for the reading and preaching of God's Word.

Heavenly Father, it is a wonder

that Jesus, your eternal Son,

the perfect one, the Holy One,

would take on human flesh,

would take on our infirmities,

would be tempted in every way just as we are.

We pray that you would help us

to marvel anew at what you have done for us in Jesus.

We pray that you would exalt Jesus in our lives today.

And we pray that you would help us

to receive his grace anew

as sinners in need of a Savior.

Address us now from your Word.

Speak to us.

We are listening.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Matthew 1, verses 1 to 17.

Matthew 1:1–17

I'll read it out loud here.

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 Hizron,

and Hizron the father of Ram.

And Ram the father of Abinadab,

and Aminadab the father of Nashon.

And Nashon the father of Solomon,

and Solomon 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 Rehoboam,

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 Sheltiel,

and Sheltiel the father of Zerubbabel,

and Zerubbabel the father of Abud,

and Abud the father of Eliakim,

and Eliakim the father of Azor,

and Azor the father of Zadoc.

Zadoc 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.

For generations, many people have kept track of their genealogy

by using a pedigree or ancestry chart,

and we commonly call that a family tree.

And family trees can help us feel connected to our heritage and history,

and because they reveal things about ourselves, people are interested in them.

But that expression, family tree, actually is derived from the Bible.

Prophesying about the coming Messiah in Isaiah 11, verse 1,

Isaiah 11:1

is that there shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,

and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.

So because of this plant metaphor used for the genealogy of the Messiah,

starting as early as the 11th century,

many artists have depicted Jesus' genealogy in the form of a literal tree.

On illuminated manuscripts, salters, walls, and embroideries, and stained glass windows,

you can see this tree of the Messiah, the family tree, all over the world.

And here in Matthew 1, we see Jesus' family tree traced through King David

and all the way to the patriarch Abraham.

And Matthew includes it here for a specific reason,

because Jesus' family tree reveals something to us about who he is.

Namely, that Jesus is the promised Christ,

the messianic king who restores the kingdom of God.

So first, we're going to see how Jesus fulfills the promise to Abraham,

in verses 2 to 6,

and how he fulfills the promise to David, in verses 6 to 11,

and how he fulfills the promise to the exiles, in verses 12 to 17.

Verse 1 is kind of the decent statement of this passage.

It says,

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ,

the son of David, the son of Abraham.

There are some phrases in the Bible that are immediately recognizable.

So think, for example,

In the beginning.

Right?

Immediately.

Most of you are probably familiar with that phrase.

When John uses that phrase in the beginning of his gospel,

in the gospel of John,

we immediately make the connection to Genesis 1,

where it says,

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

In a similar way,

the phrase used here,

the book of the genealogy,

would have been a phrase that was immediately recognizable

for people who were familiar with their Greek Bibles.

Because in the Greek translation of the Old Testament,

the book of Genesis is organized around this recurring phrase.

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.

Genesis 6, 9,

The book of the genealogy of Noah.

Genesis 25, 19,

The book of the genealogy of Isaac.

And Genesis 37, 2,

The book of the genealogy of Jacob.

So in the book of Genesis,

this phrase is used to organize the history of the heavens and the earth

and the origin of the patriarchs

who became the fountainhead of God's people.

So then in the book of Matthew,

the phrase,

The book of the genealogy introduces to us the origin of Jesus the Christ,

who is the fountainhead of the new people of God.

And Jesus' identity is here summarized by three titles in verse 1.

He is the Christ,

meaning he's the messianic king.

He is the son of David.

And finally,

he is the son of Abraham.

In the following genealogy,

Matthew draws connections to each of those titles in reverse order.

We'll unpack those in turn.

First,

he tells us that Jesus is the son of Abraham,

who fulfills God's promise to Abraham.

He writes in verses 2 to 6,

Abraham was the father of Isaac,

and Isaac the father of Jacob,

and Jacob the father of Judah,

and his brothers,

and so on.

This genealogy follows the summary genealogies found in 1 Chronicles 22,

sorry,

1 Chronicles chapter 2,

1 Chronicles 2:1–15

verses 1 to 15,

and Ruth chapter 4.

Ruth 4 · chapter mention

And it traces Jesus' lineage from Abraham to David.

