Jesus’ Legal Title to David’s Throne

Transcript

GRM 1043
10/13/2009
Jesus' Legal Title to David's Throne
Matthew 1
Gil Rugh


We're going to take a break from our study of the book of Romans for the next few weeks and look at some matters relating to the season we are in and the emphasis that is on many people's minds, the thoughts that are there. I want to direct your attention to Matthew 1. I thought one of the most exciting things we could do would be to look at the genealogy and the almost 50 names that Matthew starts out his gospel with.

There are four gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. They cover the life of Christ on this earth. Three of them we call the synoptic gospels, just a compound word that means to see things together—syn and optic. You're familiar with that word. Matthew, Mark and Luke we call the synoptic gospels because they see things together, they cover basically similar material in presenting the life of Christ on earth. The gospel of John is very unique, 90% approximately of the material in the gospel of John is not found in the other three gospels. That's why we don't include it. We talk about the synoptic gospels, we're talking about the three that are similar in content and you find much overlap in what they cover. John is unique in that most of his material is not found in the other three gospels.

But as the Spirit of God directed each of these gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, there is a special emphasis that they bring to the life of Christ. They all cover a breadth, of course, in dealing with Christ's earthly ministry, but each has its own particular emphasis. Let me just walk through these emphases with you. The gospel of Mark presents Christ as a servant. Turn back to Isaiah 42. Each of these gospels in their emphasis draws from the Old Testament and an emphasis the Old Testament had regarding the coming Messiah. And in Isaiah 42:1, behold my Servant. And there you have behold my Servant. And that's the emphasis Mark will pick up, that Jesus Christ comes as the Servant of Jehovah. Behold my Servant whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom my soul delights. I have put my Spirit upon Him, He will bring forth justice to the nations. So that anticipation that the One who is the Servant of the Lord will be the One who ultimately brings justice to the nations. And He will ultimately rule them with a rod of iron. But that emphasis, my Servant, behold my Servant. And Mark picks that up. And that becomes the emphasis of his gospel on Jesus Christ as the Servant of the Lord. And the gospel of Mark does not begin with a genealogy, there is no genealogy recorded in the gospel of Mark because no one is interested in the genealogy of a servant or a slave. So Mark does not include a genealogy in his gospel.

When you come to the gospel of Luke, Luke presents Jesus Christ as man, Son of Man is an emphasis that he picks up. The humanity of Christ is an emphasis in Luke's gospel. We think of what is unique about Luke in his presentation of Christ, he presents Him as man. Turn over to Daniel 7. Daniel anticipated this in his prophecy in Daniel 7:13. I kept looking in the night visions and behold with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming. That Son of Man emphasizes His humanity, His identification with man. Favorite name for Christ during His earthly ministry. He was the Son of Man, that's how He referred to Himself. That was unique to Him. For all eternity He had been God but at Bethlehem He became man. He came to the Ancient of Days and was presented to Him. To Him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom. And just as the Servant of the Lord would ultimately reign bringing justice to the nations, so the One who is Son of Man will some day reign and rule over all.

Stop at Zechariah 6:12, then say to him, thus says the Lord of hosts, behold a man. So even as Isaiah 42:1, behold my Servant, here you have behold a Man. And Luke picks up that emphasis on Christ as Man. Whose name is Branch, for He will branch out from where He is, He will build the temple of the Lord. Yes it is He who will build the temple of the Lord, He who will bear the honor and sit and rule on His throne. Thus He will be a priest on His throne and the council of peace will be between the two offices. A priest on the throne, how is that going to work? The priest of Israel had to be from the tribe of Levi, the king had to be from the tribe of Judah. You could not have a priest sitting on the throne. But Jesus Christ would not be a priest after the order Levi, He would be a priest after the order of Melchizedek because He would be from the tribe of Judah. He will sit on a throne as a priest. Again, He will rule as God's representative to bring man into right relationship with God. Behold a Man, that's Luke's emphasis.

John's gospel, he emphasizes the deity of Jesus Christ. He presents Christ as God. Luke presented Him as Man, there is a genealogy in Luke 3. The genealogy of Christ connecting Him back to Adam, the first man is presented in Luke because as Man His genealogy is significant. The gospel of John begins, in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. There is no genealogy for God, so the gospel of John has no genealogy, but he presents Him as deity. He is called the Mighty God by Isaiah in Isaiah 9:6, the Mighty God and indeed that's who He is. So Isaiah 40:9, behold your God. Behold my Servant, behold a Man, behold your God.

Then we come to Matthew and Matthew's emphasis is Jesus Christ is King. He is the Messiah of Israel, the Anointed One, the One who will rule and reign as King of Israel, King of the Jews. He will establish a kingdom which will never end. Zechariah 9:9 says, behold your king. That's quoted by Matthew in Matthew 21:5. Behold your king. And that's the emphasis we have in the gospel of Matthew. He's concerned to present Jesus Christ as King of the Jews. And so there is a genealogy that begins the gospel of Matthew because the king has to have the correct genealogy. To be the king of the Jews, the king of Israel, to be the prophesied Messiah, He must have the correct lineage. And so very important, as Matthew is going to present Jesus Christ as the king who was prophesied in the Old Testament that we understand He has the right genealogy, He is qualified to be King. In fact, you work through those genealogies, you'll find He is the only man who could fulfill the prophecies and become the king of the Jews. There are no other alternatives. There is no other person who could fulfill the promises given to David. There is a glitch in the genealogy that rules out everyone else. We'll take note of that as we move along.

You'll note how Matthew 1:1 begins, the record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah. So you see what this is, this is the record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah. Messiah is the Old Testament for the Anointed One, the Christos, Christ, the Anointed One in the New Testament, Hebrew and Greek. The Anointed One is the One God anointed, designated to be the king, the ruler, the sovereign over His people. The genealogy of Jesus. And Jesus comes from the same name as Joshua, it was a common name in Israel as we come to New Testament times. You can understand that. Who is one of the greatest heroes of the Old Testament? Joshua. Who led Israel into the Promised Land and to great victories? Joshua. So natural that Jewish families would name a son Joshua after such a famous person in their history. It takes on unique significance as it becomes the name of Jesus Christ. Jesus, Jehovah saves, or Jehovah Savior. There is a fullness and a clarity in Jesus Christ that could be in no one else. He is the Savior, He is the Messiah, the Anointed One.

He is the son of David, the son of Abraham. Now you'll note, you would think this would be reversed because Abraham precedes David by a thousand years. But first he says the son of David, the son of Abraham because the focus that Matthew has is on Jesus as the One who fulfills the Davidic Covenant, which promised a descendant of David would be king over Israel. So he starts out He's the son of David, the son of Abraham. Connects in with these two key people. The son of David. Jesus is of royal lineage. We talk about this genealogy, it gives Jesus the legal right to the throne of David. It is very, very important. There is a genealogy in Luke, it would not give Christ the legal right to the throne of David. There is a difference in that genealogy that will make note of. This genealogy in Matthew is absolutely essential to show that Jesus indeed fulfills the genealogical requirements as a descendant of David to fulfill the promises given to David.

Turn back to II Samuel 7. And here is what is called the Davidic Covenant, the covenant that God established with David. Verse 8, therefore you shall say to my servant, David. So it is addressed to David. Verse 12, when your days are complete you will lie down with your fathers. David is going to die. I will raise up your descendant or your seed after you who will come forth from you. I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be a father to him and he will be a son to me. Verse 16, your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever, your throne shall be established forever. Now there will be descendants that come along, Solomon is next in line. And there will be correction needed, verses 14-15 talked about, for Solomon and other descendants. But the ultimate fulfillment of this is for a future son, a future descendant of David and his throne will be established forever. Verse 16, your house and your kingdom shall endure forever, your throne shall be established forever. An eternal throne, an eternal king, an eternal kingdom. The Jews understood that this would have fulfillment in their coming king, their Messiah, the One God anointed to be their eternal ruler.

So Jesus is the son of David, He is the One who will fulfill this. This is why we have this used as a title for Christ in the gospels—son of David. And all the Jews recognized that as the title for their coming Messiah, their coming king.

Jesus is also identified in Matthew 1:1 as the son of Abraham. Why do you pick up with Abraham? David because of the covenant with David to establish the throne of David. Abraham is the foundational person for the Jews. The covenant that God made with Abraham established the Jews as the people of God. The physical descendants of Abraham, the ones that would receive the special, unique blessings of God.

Come back to Genesis 12. The promises to Abraham were more inclusive. They are personal promises, they are national promises and there are universal promises in the Abrahamic Covenant. This covenant is repeated several times in subsequent chapters, but the first time it is in Genesis 12. Verse 1, now the Lord said to Abram, go forth from your country, from your relatives, from your father's house to the land which I will show you. I will make you a great nation, I will bless you, make your name great so you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, the one who curses you I will curse. In you all the families of the earth will be blessed. You see here is blessing for Abraham, blessings for the descendants of Abraham. And in verse 3, in you all the families of the earth will be blessed. Almost every one of us here today ought to praise the Lord for that provision because it is in the provision that God made in His covenant with Abraham that you and I have entered into the salvation blessings of that One who is the Jewish Messiah, the One who came to fulfill all the promises given to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to David. Those promises include blessings for all the families of the earth. Not just for the physical descendants of Abraham, but for Gentiles as well.

Important to understand, this is basic to the Abrahamic Covenant. Some people think that when Christ came, now the Gentiles have replaced the Jews and we've become spiritual Israel. The promises to the Gentiles were part of the Abrahamic Covenant from the beginning. They replaced nothing that was promised to the Jews, the physical descendants of Abraham. They are part and parcel of the covenant God gave to Abraham. There is no conflict there. In you all the families of the earth will be blessed. This pattern is found in the gospel of Matthew, first the message and the promised to the Jews and then to the Gentiles.

Come to Matthew 10. Jesus has appointed His twelve disciples, He has given them authority as His representatives, sent them out on His behalf. And then note the instructions He gives to them in verse 5, these twelve Jesus sent out after instructing them. Do not go in the way of the Gentiles. Do not enter any city of the Samaritans, they were mixed breed, Jews who had intermarried with Gentiles. But rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go, preach saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. You see at this stage during Christ's earthly ministry there is no offer to Gentiles. It is exclusive to the Jews.

Remember that Gentile woman who came and asked Christ to help? And He says, I didn't come to give the bread, the good things I brought to the Jews to give it to dogs like you a Gentile. That's where we were at this point in His ministry. But yet when we get to the end of Matthew, chapter 28, what we know as the Great Commission. Jesus says in verse 18, all authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations. Now we see the fullness of the covenant promise to Abraham, that that covenant and the blessings that are promised there will include Gentiles as well. This in no way excludes the Jews or changes anything. It is part of what God promised in the covenant to Abraham, in you all the nations of the earth will be blessed. Now go take this blessing to the nations. But first it is to the Jews. Now the nations are experiencing that great blessing as we Gentiles sit here having experienced the salvation provided by the Jewish Messiah. But God's promises to the Jews still hold and will ultimately be fulfilled and the kingdom will be established for them.

Come back to Matthew 1. The genealogy begins really with verse 2 and runs down through verse 16. Verse 17 tells us that it is divided into three sections, fourteen generations in each section. So verse 14 says all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations; from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah fourteen generations. So he wants to bring us to the Messiah. Why fourteen? Obviously you've broken it into three equal segments. After my previous hour's class some asked, is it honest that he didn't include a complete list? I mean, fourteen is sort of artificial. It is artificial from the standpoint he has arranged it this way, perhaps for memory. Remember everybody didn't get to carry off a copy of Matthew with them. They heard it read. We think it is hard to deal with genealogies when you're just looking at it and you have it in black and white. And you go back, how would like just to have this list of names read to you? So arranging it this way. The Jews did not think it dishonest if you didn't include every name. Those that you include have to be accurate, but they didn't expect a full list of every name to be included. You could go to the temple and get a complete list until it was destroyed. So a summary like this wouldn't be viewed as artificial or unacceptable as long as the names were accurate. It served a point to show the connection and establish it. There are names left out, there are differences. Some names are left out for example in Luke that we have in Matthew and so on. The genealogies aren't exactly the same. That doesn't mean there is error. ______________ I want the key names to be there and my purpose in this list, the purpose in this list is to show that Christ is indeed the descendant of Abraham through David through Solomon. That's where the change will be in Luke. Luke's genealogy which takes us back to Adam but it comes through David through Nathan, not Solomon. Well the one who sits on the throne has to be a descendant of David through Solomon. We'll see that in a moment.

You'll note verses 2-6, verse 2 starts out, Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, these three patriarchs. And from Jacob will come his twelve sons and out of that the twelve tribes that make up the nation Israel. Verses 2-6, the first line in verse 6, Jesse was the father of David. So we read in verse 7, from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; then from David to the deportation, the Babylonian captivity, fourteen. So verse 6, David was the father of Solomon, we pick up with David. Then you come down to verse 11, Josiah became the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the deportation to Babylon. So from verse 6 to verse 11 we go from David to the Babylonian captivity. Then verses 12-16 carry us from the Babylonian captivity to the coming of the Messiah. So you see in a compact way it is demonstrated the connection of the Messiah to David, to Abraham and thus showing that He is the One who is legally entitled to be the king.

We'll just pick up a couple of observations, we'll not look at every name. Verse 2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. He didn't say Jacob was the father of the twelve brothers because Judah is the one he wants to pick out. Why? Because the ruler has to come from the tribe of Judah. So he's not interested in following down the line of the other eleven tribes or the other eleven brothers. He is only interested in picking up the tribe of Judah because we are showing the line of the Messiah. The Messiah comes from the tribe of Judah.

Come back to Genesis 49, we go all the way back to Jacob. And as Jacob is preparing for his death he calls his sons, the twelve sons, and he gives them a blessing. Really what he is doing is telling them what their future is in each of these tribes, as God uses him as a spokesman. When you come to verse 8 we come to Judah. Judah, your brothers shall praise you, your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies, your father's sons will bow down to you. We see a ruler here. Verse 10, the scepter shall not depart from Judah nor the ruler's staff from between his feet until Shiloh comes and to him shall be the obedience of the people. Then you have in verses 11-12 something of the prosperity that will be characterized as the ultimate ruler in the tribe of Judah rules and brings prosperity to the nation. And of course David is in that line if we follow it down to verse 6 in Matthew 1, we come to David the king who is in the tribe of Judah.

Now unusual in the genealogies, there are four women mentioned in this genealogy. And I take it they are selected by the Spirit of God as He uses Matthew for a purpose. It would not be normal to include the women in the genealogy and the women that are selected wouldn't have been the ones we would have chosen if we were going to put women in because they all have problems associated with them. Two of them aren't even Jews, maybe three. Rahab and Ruth, Rahab is a Canaanite, Ruth is a Moabite. The four women, verse 3 you have Tamar who would have been a Canaanite; then in verse 5 you have Rahab, she would have been in the land of Canaan, a non-Jewish woman; then you have Ruth and she is a Moabite; and maybe Bathsheba because she is married to Uriah the Hittite and you would expect that Uriah the Hittite would not have been married to a Jewish woman. So it's assumed that she probably was a Hittite or non-Jewish herself. So moving outside of the Jews. I mean, one thing to pick Sarah for the line here, somebody like that, but these women?

And then you have some moral problems here. Rahab, Tamar, Bathsheba. Tamar is the first one, we find her back in Genesis in an incestuous relationship with her father-in-law. That's how she comes into the line. Rahab, how do we know Rahab? Rahab the whore, the harlot. I mean, she is well known, that's the way she is identified. Bathsheba, she's not exactly an example of moral integrity. Her husband is off fighting a war and she is sleeping with David. Then you have Ruth the Moabitess, nothing immoral said about her, but you remember the Moabites were forbidden from coming in to be part of the Israelites and their worship for ten generations. That's how bad they are. And yet these are the women put in the list here. I take it it's to display God's grace. Even in the line of the Messiah you have these who were chosen to be key individuals in that line that would culminate in the Messiah. The presence of these non-Jews, the presence of these sinners shows the breadth when God promised to Abraham, in you all families of the earth will be blessed. Here is evidence of that, even in the line of the Messiah. And these women of sinful reputation, and yet in the line, a reminder of the grace of God and this Messiah who would come would be the one who provided salvation for Jews and for Gentiles as well. And for sinners, despised and rejected. I mean, it was enough to be a woman, you are familiar with the Jewish prayer of these times, I thank you, Lord, that I was not born a woman, among other things. But these are even women of low reputation, of low character. But remember what Jesus would tell the proud religious leaders of His day, the harlots, the tax gatherers, they are going into the kingdom before you. So a reminder of God's grace.

