WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:01.600 This morning, Matthew 1. 00:00:02.560 --> 00:00:04.000 I'll read our passage here. 00:00:04.160 --> 00:00:08.240 I'll read verse 1 down through verse 6. 00:00:10.640 --> 00:00:12.800 This is the word of our Lord. 00:00:12.880 --> 00:00:19.839 It begins this way: the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. 00:00:20.160 --> 00:00:53.759 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez, and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, and Ram the father of Abinadab, and Binadab the father of Nashon, and Nashon the father of Salmon, Salmon, the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David, the king. 00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:59.439 David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah. 00:01:00.719 --> 00:01:09.040 This begins the New Testament's first book, the Gospel of Matthew, and it begins with the genealogy of Jesus Christ. 00:01:09.200 --> 00:01:16.400 The first words in this book are the word genealogy, which is the Greek word for Genesis. 00:01:16.560 --> 00:01:21.359 This is already what the opening book of the Bible was called in the life of Christ and the life of Matthew. 00:01:21.760 --> 00:01:33.040 For the Jews, the Bible opened with the Torah, the first five books of Moses, and the first of those five books, the opening of the Jewish Bible, began with a book called Genesis. 00:01:33.599 --> 00:01:40.239 Matthew, very much aware that he is writing a new book of beginnings, begins the exact with that title. 00:01:40.400 --> 00:01:44.879 He begins by calling this the book of the Genesis of Jesus Christ. 00:01:45.040 --> 00:01:46.719 This is a new origin story. 00:01:46.879 --> 00:01:53.920 The word that's rendered genealogy in English is a word that means story or the history book, if you will. 00:01:54.400 --> 00:02:00.719 Genesis is the history of the world, the history of the universe, and the history of how Israel came to be. 00:02:00.799 --> 00:02:08.000 And Matthew will open the New Testament, will open the new covenant with a new Genesis, a new beginning, a new story. 00:02:08.479 --> 00:02:23.759 And the story begins not with the creation of the world, but with the God who made the world becoming man, taking on human flesh, Jesus by name, Christ by title, Jesus the Messiah, and this will be his origin story. 00:02:23.919 --> 00:02:30.000 The book of Genesis begins with God creating the universe, and it ends with Israel in Egypt. 00:02:30.400 --> 00:02:40.000 The book of Matthew begins with God coming to his world, and it ends with his new Israel, his new people going into the world, going into the nations. 00:02:40.159 --> 00:02:45.919 Matthew 28, go therefore into all the worlds, preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:54.240 And so Matthew is the first book of the New Testament, the first gospel written, and in a very real way, the new story of beginnings. 00:02:54.400 --> 00:02:57.919 But it begins in a faraway place, in a faraway world. 00:02:58.000 --> 00:02:59.520 It begins with Abraham. 00:02:59.759 --> 00:03:02.560 Now, this is a different world than we live in. 00:03:02.719 --> 00:03:05.439 Let me tell you about the world during the life of Abraham. 00:03:05.680 --> 00:03:10.960 There was 25 million people in the whole world back then. 00:03:11.520 --> 00:03:16.560 That is less than the population of California over the whole world. 00:03:16.960 --> 00:03:18.319 It was spread out. 00:03:18.479 --> 00:03:20.639 There were no nations to speak of back then. 00:03:20.800 --> 00:03:22.000 There were ethnic groups. 00:03:22.159 --> 00:03:23.680 There was language division. 00:03:23.840 --> 00:03:26.639 In Genesis 10, the continents begin to separate. 00:03:26.800 --> 00:03:29.759 In Genesis 11, the languages separate. 00:03:30.080 --> 00:03:32.560 Genesis 12 is Abraham. 00:03:32.719 --> 00:03:34.960 There was no laws in the world back then. 00:03:35.120 --> 00:03:37.120 There was no real effective government. 00:03:37.280 --> 00:03:42.240 Having just been established in Genesis 9, government had not yet gotten its grip on the world. 00:03:42.639 --> 00:03:46.560 Conversely, the life expectancy was 140 years old or so. 00:03:47.919 --> 00:03:51.680 Less laws, less government, longer life expectancy. 00:03:52.400 --> 00:03:54.800 You can draw your own conclusions. 00:03:56.080 --> 00:03:58.879 There was no currency in the world back then. 00:03:58.960 --> 00:03:59.919 There was no money. 00:04:00.080 --> 00:04:04.240 There's no concept of banks or of notes, of coins, or of cash. 00:04:04.400 --> 00:04:05.840 You bought something with a goat. 00:04:05.919 --> 00:04:10.879 In fact, we'll see someone this morning who buys something with a goat or with crops. 