And if you remember what God promised Abraham,

God said to Abraham in Genesis 17,

Genesis 17:4–5

verses 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 Abram,

but your name shall be Abraham,

for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.

God had promised Abraham a land and a people,

and he had promised to bless Abraham,

and not only Abraham,

God had promised in Genesis 12

that through him all the peoples,

all the families of the earth would be blessed.

He promised that Abraham would be a father of a multitude of nations.

And Jesus is the ultimate heir of that promise.

He's the ultimate son of Abraham.

And it's through Jesus that not only the Jews,

but also the Gentiles,

indeed all the nations of the earth

who put their faith in him,

will receive the gift of salvation

and eternal life.

This might be the point that Matthew is driving home

with the woman that he selectively includes in this genealogy.

First, in verse 3,

it mentions that Judah fathered Perez by Tamar.

The Bible doesn't tell as much about Tamar's background,

but Genesis 38 implies that she was a Canaanite woman.

Since Judah was living among the Canaanites at the time,

was married to a Canaanite woman himself,

and likely took a wife for his son Ur

from among the Canaanites as well.

And since there is no mention of him going back to his homeland

to find a wife for his son.

And then second, verse 5,

says that Solomon fathered Boaz by Rahab,

the only human being named Rahab mentioned in the Bible,

is the Canaanite woman

who helps the Israelite spies escape Jericho in Joshua 2.

So she too is a foreigner, a Gentile.

Third, verse 5,

says that Boaz fathered Obed by Ruth,

who famously is known as a Moabite woman,

a foreigner, a Gentile.

Fourth, verse 6,

says that David was the father of Solomon

by the wife of Uriah.

This is a reference to Bathsheba,

whose father we know was Eliam,

according to 2 Samuel 11, verse 3,

2 Samuel 11:3

also called Amiel in 1 Chronicles chapter 3.

1 Chronicles 3 · chapter mention

If he is the same Eliam mentioned in 2 Samuel 23, 34,

he was a Gilanite,

a subset of the Canaanites,

which makes Bathsheba also a Gentile

and married to a Gentile, a Hittite, Uriah.

These are the four mothers

mentioned in the entire genealogy of Jesus.

And all four of them are most likely foreigners,

non-Jews.

This may well be Matthew's way of making the point

that Gentiles are being grafted in.

The lineage of Jesus, the Jewish Messiah,

suggests that the Messiah didn't have

a pure, unadulterated Jewish lineage.

Rather, he had many Gentiles in his heritage.

It's a glimpse of God's plan

to include the Gentiles in his salvation plan.

All those who repent of their sins,

all those who renounce their foreign idols

and pledge allegiance to the Lord God

will be saved and counted among his people.

This is the wonderful truth

that God's genealogy,

the Jesus' genealogy reveals to us.

For all those people who say,

well, I'm not a Jew,

so I can't believe in the God of the Bible.

All those people who say,

well, my parents are not Christians,

so this can't be for me.

For all those people who say,

well, no one in my country is Christian,

so I can't become one.

Or I'm not religious,

so I can't follow God.

For all of those people,

Jesus Christ came.

That's what we remember in Advent.

You don't have to be a Jew

in order to join the kingdom of God.

You don't have to be an American

in order to follow Christ.

You can be Iranian,

Afghan,

Indian,

Chinese,

Japanese,

Cambodian,

Uruguayan,

Algerian,

Tunisian,

or whatever else,

and still be a Christian

and a citizen in the kingdom of God

because salvation is from the Jews

because Jesus was Jewish,

but salvation is not exclusively for the Jews.

Rather, it is for all nations.

That's what we're commanded by Jesus,

commissioned by him,

to go to all the nations

and make disciples of them.

And 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.

We see this in verses 6 to 11.

Now, there are significant discrepancies

between Matthew's genealogy of Jesus

and Luke's genealogy of Jesus

we find in Luke chapter 3

Luke 3 · chapter mention

from King David onward.

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.

And there are several reasons

for these discrepancies.

First, the word father

can be used narrowly

to refer to one's immediate biological father

or broadly to one's ancestor.

We see examples of this

in Genesis 32, 9,

John 8, 39,

Ezra 7, and so on.

