The Promised One, The King, and Our Redeemer
The Birth of the Savior • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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What is the point of a genealogy? For some, it is fascinating to see how we got to where we are. For instance, when I look back at my genealogy, I have found where Jacob Fredrick Mouser was born in 1799. I can determine when my dad’s family moved to Missouri in the early 1800s. There are important things I’m able to learn about myself from that.
With that information, why is it that Matthew chooses to include the genealogy at the start of his gospel account? This morning, I want to point at three things we learn about Jesus in these 17 verses.
Read Matthew 1:1-17
There are two people and a group that are mentioned in these verses that help us learn about who Jesus is. First, He is
The Promised One
The Promised One
The beginning of the lineage of Jesus begins with Abraham. This would have been important to Jewish audience of Matthew’s gospel. However, the inclusion of being from the line of Abraham we can understand that Jesus is the answer to a very specific promise made in Genesis 22:15-18 .
And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”
The promise made to Abraham is that his offspring will be a blessing to all of the nations of the earth. The blessing came in the form of Jesus, the Christ. He came to bear the weight of the sins of the world. You can’t tell me that there is a greater blessing than that.
Surely the people who were aware of this promise from God to Abraham didn’t quite understand the weight of what was being promised. This was a gospel promise where the who earth would meet the love of God by the sending of His Son. The Christmas story is littered with kept promises from God. The Son of God entering the story by way of man is the beginning of the fulfillment of this promise.
The good news of the gospel is that our God keeps His promises. Even when we are undeserving of His grace, He continues to pour out blessings. You and I are recipients of this promise that was made 4000 years ago. Jesus is an answered promise. His birth was just the beginning of a blessing for all of the earth.
But beyond that promise, we can also see that Jesus is
The King
The King
The next person of importance in the genealogy is David. David is mentioned both at the very beginning, in verse six, and at the end of this. Of all the kings of Israel, he is one of the most notable. And because Jesus is from that line, we are to assume royalty for Him. This too is a promise is made from God found in 2 Samuel 7:16 .
And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’ ”
In reading this, surely David at first thought that this promise was of his legacy. Yet, Jesus Himself talks of the place of power the He sits on in Matthew 26:64 .
Jesus said to him, “You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
We would do well to think of Jesus as the King of our lives. He speaks often of His kingdom. Isaiah 9, of several places, makes mention of what the coming Messiah’s name will be. But this is not just over all of the universe. It is over our hearts as well.
You have heard me often plead with you to allow Jesus Christ to be the Lord of your life. This means allowing Him to reign over all that you do. This is the most difficult thing for a person to do and often the reason why a person never fully surrender’s their life to Him. But when a person confesses that Jesus is the Christ, they are admitting that He is Lord over all, including them.
My appeal this morning for us all is that we would not just say that He is the King. My prayer is that every knee in this room will bow and every tongue would confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. You’ll notice that quotation from Philippians 2 is not just a verbal admission. Instead, it is also an action that is followed up on. That verse continues on to say that the glory will go to the Father when this happens.
And the throne is rightfully Jesus’. But this was foretold because Jesus was from the line of David.
We know that Jesus is the promise fulfilled, we know that He is King, and finally we know that He is
The Redeemer
The Redeemer
In verses 12 through 16, we are told of the generations of those who were deported to Babylon. It was these people who were separated from God’s chosen people because of their sinfulness and idolatry. Why does Matthew choose to include these people? Because they are a reminder of the redemption of a people who were disconnected. The decree that went out that freed those who were in exile is found in 2 Chronicles 36:22-23 .
Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing: “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may the Lord his God be with him. Let him go up.’ ”
‘The Lord His God be with him’ is the key phrase in this. Because sin separated us from God, humankind was in need of someone to free us from our bondage and separation from God. Jesus arrives on the scene in Bethlehem and the clock begins ticking on the separation. Now that our sins have been atoned for, we no longer have to be exiled from God. Instead, we have rejoined with Him and are promised eternity in His presence. We are given a taste of that presence by way of the Holy Spirit and the gathering of the saints but the fulfillment of that has been made possible.
This genealogy is important! There is much for us to learn about Jesus from it but for now, we must remember that He is the Promised one, the King, and the Redeemer.
