Oh Boy! Genealogy!
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Introduction
Introduction
What do Genesis 5, 10, 11, 25, Exodus 6, 1 Chronicles 1-9, Ezra 2, 10, Matthew 1, and Luke 3 all have in common? They’re all lists of genealogy. What we have in Genesis 5 is the lineage of Adam to Noah; then in 10, Noah and his sons’ descendents. Chapter 11 deals with only Shem’s descendants and gives us a better understanding of when they lived, and that took us to Abraham. Then of course we get Abraham-the twelve tribes of Israel/Jacob in Genesis 25. In Exodus, Moses picks up the genealogy and shows his own descent from three of the tribes, including that of Levi his great-grandfather. For an extensive genealogy, we’d need to go to 1 Chronicles. Nine whole chapters! From Adam to those returning from exile.
Now in those nine chapters, there are two sets of genealogy that ought to stand out. The first is the genealogy of David and from David. Two long chapters cover this. Chapter two is from Jacob to David and chapter three is David to Anani. Seventy-eight verses on David’s descendants. That’s the first list that should really stand out to us.
The second is actually longer and is just as important. That is the list of Levi’s descendants. It takes up 81 verses! Why are these genealogies so important? Because David is the royal line in which the Messiah would come and Levi was the priestly line. Anyone not in the Davidic line had no right to the throne of Israel. Anyone not in the Levitical line had no right to be a priest. Thus, genealogy was a huge deal to the Jews.
When Ezra the scribe was in charge of those returning from exile and of genealogy-keeping, there were a number of men who claimed the line of Levi and said they were to be priests.
These sought their registration among those enrolled in the genealogies, but they were not found there, and so they were excluded from the priesthood as unclean.
Clearly genealogy was important to the Jewish people. Not so much to us though. Until Ancestry.com or 23andMe, most of us may have been able to go back to our grandparents, perhaps great-grandparents, but that was about it and we were content with that. But let someone come into your life claiming to be a half-brother or sister and insisting on their share of the inheritance and suddenly we care bloodlines. So it was with Israel. If someone was going to claim to be a priest, they’d better be able to prove it. If someone was going to claim the throne, they’d better be in David’s bloodline.
And here we have Luke providing us with evidence of Jesus’s bloodline. And as we study this section, I want to focus on four of Jesus’s ancestors because these four are especially important for Jesus to be the one Luke and all Christians were claiming him to be, specifically the Savior, Christ the Lord.
Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years of age, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son of Heli,
the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David,
the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor,
the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.
The Son of Joseph (Supposedly)
The Son of Joseph (Supposedly)
As we look into the ancestry of Jesus, we come first to his father—his adoptive father. Now it is clear from what we see in the gospel accounts that people believed he was Joseph’s son.
Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?
Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”
Luke strategically put in the words, “as was supposed” in his genealogy. Thus, it would seem that no one was told otherwise. We already know however that Jesus was the Son of the Most High, the Son of God in whom he is well-pleased. But Joseph was his adoptive father and as such, the lineage of Jesus would be traced through him.
Now, if you’ve ever compared the two genealogies of Jesus—Matthew’s and Luke’s—you’ll notice that they differ quite a bit. There are two reasons for that. First, Matthew was being stylistic. He didn’t list all of Jesus’s relatives. Matthew gave fourteen generations from Abraham to David and then David to the exile and then the return of the exile to Jesus’s birth. Each had 14 generations. This was a way of writing at the time and Matthew utilized it. Some think it was based on the numerology of David’s name. In Hebrew, numbers were based on what letter they were in the alphabet. So today A would equal 1, B equals 2, C equals 3, and so on. In Hebrew the Daleth is the fourth letter and so it represents 4. There are two daleths so when we add the two together, that equals 8. Daleth (4) plus Daleth (4) equals 8. The vav is the sixth letter in the Hebrew alphabet and so that represents the number 6. There were no vowels in Hebrew so all we have are three consonants: DVD 4+6+4=14. Luke wasn’t being stylistic. He was a historian. And so, he’s interested in getting as much detail in as possible. So that is one reason for the lists being different. Style versus detail.
