Family History and the Wise Workings of God

Over the past couple decades, it seems that people have had renewed interest in genealogy – learning about their family history. They want to know more about their great-grandparents, and their great-great-grandparents, and really their whole ancestry, as far back as they can trace it. And one of the unique benefits that can come with knowing family history, is you can better understand the complex, intertwining stories of people in the past. You can see how God has mysteriously worked through events in human history to connect the people on your family tree, and to bring about your very existence.

My dad has passed on a number of stories to me about our family history. And there’s one that’s particularly interesting about one of my Great-Great-Great-Grandfathers. He had lived in England as a peasant, with his wife and family. But one day, he went hunting on the property of a local nobleman. This was illegal, and could be punished with imprisonment – possibly even death. And as it turned out, the nobleman actually caught hold of him, and hit him over the head – but he managed to get away. And he ran back home, gathered his family up as fast as he could, and they got on a ship to go to the United States before he could be captured. And just a day after they left, money arrived from a sibling living in Australia arrived, that would have paid their full passage to move out to live there – in Australia.

So in this story, I’m given a renewed appreciation for God’s careful ordering of events. He wanted my great-great-grandmother to be born here in America. That one event helps to explain how I’m here, and even how Fellowship Reformed Church in Mount Pleasant is here. All of history is filled with stories like this – stories of tragedies that happened, of decisions that were made, of challenges that were overcome – and God has worked out each of those stories, to bring together you, and me, and all the people and circumstances we encounter every day.

But with all this being said, when it comes to reading genealogies in the Bible, it’s still usually hard to find them interesting. For one thing, the names that some of these people had – they’re unfamiliar, they’re difficult to pronounce. And frankly these people usually seem so distant and irrelevant to what’s going on in life, that we don’t care to pay much attention. When the Bible starts to say that Person A was the father of Person B, we interpret that to mean we should skip ahead to read about something more interesting.

But this morning, we’re going to begin a short, 3-part Advent Series in the gospel of Matthew, which starts with a genealogy – the genealogy of Jesus. And we’re not going to skip over the list of people in Jesus’s family line. Instead, my goal is to slow down and help you appreciate why Matthew starts his account of Jesus’s life this way, and how we can benefit from this genealogy and other genealogies we encounter in the Bible.

So if you haven’t already, please turn with me to Matthew, Chapter 1. I’ll be reading verses 1-17. But before I read our text for this morning, please join me in prayer:

[PRAY AND READ TEXT]

Explaining the Text

This morning as we work through our text, there are four main points I intend to explain. First, The Point of Jesus’s Genealogy. Second, The Preface and Structure of the genealogy. Third, the People of the Genealogy. And Fourth, the Practical Applications that come from this genealogy.

The Point of the Genealogy

So first, the point of the genealogy. It isn’t an accident that Matthew’s gospel starts with the family line of Christ. Matthew isn’t just giving a list of random trivia tidbits. Instead, we should understand that God has deliberately spoken through Jesus’s disciple Matthew, in this form, with this genealogy. He’s making some kind of argument, that is supported by the evidence given from Jesus’s family line.

Specifically, this genealogy is making the case that Jesus of Nazareth is a king. And really not just a king, but the long-awaited King of the Jews, chosen by God to bring all of God’s promises to fulfillment. This is why Matthew introduces Jesus as Jesus Christ in verse 1. The word Christ wasn’t just part of Jesus’s name. But it’s a position – it’s a formal title. It means “the anointed one” or the “one who has been appointed to leadership.” The Jews at that time were waiting for this person – the Christ. They recognized that the Old Testament prophets, sent from God, predicted the arrival of a future king who would lead them and save them.