00:04:11.360 --> 00:04:14.719 As I mentioned, there were no laws, so there was no law enforcement. 00:04:14.879 --> 00:04:16.480 There was very much anarchy. 00:04:16.720 --> 00:04:28.000 If you were to amass possessions for yourself, you needed slaves to defend them, which Abraham had, remember, when Lot was kidnapped, Abraham took 400 of his slaves to go fetch him back. 00:04:28.160 --> 00:04:29.759 That's this world. 00:04:30.079 --> 00:04:32.720 There was nothing, there was no empires in the world back then. 00:04:32.800 --> 00:04:36.000 This is the first world empire is the Shang dynasty in China. 00:04:36.079 --> 00:04:38.079 This is 500 years before that. 00:04:38.319 --> 00:04:42.399 Five centuries before there was anything in the world that could be called an empire. 00:04:43.279 --> 00:04:46.319 There's no cities in that sense. 00:04:46.480 --> 00:04:48.399 You would live where you had a well. 00:04:48.560 --> 00:04:57.040 And there were villages built around watering holes, towns built around a collection of villages, but there was nothing like we would think of as a city today. 00:04:57.199 --> 00:05:00.480 In fact, Abraham will spend much of his life looking for a well. 00:05:00.639 --> 00:05:10.399 There's a big part of Abraham's story, is trying to get this well from Abinadab or Abimelech, that's the guy's name, that Abraham ends up mortgaging his wife to get a well from her. 00:05:10.800 --> 00:05:12.319 That's this world. 00:05:13.279 --> 00:05:15.120 It jumps, this genealogy does. 00:05:15.199 --> 00:05:19.360 We didn't read all of it, but it goes all the way to the birth of Jesus Christ, as alluded to in verse 1. 00:05:19.519 --> 00:05:22.160 The Roman Empire, what a different world that was. 00:05:22.480 --> 00:05:26.480 The Roman Empire, 10 times the world population as it was in Abraham's life. 00:05:26.560 --> 00:05:30.560 But still, about the population of the United States lived in the world then. 00:05:31.199 --> 00:05:37.519 Beyond that, there were laws, there were empires, there was currency, there were coins in the Roman Empire, there were cities. 00:05:37.839 --> 00:05:41.519 Life expectancy, 25 years old in the Roman Empire. 00:05:41.680 --> 00:05:48.480 50% infant mortality, which means if you survived infancy, you could live to be 50 years old, perhaps. 00:05:48.800 --> 00:05:51.680 But only half of the population did that. 00:05:52.240 --> 00:05:56.319 This genealogy takes us from the world of Abraham into the world of Christ. 00:05:56.480 --> 00:05:59.120 And I hope that it takes it all the way to your own life. 00:05:59.199 --> 00:06:02.000 I hope that you see the effect this genealogy has on you. 00:06:02.079 --> 00:06:04.319 And that could sound like a strange thing to say. 00:06:04.560 --> 00:06:10.319 The effect that a genealogy of somebody else, not in your family, has on you. 00:06:10.399 --> 00:06:12.639 Have you ever read an interesting genealogy? 00:06:13.759 --> 00:06:15.040 Neither have I. 00:06:15.600 --> 00:06:17.120 And yet here we find ourselves. 00:06:17.199 --> 00:06:21.279 And so I hope to make this an interesting story for you. 00:06:21.439 --> 00:06:25.120 As I mentioned, it begins in verse 1 with the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ. 00:06:25.279 --> 00:06:26.959 This will be his story. 00:06:27.279 --> 00:06:30.160 It's broken up into three groups of fourteen names. 00:06:30.319 --> 00:06:32.399 Jog your eyes down to verse 17. 00:06:32.879 --> 00:06:37.040 All the generations from Abraham to David, 14 generations. 00:06:37.439 --> 00:06:41.519 From David to the deportation of Babylon, 14 generations. 00:06:41.839 --> 00:06:45.279 From Babylon to the Christ, 14 generations. 00:06:45.439 --> 00:06:48.319 And so we'll have three groups of fourteen names. 00:06:48.560 --> 00:06:53.120 Four of these names will be women, and we'll see all four of them this morning. 00:06:53.360 --> 00:06:55.680 As I mentioned, it's the genealogy of Jesus Christ. 00:06:55.839 --> 00:06:56.560 This is his story. 00:06:56.639 --> 00:06:59.920 It's not the story of those fourteen times three names. 00:07:00.160 --> 00:07:04.319 This is a story of one person and one name, Jesus Christ. 00:07:04.399 --> 00:07:11.920 And to make that point clear, the genealogy goes in the opposite direction that genealogies are supposed to go. 00:07:12.399 --> 00:07:27.600 For example, if I told you what's your genealogy, you would start with you, and then go to your parents, and then go to your grandparents, and then go to well, Americans don't remember their great-grandparents' names even, but you would go that direction. 00:07:28.079 --> 00:07:29.600 Not so this genealogy. 00:07:29.920 --> 00:07:32.560 Do you notice this genealogy goes the opposite direction? 00:07:32.639 --> 00:07:41.120 It starts with Abraham and goes really forward through time, backwards through the genealogy, because it's teleological. 