We have to jump down to verse 12, Jeconiah. Josiah became the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the deportation to Babylon. After the deportation to Babylon Jeconiah became the father of Shealtiel and so on and we move down the line. Jeconiah becomes a key figure here because as many of you are aware there is a real problem with Jeconiah. If Jesus Christ is the physical descendant of Jeconiah He cannot sit on the throne of David with God's blessing.

Come back to Jeremiah 22. Jeconiah is also known as Coniah, we can understand that kind of abbreviation of his name. Jeconiah, Coniah. So in Jeremiah 22 the son of Josiah is called Coniah. Verse 24, as I live, declares the Lord, even though Coniah. So we're talking about Jeconiah here. Down in verse 28, in this man Coniah a despised shattered jar. So the same one, Jeconiah in the genealogy we're talking about. Note what God says about him in verse 30. Thus says the Lord, write this man down childless, a man who will not prosper in his days. Now note this. For no man of his descendants will prosper sitting on the throne of David or ruling again in Judah. I will never bring again any prosperity to any descendant of Jeconiah sitting on the throne of David. You know what we have done? We have dead ended humanly speaking, the line of promise for the Davidic Covenant. It has to come through Jeconiah, but there can be no blessing on any physical descendant of Jeconiah on the throne. How are we going to have a fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant? That's why we say Jesus gets His legal title to the throne in the genealogy of Matthew 1. That's the genealogy of Joseph. Jesus is not the physical son of Joseph so He is not the physical seed, descendant of Jeconiah. But He is the legal descendant of Jeconiah. So He has legal title to the throne.

Now in the genealogy in the Luke 3, that's the genealogy of Mary, Jesus' mother. That genealogy comes down through David but not through Solomon. It comes through another son of David, Nathan. So Jesus is connected physically to David through His mother who is not a descendant through Jeconiah because her connection to David goes back through Nathan. But the king has to come back to David through Solomon. That required Jeconiah. So the distinction in the genealogies amazing in the plan of God. He is a physical descendant of David through His mother who is a descendant of David, but not through Solomon. So that would not give Him the legal title to the throne. That has to go back to David through Solomon. He is the legal descendant of David through Solomon through his father Joseph, but He is not a physical descendant of David through Solomon and Jeconiah so the curse of Jeconiah does not apply to Jesus. Now the virgin birth anticipated even in this prophecy. What did the prophets think? How are we going to get this fulfilled? How are we going to have one sitting ............. You know, unanswerable problems, but not to God because of His sovereign plan.

Come back to Matthew 1:16. Another important point on the virgin birth. You have to have the virgin birth because if He is the physical descendant of David through Solomon and Jeconiah He can't have the blessing of God. There is an indication here of the virgin birth as well in verse 16. Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary by whom Jesus was born, who was called the Messiah. That's where we've been going to get there, then he'll elaborate on the birth of Christ. We'll look at that in just a moment briefly. Grammatical change occurs here. Down through this list, Jacob was the father of, Azor was the father of, you go back through. They've been in the active voice with the husband as the subject. It's hard to get excited about, I know, but just the statements being made. This man was the father of so-and-so, and moving down through the list. You'll note when you get to verse 16, Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Note the change here. It doesn't say Joseph the father of Jesus. Joseph the husband of Mary by whom Jesus was born. Was born, we've moved to the passive. Most commentators will make note of what is called the divine passive. Passive is when something acts upon something. God is the actor here, so it's often used of God's action to bring about something. We call it the divine passive, the passive referring to God is the One acting. So we've moved from so-and-so becoming the father of so-and-so to Jesus was born. The divine passive by the action of God.