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,

many generations removed.

And secondly,

genealogies are not always exhaustive.

Rather, they are often selective.

For example, 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.

He has a clear structure here,

a symmetrical structure

that he is working with.

And some people say

that this is related to Gematria.

Gematria is a method

by which Jews assigned

a numerical value

to each letter

of the Hebrew alphabet

so that someone's name

can be added up,

their letters can be added up

to form a number.

And according to this method,

the name David

has a numerical value of 14,

which is likely possible.

I don't think we can know for sure.

Maybe why Matthew chose 14 names

in each of those sections

to show that Jesus

is the son of David.

And so it's not surprising

that there are skipped generations

in this genealogy.

And thirdly,

Jews practice

levirate marriage

as stipulated by

Deuteronomy chapter 25,

Deuteronomy 25 · chapter mention

which meant that

if a man dies

without a son

to carry on his name,

it was his brother's duty

to produce a son for him

by taking his brother's

surviving widow

as his own wife.

This was very important

for the Israelites,

for the Jews,

because their inheritance

of the promised land

and therefore their inclusion

in God's covenant community

depended on them

continuing to have male heirs.

And this was directly tied to it.

So because of that,

if to have no son

to one's name

would have meant

you and your progeny

would all be blotted out

from God's covenant people.

So because of this,

levirate marriage existed,

but it works for that purpose,

but it obviously

can complicate genealogies.

Because the son

of a levirate marriage

would be the legal son

of the deceased man,

but the physical son

of his brother.

So overall,

the discrepancies

between Matthew and Luke

are numerous,

but they can be accounted

for best when we understand

that Matthew is providing

the royal genealogy,

the line of people

who would have been

the legal heirs

to the Davidic throne.

And Luke is providing us

a physical genealogy,

the line of people

from whom Joseph,

Jesus' adoptive father,

was physically descended.

We can see this

from the fact

that Matthew's genealogy

in this middle section

is an abbreviated summary

of the succession

of Judah's kings

listed in 1 Chronicles 3,

1 Chronicles 3:10–17

verses 10 to 17.

While Luke's genealogy

lists no kings

of Judah

except for David.

So then Matthew

starts this section

with David,

who is the first king

of the Davidic monarchy,

and then he ends

with Jeconiah,

also called Jehoiachin,

who reigned

until he was taken captive

by Nebuchadnezzar

to Babylon.

Jehoiachin's uncle,

Zedekiah,

did reign as a nominal king

after this Babylonian invasion,

but he is omitted

from the list

as well as several others

since Jehoiachin

was still the rightful heir

and ruler.

He was living in exile

in Babylon.

So then Matthew's genealogy

is a royal genealogy

and likely implies here

that even with the dissolution

of the Davidic monarchy

during the Babylonian exile,

the royal succession

has continued

until the coming

of the destined son of David,

the Jesus Christ.

So God had promised

the king David

in 2 Samuel

this wonderful promise,

chapter 7, 12 to 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.

So in an immediate sense,

this prophecy

was fulfilled

in the reign

of David's son Solomon

who was established

as king

and built God's temple.

However,

the Davidic monarchy

did not exist forever,

even though God promised here

that he will establish

his kingdom forever.

That's how we know

that this prophecy

isn't ultimately fulfilled

by Solomon.

It is fulfilled

by the Messiah,

Jesus.

He's the one

who establishes

God's kingdom forever.

Jesus is the greater

son of David,

the greater Solomon.

In fact,

he is greater

than David himself

because he is not

merely a son of man,

but he is the son

of God,

the Father himself.

We have to remember this

because Jesus came

not to be served

but to serve

and to give his life

as a ransom for many,

but we must not forget

that he,

even though he's graciously

served us

and he has saved us,

Jesus is the king.

He is the Messiah.

He is the Lord

to whom we owe

our allegiance,

our very lives.

That's what his title means,

the Christ.

That's not a last name.

Verse 16 says,

Jesus was born

who is called Christ.

Christ is a title.

It's a royal title

that means anointed one

or Messiah.

The prophesied king

who would come

to rescue God's people.

For centuries,

the Jewish people

had been suffering

the consequences

of their own sin

and rebellion

due to their idolatry

and unfaithfulness to God.

