Jesus Pt. 1

My name is Kenneth Padgett and this is The Story of God Podcast, presented by Wolfbane Books.

————————————————————————————————

Hello everyone, I wanted to say at the outset that if there was ever an episode where you might want to have a Bible in front of you, this is it. You can definitely just listen, but my recommendation would be to follow along in the Bible is you cam. Alright, on to the episode.

From the beginning God has desired to dwell with His people. We have seen that this is in fact the goal of creation. Remember, God’s goal in creating the world was a global garden city where he will dwell in the midst of His people as an everlasting source of light and life. But in the last episode we saw that everything was once again falling apart. But now, finally, we are going to hear about the hero of the story, who he is, and what he’s doing to restore God’s good goal for the world.

I thought we might start in the first sentence of the New Testament. A sentence that is exploding with theological wonder: Matthew 1:1. “The book of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” The New Testament doesn’t ease you into an elevated theology of the person of Jesus. You don’t need to guess how significant he is. Matthew tells us with his first words. Perhaps you’re familiar with how John 1 is very similar to Genesis 1 (both start with In the Beginning), well Matthew 1 also takes its readers to Genesis. In fact the word “Genesis” is in Matthew 1. The first words are Βίβλος γενέσεως. Βίβλος is a Greek word that means book (where we get the term Bible from) and γενέσεως is a Greek word that means “beginning.” Genesis is just an anglicized pronunciation of γενέσεως. In fact, outside of Matthew 1:1 the phrase “Βίβλος γενέσεως” is found only in the early chapters of Genesis. The first two words of the NT should take your mind to the beginning of all things, and a cosmic significance should be infused in the imagination of the reader as they move forward. Yes, the word γενέσεως can be translated as genealogy, but I don’t want us to miss what readers of the original languages can plainly see. This is a book of beginnings, of new beginnings. So this is the book of the genesis, the beginning, the origin, or the genealogy of Jesus, the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Every weekday morning my family sits down at the table and we have what we call Bible Time, I know, its not a super clever name, but it works for us. I always begin Bible Time with a series of questions to help orient our theological imaginations to better listen to and the receive the words of God. These questions are big, meta questions. Like, What is the Bible? Or What is the goal of creation? Or Why did God call Abraham? The answer to these questions are something like a lens we look through to read the text well. How can we read the Old Testament (the majority of the Bible) well without remembering why we’re tracing the history of these particular people? We can only evaluate their failings and success in light of their purpose, and that purpose in inextricably linked to their father, Abraham. Do you remember why God called Abraham? Abraham was a confused wilderness wanderer – a descendant of those who had been scattered at Bavel (remember that Bavel is the Hebrew word for Babel/Babel/ Babylon). God wasn’t going to let his story end in tragedy, so he launched his great plan of redemption when he called this wilderness wanderer. The call of Abraham is a direct response to Bavel and all the rebellion that had let to it. In Abraham, God is going to reverse the curses of Gen. 3-11, he is going to Bless the families of the earth by calling them back into his presence. THIS is why we are following the story of Abraham’s family throughout the OT. We are looking for the reversal of Bavel, the redemption of the nations through the offspring of Abraham. And while their are glorious moments of faithfulness and blessings, the story of the OT fades to black without that great hope becoming a reality. Not only are the nations still scattered, Abraham’s descendants are themselves exiled in the east.

Another meta question that comes up through the story is this – Who, and where, is the son promised to David in 2 Sam 7? We discussed this promised son in Ep 6. David desired to make a great house for YHWH, a temple in the midst of the people, but YHWH turned this moment around on David and made a promise that He would in fact make David’s house great. This would be in the form of a mighty King - one of King David’s sons - who would rule on an everlasting throne. His kingship would be established forever. And indeed He would be the one who would build the Temple of God. The arrival of this royal figure, became the hope of the nation, and a theology of the messiah began to take shape. A King was coming. But, David’s sons - one after the other - were failures. Yes, Solomon was indeed a partial fulfilment of this promise. He built the temple, and he is noted as the most glorious of the Davidic kings, and his rule represents the height of Israel’s stature as a nation, but Solomon was a lost and conflicted soul. He fell into idolatry and immorality, notions of him being the everlasting king came to a halt when the wages of sin were paid out. Eventually the nation is ripped apart in civil war, plagued by rebellion and idolatry, and then the two factions are carted off into exile. The Davidic line of kings is lost and never re-established. The people of God once again find themselves in Bavel. Now, throughout this tragic story there were prophetic utterances that God was going to end the exile, that he was going to establish the messiah on the throne of David, and that the nations would stream into Jerusalem, to know the eternal King of Zion. But 400 years of silence can be as heartbreaking and hope-draining as 400 years in slavery.

This brings us back to Matthew 1:1. Who is this book about? Jesus the Messiah, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham! Can you hear the wonder of this sentence? The first sentence of the NT is an exile-ending trumpet blast that echoes around the globe and through the halls of history. Matthew can’t wait to share the good news of Jesus! Jesus is the royal son of David, that long awaited messiah! He’s the offspring of Abraham who has come to gather up the nations for blessing! He is the Saving King of Israel and indeed the the Saving King of the whole world! The covenants God made with Abraham and David are two massive pillars that hold together the Story of God. And Jesus fulfills both promises! You’ll notice that in The Story of God with Us (and in all of our Story of God books), we always structure our retelling of the Old Testament around these two covenants.

This declaration of Jesus’ saving Kingship is followed by a genealogy. There is SO much that can be said about Matthew 1, but I must resist it here. Let me just say that this genealogy is structured to show that Jesus is the exile-ending King. It moves from Abraham to King David, from King David to Babylonian exile, and from Exile to King Jesus. That’s the movement of the story. The genealogy is three sets of 14 generations. Why does Matthew bring this up? In Hebrew, there are no characters for numbers, so they used letters to double as numbers. Matthew is pointing out the repetition of 14 for a reason. If you add the numerical value of David’s name together you get 14. Jesus’ everlasting exile-ending kingship is even embedded in the structure of his genealogy! And to think that some people think that genealogies are boring in the Bible!

So let’s stick with Matthew 1 just a bit longer. We’ve already seen that Matthew is a literary genius and has wasted no time to herald the good news that Jesus is the long-awaited everlasting, exile-ending King, who will draw the nations into God’s presence for blessing. But as the chapter continues he goes further into Jesus’ identity. In a short narrative you have likely have heard before, an angel appears to a young gal named Mary and a man named Joseph (Luke tells us this angel is Gabriel). A child will be born, and we are told this coming child has two names. The first, and the one he will go by is Jesus, which is Yeshua in Hebrew. This name means YHWH’s salvation. This is followed up by the name Emmanuel, which of course means God with Us. Because this story is so familiar to us we may actually miss the theological bomb that Matthew has just detonated in the story of the Bible. God himself, not Adam, not Noah, not Abraham, not Moses, not David, God himself has entered into the story to bring about his saving purposes. And maybe the craziest part is that he hasn’t ditched his rebellious people to do it. The incarnation happens in David’s city, where a son of Abraham, and a daughter of Eve swaddle the king of the universe.

Let me just press a little further into Matthew’s account of the Saving King so that we can get a better sense of this. Matthew is telling us that Jesus is the offspring of Abraham, he’s the new Davidic King, but he’s also a figure like Moses who will lead a new exodus out of exile, He is taking the mantel of Israel on to his shoulders (remember the purpose of Abraham’s offspring, they are the means by which God will reverse the scattering of the nations at Bavel). Jesus is the true and righteous Israelite, but the most mind-blowing reality of all is that he is also YHWH himself!

