I want to invite you to turn with me in your Bibles to the Gospel of Matthew. We have two focused parts of Scripture that give us the story of Jesus' birth. The Gospel of Matthew, first couple of chapters. The Gospel of Luke, the first couple of chapters. Luke puts his emphasis particularly on the story of 1 John the Baptist and his mother and father, Zacharias and Elizabeth. and then on Mary and really her story but not to the exclusion of Joseph and then Matthew gives us the story of Joseph in particular but not to the exclusion of Mary. So both of them give us complementary stories and they kind of fill in the gaps for one another. Matthew has a particular interest in the Old Testament. Over and over again in the Gospel of Matthew you will hear him say this was done in order to fulfill the prophecy and And this is no exception the way the book begins. So here we are, Matthew chapter 1. I'm going to read to you the genealogies and we're going to take a look at what they teach us today. 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. Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, first of four women mentioned. And Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, and Ram the father of Aminadab, and Aminadab the father of Nashan, and Nashan 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, 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. Now, if you've been reading through your Bible systematically, A lot of those names sound familiar. If you've not been reading through your Bible systematically, some of those names maybe don't sound so familiar, but those are a number of the kings of Judah. We pick up here at verse 12, and after the deportation to Babylon, Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel the father of Abiad, and Abiad 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, Mathan, 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, 14 generations. And from David to the deportations to Babylon, 14 generations. And from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ, 14 generations. Will you join me in prayer? Heavenly Father, you know this congregation that is before you today. Lord, you know them as a whole, as a congregation, as the congregation of the church in Walsh, Lord, You know them as individuals better than they know themselves. Lord, You know the fears that they hold. You know the concerns. Lord, You know the guilt that they bear and the shame that is upon them. Father, You know their joys and their delights. Father, You know us so well. Father, I pray that as we open your Word today, Lord, that you would take this Word that you have prepared 2,000 years ago by the hand of Matthew and that you have proclaimed here today by my voice but by your Spirit, Lord, that you might take it and carry it right to the very depths of our heart and that you would apply it as you see fit. Father, to encourage, to exhort, Lord, to build up, to draw on to holiness, Lord, I pray That you might work in us what is pleasing to you. Lord, we ask that you might do this by your spirit. In Jesus name, Amen. Every story has a context. You have a context. I have a context. There's a reason that I live here and have the particular name that I have. A lot of that is connected to who my parents are and what they decided. But if you go further back, you can figure out how I came to be in Canada because my ancestors weren't in this country and there's a story there. And for anybody to suggest that anybody's story exists all by itself without any other context before or after, that would be nonsense. But so often we deal with Christmas as if it were the beginning of a story, and it's not. It's right in the midst of the story of God's redemptive work. It has 39 books of context that come before it, almost 1800 years of recorded history from the time that God first spoke to Abraham, or Abram, up until the time that Jesus appears on the earth. And Matthew is eager and earnest for you to see how Christmas has a context, how it fits in the whole redemptive story of what God has been doing. So Matthew gives us a list, and we know this, the list is not a complete list. You know that just from the middle list of the kings, that there are certain kings that he hasn't put in there, and he has his own reasons for editing the list. It's also interesting, he inserts into the list things that you wouldn't expect to find, and I've preached on that before. If you're interested in hearing the story of Tamar, of Rahab, of Ruth, and of Bathsheba, you can go online and listen to those sermons. They're fascinating to hear the women's stories. but none of them are the kind of women that you would necessarily want to celebrate as, this was my great-great-great-great grandmother, the prostitute Rahab, or the adulteress Bathsheba, or the foreigner Ruth. So there's some intent in how he's put this list together. Let me just, in introduction, give you the three lists because there are three lists here. The first is a list of hopeful names. These are mostly sojourners. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. Jacob's 12 sons and those in exile in Egypt. They're a hopeful group because the nation of Israel has not yet become a nation of Israel. What we have is a family. We have Abraham's family. Abraham's son, Isaac. Isaac's son, Jacob. Jacob's name has changed to Israel. Israel has 12 sons who will become the 12 tribes. But we don't have a nation yet. We have a hopeful list of people to whom God has given a promise and who are sojourning, wandering in the wilderness somewhere, trusting that God is going to bring to fruition what he has promised. And that continues on right up until Jesse. So we get into the land and begin to be established in the land. But the next list begins with David. The second list is a list of royal kings. And Jesus has descended from those who once reigned from Jerusalem Those who were once buried in the tombs of the king. None of the descendants of David are buried in the tombs of the king when Jesus is born. There is no more tomb for the kings of Israel. There is no more throne and there is no more crown. But there was, there was a crown, there was a throne, there was a palace. Not every king's name is listed but the broad strokes are presented And those who know the story can follow the downward trajectory from the glorious days of David to the final faltering days of Jeconiah as the Babylonians are leading the people of Israel captive from the ruined walls of Jerusalem and the smoldering wreckage of what was once the temple. And there's a third list of names. Those are names in desolation. We know next to nothing about these men. doesn't seem like there is much noteworthy to write, except to know that they are the names of men who would have reigned if there was a kingdom to rule, but instead these men lived as exiles. These men lived under the yoke of other kings. These men lived in places like Babylon, in Medo-Persia. They lived under the Ptolemies of the Greek kingdom, and then finally under the iron grip of Rome. Shield TL, Zerubbabel, Abiod Eliakim, Aser, Zadok, Acum, Eliad, Eliezer, Mathan, Jacob, Joseph, husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. In a matter of 17 verses, Matthew has recounted the history of Israel. Maybe you don't understand, that's what he's doing. This is why Matthew 1, 1-17 matters, because he is giving to us the context. That this isn't the beginning of a story, but it is a genesis. It's a genesis, that's the word he uses right there at the beginning. The book of the genealogy, the book of the genesis, the book of creation, of a new creation of Jesus Christ. but it's in the middle of everything. He does even more than that. He declares that the subject of the account he's about to give us, that this book of Matthew, and really the rest of the books that follow after it, the 27 books of the New Testament, but this book of Matthew, this account is none other than the fulfillment of all that has come before it. That this man, Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth, is none other than the great eschatological king in the hope not only of Israel but the hope of all the world. Where does he make that sweeping claim? He makes that whole sweeping claim in one verse, in verse 1. And that's what I want to do for a few minutes today. I want to look at four things that come out of the first verse here in Matthew's Gospel. Look here, it says, the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ. Those are actually two separate titles. Jesus, who is the Christ, and then the son of David and the son of Abraham. Just so you know how we're going to unpack this, we're going to look at the meaning of that name Jesus. It describes the mission that he was given and it's specifically chosen. It wasn't Joseph and Mary going through a baby book going, well, what should we give him a name? We've got this child. They were given a name because the name describes the mission The title, the Christ, and what does it mean that he is called the Christ and why that should matter to us? And then these two questions, the son of David, the son of Abraham, why do those things matter? Jesus' name is Jesus' mission. Jesus' name in Aramaic is Jeshua. In Hebrew would have been Joshua. Perhaps the great Joshua was the one who led the people into the promised land, the one who took over from Moses. Thank you, all these names and I'll get confused today. But that name, Joshua, Jeshua, Jesus, all the same name. It was an incredibly popular name when Jesus was born. There were all sorts of little Jesus's running around and the meaning of the name Jesus or Jeshua or Joshua is the Lord is salvation or the Lord will save. The popularity of the name at the time of Jesus' birth may suggest the awareness of the Jewish people that they were in need of somebody to save them. Jehovah saves. The Lord is salvation. Let's name our son that, because we are so desperately in need of somebody to save us. We're pressed down, and we have been for about 500 years now. We've been living under the yoke of somebody. First Babylon, and then the Persians, and then the Greeks, and now Rome. When will it end? Somebody needs to save us. The names that the parents were giving to their children seem to reflect this need. Lord, save us. Save us from bondage. Save us from Roman rule. The choice of this name, the name of Jesus, is not chosen, as I said, by Joseph and Mary. The angel particularly gives this name. This is a name that God has designed should be given to this child that will be born. You shall call His name Jesus. Why? For He shall save His people from their sins. Jesus, Joshua, Jeshua, the Lord saves. You shall call His name Jesus for He shall save His people from their sins. It's His mission. It's what he's coming to do. Angel Gabriel says, this is the name that you're to give him. And yet. This becomes the great stumbling block for the Jewish leaders. You see, he is given the name Jesus, which means he will save his people, but he will save them from their sin. And that's not the highest priority that the Jews have at the time that Jesus is born. What they're looking for is self-rule. Who will break the yoke of Rome? Who