Matthew chapter 1, verse 1. 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 Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab 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 Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram, and Jehoram 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 Zadok. And Zadok, the father of Achim. And Achim, the father of Eliud. And Eliud, the father of Eleazar. And Eleazar, the father of Mathan. And Mathan, the father of Jacob. and Jacob, the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who was called the Christ. So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations." A mouthful of names there, huh? Let's pray. Father, I ask that you would show mercy to us this morning. We're about to travel some well-trodden ground this morning. It can become all too familiar to us, sort of like the way to work. So help us to see the things we need to see, to hear what we need to believe, and to ultimately trust you that it is not only true but it is meant to be life-shaping. Be gracious to us for the sake of Jesus the Messiah. Amen. We're still making the adjustment from Florida to Arizona. And one of the things that I've noticed the past week or so, because Christmas lights are starting to pop up in our neighborhood and we like to go around, one of the things I've noticed is where's the nativity scenes? The kids love the nativity scenes. We would go walk around our neighborhood in Florida and Jaden would always go, baby Jesus, and she'd always want to stop and look at the house that had the nativity scenes and she'd want to go up, sneak up on their lawn and look at baby Jesus. I haven't found any baby Jesus's in our neighborhood yet. I guess there's a lot of work to do in our neighborhood, huh? It's okay at this time of year to think about the baby that is born, but we can never stop there. or we risk becoming like the ridiculous redneck racer, Ricky Bobby, who in his prayer prays to the eight-pound, six-ounce Baby Jesus with his super Baby Jesus powers. Very irreverent, well-nigh close to blasphemous in how that scene sort of unfolds in that movie. We're very comfortable with the Baby Jesus, Almost everybody is very comfortable with the baby Jesus, but the one who grows up, that one, not always so comfortable with, people are. The big idea this morning is that Jesus became human in order to fulfill the covenants with Abraham and David. The first part of that is the reality that Messiah came from a flawed family tree. Matthew does something that no good author ever wants to do, to start his book with a genealogy. Right? Weren't you sitting there kind of fighting off the temptation to doze as they went through name after name and went through this cycle of so-and-so was the father of so-and-so who was the father of so-and-so ad infinitum supposedly? genealogy. The word that we find here in the text, though, is actually Genesis. A word in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, that word is only found in two places, Genesis 2.4 and in Genesis 5.2, and significant because part of what Matthew wants us to understand as we read this, well, We're his original audience and therefore reading it in Greek. What he would want us to understand is that this is the beginning of a new Genesis. God is beginning to unfold something new. There's going to be a creation transforming aspect to the birth of this baby. It is not just the birth of a king. This is a new Genesis. This is a new beginning that is going to take place. This Genesis is the one of Jesus the Messiah. He is the anointed one. And in the Old Testament, the anointed ones were prophets, priests, and kings. Because they were anointed with oil to symbolize the anointing of the Holy Spirit that would come upon them and to enable them to fulfill their function within the life of Israel. And so they were not just filling an office, but they were God's man for that office. And God would work through them for the good of his people. Messiahs. But here's the unique thing. Here, they're all going to be wrapped up in one. The Messiah. The one that the people have been waiting for. And so here, in this little phrase at the very beginning, almost an introduction or a title to his book, he's laying his cards upon the table. He's letting you know up front what his agenda is. He is going to talk about this Jesus whom he believes is Messiah, which was very controversial in his day. But in order to do that, because he's writing to a Jewish audience, he needs to establish the legitimacy of this claim. There's a reason why we have four different Gospels. They're for four different audiences. essentially. It's like hearing the same news from different perspectives, different points of view. It's sort of like the reality that we have. Well, most of the time anyway. ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox, and you know, sometimes they actually do talk about news and they have a different perspective. When they're not being talking heads, when they're actually presenting a news story, they will often present the same story, but they'll present different aspects of it. And so that's what we have going on in the four Gospels. It's the same story, but it's being told to different audiences. And the audience of this one is Jews who are in the promised land. And so he needs to show them that this man that he's about to talk about has the right to be whom Matthew claims he is, the Messiah. He's going to establish the legitimacy of this claim. We don't like genealogies, do we, in general? My uncle has gotten into the genealogy fad. There are some people who really are taken up into genealogies. I've told some of you before and I'll say it again. He claims that I'm descended from Napoleon Bonaparte. I don't know. I'm taller than him, I swear. And so this became an issue with this last election with the birthers who wanted to find proof, legitimacy to the right to be president. And so that's what's going on here. He's proving legitimacy, the right of this one to hold this title. And so unfortunately for us, or fortunately for us, because it is God's word and it is good for us, there are three groups of 14 generations that exist. Amazing how slowly God works, isn't it? Think of that for just a moment. God does in fact move at an agonizingly slow pace. Even for them then, it was a slow pace. I mean, we live in the world of microwave ovens and high-speed internet and all of these things and it's the world of now. But even for them, 14 generations. That's a long time. It's a long time to wait for something to happen. And what's the reality here is that, well, there's three groups of 14 generations. A really long time. This genealogy is filled with heroes and with villains. There are people who did amazing things. There are people that were not nice people at all. And then, but most of them were people who did some good things and did some bad things. This is filled with this. It is a flawed family tree that Jesus comes from. But recognize this fact, is that God used all of those flawed people to get to that point in time when the Messiah is about to come. That Jesus is not ashamed to say that he is descended from those people. No matter what their sin. And there's a lot of it. He's not ashamed of where he comes from. And if he's not ashamed, perhaps we shouldn't be ashamed of the secrets that are hidden in our family as well. Because his were on full display, not just for a small group of people, but for all the world to see. Just open up the Old Testament and you'll discover lots of those people, lots of their sins. What's really interesting about this genealogy, however, is that although women are not ordinarily a part of a Jewish genealogy, We have four. Actually, five. But early on we have Tamar. Tamar, the unwed mother of Perez by Judah. At a scandalous turn of events, she who was a crafty Canaanite really becomes part of the genealogy of Jesus. for it is going to be through her son Perez that the kingship of Israel is eventually going to come. Then we go to Rahab. It doesn't get much better, or really much worse, depending on your perspective. But every Jew knew who Rahab was. There's only one Rahab. And so for him to mention her, everyone knows that it is Rahab, the prostitute from Jericho, who converted and became the mother of a righteous man found in the book of Ruth by the name of Boaz. What a strange turn of events that one is, huh? Speaking of Boaz, who did he marry? Ruth. the Moabitess, who married righteous Boaz, David's great-grandfather. Do you notice yet? All of the men in this genealogy are Jewish. And all of the women thus far are not. It's significant. It stands out. It sticks out. It's important for us. Now both Rahab and Ruth would convert. They would become Israelites by faith. And so they point and remind us that you can start poorly, but you can end well by the grace of God. It's not where you begin that matters. It's where you end that really is significant. But then we find the woman that isn't even named, the wife of Uriah. Isn't that strange? She is the mother of a king. And Matthew didn't even want to write her name down, Bathsheba. I'm not sure exactly what that says about Bathsheba, but it probably isn't good. She is the woman who committed adultery with David. And the fruit of that adultery would pass away in infancy. But she would have another son, named Solomon, through whom the line would go. And so we find that God is bringing good even from evil, even from adultery. And in an adulterous relationship, God brings good. He is not limited by the morality of our actions. And then this genealogy ends in a strange place, with a woman that most of these people may never have heard of before, Mary. Because she is not found in the Old Testament, she is a new character, a new person in the story that God has been writing for generations. They would know little to nothing about her, and yet she is the one upon whom all of history will turn. So Matthew is unafraid of the scandalous past of the Messiah, who is about to make all things new, including all those people. So, not only is Messiah coming from a flawed family tree, but we see that Jesus is the long-awaited son of David, who's going to rule the nations, because Matthew starts off with this idea of the book of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah and now he describes it with two terms, Son of David is the first. Matthew's Gospel reveals Jesus particularly as the Son of David, which this is a very significant phrase for the typical Jew of that day. David, of course, was one of the greatest figures of the