Matthew 1:1-25: “Genealogy Of Jesus / Mary Is Found To Be
With Child From The Holy Spirit / Joseph Is Kept From Divorcing Mary”
by
1.
INTRO: We all
remember the traditional Christmas plays that we saw and perhaps participated
in when we were growing up. One kid
dressed as the angel Gabriel appears to the shepherds in their fields and tells
them about Christ’s birth, then he tells them to come and see the baby, which
they do. These shepherds are really
quite sanitized because we know in actuality that shepherds in that day were
known as being common thieves. Then,
there are the three wise men (the Bible doesn’t say there were three however
none the less there are always three), who are some rather unusual guys, and
they have come from a far away land in order to give gifts to the baby
Jesus. Then, in that very sanitized
manager (A manger is really just a stall where animals are kept. It has a
feeding trough, its stinky, and it is filled with land mines) is a girl dressed
up as Mary who is holding a baby doll which is supposed to be Jesus, the
Messiah. Then, as all of these folks are
gathered there, the whole audience is led to sing one or more Christmas songs,
one of which is always “Silent Night”.
Well, the entire purpose of this pageant is to convey to the audience
the mystery, solemnity, and the joy of the birth of this child who is God the
Son made to be flesh and blood. As the
words to the song say, “Jesus, Lord at Thy birth”. This act of God becoming made to be man is
called the “incarnation”, and it is truly as miraculous an event as the
creation of the world or the resurrection of Christ from the dead. The implications of the “incarnation” is what
we are going to look at tonight and in this study of the gospel of Matthew.
2.
AUTHOR: The author
of the book of Matthew is one of the twelve apostles, and his Jewish name is
Levi.
2.1.
Matthew was a ‘publican’ or ‘tax-gatherer’, and as such he was one of the
most despised of persons in all of the Jewish culture
2.2.
The tax-gatherers of his day would bribe and extort those who owed the
government the equivalent of our income tax in
2.3.
The picture that should come into our minds concerning these
tax-gatherers is someone more on the line of the Mafia rather than the IRS
2.4.
Because Jesus had so reached out to this man who was very awareness of
his sinfulness, Matthew was moved by the grace and mercy of Christ and was
willing to follow Him wherever He would go, and do whatever He wished
3.
DATE: There is no
real agreement as to the date of the writing of this gospel, however most place
its writing somewhat early in New Testament writing, perhaps as early as 41
A.D.
4.
PURPOSE:
Matthew,
being a Jew, wrote this gospel primarily for the Jews, and for the purpose of
demonstrating that Jesus was the promised Messiah of the Old Testament. He speaks constantly of prophesies of the Old
Testament as being “fulfilled” in Christ.
5.
THEME: In the
culture of the Jews in Jesus day, it was central that God would be sending them
a Messiah who was to rule on the throne of David, and that He would thus be
King over all of the earth. Thus,
Matthew’s theme in the book is that of Jesus being the King of the Jews.
6.
IMPORTANCE:
Being
the first book of the New Testament, just as Genesis, the book of ‘Beginnings’,
is the first book of the Old Testament, Matthew is central in its importance in
providing a framework within which Christianity could come into being.
7.
VS 1:1 - “1:1 The
book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham”
- Matthew
tells us that he is now going to present to us initially the ‘genealogy’ of
Jesus Christ
7.1.
It is completely appropriate that the gospel writers would point us to
consider the genealogy of Jesus Christ, for God had given several very specific
promises in the Old Testament concerning the lineage through whom the Messiah
would come
7.1.1. These promises were made to
David and to Abraham, and since Matthew’s motive is to prove that Christ is the
promised Messiah of the Old Testament, he lists these two men first
7.1.1.1.Promises made to Abraham:
7.1.1.1.1.Gen. 12:3, “3 And I will
bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth
shall be blessed.””
7.1.1.1.2.Gen. 22:18, “18 “And in
your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have
obeyed My voice.””
7.1.1.2.Promises made to David:
7.1.1.2.1.2 Sam. 7:12, “12 “When
your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your
descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his
kingdom””
7.1.1.2.2.Ps. 89:3-4, “3 “I have
made a covenant with My chosen; I have
sworn to David My servant, 4 I will establish your seed forever, And build up
your throne to all generations.””
7.1.1.2.3.Ps. 132:11, “The LORD has
sworn to David, A truth from which He will not turn back; “Of the fruit of your
body I will set upon your throne”
7.1.2. In Gen. 49:8-10 we read that
the scepter should not depart from
7.2.
If Jesus had come from nowhere, there would probably be more than just a
little bit of suspicion concerning Him and His credentials
7.2.1. Someone once said that we as
people must know of the parentage of all great people
7.3.
