Hope through the Deportation (Matthew 1:12-17)
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
I’m not sure about you, but part of my Christmas season for years has involved watching certain Christmas movies on a yearly basis.
Now, many of these movies are watched in fun. Jesus indeed is the reason for the season. And we should keep that at the heart of Christmas.
At the same time, there is nothing wrong with us as Christians with enjoying the fun festivities and traditions of Christmas either, such as watching some of these fun movies.
But of three of the yearly movies, there are characters that are just anti-Christmas to the core as part of the story.
There is the Grinch who stole Christmas who despises Christmas. There is then Mr. Scrooge who is summed up with Ba-Humbug. And then from It’s A Wonderful Life, there is Mr. Potter.
Last Christmas I did a poll on Twitter. I asked the question who of these three, the Grinch, Mr. Scrooge, Mr. Potter, or other is the worst Christmas villain there is?
The results were overwhelmingly in favor of Mr. Potter. Why? Well because no matter how vile and mean and evil the Grinch and Mr. Scrooge were, they were met in their lowliness and were able to be transformed by acts of kindness. Kindness from Cindy Lou Who and kindness from the Christmas Spirits.
Mr. Potter on the other hand failed to be softened, remaining the cruelest of Christmas villains.
And while we are not here this morning to talk about Christmas villains, we are here to talk about us being met in our own lowliness just like Mr. Scrooge and the Grinch. But not by a little girl or Christmas Spirits, but by God’s kindness in the midst of his faithfulness as we continue our study in the book of Matthew in Matthew 1:12-17. You can find our passage this morning on page #959.
Now for the last two weeks we have been working our way through this opening genealogy of Jesus. And this morning we come to the final section of that genealogy. These three sections of genealogy to start Matthew’s gospel help us begin to recognize that Jesus truly is the summit of God’s story.
Everything in the Bible, God’s story of redemption, centers on Jesus. For we have seen how Jesus is God’s fulfillment to the promises to Abraham, that a blessing would come to the nations. How Jesus blesses all the families of the earth in that he is saving those from every tongue and tribe and nation.
We saw just last week how Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promises to David, that he is God’s forever king to sit on the throne and rule God’s people forever. God’s people being not just those of Israel, but every person who has submitted themselves to the rule of Christ as King in turning from their sin back to God through repentance.
Jesus was not plan B, he has always been God’s Plan A for redeeming a people to himself.
And so, it is then important for us to have slowed down and have seen how Genesis to Malachi has been preparing us for the coming of God’s beloved Son, Jesus. A Son who is the Christ, the Messiah who was long foretold. A Son who would take away the sins of the world and bring a people back to himself.
It is this Jesus who we continue to look at this morning as we turn our attention to Matthew 1:12-17.
Therefore, let us hear the word of the LORD this morning, from Matthew 1:12-17.
If I am doing this whole preaching thing correctly in laboring to draw out the main idea of our passage and working to communicate that as the main idea of our sermon text, then here is what I think is the main idea of Matthew 1:12-17:
Main Idea:
Through the darkness of exile, hope bursts forth in the arrival of God’s anointed one.
Now, before I give the points this morning, I typically try and weave application throughout these points. But today, that’s not going to happen. The application will come in our final point. That being said, here are our three points this morning: (1) Hope Fades, (2) Hope Arrives, and (3) Hope Applied.
Point#1: Hope Fades
Point#1: Hope Fades
Imagine being an Israelite living in the days of exile. Remembering God’s promise to David, that one was going to come and sit on his throne forever. But then seeing that throne taken away with the deportation of the people of Israel into foreign lands under foreign kings. Hope was had, but then seems to be taken away.
Now sure, God had told the people of Israel that a remnant would be spared. That is a small group would continue through the deportation, through the exile. But in the midst of it, it was difficult for the people to remember this.
Even as we look at this third section of the genealogy, hope is grim. For we leave Matthew 1:11 reading….…
The kingdom is stripped away from Jechoniah and his brothers. King Nebuchadnezzar in conquering Judah, placed the brothers of Jechoniah to oversee the land, but under his rule, not their own.
Despite this, the genealogy continues from Jechoniah.
