Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Wednesday, June 27th

Today's passage from the Chronological Bible In a Year Reading Plan is 1 Kings 17-19
Today's scripture focus is Matthew 1:1-17

The Genealogy of Jesus
1 A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham:
2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
3 Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram,
4 Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon,
5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse,
6 and Jesse the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,
7 Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa,
8 Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram, Jehoram the father of Uzziah,
9 Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,
10 Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah,
11 and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.
12 After the exile to Babylon: 
Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,
13 Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, Abiud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor,
14 Azor the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, Akim the father of Eliud,
15 Eliud the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob,
16 and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
17 Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ.

Matthew records the genealogy of Jesus down from King David all the way to His earthly adoptive father.  You'll notice the genealogy is very clear to name Joseph as Mary's husband (not Jesus' father), and that Mary bore Jesus - in the Greek "of whom" is feminine.  The genealogy needed to show Jesus' kingly ancestry through Joseph's side because kingship is always passed down on the father's side.  In Luke's genealogy it shows that Mary was also descended from the line of David in order to show that Jesus was a king by blood (Mary), not just lineage (Joseph).

From MacArthur's sermon, The Gracious King....

The first thing you notice in Matthew's Gospel is that Christ is presented as a King. There's just no question about it. The person of Jesus is painted in royal colors. His ancestry is traced from the royal line, and we'll see that tonight. His birth is dreaded by a rival king.
Wise men offer their royal gifts. His herald, John the Baptist declares that His Kingdom is at hand. Even in His temptation, you see the royalty of the person, because the temptation itself reaches a climax when He by Satan is offered the kingdoms of the world, and acknowledgment that He has a right to rule. His great message on the mount was the manifesto of the King setting forth the laws of the Kingdom. His miracles were His re..,were His royal credentials. His parables were called the mysteries of the Kingdom. He was hailed as the son of David. He claims the freedom to pay tribute to the kings of the earth for He Himself is a child of the King. He makes a royal entry into Jerusalem and claims sovereignty and tells concerning Himself the story of the marriage of a King's Son. And while facing the cross He predicted His future reign.
He claimed to have dominion over the angels, so that He could have called a legion of them to His defense. His last words are a kingly claim and a royal command as He says, ..All authority hath been given unto me, go ye therefore." And so Matthew presents Him as a King. A King revealed. And then the Book takes on another character, the King rejected. And as we study the Gospel of Matthew we're going to see that the people to whom He came, and for whom He sought submission, never gave it, and He was a King rejected. Matthew was the Gospel of rejection. No other Gospel has so much to say about His Kingliness, and no other Gospel has so much to say about His rejection as King. The shadow of rejection is never lifted from the Gospel of Matthew. Before He was born, his mother was in danger of being rejected by Joseph. At His birth, Jerusalem was troubled and Herod sought His life. On the plains of Bethlehem no angel choir sings but mothers are weeping in anguish as their babies are being slaughtered. He was hurried away for His life to live thirty years in the obscurity of a little no-account village called Nazareth. His forerunner was put in a dungeon and finally beheaded. He had nowhere to lay His own head, His parables indicate that His Kingdom would not be accepted in this age, and even in His death He said, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" No penitent thief is praying, no word of human sympathy is spoken, those who pass by revile and mock, and they hire soldiers to lie even about His resurrection.
In no Gospel is the attack upon Christ as bitter as it is in Matthew, from the beginning to the end. So the King is revealed and the king is rejected. But Matthew also presents the fact, that the King is returning, and no other Gospel lays such emphasis on the second coming as the Gospel of Matthew. And so in a sense it is a Gospel of triumph.
When you get to chapter 24 and 25 and you hear the fact that He will come in the clouds with great glory, you know that He'll ultimately reign. And so it's a Gospel of the revelation of a King, the rejection of the King, and the return of the King.

The King His people rejected will return with glorious splendor!

To the Jewish people of that day, your lineage was everything.  They needed to know their pedigree for the exchange of land, for their tribal location, for priestly identity, for the royal line.  It was important.  Interesting note: the Jewish people of today can no longer trace their ancestry.  It would be impossible for a false Messiah to prove that their lineage traced back to David.  If Jesus is not the Messiah, no one else could lay a believable claim to it.

This lineage is also an incredible display of God's grace.

Included in this lineage are liars (Abraham, Isaac), prostitutes (Rahab, Tamar), adulterers (Bathsheba, David), gentiles (Ruth - not just a gentile, but a Moabitess!), twins conceived by incest (Perez and Zerah), the wisest man who ever lived but who squandered the throne through foolish living (Solomon), and on it goes.

This is the lineage of our gracious King.

Tomorrow's scripture focus: Matthew 1:18-25
Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage: 1 Kings 20-21

1 comment:

Miriam said...

It is interesting that there is no one presently who would be able to claim direct lineage to David. It kinda makes the belief that the Messiah is still coming moot. Well, I suppose he is still coming, but for the 2nd time, not the 1st.