The second is that Matthew was going through Joseph’s line. Joseph was a direct descendent of David, but not only David but Solomon. Solomon was the line in which the throne was given. Unless one was of the line of Solomon, he still wasn’t eligible for the throne. Luke however was most likely giving the line of Mary. Hence, the son of Joseph “as was supposed.” He points out Joseph’s adoption, but proceeds to give the line of Mary.
It’s important to understand why this is important. Pastor Matt mentioned this some weeks ago. David’s line was cut off when Jeconiah took the throne. Jeconiah was to be considered as childless and God put a curse upon him that no child—no descendent would be allowed to sit upon the throne. Joseph was a direct descendent of Jeconiah. Thus, no child of Joseph was allowed to sit upon the throne of David. Yet, they still had to be in line of Solomon. How can one be in the line of Solomon, but not in the line of Jeconiah and be able to sit on the throne? Only through adoption. One could be adopted into the line of Solomon, but not born into the line of Jeconiah.
You know, even when it seems like God has painted himself into a corner, he has only shown how great he is. We do not always see how God is going to work things out and yet, he always does. May we always trust in God’s wisdom and power to bring about what he has promised.
The Son of Nathan
The Son of Nathan
Which takes us to his second ancestor: Nathan. This is my shortest point, but I wanted to make sure we understood what was going on in this passage.
Mary was of royal blood, but not of Solomon’s. Her lineage came from Nathan, another of David’s sons. In fact, Nathan was David’s third-born son while Solomon was David’s tenth born son. We actually don’t know much more than that. We don’t know who his mother was. Some think he’s the same Nathan as the prophet, but that seems pretty unlikely. The only other thing we know about Nathan is that he was born in Jerusalem and that David was already king at that point.
Thus, Nathan was a prince but not in line of succession. Whoever was born from Prince Nathan had royal blood running through their veins. That included Mary and thus included Jesus as well. So now we have someone who is genuinely of royal lineage but not yet eligible for the throne because he is of the line of Nathan and not Solomon being adopted into Solomon’s line by Joseph thus making him eligible for the throne. By Mary, Jesus was the Son of David. By adoption, he was the son of Solomon. He was just as much eligible for the throne through adoption as a natural born son would have been.
Beloved, Paul tells us in Ephesians 1:4 and 5 that in love God adopted us into his family. And he goes on to tell us that through that adoption we have been guaranteed our inheritance. He told us in Romans 8 that we are heir, in fact, co-heirs with Jesus his only begotten Son. John told us in John 1 that we who have received Christ by God’s will, have the right to call ourselves his children, and Paul again stated that we have the privilege of calling God Abba, Father. Both John in Revelation 20 and Paul in 2 Timothy 2 show that we will one day sit with Jesus in glory and reign with him.
Adoption on earth can be messy. It can leave us questioning our identity. To whom do we belong, if anyone? But our heavenly adoption is glorious and gives us our identity. We belong to the loving Father God of heaven. We are his beloved sons and daughters with whom he is well-pleased.
The Son of Abraham
The Son of Abraham
This takes us to the third ancestor in Jesus’s genealogy: Abraham. It was through Abraham that God had promised to bless all the families of earth. We know that for multiple generations this was an on-again, off-again routine. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob blessed those with whom they came into contact; from the people of Canaan to Jacob’s conniving father-in-law Laban. But then we see that Levi and Simeon actually killed all the men of Shechem for how the prince treated their sister. And Jacob’s response was that they had brought trouble on him and made him a stench among the people. But then there was Joseph who blessed all of Egypt, and the descendents—even in their slavery—blessed them as well. But the people of Canaan’s sins had become so great that God used Israel upon their liberation to judge them instead of bless them. They had spent much of their time in war through the judges and kings. Yet still David blessed many of the nations around, as did Solomon. God sent Jonah to bless Nineveh and Assyria. The exiles were called upon by Jeremiah to bless their neighbors while in exile. Up and down, in and out of blessing. But never had the world been blessed by the lineage of Abraham. Not until Jesus was born, lived, died, rose, and ascended into heaven. Then in the name of Jesus, all the world was blessed.