12 And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,
Shealtiel carries on the lineage of Jechoniah, but we know nothing more about him. Zerubbabel on the other hand is one who is part of those who return from exile. We read of him in both the book of Ezra and in the book of Haggai. Here is what is said of Zerubbabel:
2 Then arose Jeshua the son of Jozadak, with his fellow priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel with his kinsmen, and they built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the Law of Moses the man of God.
2 Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak arose and began to rebuild the house of God that is in Jerusalem, and the prophets of God were with them, supporting them.
1 In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest:
12 Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him. And the people feared the Lord.
14 And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. And they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God,
2 “Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to all the remnant of the people, and say,
23 On that day, declares the Lord of hosts, I will take you, O Zerubbabel my servant, the son of Shealtiel, declares the Lord, and make you like a signet ring, for I have chosen you, declares the Lord of hosts.”
This Zerubbabel was one called by God, who ended up being a governor in Judah, who God spoke with, who obeyed God’s voice, and who assisted to build a new altar and house for the LORD following their exile, because the first had been destroyed in the deportation. But this Zerubbabel was not King, he was not on the throne of David. A godly man indeed, but the hope of Israel was in God’s promise to David, that one would sit on the throne forever.
And the line that continues from Zerubbabel onward brings no hope of a King. In fact, we go from Zerubbabel here in knowing that he was chosen by God, one who obeyed and served God to generations of faceless names.
13 and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor,
There is not a mention of Abiud, Eliakim, or Azor in any other part of Scripture, besides in the genealogy of Christ. That trend continues on too.
14 and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud,
Azor, Zadok, Achim, and Eliud too are names without any history tied to them, outside of the genealogy here. There are no accounts of them taking the throne or anything.
15 and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob,
Eleazar, Matthan, and Jacob bring no more hope to the nation of Israel. In fact, all of these names would have been forgotten in history had it not been for the records of genealogy, particularly that of Matthew and Luke in their genealogy accounts.
Up to this point in the genealogy following the deportation of Israel, hope was grim, it was gloomy, it was discouraging. Because the line of David the king had led not to a forever king at this point. It had led to a loss of the throne altogether and a people in lowliness. Though the deportation had ended, the family line of David had been cut down.
Listen to how Charles Spurgeon describes the stump of Jesse:
The Gospel of the Kingdom: A Commentary on the Book of Matthew (Chapter 1:1–17: The Pedigree of the King)
With one or two exceptions these are names of persons of little or no note. The later ones were persons altogether obscure and insignificant.
All that remained of the once strong and mighty kingdom of David was no more than that of a stump. A stump of Jesse.
And yet out of that stump, a great promise was made:
1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
The stump is seen visible here in this third part of the genealogy of Jesus. The stump of Jesse’s line. Hope was grim, yet the hope was that one day a shoot would burst forth from the stump and would come forth and bear fruit. That Isaiah’s words would come true.
And that is what makes this genealogy so remarkable, for the shoot has come! The grim hope has arrived at Christmas in the coming of Jesus! That is now where we turn with our second point this morning.
Point #2: Hope Arrives
Point #2: Hope Arrives
The stump of Jesse brings us up to Jacob.
16 and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.
Out of the stump of Jesse arises a shoot, the shoot of God’s long promised anointed one. One who is the long promised Messiah who would deliver God’s people and take the throne and sit on it forever.
Israel’s forever king had come, but notice his start. It was not the birth of a noble one, but to a virgin promised to a carpenter. The shoot of Jesse does not arrive as one appearing as a conquering king, but of a lowly servant.
Spurgeon adds to this in saying:
The Gospel of the Kingdom: A Commentary on the Book of Matthew (Chapter 1:1–17: The Pedigree of the King)
Our Lord was “a root out of dry ground”; a shoot from the withered stem of Jesse. He set small store by earthly greatness. He must needs be of human race; but he comes to a family which was of low estate, and there finds his reputed father, Joseph, a carpenter of Nazareth. He is the poor man’s King.
The promised Christ has come at last, one born in the line of David and the line of Abraham. This Jesus who Matthew prepares us to learn about is first proven here to be in the line of these two giants in Israel history, and more importantly tied to them as it will be shown that he is the fulfillment of all that is promised to them.