They were conquered

and oppressed

by people,

foreign nations,

again and again,

the Assyrians,

Babylonians,

and the Persians,

and the Greeks,

and the Romans.

And then they would return,

but they returned

to the Lord

for brief periods of time,

but they would turn

back again,

sin again,

backslide again.

And in their suffering,

they were yearning

and waiting

for the Messiah.

They thought to themselves,

when the Messiah

finally comes,

he will make

all things right.

When Messiah comes,

he will establish

his kingdom forever.

When the Messiah comes,

he will rescue us

once and for all.

When Messiah comes,

he will rule

with righteousness

and justice.

When the Messiah comes,

we won't be orphans anymore.

We won't be homeless anymore.

We won't be aliens

and foreigners anymore.

We will have a king,

all right.

We will have a kingdom,

all right.

And we will be citizens

in that kingdom.

for all of those people

who are waiting,

Jesus Christ came.

He came to a sinful world

governed by Satan,

the one whom Jesus calls

the ruler of this world

in the Gospel of John,

the one that Ephesians

Ephesians 2:2

chapter 2 verse 2

calls the prince

of the power of the air,

the spirit that is now

at work in the sons

of disobedience.

And Jesus donned his crown,

but it was a crown of thorns.

He ascended to his throne,

but his throne was the cross,

the ancient equivalent

of the execution chair.

He died there

to redeem a people

for himself.

And then he rose again

from the dead.

He ascended to the right hand

of the Father.

And in doing this,

Jesus delivered us,

his people,

those who repent of their sins

and put their faith in him.

He delivered us

from the domain of darkness

into the domain

of the kingdom.

of his kingdom.

This is how Jesus

set his kingdom in motion.

Jesus is the promised Christ

who restores the kingdom of God.

And it's for this reason

that the evil one,

Satan,

that we were speaking of

just moments ago

has no claim on us.

He has no claim on us.

He has no authority over us

because as those

who have pledged

allegiance to Jesus

who have put their faith

in Christ the King,

we have a new Lord.

We're under new regime.

The church,

the family of God

is an outpost.

It's an embassy

of the kingdom of God.

In this world

that's in rebellion

against God,

we must daily

endure innumerable

indignities

that our Lord's name

and glory face.

in this world,

we have tribulations

and temptations.

But when we gather

as a church,

we get to lay aside

our burdens

and our distractions

and worship our Lord

and fix our eyes

on Jesus,

our King.

It is an imperfect

yet genuine

foretaste of heaven.

The kingdom of God

is already here,

but it is not yet

fully here.

And as we celebrate

Advent,

the coming,

the first coming

of our Savior,

Jesus Christ,

we also anticipate

His second coming.

So it was really appropriate

that Gary had us sing

Even So Come,

expecting,

waiting

for Jesus'

second coming.

because He will return.

Our King will return.

In the first Advent,

Jesus came to save.

In the second Advent,

Jesus will come to judge.

And He will judge

all the wicked

and execute

perfect justice.

And our King

will dwell with us

again in the flesh.

He will wipe away

every tear

from our eyes

and we will sin no more.

And there will no longer

be any death.

There will no longer

be any mourning

or crying

or pain.

That's what it means

that Jesus came

as the son

of David,

the son of Abraham,

the Christ.

And finally,

verses 12 to 17,

Matthew traces

Jesus' genealogy

from Jequaniah

to Christ

to show that Jesus

is the promised Messiah

who fulfills

God's promise

to the exiles.

Even though none

of Jequaniah's

seven sons

would sit

on Judah's throne,

the Davidic line

continued through

his eldest son,

Shealtiel.

And Shealtiel

fathered Zerubbabel.

Interestingly,

1 Chronicles 3.19

says that Zerubbabel

was a son of Pediah,

Shealtiel's brother,

which makes Shealtiel

Zerubbabel's uncle,

not father.

But everywhere else

in Scripture,

in Ezra,

Nehemiah,

Haggai,

it says that Shealtiel

was the father

of Zerubbabel.

This may be an instance

of Levirate marriage

where Shealtiel

dies without

a male heir

and then his brother

Padiah

continues his name

so the royal line

continues through

Shealtiel's son

even though he was

deceased.