Old Testament, his adultery notwithstanding. He was clearly a big, big sinner, and yet he was a man after God's own heart, and God used him to do amazing things. He is, in a sense, their George Washington, because he is the one who was a brilliant general, who also unified a splintered nation and brought it together and began the preparation for the temple that would be built. And so as a result of his longing for a house of God to be built, we heard earlier this morning from 2 Samuel 7 that God was going to respond and he was going to give David a house. And there was, meaning a dynasty. And that there would be someone from his line on that throne forever. a covenant promise. That's why David sticks out above all the rest of the kings. He is the one to whom this is given, and so he wants his audience to know, Matthew wants the audience to know, that this is the one you've been waiting for. We have this hope of a son of David to come, and this is it. Back to that promise. After Solomon's death, what happens is the kingdom splits. Disobedience was speeding Judah towards the exile, the deportation into Babylon that we read about as the other significant event that takes place in this genealogy, which is mentioned three times. Significant. But what happens is just before that and just after that we have the prophets beginning to promise that there is going to be a king who is going to unite Israel, who is going to rule with righteousness and justice. We find it in places like Isaiah chapter 9. of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forever. And so Isaiah 9 lays out this promise of someone who's going to sit upon the throne of David to establish this kingdom, which right now seems pretty pathetic. Isaiah 9 is written at a time in which Assyria was looming large upon their doorstep and the people of Israel were rife with sin and yet he's saying there's going to come a time when sitting on the throne of David from then on to the rest of forevermore will be one who upholds it with justice and righteousness. Isaiah 11, there shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse. A stump of Jesse. Meaning that something's been chopped down. The tree of David's lioness, in some sense, has been chopped down. The kingdom is going to come to an end at some point, but then from the root of it, not from the stump of it. from the root shall come a branch, and a branch from his root shall bear fruit. It's anticipation of a son of David that will come. Jeremiah 33, Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and to 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. So that sounds a lot like both Isaiah 9 and Isaiah 11. Amos 9. in that day I will raise up the booth or the tent of David that has fallen and repair its breaches and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations that are called by my name declares the Lord who does this and so there's this promise in Amos 9 that is not just for Israel but also that this tent will cover the nations. He's also going to rule over the nations, not just Israel. There's this anticipation that not only will he reunite the kingdom that has been split, but he will expand it and will rule over the nations. It's a pretty tall order. That's a great hope that they had, an amazing hope that they had. And for Matthew to say that this is the one who is going to do it is pretty bold talk in numerous ways. This promises, you know, I can't help but think of Lord of the Rings, you know, where there's this, the prophecies that are there about Aragorn, the king that is going to come and is going to deliver humanity and Middle Earth from the oppressive rule of the evil Lord Sauron. And so these people had waited for generation upon generation upon generation for this to take place, and they see the power rising in the South, the power of evil, and they think, it's been so long, this isn't going to happen. Right? The steward of Gondor thinks that he's in it alone. that the king is never going to come, and that's probably what most of the people of Israel felt like. Here is Rome, stepping on our throats with their boot. It's been so many generations since this promise. Is God ever going to do this? Is this ever going to take place? And then here comes Matthew saying yes. that this Jesus, He is the King, He is the Son of David, He is the One who is going to fulfill all these amazing promises. And it's not just written there in verse 1, but also the genealogy reinforces this reality. I'm not too much into numerology, I don't like all that weird stuff because it's kind of funky, but sometimes the Jews did use numbers, and if you take, for Jews, in Hebrew, the consonants had value, numerical value, not vowels, because they didn't even put vowels in the original manuscripts. So the D, the V, and the D, four, six, four. Add up those, what do you get? Fourteen. And so this is a selective genealogy. There are people that he sort of left out because he's trying to make his point here. And the words that he used do not mean literally this is begotten, but the son can mean from one generation, a different generation. He's related. But it's sitting out 14, 14, 14. David. David. David. He wants them to understand that this one who is born is from David. It's all about that. And so, basically, this call through this book