Today marks our first Sunday in our study of the book of Matthew, but before we actually get started into our passage for this morning, I want to take the opportunity to give just a little bit of background for the writer of this book. This guy Matthew, the writer of this book was one of the twelve men that Jesus called personally during His ministry to follow Him as a disciple. He’s actually called by the name Levi as well at times, we see this in the Gospel’s of Mark and Luke and it’s not a hundred percent clear why this is. He may have for some reason gone by the two different names of Matthew and Levi, but it’s also entirely possible that Jesus gave Him this new name of Matthew. It’s not uncommon for God to give new names to people when they encounter Him. We know of Abram and God changed His name to Abraham, we know He changed Jacob’s name to Israel, and there was another disciple named Simon and there is record of the moment that Jesus declared his new name to be Peter. The name Matthew means “Gift of God” and it’s very possible, but we don’t have record of it, that Jesus did for Levi, what He did for Simon, who became Peter, and just saw fit to give him a new name. And with a name that mean’s gift of God that would be a pretty cool gift to get, from God.
So, we have this guy Levi, now Matthew, and in his life prior to following Jesus, his job was being a tax collector. And I mean times probably haven’t changed much in regards to the outlook on tax collectors, because as much as we probably don’t want to have to deal with the IRS in our day, people weren’t too fond of dealing with tax collectors in these days either. An IRS job today is probably a rough job just because of the perception people have of having to deal with the IRS, but respect to those people that do it and have to weather through that cultural view, but its federal government job and I’m sure it has a lot of benefits as well. But unfortunately, in Jesus’ times the tax collectors were viewed with extreme negativity, for one because they actually worked for the Roman government, while taxing the Jewish people, so they were kind of viewed as traitors to their own people. And secondly, they were viewed with extreme negativity simply because many of the tax collectors were actually crooked and were skimming off the top of people’s taxes and keeping it for themselves.
So, the regular everyday person had a very low view of tax collectors, the religious elite categorized them as sinners because of their profession, and they were basically seen as unclean to be around. It could hurt your own reputation just by hanging out with one of them. And so, it’s one of these guys, that is looked down upon by almost every part of their society, that Jesus calls out to and says “Follow Me”. And in hearing that, he leaves behind his government job, his income, and went from one rejected role in society as a tax collector, to follow Jesus who would also be rejected by the Jews, crucified by the Romans, and eventually Matthew would follow Him down that path to be martyred, to be killed for Jesus’ cause as well. But that’s who God is using to record this book, this Gospel of Jesus Christ. So, as I said a minute ago, today is our first Sunday on our way through this book, so let’s get started in chapter one and take a look at this. And I realize that this first passage might not be the most interesting to read through at first glance, but we should value it as it is still God’s word and I think as we take a look at it, we’re going to see that there are still some very interesting things here for us to learn and to reflect on from it. So, let’s read Matthew chapter 1, verses 1 through 17.
Read Matthew 1:1-17
Matthew starts out this book acknowledging Jesus Christ as “the Son of David” and “the Son of Abraham”. And why is this significant? Matthew writes this book in a such a way to reach the Jewish people that would end up reading this book. And a Jewish person reading this, would have been well aware of the fact that the One that they were waiting for, the Messiah, would be coming through the family lines of both Abraham and David, because God made promises to both of these men to that effect. To Abraham God said in Genesis 12:
- “I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; And in you all of the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
To Abraham God promised a blessing to all of the families on the entire Earth. Which is interesting as is, because that shows God’s plan of redemption already purposed beyond the Jewish people at that point. I’ve run into questions at least a few times before questioning if salvation is actually open beyond the Jewish people even now. I remember one conversation with this guy that believed that Paul was the only one in the Bible that really spoke about gentile people being saved and his whole point was how can we trust just this one source with such a big point. But the reality is, and what we had the opportunity to look at during that conversation, is that God’s plan has always been for salvation to be open to all nations. That’s why God told Abraham ALL OF THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH will be blessed. That’s why Isaiah speaks of God’s house as a house of prayer for ALL NATIONS. That’s why Jesus said take my message to everyone, TO ALL THE NATIONS. That’s why in the book of Revelation, we see people of ALL NATIONS standing before the throne of God worshiping together. So, God promised this blessing to Abraham through his family line. But what blessing? How would all of the families of earth be blessed? They would be blessed by the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, and He would be the one to bring salvation to all that would believe in Him and there is no greater blessing that exists that is greater than that.
And Matthew called Jesus the Son of David as well, and God also made a promise to David, God said in 2 Samuel 7:
- “12 When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.”
- And then further in that chapter it says:
- 16 And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.
