Anticipating His Arrival

Introduction

As we open our Bibles to Matthew 1 today, we begin a new series on the subject of Advent. The word “advent” means “arrival.” The advent season is a season of waiting, anticipation, and preparation, as we seek to make ourselves ready for an encounter with Jesus!

In Matthew 1:1-17 we find the genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ. Often when we read these in Scripture we tend to read through them rapidly or skip through them altogether. After all it’s just a list of names. However, we find some really important truths in the genealogy that Matthew shares with us. When we read these names, we read the names of BROKEN HUMANS like us, through whom God chose to bring the Messiah, the Lord Jesus, into the world through.

As we read these names we see generation, after generation who anticipated the arrival of the King of kings and Lord of lords. We see in this list well known names and little known names. We see people who we might consider saints and others who we think of as sinners. Although we are not named in this list, we see a glimpse of ourselves…broken human beings who also need a Savior…a Messiah to rescue our souls and set us free.

Notice with me Matthew 1:1 as we answer the question, “Anticipating Whose Arrival?”

Anticipating Whose Arrival?

Matthew 1:1 ESV

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

Matthew’s Gospel opens with the introduction of the geneology of Jesus Christ.

Jesus

The name “Jesus” is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew name “Joshua.” The name Joshua meant deliverer or savior.

Matthew 1:21 ESV

She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

Christ

The term “Christ” is a title that means “one who is divinely anointed.” This of course is in reference to the Messiah.

The Son of David

This is just another reference to the fact that Jesus is the Messiah. God had promised David that the throne of his kingdom would last forever...

2 Samuel 7:12–13 ESV

When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your 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.

Others remember this promise and referred to Jesus as the “Son of David.”

Matthew 9:27 ESV

And as Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed him, crying aloud, “Have mercy on us, Son of David.”

Matthew 12:23 ESV

And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of David?”

Matthew 15:22 ESV

And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.”

Matthew 20:30 ESV

And behold, there were two blind men sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!”

Matthew 21:9 ESV

And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

Jesus was also born in the “City of David”—Bethlehem.

Don Stewart comments:

David was promised that one of his offspring would rule forever. Jesus was called the "Son of David" while he was here on the earth. He was born in David's city, Bethlehem. The gospel of Matthew records that various people, on six different occasions, acknowledged Jesus as the Son of David. This is a messianic title. Jesus never denied that he was the Son of David.. In fact, on Palm Sunday he received the praise and worship of the people.

However, Matthew doesn’t stop here with his introduction. He also refers to Jesus as the...

Son of Abraham

The “Son of Abraham” reminds us that Jesus was born an Israelite. This also serves as a reminder of a promise that God had made all the way back in the book of Genesis. It was going to be through Abraham’s offspring that “all the world would be blessed!”

Matthew opens his Gospel by immediately telling us who Jesus is: he is the Messiah (“Son of David”) and he is an Israelite (“son of Abraham”). In these two individuals, the audience immediately has a point of identification with Jesus: he is the one the Jews have been waiting on for generations. Matthew uses 42 generations of genealogy to show how Jesus fits into the line of both David and Abraham. Certainly, this list isn’t all inclusive. Nevertheless, the point remains that for generation upon generation, the Israelites were waiting for a Messiah. God’s promises never fail, but they sometimes take a lot longer than we anticipate. (Ministry Pass)

Did you get that last comment? God’s promises never fail, but they sometimes take a lot longer than we anticipate.

For THOUSANDS of years they had waited on the arrival of the Messiah and how He had arrived. We too have been waiting a COUPLE of THOUSAND years for Jesus to return. Remember child of God, “God’s promises never fail...”

Not only where they anticipating the arrival of the Son of David/Son of Abraham, they were...

Anticipating the Centerpiece of History

For thousands of years the Jewish people had awaited the arrival of the Messiah. We can only imagine how many of the virgin girls who had heard about the promise wondered if she might be the one to give birth to God’s Son. Generation after generation waited with anticipation as the pages of history turned year after year. The Messiah would be the “centerpiece of history.”

R.T France notes:

Matthew: An Introduction and Commentary i. The Genealogy of Jesus the Messiah (1:1–17)

To us, a genealogy may seem a very tedious way to begin a book, and a waste of space. To the Jewish world in which Matthew belonged it was a matter of importance, as a glance at the numerous genealogies of the Old Testament makes clear.

Matthew: An Introduction and Commentary i. The Genealogy of Jesus the Messiah (1:1–17)

The way he presents his genealogy shows that it introduces several important strands into his presentation of Jesus as the Messiah. 1. It places Jesus fully in line with the history of Old Testament Israel, as one famous name after another reminds the reader of the forward movement of God’s saving purpose. 2. By organizing that history into a regular scheme of three groups of fourteen generations (see on 1:17), it indicates that the time of preparation is now complete, and that in Jesus the time of fulfilment has arrived. 3. By tracing Jesus’ descent through the royal line of Judah, it stakes his claim to the title ‘King of the Jews’ (see p. 45). 4. It establishes his status as ‘son of David’, not only by emphasizing David’s place in the genealogy

Even though thousands of years had passed God had not forgotten His covenant with Abraham. Just as God had promised, way back in Genesis, that through Abraham’s seed all the world would be blessed, Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of that promise and truly was, and is the CENTERPIECE of HISTORY!

