Family Tree

Genealogy

Let’s begin today with a word of prayer:

Begin: In the Bible there are many genealogies, but there is none written with more detail than in .

I want to invite__________ and ___________ to come up and read

English Standard Version Chapter 1

1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, 4 and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5 and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of David the king.

And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, 7 and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, 8 and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, 9 and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10 and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, 11 and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

12 And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13 and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, 14 and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, 15 and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, 16 and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.

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.

Genealogies can be interesting, but do they have any spiritual significance? Those of you who have your bibles, look closely, what stands out to you about this genealogy?

Names of wicked individuals

women mentioned....but also questionable women were mentioned

some generations and names omitted

3 sets of 14 generations

(Women mentioned: Tamar, most of you know the sinful way in which Judah and Tamar had a child.....Rahab, her profession was in prostitution as well. God was able to accomplish something mighty in her. Her decendent was Boaz....who did Boaz end up marrying? Ruth. Ruth was a....? Moabite. Ruth’s place in Jesus’ genealogy hints at the universality of Jesus’ mission, as the law forbade Moabites from entering the Lord’s assembly (). Ruth and Boaz would have a famous great- grandson David…thats the first 14 generations---referred to in Matthew.

Ruth’s place in Jesus’ genealogy hints at the universality of Jesus’ mission, as the law forbade Moabites from entering the Lord’s assembly ().

Then it says: David fathered solomon and solomon fathered Rehoboam…wait no, did I leave something out? says:

Matthew leaves no one out.

And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah....this was so scandalous, Matthew doesn’t even name Bathsheeba. David, the man after God’s heart committed an incredibly wicked and sinful deed and tried to cover it up. They lost their first baby, but out of this marriage that had a very sinful beginning came Solomon. That is the last of the women mentioned until Mary. While Mary was chosen by God as a woman of great virtue, to be walking around with a baby bump and no clear husband yet....you might as well have given her a scarlett letter.

Looking at the kings mentioned between david and captivity in Babylon, were there many good kings who did what was pleasing in the sight of God. Some we have to get creative with to say much anything good. Idolatry, multiple wives and concubines, and prostitution, and pagan worship, and even human sacrifice. The mostly decent ones were few and far between.

the line to Christ following their return to Judeah is a little less spelled out in scripture, but the point still stands. What a family tree.

What is Matthew up to in his record of the genealogy?

He mentions all the unmentionable, drawing attention to the black sheep. What is he up to?

English Standard Version Chapter 1

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.

Some will be quick to point out these genealogies of 14 are inaccurate. There were kings ommitted, and generations omitted. Some commentaries I read pointed out, perhaps, by succinctly going with 3 14 generation, it was easier to remember. Although that is true, I give more credit to the biblical author Matthew. He had purpose in drawing attention to Christ’s family tree. And I believe he had purposes with using the somewhat symbolic 14 generations 3 times.

His family tree was quite symbolic of the state of God’s people. It was filled with wanderer, hypocrites, liars. There were most definitely some bad apples on that family tree. And yet found in this family tree are stories of redemption, warriors, and nobility. It all seems by chance, that some are included from the lineage from Abraham down to David and David down to Joseph. How amazing that we serve a God that allows for choice and free-will, yet we can still see His fingerprints of a divine plan. His plan is for completeness, peace, and freedom from sin. Yes my church family if I can share anything that I believe is certain. God has a plan. His plan is unfolding.

Trusting the plan and letting it unfold is challenging. We want to take matters into our own hands sometimes. There are to many such examples in the Bible, where men of God took a break from being faithful, and took matter into their own hands.

Moses for decades had led His people faithfully, but at a time when they needed water, God gave him the command to speak to a rock, and allow God to perform a miracle, but Moses struck the rock with his staff. God still provided the water, but Moses suffered the consequence of not taking his people into the promised land.

Aaron had acted similarly while Moses was communing with God in the mountain. The people were looking to aaron for answers, desired to be like all the other idol worshippers that had come in contact with and Aaron, the high priest of Israel, led out in it. It seemed for a moment he’d take matters into his hands to unite the people, rather than wait on God.

David, the great warrior King of Israel, took a break from being faithful, entering into an affair with Bathsheeba. And when this affair produced a son, rather, than repent, he tried to cover it up! Could he no longer see God’s record of redemption? Because of his pride and wickedness, two innocent deaths happened. The death of Uriah, and also the death of his son.

Its easy look at these instances in scripture and wonder, what was going on in their head that caused them to act so foolishly. They should have known. God had done literal miracles in their life, who could they be so senseless. But honestly take a look at your life, and I’m sure you’ll find plenty where you might ask a similar question. You might say, How could I have been so foolish? Or maybe you know your family tree, and maybe know some of the sins of your father and mother, and then maybe you didn’t learn from them either. I can say openly, I’m thankful my list of shortcomins and failures are not recorded to be read all around the world. I’m happy I can say, I’m forgiven. But looking back, I know I’ve had the same problem that the Bible heroes we just mentioned. I have at times lost sight and trust in the plan. Yet although we have slipped a time or two. We, can still be, not only mentioned, but counted in the family. How good is it to know that? Isn’t God amazing, he never gives up on us. Never.

Jim Cymbala, pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle recounts a story of his daughter in his book fresh wind, fresh fire. He, pastoring, a large church, had enjoyed watching his daughter grow up and had been a strong Christian and a role model for his other kids. Around the time of her becoming an upperclassman in highschool, she began making poor decisions. She began to surround herself with bad influences. Slowly an almost invisibly to the busy pastor, his daughter was becoming lost. She openly rebelled against her parents. She had boyfriend that no parent wants for their daughter. once she turned 18, she pulled away to a point, where rarely did the pastor and his wife know where there daughter was. This was strain to Jim and his wife’s relationship, and was a strain on their relationship with God. Jim recounts it was a tuesday prayer meeting, when one of his attendees raised her hand and said, pastor I feel impressed, that we change the course of the prayer meeting, and spend time only praying for your daughter. Jim, overwelmed broke down and for the first time admitted to his group of prayer warriors his brokenness and need for prayer for his daughter. The group prayed for the next hour a prayer of intercession, asking God to work in her heart. Jim recounts he came home that evening to his wife and said, “its over” God is going to bring her back. 32 hours later, Jim recounts his wife running into their bedroom, “she’s home! she’s home!” Jim rushed downstairs and met his daughter in an emotional embrace. The first thing his daughter exclaimed to him, was “Daddy, who was praying for me? who prayed for me???

Through a prayer of intercession a family was restored.

Christ’s life was one of interceding for a fallen humanity. It was his purpose. Redeeming the family tree.

Looking back at verse 17 we have 3 groups of 14 generations mentioned. They are listed as 14 even though as I mentioned earlier, some were ommitted. So why 14? Well if we do some math, something interesting happens. If we were to divide each 14, by 2 we’d be left with six 7’s. 6 is obviously not the completed picture its 7.

If we are to think like the first-century hearers, we must recognize that the importance of the number fourteen is that it is a multiple of (that ever-so-important number) seven. Matthew is implying that the entire flow of God's history of creating a people for himself shows that Jesus the Christ is our Sabbath rest.

Forty-two, not Fourteen

Three sets of fourteen is six sets of seven. The operative number here is not really fourteen but forty-two. And no, forty-two is not the answer to life, the universe, and everything; actually it is the precursor to the one who is the meaning of everything. Jesus Christ is the seventh week of history; he is the completion and the culmination; he inaugurates the last days.

So why did Matthew make a point of specifying the number of generations? Simply put, genealogy and numerology were important to 1st century Jews as they are to most people throughout history. It's vital that the Messiah descend from Abraham and David. So Matthew recorded the lineage from Abraham to David and from David to Jesus. When he did so, he must have noticed that there were roughly the same number of men from the start of the Jewish people to its height, as from the start of the Jewish kingdom to its end, as from the captivity to Jesus. There weren't 14 generations exactly, however. So Matthew edited the list by jumping from grand- or great-grandfathers to their later decedent ("son of" can mean any male decedent).

So why did Matthew make a point of specifying the number of generations? Simply put, genealogy and numerology were important to 1st century Jews as they are to most people throughout history. It's vital that the Messiah descend from Abraham and David. So Matthew recorded the lineage from Abraham to David and from David to Jesus. When he did so, he must have noticed that there were roughly the same number of men from the start of the Jewish people to its height, as from the start of the Jewish kingdom to its end, as from the captivity to Jesus. There weren't 14 generations exactly, however. So Matthew edited the list by jumping from grand- or great-grandfathers to their later decedent ("son of" can mean any male decedent).

The image that Matthew seems to invoke that of a deep plan in human history managed by God and culminating in the person of Jesus. It is the story of the rise and fall of a people and the redemption of that story when a new "King of the Jews" was born. We are meant to be reminded of the very familiar names that take up the bulk of Jesus' genealogy and remember their triumphs and failures.

Without Christ, we don’t have a completed tree. Without Christ, all we have is a bunch of rotten apples not worth much of anything. But his presence restores the picture. His presence gives us hope! His presence reminds us to trust in His plan. There had been prophecies as early as with Adam and Eve that there was a plan of redemption, somewhere a long the line, most stopped trusting the plan. God’s plan is unchanged. He came, and he lived and died. Now the final step is underway. Heaven is beginning to stir, because Christ’s second coming is right around the corner. The Family tree is going to be restored!!! Let’s not lose sight of his plan like we’ve seen so many do. Let’s keep our eyes on jesus. His plan of redemption of the world is just around the corner!