00:07:41.199 --> 00:07:46.560 It's building towards the end, it's building towards Jesus Christ. 00:07:46.879 --> 00:07:50.879 And that will be the outline this morning, the description of the Savior from this genealogy. 00:07:51.120 --> 00:07:51.920 The Savior will be. 00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:55.120 And I'll give you three descriptions of the Savior. 00:07:55.360 --> 00:08:06.079 As I mentioned, this is a list of fourteen names that we'll look at this morning, and we'll look at the next 14 during the kingship next week and the final 14, exile to Christ in our third week in this study. 00:08:06.240 --> 00:08:10.240 But of these fourteen names for women, the focus is on Jesus Christ. 00:08:10.399 --> 00:08:12.319 Now there are two covenants in the background here. 00:08:12.399 --> 00:08:18.560 You see this in verse one: the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham. 00:08:18.800 --> 00:08:25.920 Matthew pulls out these two names at the beginning because these are the two covenants that drive the identity of the Savior. 00:08:26.240 --> 00:08:29.519 The first is the Abrahamic covenant that we'll look at this morning. 00:08:29.680 --> 00:08:33.200 The second is the Davidic covenant, that the Savior will be a king. 00:08:33.360 --> 00:08:35.200 We'll look at it next week. 00:08:35.360 --> 00:08:38.080 But let's start with the first one, the Abrahamic covenant. 00:08:38.159 --> 00:08:41.679 It means that the Savior will be a Jew. 00:08:41.919 --> 00:08:42.960 He will be a Jew. 00:08:43.039 --> 00:08:45.759 And that is again why verse 2 starts with Abraham. 00:08:45.919 --> 00:08:59.200 Unlike Luke's genealogy, Luke's genealogy goes to Adam because Luke is writing to Gentiles and Luke chapter 4 to Gentiles, and he wants to prove to you that Jesus descends from Adam, that he is in fact a real human. 00:08:59.919 --> 00:09:01.759 Matthew is writing to Jews. 00:09:01.919 --> 00:09:03.840 Obviously, Jesus is going to be human. 00:09:03.919 --> 00:09:05.200 That's not their concern. 00:09:05.440 --> 00:09:10.720 Their concern, the Jewish concern, is can he trace himself back into Israel? 00:09:10.879 --> 00:09:14.639 And Matthew says, Oh, I can do one better than tracing his Jewish ancestry. 00:09:14.799 --> 00:09:16.399 I can tell you what tribe he's from. 00:09:16.559 --> 00:09:19.759 I can trace him back to Abraham himself. 00:09:20.240 --> 00:09:23.440 This is to establish that the Savior is Jewish. 00:09:23.600 --> 00:09:27.679 Now you know this is the promise in the Old Testament, but it's worth repeating. 00:09:27.919 --> 00:09:39.519 When sin enters the world, the very first promise of the Bible, the first good news of the Bible, is that God will give a Savior to the world born to Adam, born to Adam's seed. 00:09:39.679 --> 00:09:41.919 The Savior will be a person. 00:09:42.799 --> 00:09:46.639 And so the rest of the Old Testament unfolds like a mystery novel. 00:09:46.879 --> 00:09:49.360 And you're reading it going, where is the Savior? 00:09:49.600 --> 00:09:50.240 Where is he? 00:09:50.480 --> 00:09:51.519 Who is this seed? 00:09:51.679 --> 00:09:52.639 Who is the offspring? 00:09:52.799 --> 00:09:55.200 It's a little bit like reading a Where's Waldo book. 00:09:55.279 --> 00:09:56.240 Do you remember those? 00:09:56.480 --> 00:10:02.480 You're searching through the pages of Genesis and Exodus and Leviticus, going, where is the Christ? 00:10:02.639 --> 00:10:03.679 Where is he? 00:10:04.240 --> 00:10:10.799 You get off of the ark and you see the table of nations in Genesis 10, and you're you're wondering which nation will have the savior. 00:10:10.879 --> 00:10:18.639 And the languages divide in Genesis 11, which language group will have the savior, and then you get to Genesis 12, and the answer is none of them. 00:10:18.879 --> 00:10:20.320 None of them get the Savior. 00:10:20.480 --> 00:10:24.559 The Savior is not going to go to this nation or that nation or this language or that language. 00:10:24.720 --> 00:10:28.240 The Savior is going to go to a new group of people. 00:10:28.480 --> 00:10:30.240 A new nation will be born. 00:10:30.399 --> 00:10:33.840 And that nation will get the Savior, namely the Jews. 00:10:34.000 --> 00:10:36.799 The Savior will be Jewish. 00:10:37.279 --> 00:10:42.240 And that's why this whole genealogy, it is like a who's who of Israel. 00:10:42.399 --> 00:10:49.039 This is the kind of the essential Israel genealogy right here, beginning with Abraham, the first Jew. 00:10:49.279 --> 00:10:55.039 He was called out of the land of Chaldeans, a foreign nation, and he was said to leave those people. 00:10:55.200 --> 00:11:00.559 And when you left a nation back then, it was not like today where, you know, I moved from California to Virginia. 