A second grammatical point here, we've moved to the passive voice. The father of Joseph, the husband of Mary by whom Jesus was born. Now in English it's hard to say by whom. Does that mean by Joseph? But in Greek as in other languages they had gender. Could be a form that is masculine, feminine or neuter. And the word whom here is feminine in Greek. It cannot refer back to Joseph, it has to refer back to Mary. So you have Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary by whom, Mary because the whom has to refer to Mary, Jesus was born who is called the Messiah. So you see the change of grammar here. We come through this list of 40-some names and we come to verse 16 and we change what we've been saying to make clear Joseph wasn't the father of Jesus. Joseph was the husband of Mary. That gives Jesus the legal right to the throne. Joseph is Jesus' legal father in the human realm, He gets His legal title to the throne through Joseph. But He gets His physical connection to David through His mother, Mary. Because the legal title has to come from David through Solomon, and that comes through Jeconiah. Mary is connected to David through Nathan, another son of David. But that's not the kingly line, but it is a physical line in connection to David. So He has the legal right and the physical connection both.

So with that he is ready to talk about the birth of the Messiah. And we can just note a few key points here. The birth of Jesus 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. Here you are in a legal relationship because they are not married. You see the legal title comes to Christ here through Joseph and the legal relationship has already been established to Mary. We sometimes compare betrothal to our engagement period but it's different. The betrothal period was legally binding, it could only be broken by divorce. If the man died, for example, during the betrothal period before they were formally married, the woman was the formal heir. So the legal relationship had been established in that sense. So it is a binding relationship, could only be broken by divorce and the disgrace that that would bring. There was to be no sexual relationship during the betrothal period. It could go on for as long as a year. That established the purity of the woman which was a basic concern during that period. But it was a legally binding relationship as we'll see in a moment.

Before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. The details of how God did this are not unfolded in scripture. How would we know? How would we understand? We have to think, well how could He do that then? He did it. Not a problem for God to cause conception supernaturally in Mary. She was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit.

Joseph her husband, being a righteous man. He is a godly man, a man desirous to honor God and live in obedience to Him. That's the point. Not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. The word translated send her away is the word used of divorce. He planned to divorce her. Jesus will use it that way over in Matthew 5:19. He planned to divorce her secretly. This is a painful time for Joseph. This is the woman he is committed to, anticipates marrying, having children with and now she is found to be pregnant. Two alternatives—make a public example of her and divorce her and show everyone how he has been wronged, or have a secret divorce. Just do this privately, quietly, we'll go through the procedure of divorce but I won't make an issue of it and that will be the end of it. So you can see what Joseph's thinking is. What would you do?

Turn over to Luke 1. Gabriel has appeared to Mary and told her she was going to give birth to a son. We're told in Luke 1:26 the angel Gabriel came to Mary in the city of Nazareth. She is called a virgin engaged to a man betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David. This is an important fact, it will be brought out then om the genealogy later in chapter 3. Coming in the angel said to her, greetings, favored one. The Lord is with you. She is perplexed. He tells her, don't be afraid, you've found favor with God, verse 30. Verse 31, behold you will conceive in your womb and bear a Son. You shall name Him Jesus. He will be great, be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. There's that Davidic Covenant. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever and His kingdom will have no end. Mary says, how can this be? I am a virgin. I mean, how can I give birth to the Messiah? The answer is the Holy Spirit will come upon you, the power of the Most High will overshadow you. For that reason the holy child shall be called the Son of God. Verse 37, nothing will be impossible with God.

This is a miracle, brought about sovereignly, supernaturally by God in a way that only God could accomplish. Mary is an amazing person. I mean, you'd think she would go to pieces over this. What am I going to tell Joseph? I'm pregnant, it's a virgin birth. Have you ever heard of that? No, me neither. You know what she does? She packs her bags and goes to visit her relative Elizabeth for three months, verse 39. She went in a hurry to the hill country and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. Now remember Zacharias and Elizabeth, Elizabeth is carrying John the Baptist in her womb. So she and her husband have had some dealings with the angel and a miraculous birth. Not on the level of a virgin birth, but supernatural action nonetheless.