It is believed that the genealogies were probably kept in the temple in
Jerusalem, and thus those to whom this letter first came had the opportunity to
verify the names in the genealogy, however one of the most convincing proofs of
the credibility of this genealogy is that there is no secular or biblical
evidence of the Jews prior to 70 AD taking issue with the names listed in this
genealogy of Christ, nor that given by Luke in his gospel
7.3.1. This argument is
particularly convincing when you read in the New Testament where Paul cautions
the Jews for their keeping endless genealogies (See 1 Tim. 1:4; 6:4; Titus 3:9)
7.3.2. When the temple was burned
and
8.
VS 1:2-15 - “2 To
Abraham was born Isaac; and to Isaac, Jacob; and to Jacob, Judah and his
brothers; 3 and to Judah were born Perez and Zerah by Tamar; and to Perez was
born Hezron; and to Hezron, Ram; 4 and to Ram was born Amminadab; and to
Amminadab, Nahshon; and to Nahshon, Salmon; 5 and to Salmon was born Boaz by
Rahab; and to Boaz was born Obed by Ruth; and to Obed, Jesse; 6 and to Jesse
was born David the king. And to David
was born Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah; 7 and to Solomon was born Rehoboam; and to
Rehoboam, Abijah; and to Abijah, Asa; 8 and to Asa was born Jehoshaphat; and to
Jehoshaphat, Joram; and to Joram, Uzziah; 9 and to Uzziah was born Jotham; and
to Jotham, Ahaz; and to Ahaz, Hezekiah; 10 and to Hezekiah was born Manasseh;
and to Manasseh, Amon; and to Amon, Josiah; 11 and to Josiah were born Jeconiah
and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon. 12 And after the deportation to Babylon, to
Jeconiah was born Shealtiel; and to Shealtiel, Zerubbabel; 13 and to Zerubbabel
was born Abihud; and to Abihud, Eliakim; and to Eliakim, Azor; 14 and to Azor
was born Zadok; and to Zadok, Achim; and to Achim, Eliud; 15 and to Eliud was
born Eleazar; and to Eleazar, Matthan; and to Matthan, Jacob” - Matthew
first relates to us the descendants of Abraham
8.1.
The genealogy which Luke gives in the first chapter of his gospel goes
backwards in time all the way to Adam, however as we see here, the genealogy of
Matthew goes forward beginning with Abraham
8.2.
Luke’s gospel was written for gentiles, and thus Christ is seen as
descending from the first man, however since Matthew’s main goal is to
demonstrate Jesus’ Messianic claims to kingship, his genealogy descends from
Abraham the patriarch of the Jews
8.3.
It has been noted that Matthew did not include every single individual in
the chain in his genealogy, leaving out a few here and there probably for the
purpose of grouping the individuals in generations of 14 each
8.3.1. Since it is believed that
both the genealogy of Matthew and of Luke were easily verifiable by public
record, it could be that neither gospel writer felt the need to include every
individual in the chain
8.4.
It is interesting to note that there are in this genealogical chain some
men who were known as being person’s of virtue, while others were not
8.4.1. The ones in this chain who
were known for their virtue were:
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, Josiah, and
Zerubbabel
8.4.2. The ones in this chain who
were known for their lack of virtue were:
Rehoboam, Abijah, Uzziah, Ahaz, Manasseh, Amon, and Jechoniah
8.4.3. There is no separation or
seeming order in the list between those who did good and those who did
evil: wicked Rehoboam begat a wicked
son, Abia; wicked Abia begat a good son,
Asa; good Asa begat a wicked son,
Josaphat; wicked Josaphat begat a good
son, Joram
8.4.4. It probably should not
surprise us that Jesus, who was sent to us “in the likeness of sinful flesh”
(Rom. 8:3), and whom was known for hanging around with sinful people, should
also have in his genealogy some unrepentant sinners
8.4.4.1.This shows us that Jesus was
given to us through grace, not because we deserved anything good from God
8.4.4.2.When we look at the names in
this list, we see that all of the people listed were sinners, and one of the
things that distinguishes the Bible from all other religious books is that,
even with the heroes of the faith, both the triumphs and the failures of
everyone is recorded
8.4.4.2.1.Thus, every name mentioned
here reveals that it is only by God’s grace that anyone is chosen or found to
be upright in God’s sight
8.4.5. One very unordinary thing
that should really jump out to us as we look in this genealogy is that there
are four ‘women’ mentioned in it
8.4.5.1.I mentioned already that the
Jews tracked their genealogies through men, and in fact in the Jewish culture
women were considered as a lower cast
8.4.5.2.However, there is also a
very interesting choice of women to be mentioned, two were outside of the
Jewish nation itself, Rahab the Canaanitess, and Ruth the Moabite, and three of
the four were known because of their lack of repute
8.4.5.2.1.Tamar was the women who
committed adultery and incest by secretly seducing her father-in-law, Judah
(also mentioned in the list), and becoming pregnant with his son after her
husband died and her father-in-law had not appointed one of the other brothers
to take Tamar to be his wife
8.4.5.2.2.Rahab was a harlot in the
city of Jericho who by faith allowed the Jewish spies to stay safely in her
house when they were searched for, and as a result of her faith was allowed
along with her family to be spared when the city was taken, and then destroyed
and the people anihilated
8.4.5.2.2.1.Rahab then became the great
grandmother of King David
8.4.5.2.3.Bathsheba is mentioned as
being ‘her who had been the wife of Uriah’, and of course her name immediately
reminds everyone of the adultery with which she committed with David, as well
as the murder David committed of her husband
8.4.5.2.4.The women chosen by God to
share in this genealogy of His precious Son show again God’s grace in His
choice to bless sinful men and women
9.
VS 1:16 - “16 and
to Jacob was born Joseph the husband of Mary, by whom was born Jesus, who is
called Christ” - This genealogy ends with Joseph who was ‘the husband
of Mary’
9.1.
Matthew is in no way indicating that Joseph was the father of Jesus, but
as I mentioned earlier, Matthew gives the genealogy of Joseph because
genealogies were traced through the man, not the woman, and his effort is to
show that Jesus was legally qualified by genealogy to the Throne through Joseph
9.1.1. Matthew indicates in verse
18 of this chapter that Jesus was not the son of Joseph, ‘before they came
together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit’
9.2.
He was ‘born Jesus’, as Matthew indicates in verse 21 of this chapter,
that was the name that the Holy Spirit told them to name Him
9.2.1. Paul writes in Phil. 2:9-11
that Jesus has been given a name that is above every name, “9 Therefore also
God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven,
and on earth, and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”
9.3.
Matthew writes that He is also called ‘Christ’, which is the Greek word
for the Hebrew word “Messiah”
9.3.1. Daniel, in Dan. 9:25, gave
his prophesy concerning the timetable as to when Israel’s Messiah would come,
“25 “So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to
restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven
weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in
times of distress”
9.3.2. This word “Messiah”
literally means, “Anointed One”, and in the Old Testament the Hebrew form of
the word was used in places only in a general sense to refer to priests (Lev.
4:3,5,16), to a king appointed by Jehovah (1 Sam. 24:6,10; 2 Sam. 29:21), and also to King Cyrus of
Persia (Is. 45:1)
10.
VS 1:17 - “17 Therefore
all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from
David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations; and from the
deportation to Babylon to the time of Christ fourteen generations” - Matthew felt that it was important for him to break
down the time before the birth of the Messiah into three sets of ‘fourteen
generations’
11.
VS 1:18-20 - “18 Now
the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows. When His mother Mary had been
betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child
by the Holy Spirit. 19 And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man, and not
wanting to disgrace her, desired to put her away secretly. 20 But when he had
considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream,
saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for
that which has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit” - Mary was found to be with child through the Holy
Spirit
11.1. In the Jewish culture of
Jesus’ day, marriages were arranged by the children’s parents, and the marriage
was considered to exist in two stages.
The first stage was “betrothal”, which was the stage that Joseph and
Mary were in at this point, and in this stage they did not live together but
apart, and though the “betrothal” period was considered just as binding as the
second stage, the couple did not live together but were still living in their
own homes as they spent their time getting to know each other
11.2. It is very curious that
Matthew chooses the words concerning Mary, writing that she ‘was found to be
with child’
11.3. This phrase seems to
intimate perhaps that she had not told Joseph that the angel had overshadowed
her earlier and told her that she was going to have a child
11.3.1.If indeed she hadn’t told Matthew
about this yet, perhaps she hadn’t done so because it was just too personal
between her and the Lord
11.3.1.1.It could be that she was
afraid that he would not believe her story
11.3.2.If Mary had not told Joseph
about this conception yet, it might have been an interesting set an events that
led to Joseph and Mary’s conversation about her pregnancy
11.4. Matthew doesn’t really
include much concerning Mary and what she was going through during this
experience, as does Luke for instance, however we have to know that for Mary
this must have been one of the greatest trials that a person could experience
11.4.1.By Jewish law she could be
stoned to death for adultery for having been found pregnant in this
circumstance
11.5. Luke reveals the great faith
and devotion to Jehovah that this very young Jewish girl had, for when the
angel appeared to her and told her that she was going to conceive a child, she
asked how this could happen since she knew she was a virgin, then when the Holy
Spirit told her that this birth will simply be miraculous, she did not question
or complain, but merely said, “Be it done according to Thy will”
11.6. Matthew brings out the godly
character of Joseph in his account of these events
11.6.1.First of all, since Joseph
either did not understand how it could be that Mary could be carrying a child
from the Holy Spirit, or did not believe Mary’s story, he did not want to live
in an unholy manner with Mary
11.6.2.Secondly, Joseph didn’t just
react or emote in this situation, but he was very thoughtful and prayerful
about what he should do concerning his marriage to Mary since she was pregnant
11.6.2.1.We Christians would be wise
to follow Joseph’s example and give lots of thoughts and prayer to our actions
before we act
11.6.2.1.1.If we would act as Joseph
did in this circumstance when we encounter trials and testings in our life,
many things in our lives would go much smoother
11.6.3.Third, though Joseph could
have called for the full extent of the law to be carried out on Mary and have
her stoned for adultery, he chose to show mercy towards her, thinking that she
must have fallen into a temptation from which she was too weak to abstain, and
thus he chose to grant her a ‘no-fault’ divorce privately, one which required
only two or three witnesses
11.6.3.1.Even though he was only in
the betrothal phase of marriage with Mary, in the Jewish society of this day,
she could still be stoned to death for adultery if Joseph chose to call for
this
11.6.4.Fourth, Joseph chose to
believe the angel that appeared to him and to go ahead and go to that second
stage in Jewish marriage and take Mary as his wife to live with him
11.6.4.1.By taking Mary completely
now to be his wife, this would save her further embarrassment, and it would
give Jesus the kind of home and upbringing that would be suitable for Him and
the mission that He was called to perform
12.
VS 1:21 - “21“And she will bear a Son; and you shall
call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins””
- The angel tells Joseph that the baby is
to be named ‘Jesus’
12.1. Jesus was a name that was
popular in this day, however since that time few children are ever named
‘Jesus’
12.2. The name ‘Jesus’ is the
Greek form of the Hebrew word ‘Joshua’, and it means “Jehovah saves”
12.2.1.Joshua is a type of Jesus
Christ, for when He took over after Moses retired, he became the triumphant
warrior and leader over the Israelites and led them to take possession of the
land and have victory over all of their enemies, just in the same way the Lord
Jesus comes into our lives as Lord and Savior and begins to help us to have
victory over our great enemy: ‘sin’
12.2.1.1.The Bible teaches us that
sin is a hard taskmaster over us, for it is really our sins which have been
tearing down and seeking to destroy our lives
12.2.1.1.1.Though there is a devil and
he is the tempter of us, it is always still our own decision to sin, and it is
our own sin nature that is our undoing
12.2.1.1.2.Paul wrote that because of
our sin nature we sometimes end up doing the very things hat we do not want to
do
12.2.2.Jesus has been given to the
human race by God so that we can be “saved from our sins”, that is what His
salvation relates to
12.2.2.1.One has written, “He
saves His people from their sins; not
only from the punishment of sin, but from the sin itself. His precious blood, once shed upon the cross,
cleanses all who believe in him from the defilement of sin. His gracious presence, abiding in the heart
through the indwelling of his Spirit, saves his people from the dominion of
sin. “The sting of death is sin;” “but God giveth us the victory through our
Lord Jesus Christ”. This is the plain
teaching of Holy Scripture; then if we
are his, sin must be losing its power over us, for his blood is cleansing from
all sin those who walk in the light of his presence, and he is saving them from
the power of sin. We must try to realize
in our own experience this victory over sin.
Most people seem to be content with a life that falls very short of
anything that can be called victory. But
this is what God promises to give us;
the Lord Jesus came to save his people from their sins; the purpose of his coming is not fulfilled in
us unless we are saved from them. And he
will save us, himself will save us, if we trust his word and come to him in
faith”.
12.2.2.2.We Christians need to always
keep in mind that we are always fighting from the position of victory, for
Christ has conquered sin and the devil and assured us of our victory over sin,
so victory is not something we are trying and trying to eventually achieve,
rather it is something that belongs by birthright to us and that must be taken
away from us, if we are willing to yield it
13.