00:11:00.799 --> 00:11:04.159 You know, it's far, but it's not this far. 00:11:04.639 --> 00:11:12.720 There is Skype and there is emails and there is FaceTime and there is Facebook and there is Facelift in California, and there's all those other things. 00:11:14.399 --> 00:11:19.759 Back then, when you leave, there's no communication, and there's no laws. 00:11:19.919 --> 00:11:28.240 You're stepping out into a nomadic world where there is Bedouins and villains, and if you're going to build your life, you need a well, and then you're not going to leave it. 00:11:28.320 --> 00:11:37.840 And Abraham becomes a nomad, wandering around with only a promise from God that from him would come the Savior. 00:11:38.399 --> 00:11:40.320 Abraham remarkably has Isaac. 00:11:40.399 --> 00:11:40.960 You remember the story. 00:11:41.120 --> 00:11:44.639 Abraham was 100, Sarah was 90, and they had Isaac. 00:11:44.879 --> 00:11:50.080 Isaac was a godly man who wanted a covenant-keeping wife and had to fetch Rebekah. 00:11:50.240 --> 00:11:53.360 There's a whole crazy story with that, which we'll look at later this morning. 00:11:53.679 --> 00:11:55.600 From Isaac comes Jacob. 00:11:55.759 --> 00:11:58.879 Jacob is, of course, going to be renamed Israel. 00:11:59.039 --> 00:12:00.879 He is the father of the 12 tribes. 00:12:01.039 --> 00:12:03.200 From Abraham, remember, had more than one child. 00:12:03.360 --> 00:12:08.399 Abraham had two children, Isaac and Ishmael, and the covenant did not go to Ishmael. 00:12:08.559 --> 00:12:11.519 The promise did not go to Ishmael, it went to Isaac. 00:12:11.840 --> 00:12:16.000 Isaac, he will have children, two in particular, Jacob and Esau. 00:12:16.159 --> 00:12:18.399 The promise does not go to Esau. 00:12:18.639 --> 00:12:21.840 The promise goes to the younger brother, Jacob. 00:12:22.080 --> 00:12:24.879 Jacob in turn will have twelve children. 00:12:25.039 --> 00:12:29.360 And here is where we finally break the pattern, the genealogy in verse 2. 00:12:29.519 --> 00:12:31.759 The first people are father, son, father, son. 00:12:32.000 --> 00:12:33.279 Then you get to Jacob. 00:12:33.519 --> 00:12:35.759 Jacob and all his brothers. 00:12:35.919 --> 00:12:38.480 He's going to have Judah and all of those kids. 00:12:38.639 --> 00:12:41.440 There will be 12 children to Jacob, 12. 00:12:41.759 --> 00:12:45.440 And here the promise goes not to one individual. 00:12:45.679 --> 00:12:48.399 In a sense, the promise goes to all 12. 00:12:48.559 --> 00:12:54.000 There will be 12 tribes, and all 12 will be real Israel. 00:12:54.320 --> 00:12:57.919 Remember Ishmael, as he went away, he would not be real Israel. 00:12:58.240 --> 00:13:04.320 Esau, he forfeited his inheritance for a bowl of soup, but not so with Jacob's kids. 00:13:04.559 --> 00:13:07.360 All twelve of his kids will be real Israel. 00:13:07.759 --> 00:13:13.840 All the twelve tribes will come from him, but only one of his kids will have the promise of the Savior. 00:13:14.000 --> 00:13:15.600 Kid number four. 00:13:15.919 --> 00:13:16.960 Why four? 00:13:17.279 --> 00:13:18.000 No idea. 00:13:18.159 --> 00:13:19.360 God chose four. 00:13:19.600 --> 00:13:23.840 And as you meet Judah, is Judah the godliest of the kids? 00:13:24.080 --> 00:13:25.440 No, no, my friends. 00:13:25.600 --> 00:13:26.320 Oh no. 00:13:26.639 --> 00:13:32.480 Judah has a very perverse life, but the promise goes to him. 00:13:33.200 --> 00:13:36.080 Judah has his own problem finding children. 00:13:36.879 --> 00:13:41.200 Judah, and we'll look more at that story this morning, but he then in turn has Perez. 00:13:41.519 --> 00:13:43.039 Perez was also a twin. 00:13:43.360 --> 00:13:47.440 Perez born with his twin brother, noted here in verse 3, Zerah. 00:13:47.600 --> 00:13:50.080 Perez and Zerah born together by Tamar. 00:13:50.159 --> 00:13:52.399 Again, we're breaking a pattern here of a genealogy. 00:13:52.559 --> 00:13:57.679 Matthew is drawing your attention to these particular people that Perez had a twin. 00:13:58.000 --> 00:14:03.679 Perez is the one who received the promise, though, not Zerah, and Perez becomes the father of Hezron. 00:14:03.919 --> 00:14:05.279 We know nothing about Hezron. 00:14:05.600 --> 00:14:07.200 We know nothing about Ram. 00:14:07.360 --> 00:14:09.120 We know a little bit about Abinadab. 00:14:09.279 --> 00:14:12.159 Aminadab is the father-in-law of Aaron. 00:14:12.480 --> 00:14:16.559 And I don't expect you to go, whoa, the father-in-law of Aaron. 00:14:16.639 --> 00:14:17.279 How cool. 00:14:17.440 --> 00:14:24.559 It is kind of cool, though, because in Israel, a king cannot also be a priest. 00:14:24.720 --> 00:14:31.039 A king who tries to be a priest gets put to death or gets afflicted with leprosy or all kinds of God has all creative ways to punish it. 00:14:31.360 --> 00:14:40.639 But here you have in the line of Jesus, who is the son of David, it says in verse 1, there is some priestly influence in the line of David by marriage. 00:14:40.879 --> 00:14:43.840 By marriage, Aaron's father-in-law is in the line. 00:14:44.159 --> 00:14:53.200 And so you get a little, it shouldn't surprise you too much that Jesus will be a prophet, a king, and a priest, because there's a priest, the high priestly line is in his family tree. 00:14:53.519 --> 00:14:54.960 That leads to Nishon. 00:14:55.440 --> 00:15:01.039 Nishon, he is called in 1 Chronicles 2, verse 10, the prince of the sons of Judah. 00:15:01.279 --> 00:15:05.120 In exile, Moses appointed a leader for each of the twelve tribes. 00:15:05.360 --> 00:15:11.919 And here, in the wilderness wanderings, the prince of the tribe of Judah is in the line of Christ. 00:15:12.159 --> 00:15:13.200 That's kind of cool. 00:15:13.440 --> 00:15:20.720 That already back then, before there's a king of Israel, the line of the Savior is noted as being the prince of the sons of Judah. 00:15:21.200 --> 00:15:24.000 That's 1 Chronicles 2, verse 10, where he's called that, by the way. 00:15:24.240 --> 00:15:26.240 That gives way to Salmon. 00:15:26.559 --> 00:15:28.159 Salmon is how I would pronounce it. 00:15:28.320 --> 00:15:28.720 Salmon. 00:15:28.960 --> 00:15:36.080 And Salmon ends up being the father here in verse 5 of Boaz, but by Rahab. 00:15:36.240 --> 00:15:38.399 Salmon and Rahab get together. 00:15:38.559 --> 00:15:41.120 Rahab was the harlot in Jericho, remember? 00:15:41.279 --> 00:15:49.759 She acted as kind of a double agent, receiving the Jewish spies, hiding them, sending them out, lying about what happened, and she was certainly a harlot. 00:15:49.840 --> 00:15:52.000 That's how she's known as a prostitute. 00:15:52.399 --> 00:15:56.159 And she marries into the line of Jesus Christ. 00:15:56.639 --> 00:16:00.320 That's kind of provocative that the author, that Matthew chooses that. 00:16:00.399 --> 00:16:04.720 Remember, he chooses four women, and all of them he chooses for the purpose of being provocative. 00:16:04.879 --> 00:16:08.480 And you don't have to scratch your head too long to figure out why Rahab is provocative. 00:16:08.559 --> 00:16:09.759 She was a harlot. 00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:12.240 And meanwhile, that leads to Boaz. 00:16:13.039 --> 00:16:17.840 Now, Boaz, of course, marries Ruth, and that's its own story told in the book of Ruth. 00:16:17.919 --> 00:16:21.759 And here's a good time to point out that this genealogy is not comprehensive. 00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:23.759 There's jumps in the genealogy. 00:16:24.159 --> 00:16:31.759 Matthew breaks it down into three groups of 14, not because he's being complete, but because he's making it easy for you to memorize. 00:16:34.799 --> 00:16:36.240 I'm just saying. 00:16:36.720 --> 00:16:39.679 There's actually a cool song that helps you memorize this. 00:16:39.759 --> 00:16:42.399 And as I was reading it this morning, I was singing it in my mind. 00:16:42.559 --> 00:16:48.480 It was hard for me to not read in the cadence of the song, but maybe next week I'll sing it for you. 00:16:49.200 --> 00:16:52.159 No, I love you too much to subject you to that. 00:16:52.399 --> 00:16:53.440 But there is a cool song. 00:16:53.519 --> 00:16:55.279 Anyway, there's gaps in the genealogy. 00:16:55.519 --> 00:17:03.919 Here is a gap, because to go from Rahab down to Boaz, you're skipping at least a century, if not two. 00:17:04.000 --> 00:17:05.759 And so there are some gaps in here. 00:17:05.920 --> 00:17:09.279 But we finally do get to Boaz. 00:17:09.440 --> 00:17:10.880 Boaz marries Ruth. 00:17:10.960 --> 00:17:13.759 Remember, Ruth was the Moabitist and she was a widow. 00:17:14.000 --> 00:17:15.519 This is a second marriage for her. 00:17:15.680 --> 00:17:23.519 She comes back, she emigrates to Israel because her husband was Jewish and he died, and she throws her lot in with the Jewish people looking for some hope in life. 00:17:23.680 --> 00:17:33.359 She had a very godly mother-in-law, Naomi, who took her in and showed her the way of the Lord, taught her how to trust the Lord, and she really threw herself at the feet of Boaz, literally. 00:17:33.599 --> 00:17:35.920 And Boaz ends up marrying her. 00:17:36.319 --> 00:17:37.599 They have Obed. 00:17:37.839 --> 00:17:39.920 Obed will Obed will have Jesse. 00:17:40.240 --> 00:17:41.519 What a great name. 00:17:42.640 --> 00:17:45.839 Just marvel at the poetry of it, the symmetry of it. 00:17:46.079 --> 00:17:46.880 Beautiful name. 00:17:47.119 --> 00:17:51.440 People at Starbucks can't spell this name, but that's because they haven't read Matthew chapter 1. 00:17:51.519 --> 00:17:52.880 That's their fault. 