Matthew 1:1-17

The Genealogy of Jesus the Messiah

Matthew 1:1–17 NASB 2020

The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham: Abraham fathered Isaac, Isaac fathered Jacob, and Jacob fathered Judah and his brothers. Judah fathered Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez fathered Hezron, and Hezron fathered Ram. Ram fathered Amminadab, Amminadab fathered Nahshon, and Nahshon fathered Salmon. Salmon fathered Boaz by Rahab, Boaz fathered Obed by Ruth, and Obed fathered Jesse. Jesse fathered David the king. David fathered Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah. Solomon fathered Rehoboam, Rehoboam fathered Abijah, and Abijah fathered Asa. Asa fathered Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat fathered Joram, and Joram fathered Uzziah. Uzziah fathered Jotham, Jotham fathered Ahaz, and Ahaz fathered Hezekiah. Hezekiah fathered Manasseh, Manasseh fathered Amon, and Amon fathered Josiah. Josiah fathered Jeconiah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon. After the deportation to Babylon: Jeconiah fathered Shealtiel, and Shealtiel fathered Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel fathered Abihud, Abihud fathered Eliakim, and Eliakim fathered Azor. Azor fathered Zadok, Zadok fathered Achim, and Achim fathered Eliud. Eliud fathered Eleazar, Eleazar fathered Matthan, and Matthan fathered Jacob. Jacob fathered Joseph the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah. So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations.

The Word of the Lord

Pray - Gracious Heavenly Father, thank You for giving us the Scriptures. May we never forget our deep responsibility to understand what You have written to us by Your Spirit. May we remember that we will all be judged at the last day according to our light, may we never let it go out. As J. C. Ryle once prayed: “Lord, let us read our Bibles reverently and diligently, with an honest determination to believe and practise all we find in them.” Holy Spirit illuminate Your Word to us today. Apply truth to our hearts and may we profit by what we read. In the name of Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

2 Timothy 3:16–17 “All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be equipped, having been thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

When we see the genealogies within the Bible we do not think much of them. In fact, whenever we come to a list of names we tend to skip over them because (1) most of them are hard to pronounce; (2) do we really need to know who these people are? (3) those verses seems useless and pointless. That is why I quoted 2 Timothy 3:16-17. All Scripture, every single verse, is God-breathed and profitable to us as Christians. And this list of names is no different. The New Testament reveals to us the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is the central story in all of history. There is nothing greater than knowing who Jesus is. In fact, to know Christ is to have abundant, everlasting life. To believe in who Jesus makes us right with God and makes us at peace with Him. To pattern our lives after Jesus is what it means to be a true follower of Him. To leave this life is to be with Him and there is no better place to be. We can never read or hear too much about Jesus.

And this is why these verses at the very beginning of Matthew’s Gospel are so important. They tell us exactly who Jesus is. Verse 1: “The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah.” Here in this first verse we find two of our catechism questions for this week. Q. 29 Why is the Son of God called Jesus meaning Savior? Q. 31 Why is He called Christ (the Messiah) meaning anointed?

So right off the bat Matthew identifies who Jesus is. Many would argue with what Matthew wrote in verse 1, so he continues to back up what he said calling Jesus the Messiah, the Christ, the anointed one. Verse 1: “the son of David, the son of Abraham.” The second half of this verse is just as important as the first half. Because in order for Jesus to be the Messiah, He must descend from both Abraham and David. Why is that? Because it was to both Abraham and David that God promised the Messiah would come. God promised Abraham that in His seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed. Genesis 12:3 “And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”” Not just those that were direct descendents, but all the families of the earth. Jesus fulfills this when He comes to save both the Jews and the Gentiles from their sin. Paul wrote in Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” God also promised David that He would raise up a Savior from his family. 2 Samuel 7:12–13 ““When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up one of your seed after you, who will come forth from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. “He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.” In both cases, God is promising that a singular person would rise up coming from both of them and through Him all the families of the earth would be blessed and the kingdom of God would be established forever. Paul talks about this in Galatians 3:16 “Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as referring to many, but rather to one, “And to your seed,” that is, Christ.”