Let me show you how Matthew says all of this, because he doesn’t say it like I just did. He says it by repeating storied patterns from the Old Testament (it might be handy to have a Bible near by). Have you ever wondered what Jesus’ grandads name was? Maybe not, but we know it, and it’s a little interesting. Matthew 1:16 tells us it was Jacob. Ok you’ve heard that name if you’re familiar with Genesis. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In fact the Jacob of Genesis is the only Jacob in the whole Old Testament, so Jesus’ grandfather on the first page of the NT is the first Jacob in the Bible since the original. If you know the story, in Genesis Jacob’s name was changed to Israel. But get this Jacob in Matthew 1 has a son named Joseph. Ok. Now, we learn in the birth narrative that Joseph is known for his dreams. I hope you’re picking up big Genesis vibes right now. In Matthew 2, when Jesus is born there is a tyrant king who wants to kill Israelite boys, to escape this Joseph and Mary take Jesus to Egypt of all places, when they hear that Herod is dead the text says, “for those who were seeking the life of the child are dead,” which is a very close echo of Exodus 4:16. So at the end of Matthew 2 Jesus, like Israel, comes out of Egypt. Again notice that in Exodus 4:22 YHWH declares that the nation of Israel is his son. A son he will bring out of Egypt.

So in Matthew 1 Jacob has a son named Joseph who is a dreamer. In Matthew 2 Joseph and his offspring go down into Egypt, there’s a tyrant King killing the sons of Israel, Jesus comes out of Egypt to fulfill what the prophet says, “Out of Egypt I called my son.” This is so cool, Jesus’ birth story is the same a Israels. But lets look just a little further into the structure of the opening chapters of Matthew’s gospel. In Matthew 3 Jesus goes through the waters of baptism (like Israel going through the sea), In Matthew 4 Jesus goes into wilderness (like Israel did), and then in Matthew 5 Jesus comes to a mountain (Like Israel coming to Sinai). This is absolutely amazing to me. But the most amazing part is this, when Jesus gets to the Mountain he isn’t Israel awaiting the oracles of YHWH at the foot of the mountain, He isn’t Moses bringing the oracles to and fro, his voice, is the voice of YHWH on the mountain top. Jesus, is YHWH. He is Emmanuel, God with us! The Bible is wildly beautiful. Not just in its literary genius, but the story itself is stunning! Do you remember the last episode? Israel was drunk on the worship of false gods, YHWH left the Temple, the city of Jerusalem was destroyed. God’s people were scattered to the east. Abraham was the answer to the scattering at Bavel, and now the Son of Abraham, the faithful Israelite, has come to redeem his people. He is YHWH’s salvation come to gather up Israel so that they can fulfill their purpose. The first sentence of Matthew tells us that Jesus is an everlasting King who has come to gather up the scattered families of the Earth. A few verses later we learn that he is God with us. Listen to the last verses of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus again meets his disciples at a mountain and says, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. (he’s the everlasting King!) So go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to keep all that I have commanded you (He is gathering up the scattered families of the earth); and look, I am with you always to the end of the age.” He is Emmanuel. God with us. Matthew has bookended his account with the wonderful reality that Jesus is the eternal King, who is bringing exile to an end (and not just the exile of Israel, but of the whole world), he is gathering up the nations, and he promises to be with us forever.

There is much much more that could be said about Matthew’s gospel account, but I hope you’re getting a sense of who Matthew believes Jesus to be, and how that fits with the story we’ve been tracing. As you bask in the goodness of Jesus’ saving kingship, I hope you’re understanding how the New Testament presumes its readers understand the Old Testament. How could one possibly understand even the first sentence without a knowledge of the story that has unfolded beforehand? How could we see Matthew’s robust and glorious account of who Jesus is in the opening chapters if we don’t know Israel’s story? Yes, the raw details of Jesus can be passed on and received unto salvation, but that’s the way the Bible tells us about Jesus. This is an invitation to dive head first into the biblical story, to discover the wonders of the Father, to worship at the feet of his Son, the Saving King, and to do it all in the power of the Spirit. There is much more to say about Jesus. I look forward to the next episode. If you are enjoying The Story of God Podcast and think it will be helpful for others, please consider sharing it, or maybe even leave a review on your favorite podcast platform.