VS 1:22-23 - “22 Now
all this took place that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might
be fulfilled, saying, 23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall
bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which translated means,
“God with us.”” - Matthew
quotes from Isaiah 7:14 the verse prophesying the virgin birth of the Messiah
13.1. It is hard to understand how
so many of the Jews in Jesus’ day refused to read or understand their own
scripture which promised to them that their Messiah would be born of a virgin
13.2. The liberal theologians of
the past few hundred years have tried to deny the truth of the virgin birth,
however it only makes sense that if the Son of God, the third person of the
trinity for all eternity, should come to the earth and take a human form that
he should come about by a miraculous birth
13.3. I once read Albert
Schwitzer’s book, “In Search of the Historical Jesus”, and in it he recounts
the philosophical writings and discussions of the German philosophers and
thinkers of the Renaissance Period of history, and they felt that they had to
and should be able to extract from the scripture a Jesus that was really
totally human, thus de-mystifying Jesus and the scripture. Like so many today, they wanted to glory in
the reason and intellect of man, and thus they wanted to be able to think of
Jesus as being just a great teacher, humanitarian, or even a prophet, but not
have Him to be God. Well, Schwitzer
brings all of the writings and discussions of that period around full circle to
their conclusion, and he did this by showing that if you take away the
miraculous from the life of Jesus, there really is nothing left. Everything that was involved with the life of
Jesus involved the miraculous, from the virgin birth, to the healing of the
sick, forgiving of sin, raising the dead, and finally being raised from the
dead Himself.
13.4. In the verse quoted from
Isaiah, we see that Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah would have the name of
“Immanuel”, not the name of ‘Jesus’. How
could this be?
13.4.1.The translation of this word
“Immanuel” means “God with us”
13.4.2.This name is really meant
not to be a title of Jesus, but rather a word which describes the “incarnation”
of the Messiah
13.4.2.1.Regarding the incarnation,
Jesus did not become God at a moment in time as some in history past have
taught, nor was He somewhere between God and man. Rather, it is clear from the scripture that
from conception Jesus was 100% man, but it is also clear that He was 100% God
13.4.2.1.1.1.We in the church make a big
mistake when we fail to understand or accept that Jesus was totally man because
then we can’t see how He had victory over His flesh just as we can have it
13.4.3.Man could never understand
an infinite God without revelation, for He is too vast, powerful, and
other-worldly for our comprehension.
Therefore, before the creation of the world, God determined that the way
in which He would reveal Himself to man is that He, in the second person of the
trinity, would become a man, and as a man think, feel, walk, talk, etc., in
every way as a man, and then as a man reveal His nature in all of its beauty
and glory in a completely tangible and understandable way. This is the miracle of the incarnation.
13.4.3.1.The Bible then becomes to us
the full and complete revelation of God to man, for it is the revelation of
Jesus Christ to us, and through Him mankind can learn everything that God has
chosen to reveal of Himself and relationship with Himself
13.4.3.1.1.This is what the writer to
the book of Hebrews was intimating in Heb. 1:1-3, “1:1 God, after He spoke
long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in
these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all
things, through whom also He made the world. 3 And He is the radiance of His
glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the
word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the
right hand of the Majesty on high”
13.4.3.1.2.Every page of the Bible
speaks of and is meant to reveal Jesus Christ, and He is what we will be concentrating
on as we study through the book of Matthew
14.
VS 1:24-25 - “24 And
Joseph arose from his sleep, and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him,
and took her as his wife, 25 and kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a
Son; and he called His name Jesus” -
Joseph believed and obeyed the vision of the angel in his dream
14.1. Joseph’s obedience in
entering the second phase of marriage and taking Mary into his residence spared
any further humiliation and danger she might have incurred as a result of
carrying a baby not belonging to the man to whom she was betrothed.
14.1.1.This also provided Jesus
with a godly and loving home in which to be raised
14.2. Matthew is clear to point
out that in order for Jesus to be born in utmost purity, that Joseph did not
consummate the marriage with Mary until after she gave birth to Jesus
14.2.1.Some theologians over the
centuries have tried to promote the idea that Joseph and Mary never consummated
their marriage and that Jesus never had any half brothers and sisters, however
this is not supported nor denied by the scripture
14.2.1.1.There is mention in the New
Testament of James and Jude as being brothers of Jesus, however the same word
used for ‘brother’ in the references can also mean a ‘cousin’
14.2.1.2.I personally see no reason why
Mary and Joseph should have abstained from consummating their marriage, and I
think that it would have been a much better home life for Jesus to have been
raised in if his parents had lived together as any normal husband and wife, and
likewise if He also had brothers and/or sisters
14.2.1.2.1.Plus, God originally
ordained and always supports marriage as an institution, and the scripture
likewise teaches that the marriage bed is undefiled