Infographic here.
What we learnt, God is a God of
- Grace – again we see God’s grace with so many of the forefathers of the Promised One been characterised by failure, yet because of a measure of faith God imparts His Righteousness to them
- Beautiful revelation – the way God inspired the writing of these genealogies is just that, inspired, a real cause for worship
- Love – that God would Himself would enter in to history, become part of the story of these genealogies, part of the family, blows our minds
The Four Gospels
- John traces the Lord Jesus’ genealogy back into Eternity, as the one who is God and then came to dwell amongst us (John 1:14)
- Mark makes no record of the Lord Jesus’ genealogy for as a servant, he had no rights, he had no records associated with his history. And indeed, the Lord Jesus never claimed anything though He owned the cattle on a thousand hills, the wealth of every mine – He came not to be served but to serve and give his life a ransom for many (Mark ?:?);
- Luke traces the Lord Jesus’ genealogy back to Adam (end of ch3) showing the Lord Jesus to be truly man but then follows it abruptly with a record of the Lord Jesus’ perfection in ch4; now ascended in heaven the Lord Jesus is that perfect man who fully understand what it means to be human with all its confines and troubles
- Matthew traces the Lord Jesus’ genealogy back to David to prove His rights to the throne of Israel; in a coming day He will rule for 1000 years, physically, literally in Jerusalem
* This is the family of Joseph, the husband of Mary
* The missing names of evil kings remind us of Ex 32:33 where God says “”
* The uncharacteristic mentioning of womens names, especially Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba remind us that God is gracious where we show faith, despite failure
1. Roboam begat Abia;
that is, a bad father begat a bad son.
2. Abia begat Asa;
that is, a bad father, a good son.
3. Asa begat Josaphat;
that is, a good father, a good son.
4. Josaphat begat Joram;
that is, a good father, a bad son.
I see, Lord, from hence, that my father’s piety cannot be entailed; that is bad news for me.
But I see also that actual impiety is not always hereditary; that is good news for my son.
(Thomas Fuller,
quaintest of English divines,
in his Scripture Observations)
Practical Lessons
- The genealogies as far as Japheth are our story and from there came the european populations down the ages to what today is Great Britain; we are British people (the word ‘ish’ being like the Hebrew word for ‘man’); to that extent we have rights that can
- Every one that is born belongs to the natural family of Adam
- Every one that is born again through faith in the Lord Jesus belongs the the spiritual family of Christ
- Because of Adams sin (Rom 5), everyone in the family is dead in trespasses and sins (Eph 2); since Christ came in and began a new family God is finished with the natural family apart from His purposes for Israel
- Because of Christs’ death, those in the family of God know sins forgiven; because of His resurrection, we know life
- This shows that the promise of the womans seed in bruising the serpents head was fully kept by God
- In a coming day, God will create a new heaven and earth and this new family, under Christ will dwell there for evermore
- For today, as Christians, we should live as citizens of heaven, reckoning our old ties to Adam as being over and live in newness of life
Who do we think we are
We are children of God and that has certain privileges
- Part of the family of God – we can go anywhere in the world and find ‘family’
- Spiritual blessings: forgiveness; indwelling of the Holy Spirit; set apart for God;
What a heritage we have and how our walk should thus be affected.