And Zerubbabel

played a significant

role among

the Jewish exiles.

In Ezra

and Nehemiah,

the two books

of the Bible

in the Old Testament,

they recount

how Zerubbabel

became the governor

of Judah.

He was the first

to lead a band

of Jews

back from

the Babylonian exiles

back to Jerusalem.

And it says

in Haggai chapter 2

Haggai 2:21–23

verse 21 to 23,

God says to Zerubbabel,

I am going to shake

the heavens and the earth

and I will overthrow

the thrones of kingdoms

and destroy the power

of the kingdoms

of the nations.

And I will overthrow

the chariots

and their riders

and their horses

and their riders

will go down,

every one by the sword

of another.

On that day

declares the Lord,

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 armies.

God's choice

of Zerubbabel

as a signet ring,

which is a royal symbol,

as well as Zerubbabel's role

as the governor

of Judah,

suggests that

even though

the Davidic monarchy

had officially ceased

to exist,

the royal succession

continued in God's sight.

His king,

His line,

His royal line

has continued.

Unlike the preceding sections

of this genealogy,

the rest of this genealogy

has no Old Testament precedent.

So we don't know

what source Matthew used.

And since Jews

were very interested

in preserving

genealogical records,

and the Davidic line

in particular,

the royal line,

was of special interest,

so it's highly likely

that a tradition

of royal succession

was preserved

outside of Scripture.

Unfortunately,

we no longer have access

to those genealogical records

because according

to second century historian

Julius Africanus,

Herod the Great

destroyed all the Jewish

genealogical records

that were preserved

in the public archives.

He was,

Herod was particularly

embarrassed

about his lineage,

his Edomian heritage,

because he was descended

not from Jacob,

the line of promise,

but from Esau.

And so he feared

that someone

from an actual royal lineage

would lay claim

on his throne.

So Herod carried favor

with Rome

to get the title

of King of the Jews,

and he rebuilt the temple

to style himself

as the Savior,

Messiah of the Jews.

But he was only a pretender.

Jesus is the real Messiah.

Verse 16 notes,

he is the promised Christ.

Jesus fulfills the promises

that God had made

to the exiles.

In Jeremiah 33,

God promised,

verses 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.

That's what God promised

to the exiles.

And Jesus is the final

and greatest son of David

who sits on the throne forever.

He is the righteous branch

who through his death

and resurrection

ransoms a people

for himself.

And we, God's people,

Jews and Gentiles,

have now been grafted in

as branches

onto Jesus' family tree

so that we too

dwell securely in Christ

as the new Israel,

as the new Jerusalem.

For those struggling sinners,

maybe there's some of you

here who think

that they have straight,

far beyond restoration,

like these exiles

that Jesus came.

For those exiles

who have forgotten

what their fatherland

is like.

For those who think

that they are damaged goods,

good for nothing.

for all of those people,

Jesus Christ

came to redeem them,

to reclaim them

for himself.

Hebrews 2, 11-18

tells us that Christ

is not ashamed

to call us

brothers and sisters.

It says that

since we are made

of flesh and blood,

that Jesus himself

took on flesh and blood

so that through death

he might destroy

the one who has

the power of death,

that is the devil,

and deliver

all those who through

fear of death

were subject

to lifelong slavery.

This is the wonder

of the incarnation.

The creator took on

human flesh,

the flesh and blood

of creatures.

The son of God

became a son of man.

Jesus,

the word of God

that embraces

the entire cosmos

and upholds them,

became a babbling infant

held up in Mary's arms.

His feet got caked

with dust.

He had dirt

under his fingernails.

He got hungry

and fatigued.

He laughed.

He cried.

He was tempted

in every way

just as we are

yet without sin.

We see the paradox

of Jesus' incarnation

in verse 16.

It says,

Jacob the father

of Joseph,

the husband of Mary,

of whom Jesus was born,

who is called Christ.

Note that it doesn't

follow the standard

formula here

up to this point

in saying,

Joseph the father

of Jesus.

It doesn't say that.

It says,

Joseph the husband

of Mary,

of whom Jesus was born.

This sets the scene

for the following passage

which confirms

that Jesus was conceived

by Mary

while she was a virgin

by the miraculous work

of the Holy Spirit.