Hence, we see Jesus’s directive at the end of Luke.
and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
The Jews didn’t see it as a blessing, but they gave the truth when they said,
And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also,
Paul pointed it out in Colossians 1:6
which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth,
Here now, as Luke brings about the genealogy of Jesus, we see he is the Son of Abraham and the fulfillment of the promise! What does that mean? It means exactly what Paul wrote to the Galatians.
for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.
For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
There it is again: adoption! Only, we are not just adopted into God’s family (as if “just” is an adequate term), but we are also adopted into Abraham’s family. All that is Christ’s is ours and all that was promised to Abraham is ours as well! All who believe, no matter if they are physically from Abraham’s line or are Gentiles in the remotest part of the world—all who believe—are brought into Christ and into Abraham’s family.
Is that you? Have you put your trust in Jesus. Have you given up on yourself? Your efforts? I’m reading a book about Richard Burton, an explorer who discovered the White Nile. In his exploration, he became deathly ill many times, and for a time was paralyzed and nearly blind. The only way he could continue in his exploration was to be placed in a hammock and carried about by those he hired. His entire life—the entire weight of his being—was in their hands. That’s what it means to trust in Jesus. It is to say my whole life—from beginning into eternity—is in your hands. Have you done that? If not, you still can. And if you do, you are promised that God shall adopt you into his family and shall make you an heir of all that is Jesus’s and all that was promised to Abraham.
The Son of Adam
The Son of Adam
But there is one more man in Jesus’s genealogy that I want to talk about: Adam. Adam was the first man to walk on earth. he had unfettered access to the God who created him directly, without the procreative abilities of man and woman. He had no father of his own, except in a sense God. God created Adam in his image. The very first being and the only one created in which God’s image was unmarred by sin. But he was also the first man to fail God. Because of Adam and Eve the world came crashing down. As they fell, so did the world.
For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope
that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
It wasn’t creation’s fault that it was plunged into darkness. Adam plunged them into darkness. But as Paul pointed out, this was all God’s predetermined plan. He subjected it in hope that the creation would be set free. Adam did not subject it in hopes of setting it free. God did. And as Paul wrote, all the anguish that the world knows now from the tiniest amoeba to to the greatest of kings, cannot be compared to glory that awaits.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
All the groaning will be drowned out by the praise. But only when the children of God are glorified. Adam rebelled against God and his plan. Casting the world and his progeny into darkness. And from that time,
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Yet, God had promised at that time,
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 Jesus, the son of Joseph (as was supposed), in the line of Mary, going all the way back to Adam, revealed to be the offspring to bruise the head of Satan.
Soon after Adam was created, Satan had stepped in, tempted our first parents, and they both fell. Now here is Jesus, beginning his ministry at about the age of 30, the Son of Adam—or as Paul says the second and last Adam—about to walk into the wilderness to be tempted by that same evil serpent.
God had created Adam, as Luke declared the son of God, and when he had created him and his wife Eve, he declared all of his creation to be very good. Adam was his son—created in his image, with whom he was pleased. And yet, he fell. Now Jesus, the Son of God, the Son of the Most High, his beloved Son—the radiance of God’s glory and exact imprint of his nature—in whom he is well-pleased must first go into the wilderness to be tempted. He had identified with us in baptism. Now he would in temptation.
For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
This, the Son of the Most High, would not fall, but raise up brothers and sisters out of the fall, bringing them to glory.
Conclusion
Conclusion
As we finish this section dealing with the genealogy of Jesus, we have seen that Jesus is everything we need him to be. He is Christ—the anointed King of Israel because he was of the royal line of David through Mary and of the kingly line by adoption into Solomon’s family. We have seen that he is Savior, not just of Israel, but the Savior of the world in whom all the families of the world are blessed. We have seen he is Lord—the very name given to God. He is the Son of God, even more so than Adam. He is Son of the Most High who has inherited all from the Father.
so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
As the angel told the shepherds: he is the Savior, Christ the Lord.
If you have already put your hope, your trust in him, you have been adopted in love into the family of God receiving all the blessings and promises and inheritance that he has to offer. If you have not, there is still time to do so. But we are not guaranteed another moment.
For he says, “In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
From beginning with Adam to the end with Jesus, we see God working in providence and power to bring about Jesus as the fulfillment of his back in Adam’s day. And you can be part of that promise.