Christmas – the birth of the King

Read Matthew 1-2

This is the Christmas story as the Apostle Matthew retells it for us. Matthew’s account is taken up with one major idea: Jesus is the King.

Everything in this story is meant to convey that message. Let’s begin with the genealogy itself and unpack this idea more fully.

Luke’s geneology is a little different. At first it might even seem contradictory. I wrestled with the apparent differences until I came to understand two things.

First, historically, genealogies in that time were not always meant to be exact biological records, but were at times used in a narrative way to tell as story. I believe both Matthew and Luke are doing this to some degree, though Luke’s account may be more exact in terms of biology.

Second I came to recognize the different stories each Gospel writer was trying to tell.

Matthew’s story is primarily concerned with the kingship of Jesus. Therefore Matthew has chosen to reveal the royal/legal linage of the throne of Israel. While this unmistakably leads to Christ, it doesn’t convey intricate details of biological descent. Matthew’s genealogy begins by stating Jesus’ position as both a son of Abraham and a son of David. These two men are important to the national thoughts of Israel and are central to the promises made in the OT concerning the savior.

John MacArthur refers to this as the “genealogy of Grace.” As we work our way through this passage we’ll see why.

So these two men, Abraham and David, are brought to our attention. Abraham is the father of the faithful, and David is the great king of Israel. Jesus being the “founder and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2) is the rightful heir of Abraham. Our faith is a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8) and therefore if we are among the faithful, he is our father. David being the heir of Abraham, if Christ is the heir of David’s throne, then he is our king if we are among the faithful.

These two men also introduce another interesting aspect of the genealogy, they are grand sinners. In fact, the whole genealogy is full of grand sinners. John MacArthur calls this the “Genealogy of Grace” because the extreme sins present in this list of names would have required extreme grace for God to think about using these people for his glory.

Abraham is called “the father of all who believe” (Romans 4:11) and yet he demonstrated an amazing lack of faith at points in his life. His wife Sarah was very beautiful and being afraid powerful men would kill him (as her husband) to have her, he lied and told them she was his sister. He displayed this distrust and cowardice twice (Genesis 12 and 20), and later his son Isaac did the same (Genesis 26). Speaking of Isaac, Abraham exhibited a lack of faith when God promised him a son, he didn’t think God could do it because Sarah was to old, so he took matters in his own hands and we still haven’t seen the end of those problems.

David is the great King of Israel. A man after God’s own heart. Yet he was an adulterer, murderer, and bad parent. He doesn’t do his job as king, lusts after a woman who is the wife of another man, commits sexual sin with her, murders her husband and tries to cover the whole thing up (2 Samuel 11). Later he sits by and does nothing as one of his sons, Amnon, rapes his half sister Tamar. Her brother Absalom then murders Amnon, his half-brother, usurps David’s throne and causes all sorts of trouble (2 Samuel 13).

These two men are listed at the top of the genealogy as of special importance.

I’d like to point out that the genealogy is broken into three time period or eras.

The first is Abraham to David. This is the era of the patriarchs – where God reveals himself to Abraham, the covenants – where God promises his blessing, the law – where God lays out the rules for holy living, and the era of the exodus and its accompanying deliverance.

Jesus was prefigured during this era in the calling out for holiness, in the covenant blessings – of which he is the fulfillment, in the law – which only he could live up to, and in the deliverance from Egypt in the sacrifice of the first born or passover lamb.

The second period is that which spans from David to the deportation to Babylon. Here we see the monarchy, the kingdom, apostasy, tragedy, exile and destruction. Jesus is again prefigured in the monarchy as he is the true and everlasting King, and in the kingdom, though his kingdom is not of this world and his Israel includes all who believe (Romans 9).

The third period is from the Babylonian exile to Jesus. In this period we see the captivity of the people. We are like them in our captivity to sin, and like them our deliverance comes from Jesus.

In addition to these two men and three epochs, we also notice the unique mention of four (five including Mary) women in the genealogy. Now, it was unusual to list women in a genealogy to begin with, let alone to mention the four that are in this list.

Tamar (Genesis 38)

Tamar was not a Jew. She was a canaanite. She was taken as the wife for the son of Judah (one of the twelve patriarchs), but when his son died, his brother refused to have children by her as the law required. She played the prostitute and got Judah, her father-in-law, to have sex with her, producing the twins mentioned in the genealogy.

Rahab (Joshua 2 and 6)

Rahab was an inhabitant of the land of Canaan. Specifically, she was a prostitute living in Jericho. She betrayed her countrymen by helping Joshua’s spies and her household were the only ones spared in the destruction of Jericho.

Ruth (Ruth)

Again, Ruth is a Moabite, not a Jew. She was a pagan, became a widow, moved to the land of Israel and has an incredible love story by her name in the Bible.

Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11)

Bathsheba is not named in the genealogy, but she is referenced in verse 6 as “the wife of Uriah). She is the one with whom David committed adultery. I’m not sure if she was an Israelite or not. Her husband Uriah was not. He was a Hittite. From my reading of the text, it seems she didn’t protest that much to David’s improper proposal. In her defense, he was the king and it would be hard to say “No” to the king.

The point is that Matthew is not tracing the biological line so much as the royal line. By including these gentiles and sinner in the list, along with heros of the nation, Matthew is subtly making the point that Jesus is the King, not just of the nation of Israel, but of all people.

And his kingship is over a fallen people.

He was not conceived in the womb of Mary for those who have done their best, but for those who know that their best is “like filthy rags” (Isa. 64:6)–far from good enough–and that in their flesh there dwells no good thing (Rom. 7:18). He was not sent to be the source of good experiences, but to suffer the pangs of hell in order to be our Savior. ¹

The name given to the heir of the kingdom is Jesus, which means

Yahweh saves

He is born in Bethlehem, the ancestral birthplace of both Boaz and David.

Born during the reign of Herod I, whose mausolem and sarcophagus were just uncovered at an archeological dig in 2007, Jesus is visited by 

…wise men from the East…

These men were in all likelihood, decedents of Abraham by his son Ishmael. Coming from East probably means they were from Babylon. This is a mere 40 day journey by caravan. They recognized Jesus as having “been born king of the Jews.” Herod is troubled by this because he is the Roman appointed king of the provence and fears a political uprising should the Jews unite behind someone prophesied as the heir of the throne of David.

Jesus, as we learned last week, is the creator and sustainer of the universe. It is not just the throne of the nation of Israel to which he is heir, it the throne of the Kingdom of Heaven. From that throne he will judge the nations and the peoples.

Read Matthew 25:31-46

This year as we celebrate Christmas, I want you to remember just who it is, whose birth we are remembering. It is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Have you acknowledged him as King? Do you continue to do so. Do you bow the knee and submit to his will? Or do you seek your own this Christmas season? Remember he is the King, and you are his subject. Live your life this year

…in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.  – Colossians 1:10

 

1. Sinclair Ferguson, http://www.ligonier.org/blog/2008/12/santa-christ.html