So Joseph,

though he was

the legal father

of Jesus,

the adoptive father,

he wasn't actually

his biological father.

Jesus' only real father

is God the father.

This has two very important

theological implications.

One,

the original sin

that entered the world

through Adam's sin

and contaminated

all of humanity,

as Romans 5.12 tells us,

is cut off

at this unique point

at Jesus' birth.

Jesus is the first

and only human being

to be born without sin.

1 John 3.5 tells us this,

you know that Jesus appeared

in order to take away sins

and in him

there is no sin.

And this is because

he who knew no sin

is the only person

who can bear the sins

of his people

so that we might become

the righteousness of God.

Jesus is the one man

who never deserved to die

because death is a consequence,

a punishment for sin.

But Jesus died nonetheless

because he was dying

in our place

so that we might have

eternal life.

That's the first

important implication of this.

The second important

theological implication of this

is that by being born of Mary,

though Jesus was sinless,

the blameless one,

he carried all of the sin

and shame and blame

of his people

upon himself on the cross.

Jesus was fully God

and fully man

but he was a real human.

He was born of a virgin

and so there was a suspicion

of illegitimacy.

In John 8,

the Jews falsely accused Jesus

of being a Samaritan,

a Jew of mixed heritage,

mingled with Gentiles

and presumptuously

they say this to him

in John 8, 41,

we were not born

of sexual immorality.

We have one Father,

even God.

But Jesus carried

all that baggage with him

to save us.

He experienced

all of our temptations.

He became one of us.

He came to save broken people.

And we can see this

in Jesus' checkered genealogy.

Some of these names

are not names

you would like to see

in your genealogy.

Verse 7 tells us

that one of Jesus' ancestors

was Rehoboam,

the son of Solomon.

It was Rehoboam

whose folly

and unnecessary cruelty

split the kingdom

of Israel in half.

It was Rehoboam,

according to 1 Kings 12.

And according to 1 Kings 14,

under Rehoboam's reign,

Judah was led

into all kinds of idolatry

called prostitution

and abominations.

It was under his watch

that Jerusalem was invaded

by Shishak,

the king of Egypt,

and the treasures

of the temple of God

ransacked.

Rehoboam had found

his way into the history books

for all the wrong reasons.

Abijah and Joram

were no better kings.

Ahaz, who succeeded,

Joram, quote,

even burned his son

as an offering

according to the despicable

practices of the nation

whom the Lord drove out

before the people of Israel.

And he sacrificed

and made offerings

on the high places

and on the hills

and under every green tree.

This is 2 Kings 16,

3-4.

Manasseh was even worse.

Can you believe it?

It can get worse than that.

Even though his father,

Hezekiah,

sought to reform Israel

and get rid of the idols,

Manasseh rebuilt

those idols.

He desecrated the temple of God

by building pagan altars

inside it.

In fact, it says

in 2 Kings 21, verse 9,

2 Kings 21:9

that Manasseh led Judah

astray to do more evil

than the pagan nations

that the Lord himself

had destroyed

and driven out

before Israel.

And Manasseh's son Amos,

more commonly known as Amon,

followed in the footsteps

of his wicked father.

And of course,

the infamous Jeconiah

under whose reign

who continued

in the evil ways

and under whose reign

Judah was conquered

by Nebuchadnezzar

and sent into exile

in Babylon.

Jesus' ancestors.

In Genesis 38,

Judah sleeps with the woman

that he thinks

is a prostitute.

Another one of Jesus' ancestors.

He does this only to discover

that the woman

that he thought

was a prostitute

was actually Tamar,

his daughter-in-law.

Daughter-in-law

who had disguised herself

in order to get impregnated

by him

since Judah had unjustly

withheld his son

from her

even though he owed her

his son

in accordance with

the principles

of levirate marriage.

And Perez,

Jesus' ancestor,

was conceived

by this illicit,

incestuous union

according to verse 3.

Similarly,

verse 5 tells us

that King David's

great-great-grandfather

Salmon,

father Boaz,

by Rahab,

Joshua 2,

1 tells us

Rahab

was 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.

Bathsheba

is not even

named here.