In fact, this is why what comes next is so important.
17 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.
From Abraham to David from David to the deportation, from the deportation to the Christ, 3 sets of 14 generations.
Now, if you count up the names, you do not get 42 people which is what 3 x 14 equals. You get 40 names. Nor, if you were to trace the name of everyone in the line of Jesus get this symmetrical lineage. In fact, we know from the books of Kings and Chronicles that at least 3 kings were left out of the genealogy here for reasons unknown to us.
Because of this oddity, there has been debate as to why Matthew emphasized this 3 sets of 14, especially given the math behind it. And here are a few of these debates:
First, one of the more popular thoughts is that 14 is used here because the name David in Hebrew with its three consonant letters equals 14. That’s possible, but here is the thing, while Matthew’s readers were of Jewish background, they would have been reading Matthew in Greek and this possibly would not have connected. Therefore this is not something that we should think that Matthew intended us to pick up on.
A second thought that exists out there is that here we have 7 doubled in the 14 generations, and then this total giving us 6 sevens. Seven being a signaling number of completion, and then Jesus fulfilling it all and completing the sequence at 7 sevens.
Again, while possible, this is a stretch. We should not get so much caught up in the number 14.
A third thought is the thought of the 40 names being significant. For there are 40 actual names mentioned, a few in Matthew’s numbering were counted twice. Listen how St. Augustine ties to this idea of 40 being significant.
That this number “forty” is a sign of that laborious period in which, under the discipline of Christ the King, we have to fight against the devil is also indicated by the fact that both the law and the prophets solemnized a fast of forty days—that is to say, a humbling of the soul—in the person of Moses and Elias, who fasted each for a space of forty days.
But with all of these various thoughts on verse 17 and this three sets of 14, how are we supposed to understand this? Is it is really significant?
I think we are helped here by R.T. France:
The Gospel of Matthew (A. The “Book of Origin” of the Messiah (1:1–17))
The “book of orgin” thus holds many puzzles, both as to its intended scope and as to how Matthew has arrived at his list of names and its pattern. But its main aim is clear enough: to locate Jesus within the story of God’s people, as its intended climax, and to do it with a special focus on the Davidic monarchy as the proper context for a theological understanding of the role of the person whom Matthew, more than the other gospel writers, will delight to refer to not only as “Messiah” but also more specifically as “Son of David.”
Matthew’s genealogy is not about figuring out the 14 as much as signaling to us that Jesus is the center of the story. He is the center of Matthew’s gospel, but not just the gospel, Jesus is the center of God’s entire story of redemption. From Genesis to Revelation, there is one grand story, and it centers on the person and work of Jesus. Jesus who is the Son of David, the Son of Abraham, the Son of God!
The Bible is not just another story. It is not just an exciting story. It’s the story of the one who God has sent to overturn the fall that we read about in Genesis 3. Every promise of deliverance, every hope centers on this one hero of the Bible, Jesus!
Listen how Greg Gilbert, an author, theologian, pastor, and one who has been very influential on my life puts it:
Greg Gilbert The Story of Redemption Bible, p.v
The promises are about him; the crown has been forged for his head; the prophets have spoken about him. As the last prophet himself cried out, “Behold!…This is he” (John 1:29-30).
Matthew here in the genealogy traces the family lines of Abraham and David and arrives at the Christ, this Jesus to show that he is the true and rightful fulfillment of all of these promises.
But not only is Jesus the fulfillment, this Jesus is the one who begins to reverse the fall.
Listen to what Daniel Doriani puts this
Matthew–Luke Comment
the structure of the genealogy marks the deportation as the end of the Davidic kingship, an end that Jesus reversed, thereby beginning the restoration of Israel.
The kingship had ended, but Jesus restores it. The throne was empty and yet Jesus has come, born of a lowly line, born of woman, lived a humble and obedient life, further humbled himself to the point of death on a cross, rose defeating the curse of sin and death, and ascended to glory to be seated next to the Father on the throne forever.
Hope arrives at Christmas in the arrival of this Jesus, the one who is called the Christ. But how does this hope work itself out in the here and now for us?