Scholar Craig Keener makes this point: “Matthew reminds his audience of the ultimate hero of Israel's history to whom all those stories pointed… Matthew's point here is profound: so much is Jesus the focal point of history that his ancestors depend on him for their meaning. In other words, God sovereignly directed the history of Israel and preserved David's line because of his plan to send Jesus

The holiday season can be hectic. We fill our schedule with traditions and customs that compete for our time. Waiting isn’t popular during this always-on- the-go season. As we consider the theme of waiting, Matthew uses the genealogy as a means of emphasizing an important point about Jesus: he is the point of history!

As we wait for Christ’s second coming, we must not get so “busy” that we forget God’s plan and purpose for us NOW! Christ is STILL the centerpiece of history and He should be the centerpiece of our:

Lives

Marriages

Homes

Church Family

Plans

Future

Etc...

PAST, PRESENT and FUTURE revolves around the Lord Jesus Christ! Why shouldn’t my life and yours revolve around Him as well?

Not only were they anticipating the arrival of the Centerpiece of History they were also...

Anticipating the Savior of Sinners

As we think about the anticipation of the arrival of the Messiah, we should think about why He was to come to begin with. All the way back in Genesis 3, when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden, God promised that one day the “seed of the woman” would bruise the serpent’s head…

Genesis 3:15 ESV

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.”

However, His own heel would be bruised. The prophet Isaiah would later pick up on this theme:

Isaiah 53:3–6 ESV

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

In the genealogy that Matthew provides for us, we find some interesting inclusions. Inclusions that remind us that Jesus came into the world to SAVE SINNERS!

Women such as Tamar (v. 3), Rahab (v. 5), Ruth (v. 5) and Uriah’s former wife Bathsheba (v. 6) are all included. It was very unusual that women were included in the genealogies of this day. Not only were some women included, but these four women were all GENTILES! This is a reminder that Christ not only came to be the Savior of the Jews, but He would provide salvation for ALL PEOPLE! Not only were these Gentile women, but two of the four women are often associated with immorality: Rahab was a prostitute, and Bathsheba committed adultery with King David. Why on earth would God include them in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus? I think it was to remind us, EVERYONE OF US WHO ARE SINNERS JUST LIKE RAHAB AND BATHSHEBA, that the Messiah was coming into the world to RESCUE us from the penalty and power of our sin!

The Apostle Paul understood this when he penned these words to Timothy:

1 Timothy 1:15 ESV

The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.

J. C. Ryle observes that the genealogy of Jesus reminds us that grace does not run in families, and yet, “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.” The names here are people who lived everyday, ordinary lives. They fell into sin. They made mistakes, and they remind us that as we wait on God, his grace can reach anyone.

Yes dear friend, God’s grace can reach ANYONE…even me and even YOU!

So what can we learn from today’s message:

Wait on the Lord

About 4,000 years passed from the time the Messiah was promised in Genesis 3 until the time of the fulfillment of that prophecy. FOUR THOUSAND YEARS! God’s timetable is not ours. Yet, God’s timing is PERFECT. Jesus came at the fulness of time. God knows what He is doing and we can TRUST HIS TIMING! We can trust that He is working out the timing of things for our good and His glory!

Isaiah 40:31 ESV

but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

Jesus is the Centerpiece of History…Is He the Centerpiece of Your Life?

Can you think of anyone else or anything else that is worthy of being the centerpiece of your life? Can you think of anyone else who walked this earth for 33 years to live the sinless life you could not live, and pay the eternal penalty that you owed because of your sins? Has anyone else earned that top spot in your life? We would all say “no” but far too often Jesus is relegated to some remote aspect of our lives. He is used like a spare tire. He is good as a good luck charm. No dear friend, He is Lord and we should acknowledge Him as such!

He is the centerpiece of history and He should be the centerpiece of your life, your home, your finances, your everything!

1 Corinthians 6:20 ESV

for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Understand that You are Included in God’s Plan of Redemption

I’ve talked to many people who think they are too far gone to ever experience God’s restoration and forgiveness. Yet, the Apostle Paul reminds us over and over again that we are saved by grace. It’s not because of “works of righteousness which we have done, but it’s by His grace that He saves us.”

No matter how far you’ve strayed, no matter how lost you may feel, no matter how messed up your life may be, Jesus Christ came into the world to “save sinners.”

If you are left out of the family of God it’s because you resist the offer of salvation that can be yours in Christ Jesus. It’s not because God left you out, or because you are too far gone.

Why don’t you bow your head and your heart to Jesus today and call on the name of the resurrected Christ and trust Him to save and forgive you TODAY!