Matthew 1:1-17
Suggested further reading: 1 Peter 1:22-2:3
We are tempted to find these verses barren of spiritual truth. We could not be more wrong. The Word is always spiritually profitable, but our dullness sometimes keeps us from seeing God at work.
This genealogy skips over some in the line of descent (while maintaining its integrity) for easier comprehension.
This genealogy is crucial to Matthew’s theme that Jesus is Israel’s true Messiah. He fulfills the promises made to David of an eternal king and those to Abraham of a universal blessing.
This genealogy reveals God’s faithfulness. In His sovereignty, He may take His time fulfilling His promises (His prerogative), but delay does not mean denial. What He has promised, He will fulfill.
This genealogy teaches us why Satan is so virulently anti-Semitic—because, as Jesus said, salvation is from the Jews (John 4:22).
This genealogy teaches the history of Israel. Beginning with Abraham, they move upward in blessing to the high point of King David’s prosperous reign. Then they move downward, because of the sin of apostasy, to God’s judgment of the deportation in Babylon. Returning from Babylon, although still in a form of captivity, their path is slowly upward to the high point of their Messiah’s birth. In their history, we see our own. Our walk with the Master is never a straight line up-ward in blessing but a series of ups and downs because our faithfulness is fitful. But our comfort comes from seeing that, through it all, God remained faithful to His people (even through His discipline), and so He will be faithful to us. Like Israel, failure is never the final word for a believer in Christ.
Lanny Tanton is the Pastor at The Bible Church of the Lakes in Horseshoe Bay, Texas – just outside of Marble Falls. Pastor Tanton welcomes you to our website and hopes that you’ll enjoy reading these insightful blog posts. Please contact us if you have further questions!!