00:17:54.960 --> 00:17:59.039 And the father, Jesse, the father of David, the king. 00:17:59.200 --> 00:18:02.880 This all leads to David, of course, because the second covenant will be the Davidic covenant. 00:18:02.960 --> 00:18:06.160 We should stop there, but I want to bring our fourth woman in just this week. 00:18:06.319 --> 00:18:11.519 David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, Bathsheba. 00:18:11.680 --> 00:18:14.079 So this is the history of the Jewish people. 00:18:14.240 --> 00:18:19.119 You're not going to get a more who's who of Jewish history than this list right here. 00:18:19.200 --> 00:18:21.200 It reads like Hebrews 11, doesn't it? 00:18:21.440 --> 00:18:27.839 All the famous people in the book of Genesis, all the famous people in Israel's history leading to Jesus. 00:18:28.160 --> 00:18:30.319 What just great, godly people. 00:18:34.319 --> 00:18:37.839 Maybe not quite great and godly, but they are famously Jewish. 00:18:38.000 --> 00:18:39.839 They have that going for them. 00:18:40.559 --> 00:18:45.839 Now, as you go through this list, understand the promise is that the Savior will be Jewish. 00:18:46.400 --> 00:18:51.759 The promise is not that Israel will receive blessing from the Lord. 00:18:52.079 --> 00:18:59.440 The promise is that the Savior will come through Israel, and the Savior will be a blessing from the Lord. 00:18:59.599 --> 00:19:02.559 And that's what you need to understand about this genealogy. 00:19:02.960 --> 00:19:07.680 This is a who's who of Israel, but the point is not that Israel will be blessed. 00:19:07.920 --> 00:19:10.000 The point is that the Savior will be blessed. 00:19:10.079 --> 00:19:13.440 Let me draw your attention to Galatians 3, verse 16. 00:19:13.519 --> 00:19:14.960 I'll put it on the screen for you. 00:19:15.200 --> 00:19:26.960 These promises, speaking of the promises of the Abrahamic covenant, the promises in the book of Genesis were made to Abraham and to his offspring, singular offspring. 00:19:27.599 --> 00:19:32.000 It does not say and to offsprings, which is not even a word. 00:19:32.079 --> 00:19:35.200 I know that because when I typed it into PowerPoint, it gave a little red line underneath it. 00:19:35.920 --> 00:19:37.680 Offsprings isn't even a word. 00:19:38.240 --> 00:19:41.839 The promise is not that all of Israel will be blessed. 00:19:42.400 --> 00:19:46.240 The promise is that one person in Israel will be blessed. 00:19:47.119 --> 00:19:51.519 To your offspring, it says who is Christ. 00:19:59.680 --> 00:20:03.519 The best part of the Bible museum is the floor with the Bibles on it, which makes sense. 00:20:03.680 --> 00:20:10.160 I mean, if you're going to be the Bible museum and you do one thing really well, you should do the Bibles well, and they do that exceptionally well, and that is great. 00:20:10.640 --> 00:20:17.119 For me, the most frustrating part is the Old Testament survey part where you go through the multimedia Old Testament presentation, which is really cool. 00:20:17.279 --> 00:20:30.000 I mean, there's like you're walking through parted seas, and there's a log that talks, and it's just it's an incredible multimedia experience with pretty bad theology because they make the point of it how God is going to bless Israel. 00:20:30.160 --> 00:20:33.279 The promise in Genesis 3 is that Israel will come up. 00:20:33.440 --> 00:20:42.160 And then all these promises, they even make it plural to all of your offspring, to the nation Israel and all of the Jews, and that becomes the point of it. 00:20:42.240 --> 00:20:58.319 You get to the whole presentation of the Old Testament with no reference to a king, no reference to a savior, no reference to the whole point of the promise: that there will be one savior, and it will not be the nation Israel, it will be Jesus Christ. 00:20:58.480 --> 00:21:00.400 That's Galatians 3.16. 00:21:00.640 --> 00:21:02.720 The promise goes to the Savior. 00:21:03.039 --> 00:21:04.960 He is the Christ. 00:21:05.519 --> 00:21:08.240 That's what Matthew is arguing in chapter 1. 00:21:08.480 --> 00:21:14.640 Not that Abraham was blessed or Isaac was blessed or that Jacob was blessed or that Judah was blessed. 00:21:14.799 --> 00:21:24.880 The point is that the blessing went through them down the line, all the way back to verse 1, to Jesus Christ. 00:21:25.039 --> 00:21:28.960 So the first thing we learn in this genealogy is that Jesus is a Jew. 00:21:29.279 --> 00:21:33.599 The second thing we learn is that he is a Jew with some Gentile mixed in. 00:21:34.400 --> 00:21:37.680 Now I mentioned four women in this genealogy. 00:21:38.480 --> 00:21:39.599 There could have been 14. 00:21:39.680 --> 00:21:41.759 If you got 14 men, you're gonna have 14 women. 00:21:41.839 --> 00:21:43.599 That's how this works. 00:21:45.039 --> 00:21:47.599 Why did he choose these four women? 00:21:48.079 --> 00:21:49.759 What's he trying to draw attention to? 00:21:50.319 --> 00:21:52.799 Well, these four women have a few things in common. 00:21:53.200 --> 00:21:57.039 The most obvious thing they have in common is that they are all Gentile. 00:21:58.079 --> 00:21:59.200 Tamar was a Canaanite. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:01.359 Of the story in Genesis 38. 00:22:01.440 --> 00:22:02.720 She was a Canaanite. 00:22:03.440 --> 00:22:06.559 Rahab was a harlot in Jericho. 00:22:08.000 --> 00:22:09.119 Boaz married Ruth. 00:22:09.279 --> 00:22:11.039 Ruth was a Moabitus. 00:22:11.839 --> 00:22:14.079 Bathsheba, she was married to a Hittite. 00:22:14.160 --> 00:22:16.160 It seems likely that she was a Hittite. 00:22:17.039 --> 00:22:27.839 So Matthew chooses four Gentiles to bake into this, to draw your attention to the fact that in the Savior's line, there's not one, there's not two, there's not three. 00:22:27.920 --> 00:22:31.519 There is at least four Gentiles, and maybe more. 00:22:32.079 --> 00:22:42.720 Very interesting that God passes the promise down through the men who keep the Jewish ancestry going, but are okay marrying Gentiles into this. 00:22:43.039 --> 00:22:56.480 Now I know this is not the point of Matthew chapter one, but it just draws my mind to the fact that in the United States in particular, through much of the last century, there have been laws against interracial marriage. 00:22:56.559 --> 00:23:05.759 And in many cases, those laws were driven by Christians with bad theology, Christians that argued the government needed to keep the races separate and ban interracial marriage. 00:23:05.839 --> 00:23:16.160 And you know, interracial marriage was illegal in Virginia until the 1960s, and the law stayed on the books in Virginia until, what, two years ago was finally struck down and removed. 00:23:16.319 --> 00:23:18.480 I mean, that to me is insane. 00:23:19.200 --> 00:23:31.920 I think that race in many ways is a biological fiction, it's more of a cultural construct, but to say that the races shouldn't intermarry, I think is a very sinful attack on the nature of the image of God in mankind. 00:23:32.000 --> 00:23:36.000 And more than that, it's an attack on the integrity of the life of Christ. 00:23:36.240 --> 00:23:43.119 His genealogy features at least four interracial marriages, at least four interracial relationships. 00:23:44.720 --> 00:23:55.359 Now, to say that races shouldn't intermarry would be to say that Jesus and this genealogy was corrupted in a very weird way. 00:23:55.440 --> 00:23:57.279 And I think it goes way beyond what's written. 00:23:57.359 --> 00:24:02.079 I know that's not the point of this passage, but I just wanted to give you that for free. 00:24:03.039 --> 00:24:11.440 Moving on, the Savior will be a Jew with some Gentile, and number three, he will come from a line of serious sinners. 00:24:11.680 --> 00:24:14.240 Now I know we all come from a line of sinners. 00:24:14.400 --> 00:24:15.440 We all come from Adam. 00:24:15.839 --> 00:24:17.759 Adam was a sinner, we're all sinners. 00:24:18.319 --> 00:24:22.319 But it seems like some of these guys tried extra hard, doesn't it? 00:24:22.640 --> 00:24:26.319 It seems like they tried to excel at sinning. 00:24:26.880 --> 00:24:28.960 I said this reads like Hebrew 11. 00:24:29.119 --> 00:24:33.440 This is a hall of faith, but when you start looking at the stories, wow. 00:24:33.680 --> 00:24:35.519 I mean, it starts with Abraham. 00:24:35.759 --> 00:24:39.279 God tells Abraham, You're gonna have a descendant, he will be the promise. 00:24:39.440 --> 00:24:41.680 What is the first thing Abraham does? 00:24:42.000 --> 00:24:46.079 He sends his wife Sarah to sleep with the Egyptian Pharaoh. 00:24:46.640 --> 00:24:48.400 That's not a good response. 00:24:48.640 --> 00:24:49.839 This is not good. 00:24:50.240 --> 00:24:54.799 God says, I'm gonna give you a blessing, and it'll be through your offspring, and Abraham says, I don't have any offspring. 00:24:54.960 --> 00:24:57.119 Sarah, Pharaoh, have you guys met? 00:24:57.519 --> 00:24:58.799 What in the world? 00:24:58.960 --> 00:25:00.960 That's Genesis chapter 12. 00:25:01.359 --> 00:25:05.759 Followed by Abraham sleeping with Hagar, another very bad idea. 00:25:06.000 --> 00:25:14.240 Followed by Abraham, as I mentioned, mortgaging his wife Sarah again to Abimelech, this time for a well, which ends in total shame. 00:25:14.319 --> 00:25:17.599 That's in Genesis 20, Abraham being disgraced and put to shame. 00:25:17.759 --> 00:25:21.279 And Sarah was a willing participant in at least the second of those two. 00:25:21.359 --> 00:25:23.759 They came up with this plan together, it seems. 00:25:24.000 --> 00:25:25.440 What a mess. 00:25:26.480 --> 00:25:28.480 And it keeps going on like that. 00:25:28.559 --> 00:25:32.799 I mean, Judah and Tamar, which is intentionally highlighted here. 00:25:32.880 --> 00:25:37.279 It's where he draws out that Perez had a twin brother and their mother was Tamar. 00:25:37.359 --> 00:25:39.279 Well, Tamar was the mother of the twins. 00:25:39.519 --> 00:25:40.720 The father was Judah. 00:25:40.880 --> 00:25:43.440 Judah was also Tamar's father-in-law. 00:25:43.839 --> 00:25:47.039 So grandpa and dad are the same person there. 00:25:48.079 --> 00:25:50.000 I mean, it's messed up. 00:25:50.240 --> 00:25:59.359 And by the way, at the end of that story, Genesis 38, you're dealing with the story where there's a pro a lady who dresses like a prostitute to sleep with her father-in-law, who then gets pregnant. 00:25:59.440 --> 00:26:01.279 The father-in-law says burner and kill her. 00:26:01.440 --> 00:26:07.920 She shows the father-in-law, oh, you actually accidentally left your ring and your scarlet cord with me, so I can prove that you were the dad. 00:26:08.079 --> 00:26:13.279 And the father-in-law ends the story by saying, Whoa, let her live because she's the righteous one. 00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:14.319 Okay? 00:26:15.279 --> 00:26:21.519 So the woman who pretended to be a prostitute to sleep with her father-in-law, she's the righteous one in the story. 00:26:21.759 --> 00:26:22.400 Got it. 00:26:23.519 --> 00:26:27.039 Ruth, well, Rahab was a prostitute, that's obvious. 00:26:27.599 --> 00:26:30.400 Nahon was killed in the wilderness wanderings by God. 00:26:30.559 --> 00:26:35.759 Ruth was a Moabite, and Ruth was a woman of integrity and godliness, but the point is that she was a Moabite. 00:26:35.839 --> 00:26:36.880 Do you remember their story? 00:26:37.039 --> 00:26:40.079 The Moabites came from Lot sleeping with his daughter. 00:26:40.400 --> 00:26:43.359 I mean, the whole thing is a wreck. 00:26:43.599 --> 00:26:48.400 And of course, it's not politically correct to say anymore, but Bathsheba was an adulteress. 00:26:49.519 --> 00:26:56.400 All four of these women highlighting the fact that there is serious sin in the line of the Savior. 00:26:56.880 --> 00:26:59.440 So that's who Jesus comes from. 00:26:59.599 --> 00:27:02.000 That's what his family was like. 00:27:02.319 --> 00:27:03.519 How does this connect us? 00:27:03.599 --> 00:27:05.680 Let me give you kind of a second little outline here. 00:27:06.000 --> 00:27:07.119 What the Savior will do. 00:27:07.200 --> 00:27:08.880 That's who the Savior was. 00:27:09.519 --> 00:27:17.680 Now let's talk about what he will do in light of that, because Jesus is going to do some unexpected things in his ministry, some surprising things. 00:27:17.920 --> 00:27:22.640 And they should not be surprising to you if you know his family. 00:27:22.880 --> 00:27:24.880 You should be prepared for them. 00:27:25.279 --> 00:27:34.480 For example, in the modern analogy, if Chelsea Clinton becomes a politician, you should not be surprised because you know her family. 00:27:34.799 --> 00:27:41.279 If one of Tom Joyce's children joins the military, you should not be surprised because you know his family. 00:27:41.599 --> 00:27:52.160 If my children turn out to be breathtakingly charming and funny and intelligent, you should not be surprised because you know my wife. 00:27:56.079 --> 00:28:16.240 The things that are so offensive in the life of Christ, you should not be surprised at them because your introduction to Christ, the very first words of this Genesis of the New Testament, are describing how these features, the very things that are offensive about Christ, were baked in at the beginning. 00:28:16.720 --> 00:28:20.240 First, the Savior will save through faith. 00:28:20.720 --> 00:28:22.400 He will save through faith. 00:28:22.640 --> 00:28:26.160 Again, we start with the Abraham and the Abrahamic covenant. 00:28:26.559 --> 00:28:29.119 Salvation does not come by works. 00:28:29.359 --> 00:28:33.440 There was nothing Abraham could do to merit salvation. 00:28:34.319 --> 00:28:35.599 He couldn't sign up for this. 00:28:35.839 --> 00:28:36.960 God chose him. 00:28:37.279 --> 00:28:38.640 God called him. 00:28:38.880 --> 00:28:42.640 In fact, when God made the covenant with Abraham, he put Abraham to sleep. 00:28:42.720 --> 00:28:44.480 That's what Abraham brought to this. 00:28:44.720 --> 00:28:45.680 Abraham shows up. 00:28:45.759 --> 00:28:46.880 What can I do to help this? 00:28:47.039 --> 00:28:48.319 Go to sleep, Abraham. 00:28:48.400 --> 00:28:49.519 That is enough. 00:28:50.160 --> 00:28:52.960 If he would have had anything more to do, he probably would have messed it up. 00:28:53.039 --> 00:28:55.039 The rest of his life seems to show. 00:28:55.359 --> 00:28:57.039 This is the nature of salvation. 00:28:57.119 --> 00:29:00.799