A related group at that time, the Samaritans, who held to a distorted form of Judaism – even they were waiting for the Christ. In John’s gospel, a Samaritan woman affirms, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” And Matthew is affirming here – the people have come to the right conclusion as they’ve been reading the Old Testament. There really is a king, chosen by God. The Christ is a real person. But more than this, Matthew is confirming that the Christ has come, and that Jesus is the guy. That’s why again, in verse 16, Matthew’s genealogy concludes by pointing us to Jesus, “who is called Christ.” Matthew starts and finishes this genealogy by referring to Jesus as the Christ – as the King. Those are the two pieces of bread that hold together the sandwich. That’s the main point. And Matthew develops this point throughout the whole length of his book.

But I think it’s important to point out here, if you’ve ever done a side-by-side comparison between this genealogy, in Matthew, and the genealogy of Jesus in Luke, Chapter 3, you’ll notice that there are significant differences. Matthew’s gospel traces Jesus’s line through the kings of Judah, through Solomon. Luke’s gospel, on the other hand, traces Jesus’s line through King David’s oldest surviving son, Nathan. So how do we explain the difference?

Some scholars have suggested that one gospel writer is giving Joseph’s family line, and the other is giving Mary’s family line. That’s certainly possible, but I’m convinced that there’s a better explanation. Because here, in Matthew’s gospel, his point is to argue that Jesus is the chosen King, the Christ. So Matthew is likely giving us a royal or legal genealogy. He’s proving here that Jesus stands in the line of royal succession, to be accepted as Israel’s King. Luke, on the other hand, is likely giving us Jesus’s biological genealogy. These two different types of genealogies would have been different, because inheriting royal rights to the crown didn’t always perfectly follow birth order, or biological descent. There were multiple examples of orphans being adopted by aunts and uncles. Or sometimes widows married the brother of her deceased spouse, and her first son would be counted as a legal descendant for her first husband, even though he was biologically descended from her second husband. So the point here is that Matthew’s genealogy likely is focused on the royal line, because that’s his main point. He wants to prove Jesus’s Kingship, for the faith of his fellow Jews. (The Bible doesn’t contradict itself).

It may seem like an unusual strategy to us – to spend so much time talking about family history. But it was an essential piece of the argument. This genealogy declares that joy has come to the world, in the coming of the Christ. And it sends a message to all people, “Let earth receive her King.”

And so it’s worth taking a moment to consider here – have you received Jesus as your King? As the One God has appointed to have authority over you, to lead your decisions, to rule your life? Receiving Jesus as your Savior is certainly important. Receiving Jesus as your Friend and Comforter – there’s a place for that, too. But if you aren’t receiving Jesus as your King – if your life is still being ruled by your friends, or your anxieties, or by your sinful, selfish cravings, then you’re misunderstanding who Jesus is in a serious way. God has given him to us to be our king – to set us free from the tyranny of the devil, to provide for our souls and our security, to direct us into ways that are productive and profitable.  Do you know what it means to enjoy the comfort of Jesus’s kingship over you?

The Preface and Pattern of the Genealogy

As we continue on, though, as Matthew sets up this genealogy, he presents it in a certain form to strengthen his argument. This brings us to my second point, dealing with the preface and structure of the genealogy.

The preface to Jesus’s family tree is given in verse 1: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the Son of Abraham.” The first thing to note in Matthew’s genealogy, here, is that it uses language that’s similar to the genealogies in the book of Genesis. The genealogies there start by saying, “These are the generations of such and such a person” – they all start with the patriarch of the family line. And this is because the oldest man in the family tree would have been considered to have the greatest honor out of everyone else. Then, each of the genealogies in Genesis work their way down through the various the descendants.

But you’ll see here, that Matthew doesn’t say, “This is the book of the generations of Abraham” – even though that’s who the genealogy starts with. That’s what you’d expect to see. That would have been the Jewish custom. But Matthew instead refers to this as the book of the generations of Jesus Christ.

So Matthew is subtly bringing to our attention that the person of greatest honor in the family tree isn’t any of the Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob). It isn’t any of the kings of Judah, or anyone else other than Jesus himself. Having Jewish lineage isn’t what brings greater honor and dignity to Jesus, but it’s ultimately Jesus who brings honor and dignity to his family line.

For the average Jew in Matthew’s day, being able to trace your genealogy through a pure Jewish lineage was something of a status symbol. Many of the Jews imagined that being physically descended from Abraham specially qualified them to be recipients of God’s favor. But Matthew is making it clear here – that someone greater than Abraham has arrived.

We can easily be tempted to pride ourselves on the connections we have to certain people. We can think that somehow we’re more important, because we know certain wealthy people, or pastors of big churches, or politicians – it may even simply be that we feel proud of the connections we have to our parents. But the greatest of all connections we could possibly have is to know Christ. There’s no greater honor than being associated with him, in his death, in his resurrection, and in his glory as God’s chosen king.

But in addition to giving his genealogy this preface, Matthew’s genealogy also follows a certain pattern – a certain structure. This genealogy is arranged around a few key people and events. There are three groups of fourteen generations. Fourteen generations between Abraham and David, fourteen generations between David and the collapse of the Jewish kingdom, because of the invading armies of Babylon. And then another fourteen generations from the fall of the kingdom to the birth of Christ.

I want to quickly acknowledge here, at first it might seem like the last group of names appears to only have thirteen names. But the Jeconiah listed at the end of the second group of fourteen is likely a different person than the Jeconiah at the beginning of the third group. In verse 11, that Jeconiah most likely referring to King Jehoiakim, Jeconiah’s father.

There are a couple reasons why I think this. For one thing, in the Greek version of the Old Testament, in 2 Kings 24:6, Jehoiakim and Jeconiah, his son, are both referred to by the same name. So it seems that the two were commonly identified with one another. And in addition to this, verse 11 says that Josiah was the father of “Jeconiah and his brothers.” Jehoiakim had multiple brothers who were kings in Jerusalem. But based on the royal genealogy recorded in 1 Chronicles 3, Jeconiah, son of Jehoiakim only had one brother. So my understanding of Matthew’s genealogy here is that Jehoiakim, and his generation, is the 14^th person of verse 11. And then the name Jeconiah in verse 12 refers to a distinct person, who should be counted to fill out the full fourteen names in the third section.

Now, naturally the question arises, what’s the deal with the number fourteen? Some people suggest it’s connected to the numerical value of the Hebrews letters in David, who was Jesus’s kingly ancestor – it happens to add up to 14. But that’s rather speculative, and even if it were true, it wouldn’t add any new meaning to the text. Other people have suggested that these three groups of fourteen are actually six sets of seven, and that Jesus ushers God’s people into a “Seventh Seven” – a period of fulfillment and rest. And though there’s certainly a real element of truth to this idea, we need to be honest in recognizing that Matthew makes no reference to the number seven here. And generally speaking, we should be careful about assuming that every number in the Bible has some sort of secret or symbolic meaning. The number 14 might be representative of something. But it’s probably best for us to simply appreciate that there’s an even, orderly number of generations in each section.

Because even if the number 14 isn’t all that important, it’s still clear that Matthew laid out this genealogy very intentionally. It demonstrates a certain pattern. By highlighting this pattern, it could have been Matthew’s way of helping early Christians memorize the names here. That way, even illiterate people would be able to recite Jesus’s genealogy to their fellow Jews, to argue that Jesus is the Son of David, the Son of Abraham, and ultimately the Christ.

But it’s also possible that Matthew’s pattern here is intended to show us that major events in Israel’s history have occurred at a regular interval. In Abraham’s day, God initiated his promises. Fourteen generations later, in the days of King David, God brought those promises to a partial fulfillment. Fourteen generations later, God overthrew the Jewish nation for their sins, and removed David’s offspring from the throne. But now, fourteen generations after that, Matthew is insisting that there’s now a new major event of supernatural significance – a new kingdom – a new beginning. Matthew’s structure here would be another way of trying to persuade the Jews that this is precisely when they should expect to see a major work of God. God’s right on schedule to bring his pattern to completion. He has at last sent the Christ.

There’s an irregularity in Matthew’s pattern, though, that’s worth thinking about. There are three kings that are left out of the genealogy, in verse 8, between King Joram and King Uzziah. (King Ahaziah, King Joash, and King Amaziah). It’s possible that Matthew decided to delete these three kings randomly, simply to bring the number to fourteen. But I don’t think it was just a matter of convenience. Instead, it’s more likely that Matthew deleted these three kings from the list for a specific reason that would have been understood and respected by Jews in his day.

We don’t know the reason 100%. But it’s significant to note that these three men were the Kings of Judah that were most closely connected to the family tree of the wicked King Ahab, who ruled over the Northern Kingdom of Israel. This is because King Joram, mentioned in the genealogy, married Ahab’s daughter Athaliah. Ahab provoked the Lord to anger, and the Bible tells us that he brought his family line under God’s curse, in 1 Kings 21. Athaliah, Ahab’s daughter, was the first generation to fall under God’s curse. King Ahaziah was the second generation. King Joash was the third. And King Amaziah, the fourth.

This might remind you of what God said, when he declared his name to Moses in Exodus 34[:6-7] – “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and fourth generation.” For the Jews at that time, it could be that the sins of Ahab left a blemish on these kings of Judah, to the fourth generation. This may explain why these three kings couldn’t be included in the royal or legal genealogy of Christ. It’s certainly a compelling reason. And it would highlight God’s hand over the details and complexities of human history, to bring about Christ’s genealogy here in an evenly balanced and orderly form. But whatever the case may be, the structure of this genealogy further confirms Jesus’s elevated status, and invites us to receive Him as King.

The People of the Genealogy

But let’s also give attention to the people in this genealogy. This is my third point – the people in the genealogy. There are more than forty names listed here, but there are two names in particular that I’ve already referred to that receive special significance. In the preface, in verse 1, Jesus is specifically identified as the son of David [and] the son of Abraham.

Abraham

There are several reasons why Abraham is significant here. For one thing, he’s the father of the whole Jewish race – the top of the family tree. But more than this, God established a covenant with him. He made promises to Abraham, as we see in Genesis 12, verse 1 through 3: “Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 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.”

And these promises are directed, not just toward Abraham, but also to his offspring. (Genesis 12:7, 13:15, 15:18, 17:7-17). Matthew’s point in connecting Jesus to Abraham is his way of underscoring the fact that the promises made to Abraham haven’t been forgotten. The promises of God’s covenant will be brought to their ultimate fulfillment in the offspring of Abraham, Jesus, the Christ.

David

But David is also an important figure in this genealogy. King David functions in history as a forerunner of Christ. And what I mean by this is that God worked through history, through David, to point us ahead to a greater king who was yet to come. This is true for many of the figures of the Old Testament. Moses and Elijah point ahead to Jesus, as the greater prophet. The actions of Melchizedek and Aaron anticipate the arrival of a greater priesthood. In the same way, King David foreshadows the arrival of a greater king.

In fact, in David’s own day, God spoke to him in 2 Samuel 7[:12-13], and promised him, “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.” And of course, here, Matthew’s point here is to assert that Jesus is that promised offspring of David. Whereas David ruled for a season, Jesus will rule forever. Whereas the kingship of David brought a localized blessing to the nation of Israel only, through King Jesus, all nations will be blessed.

The Gentile Women

In fact, we see evidence of God’s mercy being extended to non-Jews even here, in Jesus’s family history. There are only five women who are identified here. Of course, one of them is Mary. But it’s surprising who the other women are who are included. Because you’d maybe expect that Matthew would include Sarah, Abraham’s wife – the mother of all the Jews. But she isn’t mentioned, and neither is Isaac’s wife Rebekah, or Jacob’s wife Leah, the mother of Judah.

Instead, in verse 3, Matthew mentions Tamar, who was likely a Canaanite. In verse 5, he lists Rahab the prostitute (also a Canaanite), and Ruth the Moabite. And in verse 7 refers to David’s wife Bathsheba as “the wife of Uriah,” Uriah being a Hittite. It’s likely that none of these women would have been counted as Jewish! And several of them had very questionable backgrounds. Yet the point here is that God’s grace extends even to them. Their stories of faith, and being enfolded into God’s people and promises, are woven into Jesus’s genealogy. Matthew’s reminding us that having a right standing before God doesn’t come through genetics of our family tree, but instead through Jesus.

Even here, from the beginning of his gospel, Matthew is suggesting that Jesus’s kingship extends further than any King of Israel before him. He isn’t just blessing the Jews, but through him all nations are blessed. And Matthew returns to this point at the very end of his gospel, in Matthew 28:18-20: “(And) Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

The Practical Applications from the Genealogy

So in a variety of ways, we’ve seen that Matthew has given this genealogy some special features to affirm that Jesus is the Christ. The King. But even though we might understand, cognitively, that that’s what the text is saying, we also need to wrestle with why it matters. And this brings me to my fourth and final point, The Practical Applications from the Genealogy.

Let me briefly point out four practical applications for you to reflect on.

First, realize that God works through history – even family history – in a way that’s intentional and orderly. I think many of us would agree that this is true for the genealogy of Christ. But I think we often don’t understand that this is also true for all people – every family line. The things that happen in our lives aren’t just random and meaningless. But God has us placed in certain relationships and situations for a purpose. God was involved, redemptively, to bring together Jesus’s family tree. And God continues to be at work, redemptively, through our family histories, and our friend groups, and our daily faithfulness. We should look for the opportunities that God is bringing to us, on a daily basis, to read the Bible with the young people in our home, and to pray with our neighbors, and to invite our co-workers over for dinner. God works through history in a way that’s intentional and orderly, to bring about his redemptive purposes.

Second, remind yourself that history isn’t about you. And do this often. Matthew makes it clear in his genealogy that history wasn’t about the great man of faith, Abraham. It wasn’t about the great King of David, who ushered in something of a golden age for Israel. But the greatest person listed in that family history – and the greatest person in human history, ultimately, is Jesus. The purpose of our lives is not to try to convince everyone of our own self-importance, by earning a lot of money, or showing off how much we know, or by organizing a new business or a new local church in Mount Pleasant. Instead, we live our lives rightly when we direct other people to the supreme importance of Jesus. History is about him. And if we believe this, it will impact the decisions we make about our vacations, our weekends, our money, our homes, and our social connections.

Third, remember the certainty of God’s promises. Though his promises sometimes seem slow in arriving, and sometimes His work in our world is small – almost undetectable – God really intends to do everything that he’s said he will. In this life, we should expect that our obedience won’t always produce instant, spectacular results in the eyes of the world – much like the humble obedience of Christ. But through Christ – through faith in him – people from every tribe, tongue, and nation will be blessed. And we will be given a good land, and made a prosperous nation in the new heavens and earth, under the rule of a glorious King.

And this brings me to my fourth and final application: Receive the King. This is Matthew’s main desire here. God has promised an everlasting kingdom, where every sort of disease is banished, where deceit has been eliminated, where depression is absent, where death has been destroyed. And over that kingdom, God has provided the perfect King.

And so we need to admit the ways that we’ve been living as our own kings or queens, making decisions for our own convenience and comfort – and we need to turn away from that sort of attitude. We can’t serve two masters. There’s a daily question that we’re faced with – a daily struggle. Will we have Jesus to be our King – who came to free us from sin and death, and to bring us to God – will we receive him? Or will we pass by him, and refuse to surrender to his authority?

Be careful how you listen to the word of God. Don’t just be a hearer of this word. But be careful to believe what God has said, and to entrust your soul to Jesus, who is rightly called the Christ of God. Please pray with me: