A Study of Matthew: Introducing the Messiah
A Study of Matthew • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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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 Nahshon, and Nahshon 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 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,
and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah,
and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.
And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah 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 Matthan, and Matthan 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 were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.
The Gospel of Matthew is the first book of the New Testament. It’s the perfect introduction of the story of Jesus, who is the very center of everything.
When we read the Bible, it’s important to remember that what we have is a collection of books written over a span of centuries by very different people. Priests, kings, governors, along with doctors, teachers, and fishermen, among others, authored the pages of this sacred text.
Matthew, the author of this gospel we are studying, was a former tax collector. His own story is amazing, as his past had been defined by corruption and working with the Roman government that oppressed his own people. But that all changed after he met Jesus. Matthew became a disciple and apostle who had found the Messiah.
And that’s the heart of what the book of Matthew is about—Matthew is writing to the Jewish people to help them understand that Jesus is the Anointed One that was prophesied about in the Old Testament.
The first order of business in establishing Jesus’ claim as Messiah is to establish the bloodline. This starts in Genesis, with the Garden of Eden. The serpent tempted Adam and Eve, and they ate the fruit. God later finds the couple hiding in shame for what they had done. Genesis 3:9-15
But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”
And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”
He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”
The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”
Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
Here is the first statement concerning the Messiah. One day, someone will come who will be able to undo what the devil has done.
Later we meet Abram, who is renamed Abraham. God makes a covenant with Abram: Genesis 12:2-3
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.”
God reaffirms this covenant with Abraham’s son Isaac, and again with Jacob and his sons. Then we have Jacob blessing his sons before his death, and he makes this prophetic statement: Genesis 49:10
The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
Time passes. Jacob and his family end up in Egypt because of famine. Four hundred years later, the Israelites are slaves, and God raises up Moses as a deliverer to lead God’s people from slavery and back to the Promised Land. Along the way, God reaffirms his covenant with Moses and the Israelites, adding that, if they are faithful to God, he will bless them and everyone will know that God is real. If they are unfaithful, God will discipline them, and everyone will know that God is real.
More time passes. The Israelites get established in the Holy Land. They decide they want a king. Saul is chosen, but he disobeys God. God chooses David and makes him a promise. 2 Samuel 7:16
And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’ ”
Why are we looking at all this, and what does it have to do with Matthew chapter 1? One of the important things identifying the Messiah is his heritage and pedigree. The Messiah would be from the line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He would be from the tribe of Judah. Furthermore, he would be a descendant of David.
So as we look back at the genealogy listed in Matthew 1, who do we see listed? Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, on and on to David, and then all the way down to Joseph, Mary’s husband.
Remember at Easter, when I spoke about the countdown to the Cross? There were a lot of prophecies made about the Messiah that would come to deliver God’s people, and the whole world, from the curse of sin. Isn’t it amazing that Jesus was able to even go so far as to lay out a certain bloodline so that people would be able to go, “Yep! That’s him!”
Matthew’s genealogy was meant to show the Jews that Jesus was the One they had been waiting for all this time.
The funny thing is, the Jews thought that the Messiah would be deliverer ONLY for the Jews. But there are some interesting things to look at in this genealogy.
and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram,
Looking at the genealogy, you notice that it is almost all men, because that’s how the bloodline is referred to. There are only a few women mentioned. Tamar is one of them. Who is Tamar? A non-Jew who was the wife of Judah’s son. Genesis 38 tells the story. Judah’s oldest son, Er, was married to Tamar. Er was wicked, and scripture says God put him to death. By tradition, Er’s younger brother is made to marry Tamar, but he refuses to get her pregnant, and God judges him. Judah has a third son, but he’s afraid to let him marry Tamar, so he makes up an excuse and sends Tamar in shame back to her family. Tamar, who knows her obligation to carry on her husband’s bloodline, does some questionable things, tricking Judah to get her pregnant. Thus Perez is born, an ancestor to Jesus.
Then we have Matthew 1:5
and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse,
Here we have both Rahab and Ruth. Who was Rahab? She was a citizen of Jericho, a woman of ill repute. But she helped the two Israelite men who came to spy on the city, and she committed herself to their God. Ruth was a Moabite. She came from a nation that had traditionally been at war with Israel; but she married an Israelite man. When her husband died and her mother-in-law Naomi decided to return to Israel, Ruth followed Naomi back to Jerusalem. Naomi encouraged Ruth to go back home. Ruth 1:16-17
But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.
Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.”
Ruth’s faithfulness to Naomi and Naomi’s God led to her meeting Boaz, the kinsman redeemer, which happens to foreshadow what Jesus ultimately did for us. Boaz and Ruth become great grandparents to David.
So, within this list of all theses men verifying Jesus’ right to claim the role of Messiah, you have these three women. Why?
To the Jews of that day, women were lesser, unimportant. And THESE women had the further embarrassment of being outsiders—non-Jews. Furthermore, they had bad reputations. Tamar was a widow to two brothers before she had kids with her father-in-law. Rahab was a prostitute. Ruth was a despised Moabite. And yet, these outcasts somehow find their way into the lineage of Jesus.
Matthew recorded these women on purpose, because they demonstrate God’s grace and the fact that God’s plan is to redeem ALL mankind. It doesn’t matter who we are or what our past is. God has a place for us. And he can weave even our worst mistakes into the tapestry of his grace.
We are going to continue looking at the book of Matthew. As we do, I am going to make a point of looking at it through the eyes of the early readers of this book. It’s important to do this, because that’s who Matthew was originally writing to. If we understand that, we better understand what Matthew was hoping to communicate to them, and we will have a better understanding of what God wants us to learn.
But right now, I want us to think about how this genealogy, this boring list of names, tells a powerful story. To the Jews, every name conveys a story. All these people were heroes in Israel’s history, but they were also flawed. Their mistakes are recorded just as much as their successes.
And God still used them.
That gives us hope. Everybody here has made mistakes. At times, we have outright rebelled against God. Some of us have deep scars. But when we surrender ourselves to God, through the blood of Jesus, God takes all that rebellious, ugly past, and he weaves it into his beautiful tapestry of grace.
God takes our tears, our tribulations, and even our treachery, and turns them into a testimony.