This is the first thing that I believe the Holy Spirit wants us to see in this list of names: God always keeps His promises. J. C. Ryle writes: “These sixteen verses prove, that Jesus was the son of David and the son of Abraham, and that God’s promise was fulfilled. 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 said it, He will certainly do it.”

What we also see in this list of names is the depravity of man. Sprinkled among the godly people in these verses are sinful and wicked ones. Perez was the son of Judah and Tamar. You can find that story in Genesis 38. Go read it when you have time. It is a sad and sordid story revealing the sin and corruption of human nature. Lies and broken promises. There are also the names of Rehoboam, and Joram, and Amon and Jeconiah. You will find these kings’ stories in 1 & 2 Kings. Jesus Christ, the Anointed One, Matthew sets as the highest king, the Anointed One, whom these kings prefigured by the anointing that placed them into their offices. Yet these kings acted wickedly. They did not look to their fathers, who in most of these kings cases were righteous in their rule, but walked of their own evil accord. Jesus was different. He looked to His Heavenly Father and only said what He heard Him say and only did what He saw His Father do. The list of these kings should be a warning to all parents: raise your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord and pray that God would keep them and preserve them to their final day. This should be also be a warning to children: obey your godly parents. Listen to them and follow in their footsteps as they follow Christ.

Another thing on this point. Why is it that the only women mentioned here in this genealogy are those who were outsiders and sinners? Because Christ came into this world to save the stranger and sinner alike. Rahab, even though a harlot, was taken as a wife. So, Christ has married Himself to the Gentiles, who were spiritual fornicators through sin. Ruth, was a stranger and very poor, yet Boaz did not cast her aside because of her poverty or because she was from a wicked country. No more does Christ despise us, being most poor and worthy to be cast aside for the wickedness of our lives. They also teach us that just as Rahab and as Ruth left their countries and their father’s homes and all their family, and married their husbands, so we too must leave our old lives and join ourselves in marriage to Christ.

This brings us to the last thing we see in this list of names, which is how great the mercy and compassion of our Lord Jesus Christ is. These people named were all born in sin and yet Jesus the Messiah, the anointed one, condescended to be born of a woman, “made in the likeness of men,” and was counted as part of this lineage. Ryle writes: “Some of the names we read in this catalogue remind us of shameful and sad histories. Some of the names are those of persons never mentioned elsewhere in the Bible. But at the end of all comes the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Though He is the eternal God, He humbled Himself to become man, in order to provide salvation for sinners.” John 3:13–17 ““And no one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.” Romans 5:6–8 “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

And this is the reason why this list of names are so important. They reveal who Jesus is. He is the one who saves men from their sins and has been anointed as our Prophet, Priest, and King. They remind us that the promises of God are yes and amen. If God has said it, He will certainly do it. They show that even though mankind is born in sin and is sinful by nature, yet Jesus is merciful and compassionate towards those who believe and He truly saves from sin.

And what should our response be to this revelation of Christ: (1) He is Jesus, our Savior, so receive His salvation. (2) He is Christ, the anointed one, so hear the words of the Prophet, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” bring the sacrifice of a contrite heart to the Great High Priest and repent of your sins, and then pledge your fealty and all that you are to the King of kings and Lord of lords, and follow after Him. (3) Lastly, if you have done this, you have been adopted into the family of God. Your name has been added to the genealogy of Christ and one day it will be read before a great host in heaven. We will be glad to hear our name read in that great list and will not want anyone to skip over it.

Pray: Thank You gracious Father, for the gift of Your Son Jesus Christ. Jesus, thank You for Your love for us, strangers and sinners, and for saving us from our sins. Thank You for adopting us into Your family and adding our names to the that list. Amen.

As we come to the table of our Lord, it is the family table upon which is laid the family meal, the body and blood of our Lord Jesus.