An Authentic Source

Matthew 1:1-17

Today there is much interest in genealogy and people will spend both income and time to trace the family tree.  But is that something new?  The answer is no, from the beginning mankind has placed great value on their family background.  Now sometimes you uncover material about the family that you would just as well keep a secret; like maybe Hitler was your great uncle.  As we begin to look at Jesus’ genealogy in the gospel of Matthew, the very first verse tells His genealogy is not like anyone else’s.   “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.  (Matthew 1:1 ESV)

As in any genealogy you want the very best, most authentic source of information; so lets look at the promise to David from God using the mouth of Nathan the prophet; “And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’” (2 Samuel 7:16 ESV)  David had desired to build a house for God, and God told him he was not the man, but his son would be allowed to build a place where the people would come to worship their God.  But the promise to David was of greater importance, “his kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’”  Another source is the Psalms and we find this promise in Psalm 89:3-4, "I have made a covenant with my chosen; I have sworn unto David my servant. Thy seed will I establish forever, and build up thy throne to all generations.”  We have the faithfulness of God and the promise of establishing David’s kingdom forever. 

It is 975 years later, and God is always faithful in keeping His promises, the angel of the Lord appeared to a group of shepherds and proclaimed the coming of the Son of God, the son of David, in the city of David.  “And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:10-12 ESV)  We have the apostle Peter making reference to the promise in Psalm in his sermon at Pentecost: “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. (Acts 2:29-32 ESV)

This note is a great way to end this paper it is from the HCSB Study Bible: “Though the genealogy is otherwise arranged in chronological order, Matthew shifted “Son of Abraham to lay emphasis on the royal title.  The “Son of Abraham” implies that just as Abraham was the father of national Israel, Jesus will be the founder of a new spiritual Israel.”  (Page 1608 note 1:1)

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice