Sound The Trumpet : Matthew 1: Pt. 1

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“Matthew 1: Pt. 1”
by Art Sadlier
February 7th, 2010

"The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham."

The book of Matthew reveals Jesus Christ as the long promised great king of Israel. The Lord made a promise to David in 2 Samuel 7:12, 13. "And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish his kingdom forever."

The angel in Luke 1:32, 33 pronounces the birth of Christ and states that Christ is the king promised to Israel through David. "He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David. And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end."

The Holy Spirit speaking through Zacharias says concerning Christ in Luke 1:69 "And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David."

Now if Christ is to be the long promised king of Israel, he has to be of the house and lineage of the royal family of David. Matthew 1:1-16 gives the proof that Christ is descendant of David, and qualifies to be the promised king of Israel.

In the genealogy of Christ we have a demonstration of the grace of God.

1 - The Grace of God is demonstrated first in the Choice of one woman.

Verse 16, "And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ." Verse 20, "That which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost." Look at the grace bestowed upon that young woman! Mary became the mother of the Messiah from the human standpoint. No one had ever heard of Mary before God in grace chose her.

The truth about Mary is that she was a sinner like every son of Adam who has ever lived. The Bible confirms that in Romans 5:12, "Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." That includes Mary, Mary was a sinner also! The son that she bore had to become her Savior also! There has only lived one man who has never sinned.

"Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life." Romans 5:18. Christ is that righteous one, the reason that Christ is that righteous one is because He is the only one who has never sinned. Christ was not born with a sinful nature. He was not a son of Adam's race. He was not the biological son of Joseph.

His seed did not come from Joseph. His seed was created by the Holy Spirit. He was the first man of a new race of men. All those who by faith in Christ have been born again, have become members of that new race.

Two things are demonstrated by the virgin birth (I press this point because it is crucial to right understanding of the gospel)

A - Christ was not born of Adam's race. The seed of the race is passed on by the father, not by the mother, this is a biological fact. Christ is not of Joseph's seed.

B - Christ was God but He was also human. This is proven by the fact that He was born in Mary's womb and by the fact that Mary's blood flowed through His veins. It is also proven by the fact that when His blood was shed on the cross He died.

The grace of God is revealed in the fact that even though Mary was a sinner the Lord allowed her to be the human mother of Jesus, and yet He was not a sinner because He did not partake of her Adam’s nature.

There are two scriptures that show Jesus taught that Mary's spiritual relationship to Jesus was no different than anyone else (see Mark 3:31-35 and Luke 11:27-28). To be the physical mother of Jesus brought no spiritual advantage to Mary. The only advantage to be gained was to come by hearing and obeying the word of God.

The grace of God was bestowed upon Mary, though a sinner she was included in the lineage of Christ.

2 - The Grace of God was demonstrated in the seed of two men

"The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham" These two men were both sinners and yet God in grace included them in the line of Christ. Both Abraham's sin and David's sin are painfully recorded in the scriptures. David committed the sin of adultery and Abraham denied his wife and exposed her to the danger of total humiliation. The grace of God is gloriously set forth in this demonstration.

3 - We see the Grace of God demonstrated in the history of three eras

"So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations, and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations" (verse 17).

We see here three eras of history.

From Abraham to David

The first period mentioned by Matthew is the period of the patriarchs and the judges. The lives of the patriarchs were flawed by sin. During the times of the judges Israel repeatedly turned away from the Lord in sin and disobedience. The grace of God was poured on the men of those days.

From David to Babylon

This second period of history was marked with persistent failure by the people and the nation. They repeatedly forsook the Lord and turned to idols, and yet the grace of God was poured upon them.

From Babylon to Christ

This period is marked by silence and darkness and continued decline. In spite of the abysmal sinful history of the chosen nation the grace of God was revealed. God did not turn away from them but used them to bring the grace of God into the world in the person of the Messiah, who would in turn extend grace to them.

4 - The inclusion of four outcasts in the genealogy of Christ

Tamar verse 3a, "And Judah begot Perez and Zerah of Tamar" Tamar tricked Judah, her father-in-law into committing incest with her.

Rehab Verse 5a, "And Salmon begot Boaz of Rehab." Rehab was a harlot and a Canaanite; she could not have been more unworthy. God demonstrated His mercy in sparing her life and including her in the royal line of David.

Ruth verse 5b, "And Boaz begot Obed of Ruth." Ruth was an exemplary person but she was a gentile and a Moabite, the descendant of an incestuous relationship between drunken Lot and his daughters. She had no right to be included in the royal line of Christ, but by the grace of God she was.

Bathsheba Was a woman who had allowed the king of Israel to commit adultery with her; she also had no right to be in the royal line. Again the grace of God is demonstrated.

Of these four women, the only woman mentioned in the genealogy of Christ, two were harlots, one was born out of an incestuous relationship and the other was an adulterer.

We learn some important lessons here.

1 - Man is incurably sinful. No matter where we find man in the Bible he is bent and determined to sin.

2 - God is infinitely gracious and merciful to sinful man. God's mercy and forgiveness is without limits, to the man will admit his sin, and will repent of his sin and turn to God in faith.

So we see that the New Testament begins with a massive demonstration of God's Grace.

GRACE in Greek is "Charis" which means undeserved favor or unearned gift.

Ilon Jones, a Welch Preacher said, "Grace is undoubtedly the most significant word in the Bible, it is found more than 150 times in the New Testament."

Grace is demonstrated in salvation. Grace is also the portion of the believer after salvation. By God's grace every Christian receives a gift of special ability to serve Him. Every Christian receives grace daily to live in this sinful wicked world.

God, by His Grace can take a worthless sinful life, wash it in the blood of Calvary, put His Spirit in it, and make it worthy to dwell with Him in Heaven. That is grace.

Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13