He Came from the Jews

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Jason Miles
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1 December 14, 2014 Matthew 1-2 He Came from the Jews This morning, we continue our series, comparing the four gospel accounts of the coming of Christ. It is my hope to show through this how very different the four pictures are, and that putting the four together gives us a more complete, a more spectacular, a more important picture than any single gospel account could possibly do on its own. Today, we hear Matthew s account. If Mark s account was that Jesus came out of nowhere, then Matthew s is the opposite. He came out of somewhere; He came out of a family, a lineage, a people, a kingly line, a nation, a people of promise. If Mark s attempt is to have Jesus just ride into town and get to work, Matthew s attempt is to show how Jesus ties directly to every section, every book and every important character in all of the Old Testament. In fact, Matthew does it in a way that we wish he hadn t. He starts his book with the very thing that has kept most of us from reading through the Bible. He starts with a genealogy. Don t you remember being all excited to read through the Bible, getting started, excited to read about Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, then Cain and Abel, then a genealogy, the list of begat s? You struggle through the list, seeing no purpose in it, and then get to Noah and the ark. Ahh, now you are on track. You breeze through those three chapters and BAM!, you are back in the middle of a genealogy. If you make it through that one and on to the stories of the patriarchs, and then Moses, you finally come to the law and by then you throw up your hands and quit. Right? So, you jump over to the New Testament, because this is all about Jesus, this is going to have stuff you know. You open up to the first page of the New Testament, Matthew 1 and what do you find? A list of begat s. Welcome to the story of Jesus, Matthew style. I m going to deal in cursory form with the first two chapters of Matthew's gospel, but to begin the sermon, I d like to read just chapter 1. I am doing this not to bore you, nor to impress you with my ability to pronounce all of the strange names, but to have you sense the flavor of the text. As I read the text, see what comes to mind. READ Matthew 1.

2 Main point: Jesus comes from the long line of history of God s dealings with His covenant people. He comes, not simply from nowhere, but from somewhere. There was a history that led up to His coming... and if you do not understand that history, you ll never understand who He is. You can t know Him without knowing His family, all the way back to the very beginning. So, as we work our way through the text, allow it to have an impact on you. I know you want to skip ahead, to the part of the story you remember and cherish. But Matthew has a point to make and we would do well to ponder his point. (3 parts) I. Jesus is directly tied to the promise of God to Abraham and David, and everyone in between. vv. 1:1-17 Don t worry, I m not going to go through every name on the list. I m not even going to read them all again. We don t have time for that. But I do want you to notice some larger issues and some details in the text that stand out. A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham: First of all, we notice that it is a genealogy, a listing of relevant people in the direct lineage of Jesus. Lineage is important to Jews, more important than it is to us. Most of us can only go back a few generations, and after that we simply say the nation of our origin, English, German, or what have you. I think my family has been in the states for about12-14 generations, and I have seen the list, but it is not important to me. I see myself as an American. We are selfabsorbed by the present. Our sense of history goes only back a few generations. The Jews are tied to their past. Their history is important to them, and ought to be to us. Then we notice the name and title of Jesus. He is Jesus, the Christ (just like Mark), but then we see He is the son of David, the son of Abraham. He is tied to two of the great characters of the Old Testament. But why those two? What is special about Abraham and David?

3 Well, we notice here the truth illustrated that every passage of Scripture assumes you have read and understand all passages of Scripture. We d have to read all of the Old Testament to find out what is so special about Abraham and David. But if we read all that, it would become clear that these two in the same line, about 1,000 years apart received the same promise of God that the coming Messiah (seed) would come from their line. The Messiah would be a son to both, from the Jews: Abraham and from the line of kings: David. Jesus was tied to the patriarchs, He was the lion from the tribe of Judah. And He was the promised son of king David who would sit eternally on David s throne. He was a Jew, He was royal. He was tied to every section of the Old Testament, the historical sites of the Old Testament, the various sections of the Old Testament. Where do you start in telling the story of Jesus? With every character in the Old Testament. He is the fulfillment of all the promises to and through them. That is the point. He is the promised son of Abraham, the promised seed of the woman, the promised prophet after Moses, the promised king after David, the promised priest of the order of Melchizedek, the promised wisdom of Solomon personified. He is all of these these and more. But you have to read the Old Testament to find them. He comes from the Jewish line. 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,

4 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. Then we notice that the line goes from one to one to one with a few noticeable and notable exceptions. We have already pointed out many times that the one to one to one is significant. The promise to Abraham was fulfilled through one, to one, to one, all the way to Jesus, where it multiplies

5 exponentially. It doesn t continue one to one after Jesus. But until then, it goes from father to son. But then we notice the exceptions, or perhaps the extensions. First of all, the brothers of Judah are mentioned. Why? Because they are the 12 tribes of Israel. It is important to know that Jesus is the son of Judah, but the telling of it includes the fact that these are the tribes. Then we notice the first woman, Tamar. Why her? Why not Sarah? And Rebeccah? And Leah? Tamar was lured by her father in law into an incestuous relationship. Tamar came into the line in a disgusting way. Jesus family tree was not perfect. They had issues and Matthew makes sure we know that. In fact, the inclusion of the women in the list is significant in each case. The next one of note is Rahab. Most likely, this is the Rahab who was a prostitute, who helped the Israelite spies in the land. By definition, she would not have been Jewish. Rahab was rescued, spared, saved, and here blessed, even though she was not Jewish, even though she was a sinner. So again, Jesus line was not pure and perfect. Then we notice Ruth. Why her? Because she too was not Jewish. She was a Moabite woman. Yes, she was a virtuous woman, but she was not Jewish. David s great grandmother was not a Jew. Then we notice David, referred to as King David. Why only the designation of King on David? Well, for one, David is known as THE king, the greatest of the kings, the king of God s own choosing, the man after God s own heart. But he is also the first of the kingly line of kings. Those who follow after him in the list are kings. David starts the list of kings. But then in the next generation, we are reminded that David s son, Solomon was the son of the wife of Uriah. We are brought right back to David s great sin with Bathsheba. She too would have been a Gentile, he an adulterer. So, we have had foreign wives, incestuous relationships, adulterous relationships covered up by murder. It s all in Jesus line. Then we go through the kings, some good, some bad, some very, very bad, none perfect, none righteous, not even one. All of them need a Savior. Then we have the exile, the return from exile, and another list until we come to Joseph, who is mentioned in a technical way to convey the sense that he is the father, and not the father of Jesus. The list can be broken down into three segments of 14, divided that way by David and the exile. The list is selective, other lists have more complete genealogies, but this one is given to convey the

6 sense of balance and completion of the line, inclusion of the Gentile women, presence of sexual sin, connection with the kings and especially the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham and David. Jesus comes from the Jews. II. Joseph is directly, but uniquely connected to this line. vv. 1:18-25 Now, after 17 verses of connecting the dots, we come to the story part of Jesus. There is more here than we can cover, but I want you to notice certain things about the text. First of all, the story focuses on Joseph, not Mary. Luke pays attention to Mary, Matthew pays attention to Joseph. Why? Because Matthew has established that Jesus fulfilled the promise to Abraham and David, fulfilling it through Joseph, from father to son. But Jesus was not the son of Joseph, but he was, but he wasn t. How could this be? 18 This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. In other words, they were engaged, and she was pregnant. Normally, that would have been a shame to Joseph. He did not know that this was a virgin birth, who would? It would be a lie to claim credit, it would be a disgrace to Mary to accuse her of adultery, so the right thing to do would be to release her from her commitment to him and allow her to marry the father of the baby. 20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. The angel told him, first of all, not to fear, that God was at work. Second, go forward with your plan to marry Mary in spite of the pregnancy. Third, the Holy Spirit caused this pregnancy, not some other man. And not only was Mary

7 not to be labeled a sinner, but Joseph was to name the baby, Jesus (or Yahweh saves ) because He would save His people from THEIR sins. It was in fact the opposite of what he would otherwise suspect. This was not like the other women in the line, prostitutes, or foreigners, or adulterers, or incestuous. This was going to be a birth completely without sin passed down from the list so that this One could save His people from their sin. It was the opposite of appearances. 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel which means, God with us. Can you see how Jesus is tied, not only to the specific prophecy in Isaiah, but to ALL the prophecy in Isaiah, all the prophecy in the whole Old Testament? Because of the way He would be born, that the virgin would give birth to a son, we would know, the whole world would know that He is God among us. He is not only tied to the line of Israel, He is directly tied to the line of God. And how many are in that line? Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Can you see that? Isn t that interesting!!!! 24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus. He was obedient. He did his part. He fulfilled his responsibility. He named Him Yahweh saves. The God of the Jews, the God with us, saves His people. Jesus Christ. III. Jesus traces the path traveled by His forefathers. vv. 2:1-23 Not only is His lineage tied to the Jews, but the path He traveled followed the same path. 2 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.