Point #3: Hope Applied
Point #3: Hope Applied
This hope isn’t just something that has come and is behind us. This hope has ongoing implications for us here today! It is to constantly be changing us.
The hope of the gospel isn’t good news only in the day we believe, its good news for us day in and day out! But how?
For starters, the hope we see here in Matthew 1:12-17 is that in the midst of when hope seems grim, we can trust God who is faithful to bring about his promised hope.
Israel here had a grim hope following the deportation, and yet God was faithful, he was faithful to bring one who would fulfill his promises to David and to Abraham. He was faithful to bring about one who would ascend to the throne of Israel, not as an ordinary king, but the Messiah, the Anointed King and lead God’s people towards the gates of God’s heavenly kingdom. And nothing, absolutely nothing will stop this plan! The very God who was faithful to make this plan who has been faithful to carry it out is the same God who will faithfully see it through until its completion.
Let these words from J.C. Ryle move us:
Expository Thoughts on Matthew Matthew 1:1–17: The Genealogy of Christ
Thoughtless and ungodly people should remember this lesson, and be afraid. Whatever they may think, God will keep His word. If they repent not, they will surely perish.—True Christians should remember this lesson, and take comfort. Their Father in heaven will be true to all His engagements. He has said, that He will save all believers in Christ. If He has said it, He will certainly do it. “He is not a man that He should lie.” “He abideth faithful: He can not deny Himself.” (2 Tim. 2:13.)
Friend, if you have yet to believe, then the coming of God’s Anointed King should cause you to tremble with fear. For as it stands now, you remain an enemy of God’s King, of this King Jesus. And there will be no stopping God’s advancement of his kingdom. Your only hope is to turn from your allegiance to self and sin and turn to God through faith in Jesus. Repent from your sin and believe today, friend. See that God’s faithful plan has come in Jesus and believe this good news!
A second application for us is to remember that we have a king who identifies with the lowly. For as we saw earlier from Spurgeon, Jesus is the poor man’s king.
Jesus was born of Mary who was married to Joseph, a lowly carpenter. Jesus came through a line of kings and patriarchs, but after the deportation, his family line is those who are lowly.
Friends, this is good news for us! For Jesus does not reject us in our lowly state. In fact, he came to identify with us in our lowliness that he might lift us out of our poverty and make us rich in him.
He has come to deliver us from the curse of the law and pay our ransom, and then makes us rich in calling us brothers and fellow heirs with him of the Kingdom of God!
No matter how weak and unstable you are. No matter how barren and waiting you are. No matter how bitter and broken you are. No matter how guilty and hiding you are. Jesus has come to meet you in your lowliness and rescue you. If you will but come and rest in him.
Come to him all who are weary and heavy laden and he will give you rest! Come to him and see his perfect love that has been displayed at Christmas in the birth of our Savior!
And this invitation to come, its not just for those who have yet to believe, but its not less. The invitation Jesus offers to come in our lowness is for all of us, whether we have been walking with Jesus and feel as if we are struggling, we are still invited to come to him, to come back to him and find his promised rest.
It is an invitation to those too who have yet to believe. Who have yet to have ever come to Jesus.
Thirdly, a bible reading application. Church, as we draw near to the close of 2023 and people begin to make plans for 2024, make one of those to read the Bible regularly. But not just to read it in a way of looking for people of good character, read it with Jesus being the hero of the story.
Read the Bible with Jesus lenses on; be looking for him on every page of the Bible as he is the climax of the entire story.
To quote a song that was used in my public school Bible History class in helping memorize the Bible:
It’s one big book, with 66 parts.
And in that one big book there is one climax and one hero, Jesus. So read the Bible in a manner that keeps Jesus where he belongs, the center of the story.
To take this further, any and all teachers of God’s word, you further must labor to keep Jesus as the center of the story in your teaching. For the Bible is put together in this way, and we must be faithful to unfold this for others.
And elders, we above all must guard the church, to shepherd the church to model and lead in this same manner!
Brothers and sisters in Christ, friends, hope has arrived at Christmas in God’s Anointed One having come in the person of Jesus! Let us go and live in light of this hope!
Let’s pray.