Instead,

to make his point

abundantly clear,

Matthew describes her

as the wife

of Uriah.

David committed

adultery

with Bathsheba

and impregnated her

and then tried

to cover it up

by making Uriah

sleep with her.

And when that

didn't work,

when Uriah

refused to do it,

he had Uriah

killed in the battlefield

even though Uriah

was a prized

and valuable

and honorable man

and a warrior.

And then he took her.

to rub in the point

that David

had sinned,

Matthew says,

Solomon,

he said David

the father of Solomon

by the wife

of Uriah.

David should have

never had Bathsheba.

And yet it is

through that

illicit union

that Solomon,

one of Jesus'

royal predecessors,

is born.

I hope this is

a comfort to you all

because we're all

sinners

with a sordid history.

We all have

checkered lives.

And here is our Savior

with the checkered

genealogy.

There are prostitutes,

adulterers,

murderers,

in his genealogy

because Jesus

in himself

embraces

our sinful humanity

because he came

like a doctor

who goes to heal

the sick

and not the healthy.

He came

to save

sinners.

Are you a child

of adultery

or fornication

what besetting

sins

are part

of your life?

What guilt,

what burden,

what shame

did you carry

with yourself

into this building

this morning?

What about yourself

would you be hesitant

to share

with those people

sitting next to you

right now?

Whoever you are

and whatever you have

done,

Jesus sees you

and Jesus

knows you

and Jesus

says in John 6,

37,

whoever comes to me,

I will never

cast out.

This is the good news,

the gospel of Jesus Christ

that we proclaim

to all the world.

Jesus is the Christ.

He's the one

we've been waiting for.

20th century

American theologian

Lorraine Boatner

makes an astute observation

when he says this

in one of his books.

Quote,

in all the history

of the world,

Jesus emerges

as the only

expected

person.

No one

was looking

for such a person

as Julius Caesar

or Napoleon

or Washington

or Lincoln

to appear

at the time

and place

that they did appear.

No other person

has had his course

foretold

or his work

laid out for him

centuries before

he was born.

But the coming

of the Messiah

had been predicted

for centuries.

In fact,

the first promise

of his coming

was given to Adam

and Eve

soon after

their fault

into sin.

As time went on,

various details

concerning his person

and work

were revealed

through the prophets.

And at the time

Jesus was born,

there was a general

expectation

through the Jewish

world

that the Messiah

was soon to appear,

even the manner

of his birth,

a virgin birth,

and the town

in which it would

occur,

Bethlehem,

having been

clearly indicated.

Jesus is the only

expected person

in human history.

Isn't that remarkable?

because he's the

promised Christ.

He's the only person

that humanity

had been waiting for,

that sinful people

have been waiting for.

He's the only

promised person

that actually

came

and delivered

on that promise.

And so with the

symmetry of

three generations

of 14,

Matthew conveys

the sense of

balance and

perfection

that the long

awaited Messiah

came at the

fullness of time,

at the perfect

opportune moment

to restore the

kingdom of God.

And because the

Christ has already

come,

there's no need

for another

Savior or Messiah.

are you waiting

for another

Christ?

Who do you

wait for?

Or what do you

long for to

fulfill you,

to satisfy you,

to save you?

A spouse?

A charismatic

politician

to come and

take charge,

accomplish all

your agenda?

A great

Christian leader

to bring about

the third

great awakening

or another

reformation?

There is no

other Messiah.

And we are

not the Messiah

either.

The world

does not need

more of you.

The world

does not need

more of me.

The world

does not need

more of anyone.

It needs more

of Jesus.

because he is

the only

Christ.

Christ

was come.

Christ

will come

again.

Let's pray.

Lord Jesus,

we thank you.

We thank you

that you came.

Lord,

what

would you have

done without you?

you?

Lord,

we would

still be

lost in sin,

slaves to

death.

We would

be hopelessly

in futility

trying to save

ourselves,

but utterly

unable to do

so.

Lord,

what would

we have

done without

you?

Lord Jesus,

thank you

for coming.

Heavenly Father,

thank you

for sending

him.

Help us to be

a people who

live in light

of his coming

and who

wait expectantly

for his

second coming.

In Jesus'

name we pray.

Amen.

Amen.