Welcome to The MHB Podcast. This is Michael Baun. And welcome to my 171st episode. In this episode I want to begin our study of the book of Matthew. Matthew is the first book in the New Testament of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The entire Bible is a story aimed at the redemption of humanity through the grace of God. The New Testament brings into focus the love of Jesus and the grace of His good will to take action as our Savior. The gospel accounts show us Jesus on a rescue mission to save all who might come to Him. Faithful obedience is the only way to follow Jesus Christ and to receive the salvation He offers. We should not expect Christ as our Savior if we do not also consent to Christ as our Lord. This is not because God is some kind of petulant child who won’t help us unless we bow to Him – rather it’s because the human heart is desperately wicked and if we do not flee into the shelter of God’s grace we will corrupt ourselves into rebellion against Him.
When people think of the New Testament they sometimes consider it a super-ordinate document which renders the Old Testament obsolete. This is not an accurate way of thinking about it. The best way to view the Old Testament is as a foundation which laid the groundwork in human societies to prepare them for the coming of the Lord. The New Testament is not a revision of the Old Testament – the New Testament is and always has been the culmination of God’s eternal, redemptive design. The people who lived under the Mosaic laws of the Old Testament needed to do so at the time in order to separate themselves from the tribal, idolatrous cultures which surrounded them.
Many of the laws in the Old Testament are no longer necessary for us as a people because the Spirit of God has guided us into producing societies stable enough to move beyond the fundamental object lessons given by Moses. But that doesn’t mean we are safe from sliding back down the hill into madness. I think it’s possible humanity can descend into collective psychosis which would then require a re-learning of basic godly values. Because of Christ’s work on the cross, we will never need to return to the sacrificial system established in the Old Testament – but I think it’s possible we may need to return to the object lessons given there. We need the progression of the Old Testament into the New Testament in order to have an accurate understanding of the character and nature of God. It teaches us who we are in relation to God. If we forget these things then Jesus Christ could stand right in front of us and we wouldn’t recognize Him. So the Old Testament sets up the New Testament which is a full discovery of the grace of God in the person of Jesus Christ as well as the pathway to salvation given by the gospel.
I’ve heard Christians say the Bible is God’s love letter to humanity. I don’t really like this analogy because the Bible is a very dark and often terrifying document. I think it’s more accurate to say the Bible is God’s word which tells us who we are and who He is in order to wake us up and pull us out from under the persuasion of lies.
The New Testament wasn’t written down until some time after Christ’s death, but the contents of the New Testament were given and ratified by Jesus during His time on earth. One could suggest accurately that the Word of God, the full counsel of God – both Old and New Testaments – are eternal and have existed from everlasting to everlasting. Indeed the law of the Lord is perfect and the gospel of Christ is perfect. There is no need to add anything to it and we need nothing more in order to know Jesus and have our salvation. The New Testament begins with the four gospels of our Lord Jesus Christ. The term gospel means good news, and this grand story of God coming into the world to save us sinners is the best news we’ll ever hear. An old Saxon word, gospel can literally mean God’s spell or God’s word. The implication of this is to suggest the gospel is a charming salve to the spirit of humanity. The gospel of Jesus Christ comforts us, redeems us, secures us, and shapes us into better people. We commonly consider the narrative found in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John as the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is not wrong in principle, but we should always remember to fold in the rest of the New Testament and indeed the Old Testament with the significance of the gospel accounts. The entire canon of Scripture is of a piece and cannot be separated without losing important resolution.
The Bible says that Jesus said and did many memorable things which were not written, but we must be careful when studying accounts of Him which are not from Scripture. Some Christians would say don’t study these extra-biblical sources at all. If you’re not able to discern the difference in value between Scripture and non-Scripture then I would agree that you should refrain from considering other sources. But the pattern of God’s redemptive work can be found all throughout history even unto this day – so I personally think it’s an interesting and profitable enterprise to look for God’s signature in all of human activity. But when there’s any doubt at all about the veracity of a claim I always defer to Scripture as my final authority about what’s true and reliable.
Matthew was born a Jew and he was a publican or tax collector by trade. When Christ called him to attendance Matthew gave up his occupation and followed Him. He stuck very close to Jesus through every moment beginning with the baptism of John all the way up until Christ ascended. His proximity to Jesus throughout the ministry makes him a credible and qualified witness as the author of this gospel account. Some scholars suggest that Matthew wrote his gospel account as early as eight years after Christ ascended. He probably wrote the account in Greek. You might wonder why Matthew chose Greek over Hebrew since, being Jewish, Hebrew would have been his natural language. Some think he published two copies – one in Hebrew and one in Greek. One reason Greek was chosen is because Greek made the account widely accessible to the world outside of Judea. To this day the Jews continue to hope for a messiah to save their people. But Jesus Christ had His eyes on a prize much larger than the Jewish church. Jesus Christ came to save the entire human race. Let’s begin with verses 1-17 of Matthew chapter 1:
Mat 1:1 The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham:
Mat 1:2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.
Mat 1:3 Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez was the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram.
Mat 1:4 Ram was the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon.
Mat 1:5 Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse.
Mat 1:6 Jesse was the father of David the king. David was the father of Solomon by Bathsheba who had been the wife of Uriah.
Mat 1:7 Solomon was the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asa.
Mat 1:8 Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah.
Mat 1:9 Uzziah was the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah.
Mat 1:10 Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, and Amon the father of Josiah.
Mat 1:11 Josiah became the father of Jeconiah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.
Mat 1:12 After the deportation to Babylon: Jeconiah became the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel.
Mat 1:13 Zerubbabel was the father of Abihud, Abihud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor.
Mat 1:14 Azor was the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud.
Mat 1:15 Eliud was the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob.
Mat 1:16 Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.
Mat 1:17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations.
What’s interesting about the New Testament is that it begins with a kind of genesis same as the Old Testament. The book of Genesis at the beginning of the Bible is a narrative about the generation of the world. But the account found here in the beginning of the New Testament is one of the earthly generation of our Lord Jesus Christ – the Creator of the world. It’s true that Christ is from everlasting and that He has always existed eternally outside of time. But it’s also important to realize He became incarnate in the fullness of time – and this genealogy brings that profound reality into focus. Jesus Christ came into the world during a particular generation and that generation is declared by this passage of the Bible.
The main purpose of Christ’s genealogy is to show that He is the son of David and the son of Abraham. The prophets foretold the Messiah arising out of this lineage and so the lineage is expressed here to show how Jesus fulfilled the prophecies. It’s not so much a matter of pedigree – in fact pedigree doesn’t mean anything in the sight of God. You could come from the most affluent, well-respected family and if you’re an unrepentant sinner you face the same fate as those unrepentant sinners who come from nothing. In the same way, you could have a lowly and embarrassing family history but your predecessors have zero impact on God’s love for you.
The reason why Scripture takes great care to point out Christ’s lineage to David and Abraham is because these two functioned like trustees for God’s covenant with humanity. God promised Abraham that his descendants would be blessed. God promised David that his descendants would have dominion. Jesus Christ provides both blessing and dominion. Jesus is the one through whom all families can be blessed so long as they remain faithful to His rule. God promised both Abraham and David that Christ would descend from them. The lineage expressed in Scripture serves to solidify our understanding of Christ’s title as the Messiah.
It was also helpful for ancient people to have the prophecies which promised Christ would be a descendant of Abraham and David. It’s likely there were many false messiahs, just as there are today, and having the parameters of lineage helped to authenticate Jesus in the minds of others. The Hebrew people were very meticulous in preserving their family records. When we look back we can clearly see God’s providence in this preservation. Ultimately being a son of David and a son of Abraham wasn’t enough to prove yourself as the Messiah. And of course Jesus is no mere son of David or son of Abraham. He is the only begotten Son of God. So when speaking of Jesus as a son of David and a son of Abraham the early evangelists were careful to qualify these titles by saying something like: the son of David upon whose shoulders the government was to be, and the son of Abraham who was to be the father of many nations.
Tracing the lineage from Abraham to Christ also expresses the certainty of God’s promises. God promised Abraham a son who would be a great blessing to the world. Perhaps Abraham thought this might be his immediate son Isaac. But God’s plans do not operate on time-lines which make sense to us. The promise God made to Abraham would not be fulfilled for another forty-two generations or about 2,000 years. God has also made promises for your own life and your own salvation. Whether you pass on today or fifty years from now, God’s promise to you is so certain that it might as well have happened already. Imagine being one of the house of Abraham and seeing generation after generation pass by without the emergence of the Messiah. Such a length of time could easily cause despair and wear your patience thin. But God knew what He was doing. He waited until the house of Abraham fell into obscurity and the sons of Abraham became mere tributaries to the sprawling Roman Empire. God tends to pick the most unlikely people to do great works through and He tends to act during moments where it seems all hope is lost. The lineage of Abraham had become insignificant and downtrodden like parched ground. But out of the shadows of obscurity came Jesus Christ in all His perfect glory.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the specific names mentioned in Christ’s genealogy. When tracing the lineage of Jesus we notice it usually runs through the younger brother of each ancestor. This is not by happenstance. Ancient people highly regarded the firstborn in a family and prioritized him with inheritance. God chose to pass Christ’s lineage through younger brothers to symbolize how heavenly power is not the same as earthly power. Where the world might exalt you for being a firstborn, God chooses to exalt those who humble themselves and acknowledge their own shortcomings.
Judah is the only son named when it comes to Christ’s lineage passing through Jacob, but the brothers of Judah are at least acknowledged. Judah and his brothers make up the twelve tribes of Israel who are the patriarchs of the church. I think Judah’s brothers are acknowledged here to show that even though they weren’t fathers of Christ, their role in becoming the church gave them an interest in Christ. The same is true for us today. When we read the Bible we can sometimes think God is distant from us because we didn’t grow up in the middle-east or because we don’t have a rich family heritage. But the moment you put your faith in Jesus you are baptized in the Holy Spirit and you become a child of God. If you believe that Jesus is your Lord and Savior then you have just as much share in Him as did the patriarchs of Israel themselves.
Indeed faith is the only requirement to become a child of God. Without faith, no amount of prestige or claim to family heritage will save you. The brothers Perez and Zerah are mentioned in the lineage although Perez is the one through whom Christ descended. It’s possible Zerah is mentioned as an allegory to show importance of faith over birthright. When Perez and Zerah were born, Zerah’s hand came out first which would have made him the first-born. But Zerah withdrew his hand and Perez was given the birthright. In the same way, the Jewish people of Israel were set apart by God to be His chosen people before the Gentiles joined the church. But because of their faithlessness, the Jews persisted in unbelief while the Gentiles took up Christ as their Lord. In Paul’s letter to the Romans, he discusses how the Jews will come around to faithfulness and salvation – but because of their hardened hearts this repentance will wait until after the fullness of the Gentiles comes into the church.
We can also learn a lot from the women who are named in this genealogy. First we see Tamar who was an adulteress. Next we see Rahab who was both a harlot and a foreigner from Canaan. Then comes Ruth who was from Moab which was a wicked nation. And of course Bathsheba who is famous for her sinful affair with king David. Again we notice that Christ’s lineage is not bound by national pedigree. Ruth was a nobody in terms of her national origin but God chose her to be an ancestor of the King of Kings. We should always be careful against shrouding our faith in patriotic nationalism. It’s good to be thankful for your country and to protect it, but we must resist the temptation to think we are somehow more deserving of Christ than those who come from less fortunate situations or even societies dominated by godlessness.
Not only did God choose imperfect women as Christ’s ancestors, but He made no effort at hiding the fact that His lineage ran through them. To be the child of a sin like adultery brought some amount of humiliation in ancient times. But Christ being descended from such people shows us His grace in voluntarily taking upon the likeness of sinful flesh despite the fact that He is perfect in holiness. It is a tremendous expression of humility and self-sacrificial love on behalf of our Lord to call such people near to Him. But that’s what He does. Even the most wretched of sinners are brought close to Jesus when they repent and turn to Him for salvation. It’s good practice to refrain from deriding a person on account of their family or the sins of their parents and grandparents. If you’re ever tempted to lump someone in with the sins of their predecessors and write them off – just remember that Jesus Christ Himself chose such people to play an important part in the lineage of His incarnation.
This genealogy names several kings but only David is listed with the title of king. This is because God specified David for the covenant of royalty meaning he promised David the Messiah’s Kingdom would come through his lineage. There are three kings omitted from this genealogy: Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah. Something to keep in mind about Hebrew genealogies is that they often skip generations so long as the lineal progression is maintained. This skipping of generations was probably part of helping to memorize the genealogy. But these three kings were responsible for idolatrous failures as well. Two of the three were apostates. It’s possible their unfaithful leadership resulted in their names being scrubbed from Christ’s lineage. Remember, it’s one thing to be humble, lowly, and a repentant sinner. It’s quite different to be given over to evil and to wickedness – to be unrepentant and unfaithful brings God’s wrath down upon your head.
By studying this genealogy we also see that wicked people are capable of begetting good people. Just because your parents or grandparents are wicked doesn’t mean you have to be. God’s grace is not hereditary – He gives it and He withdraws it as He pleases. Israel’s captivity in Babylon is mentioned specifically in this genealogy. It’s nothing short of a miracle that the Israelites were not permanently lost as a consequence of their exile in Babylon. History is fraught with examples of entire societies collapsing and never rebounding because of such things. But the promise of Jesus Christ rested with the Israelite people, and therefore God kept them from being completely wiped out. By divine providence Christ’s lineage was maintained through those difficult years and God restored His people to their homeland.
It’s also interesting to note how Joseph and Mary are mentioned in this genealogy. The Hebrew people reckoned lineage by males – but the difference with Christ is that He had no blood relation to Joseph. Mary came from the same tribe and family as Joseph and so she maintained connection to the house of David. But even with this meticulously preserved lineage and the fulfillment of God’s promises, the kingdom of our Lord Jesus was never founded on flesh and blood. It is founded on divinity as Jesus is the only begotten Son of God.
It’s fascinating to see the incarnation of Christ traced through generations of history. If you need something to be thankful for, be thankful that you did not live during the time when the patriarchs were longing with expectation for the Messiah. We get to live in a time where we know Jesus – but they lived in a time when you were only able to see God’s redemptive plan as through a glass dimly. What a blessing it is to live during a time when the word of God is so prolific. If we do well to heed His word then we are counted among honorable relations to Him. Jesus is the Anointed One which means He is perfectly qualified to fill all roles as our High Priest. There’s no doubt that king David experienced his fair share of earthly glory. But the generations came and the generations passed and soon enough the house of David declined so much as to be unremarkable. It’s from this unremarkable situation that the King of Glory Himself emerged. Jesus chose to arrive during a time of great humility for His people. Perhaps Jesus will arrive for yourself when you, too, experience this measure of humility. The time is not too late for you and God’s grace is sufficient for you. All you need to do is turn to Him, continue to seek Him, and you will find Him.
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