And so they have some good conversation and it's encouraging, I'm sure, to Mary. Then you read Mary's statement, we call it the Magnificat, in verses 46 ff. You see the great faith of Mary. What about the problem? What about how do you explain this? How do you deal with this? I mean, what do you tell people? How many people are going to believe a virgin birth story? She stayed with Elizabeth for three months and then returned home. I assume that's probably about the time Joseph found out what is going on. We don't know. What did she tell her parents? Who told Joseph? How did word get to Joseph? Did Mary's father get ahold of Joseph and say Joseph, I have bad news. Mary has just come home, she has been gone three months and she is expecting. Do you know anything about this? Obviously not, she has been over at Elizabeth's house, she has been out of town, so to speak. All these things, we don't know. We know the impact on Joseph when he gets word, however he got it, divorce. I don't know what else to do. I'll do it as honorably as can be done, but there is no other alternative.

And then the angel intervenes. That's a much better idea than Mary trying to explain it to Joseph. That I'm pregnant, you won't believe this. But when an angel appears to you in a dream and he tells Joseph, verse 20, the child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit, there is as concise a statement of the most miraculous birth that you can have. The child that is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. That says it all. She will bear a son, you shall call His name Jesus. That's the same thing the angel told Mary, you call His name Jesus. Here you have the explanation, for He will save His people from their sins. He is the Savior. And this fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14, behold the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son and they shall call his name, Emmanuel, which translated means God with us. I mean, here is a more complete way than man could have imagined that God is going to be born into the human race. Not cease to be God but take to His deity humanity. And indeed He will be the God Man, He will be Emmanuel, God with us.

Joseph awoke from his sleep, the dream, knew what had happened, took Mary as his wife, verse 25, kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son. He called His name Jesus. He kept her a virgin, they had no sexual relations until after the birth of Jesus. There is no question about the parentage of Christ, scripture is clear. I think the scripture is also clear, he kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son. I take it after that they had children together. The immaculate conception of Mary is a creation of man thinking he is helping solve a problem or helping elevate Mary. But the scriptural account is the account that matters. He kept her a virgin until, and then I take it they had children and those children are mentioned by name later by Matthew, brothers and sisters of Christ. There is nothing gained by trying to make Mary have an immaculate conception herself so that she is sinless so she can bear a sinless Savior. Scripture gives no indication of that. Jesus will be the Savior of His mother as He is of all mankind.

We have an account that is clear, simple, beautiful. Why the virgin birth? Well you understand the lineage of Christ, He is the One to fulfill the promises to Abraham, the promises to David. But you know what? There is a problem, Jeconiah. The physical descendants of Jeconiah are dead ended, they can never receive the blessings of God as they sit on the throne. But Jesus won't be a physical descendant of Jeconiah, He'll be a legal descendant through His father Joseph, but not the physical descendant. But He will be a physical descendant of David and Abraham through His mother Mary. So in the sovereign plan of God He has provided His Son and we're told right at the front His name is Jesus because He will save His people from their sins. This is what it is all about. For the covenant promises to David, the covenant promises to Abraham to be fulfilled, there will have to be a Savior and Jesus is that Savior. He is the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One to rule and reign. But first He must be the Savior so the people can be cleansed from their sin through faith in Him so that when Christ establishes a kingdom on the earth there are people who can be part of that kingdom because they've been cleansed from their sin and made new.

What a marvelous plan God set out. We think it is confusing to get into genealogies. In it all God ............ Every detail, every detail has to be exactly as God says it would be. But how are you going to solve that problem? How are you going to deal with this issue? The sovereign God is never boxed in. And so the birth of His Son fulfills exactly what the Old Testament said would have to take place so that He could be king of the Jews and the Savior of the world.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for these simple verses that unfold the lineage of the One who is King of the Jews, the One who is the Savior of the world, the One that we, Jews and Gentiles alike, have come to realize is your Son, our Savior through faith in Him, His death and resurrection. There is life. We can be born again and anticipate being part of the kingdom that He will some day establish. Thank you for your faithfulness. Heaven and earth will pass away but your word will never pass away. Lord, our hope is in you the living God, the promises you have given to us and to all who place their faith in your Son. The One in whose name we pray, amen.