Everyone comes from a family. Of course, we didn’t drop from heaven. Even Jesus Christ himself has an earthly family, he was born which is the focus of the season.
Now our roots or family tree can be traced through our grandparents, great grandparents, aunties, uncles. Recently I got to learn of other descriptions like grand aunt/uncle. Not only can our roots be traced, but in tracing our roots, many things can be said about the family one comes from.
You can be identified as coming from a royal family or a family of doctors or politicians or what have you. Every family has something unique about it. And often, certain things about us can be attributed to the family we come from.
When Matthew opened his gospel with the words “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ” what he was doing was pointing us to the family root—the lineage— of Jesus Christ. The word genealogy in the original is the word, Genesis. Matthew, therefore, is telling us of the records of the beginning of Jesus Christ. That raises eyebrows, doesn’t it?
We may ask, has there been a time Jesus never existed? Jesus, the 2nd person of the Trinity has always existed. John tells us in the opening words of his gospel that “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Clearly, therefore, there has never been a time Jesus never existed.
Jesus’ Humanity
The point of all these is to bring out that, the genealogy of Jesus as Matthew records is not to point out the beginning of the existence of Jesus. But rather to point out the beginning of his Human Existence. In Christian theology, Jesus is presented as fully human and fully God, what is called the Hypostatic union. Jesus is 100% a human being and 100% God. In these Scriptures, we indeed see clearly these represented. Jesus was born. He was born by the Holy Spirit: (v.18).
In this genealogy, also, we see a
Jesus A Fulfilment Of Old Testament Prophecy
When Matthew identified Jesus Christ as the Son of David, the son of Abraham, he was driving at something profound. Matthew’s gospel was directed towards a Jewish audience and so the things he said will as we say strike a chord. Now the main purpose of Matthew to his Jewish audience is to point out to the Jewish that God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ. And consistently as you read on, over and over, Matthew points out how Christ is the fulfilment of Old Testament Prophecy (Matthew 1: 22, 2:5; 2:15, 2:17).
On and on, Matthew points to fulfilled prophecies in Christ.
Now there are two important promises God made that Matthew points out. They are promises made under a Covenant with Abraham and David. These promises Matthew says have been fulfilled in Christ when he referred to Jesus as Son of Abraham, Son of David.
Son Of Abraham
In Genesis 12, God called Abraham and made a covenant with him spelling out blessings in that covenant (Genesis 12:1-3). This is popularly called The Call of Abraham. And note how Abraham has no hand in this covenant per se.
It was God who called him (he didn’t go seeking for God)
It was God who issued the terms and the blessings.
The ultimate blessings in this covenant are that in Abraham, a universal blessing is pronounced. This covenant will later be “signed” or ratified as they say in legal terms in Genesis 15. Then again in Genesis 17, the covenant was sealed with the covenant of circumcision. Now from reading the covenants, the blessing of Abraham to the nations was promised through his offspring. At a point, Abraham was bothered because he had no child. However, God assured him his own offspring will be his heir.
Fast Forward to the New Testament, Paul categorically tells us that the offspring through whom this blessing was promised is Jesus Christ:
Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings, referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring” who is Christ (Galatians 3:16).
This blessing, Paul is emphatic comes by faith ( So that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. V.14 ). When Matthew, therefore, referred to Jesus as the Son of Abraham, he points back to the promises made to Abraham. And he says these promises have been fulfilled in Christ. What Paul explains to a Gentile audience, Matthew just states without explanation. He was speaking to a Jewish audience and they will immediately get it.
Christ is the offspring of Abraham promised. Through whom the promises of God to Abraham has been fulfilled. Sadly, the blessing of Abraham has been interpreted as material wealth which is not what the Scriptures speak at all of. Clearly, the blessings of Abraham in the context of Paul’s explanation is salvation.
Son Of David
David was also promised an everlasting Kingdom with his offspring who will reign over his kingdom forever (2 Samuel 7:12-16). The King in this everlasting kingdom is Jesus Christ; the anointed one. The name Jesus Christ, therefore, is not Jesus’ first name and Surname. The name Christ is a title; “Christos”—the Anointed One. In biblical days, Kings were anointed with oil. And Jesus Christ is that King who will sit on the throne of David forever.
When you consider the genealogy, the list contains the names of Kings of Israel (v.6 (David the King). Then a list of Kings follows Solomon, Rehoboam, Abijah, Jehosaphat etc…. These are all Kings. Christ lineage, therefore, is a Royal lineage.
He is the king promised:
The LORD swore to David a sure oath from which he will not turn back: One of the sons of your body I will set on your throne (Psalm 132:11).
Jesus Identifies With Our Sinfulness
One of the things we notice clearly in the genealogy is that it is a list of sinners. There is none righteous in that list. From Abraham to the last person on the list are all sinners. Also, there are some names humanly speaking, you would not want them to be associated with the Saviour: Tamah and Judah (Genesis 38), Rahab and Ruth.
But God in his mercies traces the lineage of the Saviour even through sinners. This is wonderful. God has displayed his love for us by identifying with sinful humanity.
Amen
Facebook Comments