8 What is this about? Who are these people and how did they know? We are not told. As I often say, we don t know there were three, we don t know that they are kings (meaning three different heads of state). But we do know that they were nobles, important people, people who studied the stars. They came bearing gifts, royal gifts for a royal birth. They didn t know who He was, or why He was important. They came by faith, following a star. Do you want to hear something almost unbelievable? Last year, I was in the home of a biblical coin collector. He showed us some of what he called the nativity coins. In this one particular coin, it was as clear as could be, I think there were three men, carrying something, with a star up above. This was not a Jewish coin, but one from I m not sure where, ancient India or Iran. Do you know the date of the coin? 3 BC. So, we have coins commemorating a visit by dignitaries following a star from an eastern nation, dated to 3 BC. Coincidence? I don t think so. 3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. 5 In Bethlehem in Judea, they replied, for this is what the prophet has written: 6 But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel. Already, right from the start, Jesus is seen as a rival to the leaders of the Jews. Their King, one of the line of Herod, Herod, Herod, Herod, (I think they were all the same, notice he is not in the list!) also enquired of his wise men. They affirmed that the only birth of great consequences that would be born without his knowledge, the Christ, was prophesied by Isaiah to be born in Bethlehem. The Scriptures were clear. This home to the line of David was to be the birthplace of the Messiah. 7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, Go and

9 make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him. This typical king then turned for information from the very people who were causing the stir, the magi. He wanted to know when the star showed up. Why? To know how old the baby was. Why? So he would know who he had to kill. He sends them on their way, to spy out the situation for him and report back, foreign dignitaries acting like spies. An upright king? I think not! 9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route. The stars were guiding the men, the heavens were displaying the glory of God. The star identified the baby, as if to say, This is Him! Worship this One! And they did worship Him. So, the first worshippers of the Jewish Messiah in Matthew s account were Gentiles. Isn t that interesting! The first opposition to Jesus came from the leaders of the Jews. Isn t that interesting! And of course, they brought royal gifts, they played their drums and went on their way. God guided them in, God guided them out. First worship by the Gentiles was completely planned. 13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. Get up, he said, take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him. Once more, God guides those involved. This time it is Joseph again, telling him to go to Egypt. Just as was true in Jacob s day, Egypt was not an evil place, but a place of protection and provision. Stay there until God tells them it is time to leave, just as in the days of Moses.

10 14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: Out of Egypt I called my son. Just as you would expect, everything happened according to the plan laid down in the text of Scripture centuries before. The baby escaped the Promised Land, hid out in Egypt where He grew and the threat passed. 16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: 18 A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more. So, Herod got outsmarted by his rival, God. Who paid the price? All of the boys in Bethlehem under two years. Innocent boys paid the price for Herod s wickedness. Sound familiar? And yet, planned? Of course. How many quotations from Scripture have we had already? 19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 and said, Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child s life are dead. 21 So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: He will be called a Nazarene. That Herod died, another took his place. It was now safe to go back, but not to there. Again, God directed the entire sequence. He would go to the home

11 of His father, not His forefather. He would go to Nazareth, said with a nasal sound of disgust. I take that from the final quotation of the chapter, a quote that is found nowhere in the Old Testament. But the sense of being scorned is throughout the text. He came from THAT place, ohh ick. So He was born in the little town of Bethlehem, guided to the safety of Egypt to escape His powerful and vengeful rival, and brought back to grow up in obscurity. Welcome to earth, Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham! If we believe this passage is the Word of God, then what should be different about our lives? 1) We will embrace Jesus Jewish roots. We will embrace His history. We will embrace the Old Testament as tightly as we do the New. We will read it as a Christian book, pointing us to the Christ. Though we are not Jewish, we are tied to the Jews through Jesus. 2) We will embrace our family, our history, the crazy uncle in our family. If Jesus can claim his family, we can claim ours. 3) We will embrace our journey. The road each of us travels is not smooth, easy, all downhill. Every one of us has had to endure detours, times in exile, rough patches. But again, if Jesus can embrace His path, then we can embrace ours. 4) We will embrace our Savior. He may have been Jewish, but He is our Savior as well. We need Him as much as anyone. And the purpose of the gospel accounts, the purpose of Matthew s account is that we might embrace Jesus as the perfect One to come and save His people. His name shall be called, Jesus! Amen?

1. This is a record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of David and of Abraham: 2 Abraham was the father of Isaac.

Chapter 1 v1-2 1 1. This is a record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of David and of Abraham: 2 Abraham was the father of Isaac. Isaac was the father Chapter 1 v2-3 of Jacob. Jacob