is really, are you going to recognize and submit to God's King? Or are you going to continue to reject that king and live life on your own terms? What are you going to do? Especially when you see the character of the king. That's what I love. I think it's the man in the iron mask. I can never get the four musketeers' names straight, so I'm not even going to bother. But one of them wants the new king, a new king because they're serving under a very bad king. And the other musketeers have left the service either because they've been kicked out or they can't serve this horrible king. And he's pleading with them because he has a plan to get a good king in place. And that's his appeal to them. Don't you want to serve a good king? We have had bad kings. That's part of the appeal. That's part of the gospel message. Don't you want a good king? Don't you want to serve one who is gracious, who is righteous, who is not corrupted by bribes and lobbyists and special interest groups and all of the other things that corrupt people? He's untouched by sin. Is that not the kind of king you want? Well, here he is, Jesus, the Messiah. And so Matthew wants us to believe that Jesus, the Messiah, fulfills God's promise to David. But it's not just that. Jesus is also the long-awaited son of Abraham, the blessing to the nations. And so there's that second phrase that defines this idea of the Jesus, the Messiah. He is also son of Abraham. And as the son of David, he would necessarily be the son of Abraham. So it's not just talking about bloodline. It's talking about significance. It's pointing back to the promise that we were studying in Genesis chapter 12. Abraham received a covenant of promise. And what Matthew's point is, is that Jesus also fulfills this. This is not an ordinary babe. Matthew's gospel stresses that Jesus is particularly a blessing to the nations. We find that hard to believe. in some ways, because we're so used to witnessing nation oppressing nation, ethnic group oppressing ethnic group. The other day, Amy and I watched Rabbit Proof Fence, and what it is is the story of what takes place in Australia, and it has to do with how the aborigines were oppressed by the white people in Australia. That's the basic story. It's happened for generation upon generation all around the world. This is what happens. But Matthew says something, the gospel says something very different. It is not that now there's going to be an oppressor, but now he's going to rise up and he's going to be a blessing to the nations. Not an oppressor to the nations, but he's going to bless and strengthen and encourage and bring about justice and righteousness in the nations. Matthew's Gospel, throughout when we read this, we're going to see all these Gentiles that Jesus blesses, servants that He heals, demons that He casts out of people who are Gentiles. But we see it even here in this genealogy with the reality of these four Gentile women. there in his genealogy. They're foreshadowing those who would come, how the Gentiles come into Israel through the ministry of Jesus Christ. God is not doing a new thing, but because of this reality of this genealogy, what Matthew wants us to know is that he's bringing about something from of old to pass. that the God of the Bible is a promise keeping God who was reliable and trustworthy. Well we trust him. With our lives. With our kids. With everything that's important to us will we trust him. Who is a blessing to the nations. Trust or faith means that we have been adopted into Abraham's family. Not only that, but God's family. That's the message that Paul gives in Galatians. But this genealogy ends on a strange note. There's something that's a little off. There's a tension that begins to develop. The pattern is broken. It's sort of like all those J.J. Abrams TV shows. Cliffhanger. the end of the show, the end of the season, there's always the cliffhanger. And basically, this is almost ending on a cliffhanger. There's sort of a, wait a minute, what now? What's this? Because the pattern, as I said, is broken. Jacob, the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born. Did you catch that? There's no Joseph, the father of Jesus, born of Mary. He's not Jesus' father, and we're going to see why next week. We're going to see who the real father is, but there's sort of a scandal even here. But let's recognize this. He is born of Mary, which means he's fully human. That's why Matthew puts that in there. He wants us to remember fully human. He's not an alien who dropped from outer space to do this, but he's fully human. God's chosen person to be the Messiah at the proper time. And so we rightly celebrate the birth of Jesus, the enfleshment of the Son, the eternal Son of God. But we cannot stop and just sit there with the baby Jesus. We must honor him as the Messiah, as the fulfillment of the promises to David and to Abraham. And as such, saving grace is found only in him. So we'll get to that in the weeks to come. Let's pray. Father, you did not, as I say, drop your son out of the sky like some sort of alien to merely teach us and to merely show us a new way. But rather, you made him like us, that he might save us through his own death from sin and sorrow. And we ask that you'd continue to complete your rescue plan among us and through us. In Jesus' name, amen.