Within that whole promise, there are some parts that talk about David’s son Solomon, but there is also a promise here of One Who will establish a forever kingdom. Whose house, whose throne, whose kingdom will be established forever. There is no mere man who could accomplish this as no mere man will live forever. This promise transcends humanity as a promise that God would come down and establish these things forever. The beginning of Matthew 1 here where Matthew connects Jesus Christ as a Son of David and of Abraham is connecting Jesus to what the Jewish people were waiting for, he is connecting Him to the covenants and to the promises and to the prophecy that the Messiah was coming. Matthew is telling the readers of this book that Jesus is in fact the Messiah that you have been waiting for, and then he sets off through the connections of all of the generations of these people that link Jesus back to Abraham and to David.
And notice verse 16 here in Matthew 1. “16 And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ.” The genealogy in Matthew 1 is not a blood genealogy through Mary who will actually give birth to Jesus, instead it is actually a kind of legal genealogy that connects Jesus through his adoptive father Joseph back through all of the lines necessary. But the interesting thing is that the lines can also be traced back through Mary as well which is believed to be what Luke does in his gospel. So, they have the bases covered in this regard down both sides of the track to connect Jesus to the promises of the Messiah and to these family lines legally through His adoptive father Joseph which is what we see here and through family blood lines through His mother Mary as well.
So, the big picture here is that Matthew understanding the Jewish audience that would read this book was led to start this book by laying the groundwork of Jesus’ connection to the promises that they would immediately understand. If there was no connection to David and to Abraham and to the covenants that were made, then the readers likely wouldn’t even be considering the question of “Is Jesus the Messiah (or the Savior) that we have been waiting for?” And if He’s not then why would they care to know any more about Him? So, Matthew sets the stage for the rest of the book and deals with that argument immediately.
And so, what can we take away from a passage like this? What practical application can we find here today?
There are two things that I want us to walk away with from this passage.
The first thing is a greater appreciation of God’s sovereignty. Obviously in light of the whole Bible it is important for us to see and understand the connections, to see God’s promises and God’s fulfillment of those promises. God spoke to people, and said this is what is going to happen, and what we see here, is that IT HAPPENED. 2000 years before this moment those promises were made to Abraham and 1000 years before this they were made to David. That is a lot of time for a lot of things to go wrong, if we wanted to give this over to random chance. But it’s not random chance, it’s our history happening fully within the control of the Almighty God. I want to go together to look at a passage in 1 Peter.
Read 1 Peter 1:17-21
This is a really incredible statement, and it speaks so definitively towards God’s sovereignty. And sovereignty just so we are all on the same page means having the ultimate power and ultimate authority. When we say that God is sovereign, we are saying that He has the ultimate power and authority over ALL THINGS. Nobody else has that but Him and there is nobody above Him. And what’s so interesting in this 1 Peter passage is that it says that if we have a relationship now with God the Father, which means we have believed in and been saved by Jesus, that we weren’t saved by silver or gold or by what our parents or our ancestors did. No, it says we are saved by the PRECIOUS BLOOD OF JESUS. But notice what verse 20 says and this is why we are here right now. It says:
“20 He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you”
The plan was set before this world was even made for Jesus to come down here and save us. And that’s really interesting and sometimes I think that is overlooked in the big picture of things. It’s things like this that speak to God’s complete control, because He is not being reactive to the way the World worked out, instead we see His plan already made before Abraham or David were even born. But, then of course it was promised to these men and prophesied throughout scripture and history and now we’re seeing it coming to perfect fulfillment in Jesus Christ. God and God alone has the power to do that. In Isaiah 46, God says in verses 9 and 10:
“for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me,
10 declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’”
And that is exactly what is happening here. God declared from the beginning what was going to happen and as He says here “My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose”. Through generations of people and people problems and world dynamics and wars and captivity and the changing of borders and nations and leaders and peoples. Through all of that we see God’s plan in effect and His will being accomplished, for His purposes. He is God, He is sovereign, there is none like Him, and that truth should cause within us an enormous respect for Who He is. I believe this passage in Matthew 1 speaks that truth, that through all of man’s crazy history, God’s will was still accomplished.
So, as I said, two application points, the first was that greater appreciation of God’s sovereignty over all things, that’s important.
But, back in Matthew 1, I believe we can find another application point and that is a greater appreciation of God’s grace towards people and what that means for us. When we read through this genealogy, this is a lot of names, obviously. And every single one of these people represents a different life, different issues, different sin, different stories. But ultimately God used each and every one of them in His plan to fulfill His promises and have Jesus come to save us.
It’s also interesting to note that there are four women also included in this genealogy which was very unusual in ancient genealogies. And even more unusual in this ancient Jewish focused genealogy is that two of these women are gentiles. So, this gets pretty far out of bounds from the normal practices of these days. Unfortunately, women weren’t held in high regard in many ancient cultures, even in the Jewish culture. But as we know and will learn more of as we study scripture together, Jesus very much came to break down so many of the walls that divide us, and then He has purposed to unite us together in Himself. And that is happening already right here even by acknowledging Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and her name isn’t used, but Bathsheba as well. So, as we reflect on God’s grace towards people from these verses, I see even at a time when culture was going to disregard people, when culture thought less of people, when it wasn’t going to be right to include their part in the story, God instead made the executive decision and said this is the story of My Son and I have made them a part of it. And it’s interesting to see that here.
And even though Abraham, David, and Solomon probably have the most recognizable presence in this list. Every one of their stories is a story of God’s grace as well. I mean look at how King David is described there in verse 6. “David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah.” What a way to be recorded in the genealogy of Christ, that you had a son with another man’s wife. I want to go together and look at the moment when David is confronted about His sin. Let’s go to 2 Samuel 12 together. And like I said this passage isn’t the whole account of David’s sin, but this is when God uses Nathan to confront him about it.
Read 2 Samuel 12:1-9
It’s always so interesting to read this account, how David gets so worked up about the story that Nathan is telling him about. Worked up to the point that he has already pronounced a death sentence on this rich guy for taking and cooking the poor man’s sheep. But then Nathan hits him with the “YOU ARE THE MAN!” that did this, and I just can’t even imagine what David looked like in that moment. Probably shocked, probably broken, probably in a daze for a minute. And the reality is that David’s story was even worst, because in the parable the sheep was taken and cooked, but the poor man still lived. David took the man’s wife and ended up having the man killed as well. But even though I am sure he was probably floored by Nathan yelling that out, ultimately, he was repentant, he was sorry for the sin that he had committed. In verse 13 he clearly acknowledges it and says, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan responds that “The Lord also has put away your sin; and you shall not die.” God forgave him, but that doesn’t undo the damage that he had caused, Uriah was still dead. And that doesn’t undo the fact that sin does still has consequences and God ended up taking the life of the first son born to David and Bathsheba. But ultimately this shows God’s grace as He restored David, He forgave Him, and still used Him to do great things for His name and to be part of the His plan through history to the birth of Jesus.
And there are similar stories for Abraham and for Solomon as well. Abraham tried to “help God’s plan out” by sleeping with another woman to have a son, because God had promised one to him and his wife. And if that sounds crazy, it should, it’s crazy…God promised you something and you’re going to go down some way out there in left field plan to “help things out”. But God was gracious with these two and still very much used them for His plan. And Solomon, David’s son, is a longer story then we have time for today. He went way off the deep end in sin and the Bible doesn’t actually record where he ended up later in life, but the best understanding that we have is probably the book of Ecclesiastes which I believe was written by Solomon near the end of his life, and seemingly back on track with the Lord, and he encourages younger people to remember God from their youth and not make all of the mistakes that he made. But through all of these stories we see grace and we see redemption. We see people mess up, because people mess up, but we see a wonderful God who actively forgives and still moves through these same people to accomplish His purposes. It’s not just the Abraham, David, and Solomon’s that make up the story, God worked through a lot of different people through these family lines throughout literally millennia. Everyone in this room experienced the turn of one millennium in the year 2000, but this story unfolded over the course of two entire millennia, for 2000 years. Every name in this list represents God’s unstoppable plan to have His Son come redeem us.
Unfortunately, so many times I think that we can let the stories and even faults of our past overshadow the magnitude of God’s grace and mercy. That maybe He can’t use me for His purposes because my past isn’t spotless like some of these other people. Well for one I guarantee that their past isn’t spotless either, and if they try to make it out to be then they are just lying through their teeth. We saw a King who was also a cheater and a murderer. We know that one of the women in this list was as prostitute and a gentile and was used incredibly by God while still in that job to protect Israel’s spies and prepare for the conquering of Jericho. We know that Abraham messed up. We know Solomon messed up and everyone else to. We aren’t defined by what lies behind us. We acknowledge Jesus’ lineage because it is the fulfillment of prophecy and that is awesome, but God used a bunch of regular people with regular problems, I mean some with more notoriety than others obviously. But through these people God executed His plan for the benefit of this whole world.
And as we sit here today and we reflect on this passage, let us not ever forgot Who is in absolute control of all things. And then right along with that, that despite whatever may lie in our past behind us, what defines us more than all of that, is what God’s plan is for us from this point right now. God is the absolute master of taking the lowly, the broken, the sinful, even the dead and making it remarkably beautiful. There is some ugliness in Jesus’ lineage, but God made it beautiful, and He is more than capable of changing the narrative in our lives as well. So, let’s follow Him down that path.