will set us free? Who will let us govern ourselves? Who will re-establish the palace of David, and the crown of David, and the rule of David? Who will do these things? This is what they wanted. The thought that God would send them a suffering servant who would only save them from their sins or who would make this primary work to save them from their sin seemed weak to them. Does it seem weak to you? This is the promise that God gives that he has sent his Messiah, his Savior, his Jesus into the world and he has done it primarily to save you from your sin. Well, why my sin? I'm not that concerned about my sin. Don't you understand? I'm sinking in debt here. I can't afford the home that I'm living in. My bills keep coming. The debt collectors keep calling Christmases upon me. I can't buy presents for anybody. I know what's going to happen. It's getting worse and worse and worse. I need somebody to save me from debt, from financial ruin. This is what keeps me awake at night, not my sin. Feel that? Don't you understand? My relationships are failing. My spouse, we don't talk anymore. One in this room, the other in that room. One doing this, the other doing that. We barely talk over meals. We sleep in separate rooms. Things are coming apart at the seams. Doesn't God understand? My relationship is in shambles, is in ruins. Doesn't God care? Wouldn't He send me a Savior to save my relationship? What? My sins? But my body is failing. I take a handful of prescription pills. I got so many that they've got to put them together in a little pop pack at the pharmacy so I can keep track of them. And they don't seem to be doing anything. I'm getting worse and worse, weaker and weaker. My sight, my hearing, my teeth are coming out. I can't taste anything. I can't smell anything. I can't sleep at night. I can't stay awake during the day. My body is failing. I'm dying. God has sent a savior to save me from my sin. And yet that is exactly the message of the gospel that God has sent a Jesus, the Lord will save, and said primarily from your sin. Jesus himself actually says this, for what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? See it's a matter of scope. I was thinking about this as I came out today. You remember how hard particular times in your life might have been? For me, grade 7 and 8. I was just an awkward kid, caught between phases and stages and there was nothing that could really be done about that. I just couldn't be really good looking. I certainly wasn't going to be good at sports. I could play the piano pretty good. And if I had looked at that whole thing as my whole life, it wouldn't have been a very good one. And yet, that's only a little snippet. Now expand that and understand. God is saying to you that there's only one thing in this world that is eternal. That is your soul. And I have sent a savior to deal with your sin because your sin is going to cut you off from God and keep you from him and send you into a place where you would not want to go for eternity. And you're concerned about the next 50 years? The next 20 years? He says, I'm not unconcerned about that, but I'm primarily concerned for your sin. Jesus comes to save us from our sin. That's the name of Jesus. The Lord will save. I want to turn over now and look at that next name, the name Christ. This is the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ. You know, very often we hear Jesus Christ or Christ Jesus, so much so that you might think that that was Jesus last name. People don't realize how shocking this sort of statement would have been to the Jewish establishment when Matthew wrote his book. This is the genealogy or the book of the genealogy of Jesus the Christ. You see, that word Christ comes from the Hebrew word Messiah. In Hebrew, Messiah. In Greek, Christ. And it means anointed one. The Jews anointed their kings, David was anointed. They anointed their prophets, Aaron was anointed and all his sons afterwards. And many of their kings, priests, and they anointed many of their prophets. And so this title of Christ or Messiah came to mean so much more than anointed. There was never intended to be a dynastic line of messiahs, that there's going to be a whole bunch of messiahs. Or that there's going to be a whole bunch of Christs, like there's a whole bunch of Caesars. There's going to be one Christ. The whole of the Old Testament, 39 books, keeps pointing forward to the fact that God is going to send this king, and that they're waiting for the king, and he is the great eschatological king. That huge word that I keep using means the end of time king. He is the forever king. He is the one that Israel is waiting for. He is the fulfillment of all of these promises. And Matthew is so bold as to say, this Jesus, who is born in Nazareth, the son of a carpenter, he is the great eschatological king that we have been waiting for. He is the final king. You see, the Jews were partly right in their expectation. But they didn't fully comprehend the fact that not only would he come as king, but he would also come as prophet and priest. Matthew's claiming Jesus is the great king means that he's claiming he's going to rule forever. So then we get two other things, the son of David, the son of Abraham. First of all, the son of David. These two names are especially important. They're huge in the history of Israel, right? We know that. Abraham, David. But the reason that they're huge, that they're so significant in the history of Israel is not just because of who they were or what they did, but because to them God gave a covenant. A covenant is more than a promise. A covenant is a bond that cannot be broken and is especially based on the one who makes it, on his strength, his power, his ability to fulfill that promise is a sure and certain thing. And to both David and Abraham, God gave a covenant and this is clearly in Matthew's mind as he says, this is Jesus the Christ who is son of David, son of Abraham. The covenant to David is recorded in a couple places, in 2 Samuel 7, and then again in 1 Chronicles 17, 11-14. Here's basically how it goes, this covenant that is given to David. It happens upon this occasion, David has established his palace, and he looks out the window and he sees the tabernacle, which is the tent that Moses put together, and in that tabernacle is the Ark of the Covenant. And he says to himself, here am I, King of Israel, having consolidated power and built myself a temple, a palace, and God's Ark is in a tent. I will build for him a temple and right away Nathan the prophet says hey that sounds like a great plan to me but Nathan goes home and that night the Lord speaks to him and says go back to David and say this to him you shall not build a house for me but I will build a house for you there's an intentional playing on words when the Lord says to David your son will establish a house for me but I am going to establish your house and here in 2nd Samuel chapter 7 verse 12 we get to the heart of it He says, when your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you and you shall come from, who shall come from your body and I will establish his kingdom. and he shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever." Now, is God talking about Solomon? Well, that's one way that you could read it, but that's not the way that the Jews ultimately read it, nor the way that David ultimately understood it, nor the way that we should understand it. You see, Solomon came along after him and built that house, but the promise to David is that there will be one who comes after you who shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. And what we know is that at the end of Solomon's reign the kingdom divided in two and from there it just continued to decline and decline and decline. And so the Jews continue to look at this Davidic covenant and they say God is going to one day send a son of David who will reign on his throne forever. He will be an eternal king. I want you to note that David is a nothing. God reaches down and grabs the last son of Jesse out of the sheep herding fields and raises him up and makes him king and says, here's a covenant that I give to you and the covenant is that you will have a descendant who will reign on your throne forever and he will establish my house. That's the covenant to David. And so it is that Matthew can say to us, this one who is born, Jesus, who is the Christ, is the son of David, which means the covenant to David, the promise to David, the promise that he would have an eternal king rule on his throne, that's Jesus. That's what Matthew says. laying claim to the promise to David. He's the fulfillment and the satisfaction of the entire Davidic covenant. It all rests on him. There will not come along another king after Jesus who will receive the Davidic covenant. He is the termination of the Davidic covenant. One more. The covenant with Abraham precedes the one given to David by 800 years. It's on the basis of the Abrahamic covenant that the people of God exist at all, the people of Israel. Because God had said to Abraham, who was not a Jew, who was not circumcised, did not know any of the laws, didn't even get the laws. The laws came 430 years after Abraham to Moses. He said, Abraham, go from the land that I will show you and I will make of you a great nation. Here it is, Genesis chapter 12, verse 1 to 3. Now the Lord said to Abram, go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you and I will make of you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and him who dishonors you I will curse and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Abraham goes down there and he doesn't immediately become a great nation. In fact, you know the story, he doesn't have a son at all for 25 years. He's already an old man when God appears to him and he's an older man when he gets down there. I don't know how old you are but he was 75 when the second word came to him and the second word comes to him and says in chapter 15 of Genesis, to your offspring I give this land from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates. And he has to wait for a while longer before God finally, when he's a hundred years old, gives to him his son Isaac. But here's the interesting thing. Isaac is in the line of Abraham, but Isaac is not the fulfillment of the ultimate promise. The ultimate promise, the ultimate offspring of Abraham, Matthew is claiming and Paul will claim later in Galatians chapter 3, that there's only one offspring to whom this covenant is given. And that offspring is not Isaac, and it's not Jacob, and it's not Judah, and it's not Joseph, and it's not any of those descendants. It's not David or Solomon. No. This is the one to whom God makes the promise to Abraham is none other than Jesus, who is the Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham. To Him, the Abrahamic covenant is given. And He is, just as He is the fulfillment of the entire covenant to David, and that there is no further fulfillment to come, it terminates on Jesus Christ. Matthew is saying the entire Abrahamic covenant terminates with Jesus Christ. It finds its completion and its fulfillment in Him. And so all the blessings that are given to Abraham come to Jesus Christ and he becomes the dispenser of all blessings. Here's what Paul said in Galatians 3.15, To give a human example, brothers, even when a man made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, and to his offsprings, plural, referring to many but referring to one and to your offspring who is Christ. What does all this mean? Lots of little historic notes here. Jesus, God will save, Christ, great eschatological king, son of David, eternal king who will rule forever, son of Abraham, through you all nations of the world will be blessed. And there we, to Abraham, is given that promise that he will have a descendants more numerous than the stars in the heaven or the sand on the seashore. If it all comes in and terminates, ends, lands on Christ, if Christ is the fulfillment of the covenant of Abraham and the covenant of David, what that means is that the entire Old Testament points to Jesus. and says, this is the plan. And that everything that comes after that points back to Jesus and says Christmas, the context of Christmas, is that this is the moment of God's great eschatological redemption, not only of the Jews, but of the world. And so I close with these final thoughts. With these opening words of the New Testament, it signals a new creation, a new Genesis, no less significant than the first one. And that it is intended to bring it to completion and fulfillment, all the promises in the Old Testament in Christ. All the people of God are therefore Jesus' people. All those that came before are Jesus' people. All those who come after are Jesus' people. If you're God's people, if you receive the promises of God, it's through Jesus that they are mediated. There is no other way to get the promises that God has made than to get them through Jesus Christ. Is that true? Well, Matthew says so, but what does Jesus say? Here's what Jesus has to say, John chapter 5 verse 46, speaking to the Pharisees. He says, if you believe Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote off me. John chapter 8, verse 56, again, speaking to the Pharisees, Jesus says, Your father, Abraham, rejoiced that he would see my day. He sought and was glad. And they say to him, How can Abraham rejoice to see your day? You're not even 50 years old. And he says to them, Before Abraham was, I am. All right, you understand what the words I am mean? Matthew chapter 12, verse 6, Jesus again to the Pharisees, I tell you something greater than the temple is here. And he points to himself. Matthew 12, 41 and 42. He says something greater than the prophet Jonah is here. Something greater than Solomon is here. Jesus knows himself. And he says, it's all coming to me. There is nothing in the Old Testament that points past Jesus, that points away from Jesus. It all points to Jesus. He's the mediator of all of the blessings. Matthew chapter 5 verse 17 and 18. Do not think I have come to abolish the law. I have not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota or a dot will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Jesus points to himself and says, the law and the prophets? It's me. Luke chapter 24, 27, beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them all the things the scriptures say concerning himself. The writer to Hebrews says to us in Hebrews 3, 3, Jesus has been counted of more glory than Moses, as much more glory as the builder of the house has more honor than the house itself. Close with two more verses for you to think about. Paul doesn't hesitate to declare to us that every promise that God has made finds its fulfillment in Jesus. That those who belong to Jesus have become co-heirs with Jesus, that the land promises of the Old Testament will ultimately be met in him when he gives to him not just a little strip by Palestine, but the new heavens and the new earth as a superabundant inheritance. In 2 Corinthians 1.20, Paul writes and says this, for all the promises of God find their yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our amen to God for his glory. All the promises of God find their amen in Christ. And since Christ did what we were powerless to do, keeping the whole law, thus satisfying the whole requirement upon man and offering himself as a sacrifice for our sin, thus erasing the penalty of the law against us, Paul is able to write in Romans 10 for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. It doesn't just mean the end as if it's concluded, but the terminus, the point to which it was leading everything in the law, everything in the prophets, everything in the promise, every covenant, everything in the Old Testament. Jesus Christ is Israel. The fulfillment of it all. That's the context of Christmas. And so it is that we sing and sing with purpose. Joy to the world, the Lord has come. Let earth receive her King. Let every heart prepare Him room. And heaven and earth rejoice. Father, Lord, I pray that you might help us to understand the riches of this gift that you give us in the gift of your Son. Father, to the one who does not know salvation and what it is to be saved from their sin, to have the shame and the guilt wiped away, you have sent Jesus, the Lord saves, who comes to save us from our sins. To those who are powerless, you have sent your Christ, the King, King Jesus to rule. And you have fulfilled and satisfied in Him, Lord, all the promises that you might be shown to be true and that He might be shown to be the mediator and the one who dispenses to us every gift of God. Lord, I pray that we might come in faith and trust and our hope set upon Him and Him alone. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.