Imperfect people in Gods perfect plan
Jesus' position is unique - Matthew 1
Theme
Gods plan is secure, Jesus' position is unique, our plight is redeemable.
Aim: No matter what your background, you can come to Jesus
I'm Alex. But how can I prove that? How do we prove who we are? We often need to - whether it is opening a bank account or joining a video shop. We are asked to provide "ID" - driving license, utility bills, you know the sort of thing. Normally something with our permanent address on it. Most of the time we are identified by where we live. Mind you, it's worth following the trail back further - many of us have got passports, and they didn't just want our last gas bill. Some ID's are more significant than others, and right at the top of the list we find our birth certificate and marriage certificate.
Even for us, our family roots are important from a legal point of view. For the 1st century Jew they were absolutely vital. Often what you could do was determined by your lineage; a good example is back in Neh 7v64 where men whose family records could not be found were barred from the priesthood.
Over the last few weeks we have been looking at some of the key individuals in Jewish history - and in the opening verses of Matthew we find that the first thing that the writer wants to make clear is Jesus' credentials, both as a Jew, a son of Abraham, and as a King, the son of David.
In the process he makes three important points.
Gods plan is secure
Matthew is interested in making several points about Jesus here. The genealogy is very carefully structured and symbolic. We see Old Testament history divided into three periods in order to highlight key points within Gods plan for salvation history.
We see Abraham , through whom the covenant came, and who was told that "all peoples on the earth will be blessed through you".
Then we see king David , a "man after Gods own heart", the greatest king of Israel , and the one who was given the promise that from his line there would be a king who would rule for ever.
After Davids death, though, the line of David is marked my increasingly wicked kings - so much so that despite the bright rays of hope like Josiah, God still sent his people into exile in Babylon, as a result of their continual rebellion against him.
From this point on Israel is without a king, and the royal line disappears into anonymous obscurity. By the time of Jesus who would expect the line of David to be traced to a poor carpenter in the backwoods of Nazareth ?
Yet this is where Matthew leads us to. In v17 he highlights these significant elements of Gods plan of salvation - the promise to Abraham, then after a period the promise to David, then again the failure of Israel and the consequence - exile, and now, after that same period of fourteen generations. what next?
Matthew is trying to tell us that Jesus is the next big thing in God's plan of salvation. Gods plan hasn't gone wrong, the disaster that led to the exile hasn't thrown God off track. Gods plan of salvation is secure.
Gods plan of salvation is secure today too. During the last century Communism was seen as "the greatest threat ever to Christianity", yet where is it now? The church may seem marginalized in much of Britain today, but that won't stop Gods plan.
God wants you and me in heaven. His plan of salvation has been going for a long time, and he's not ready to be derailed now. Jesus, whom we celebrate each Christmas, is the climax of that plan
Jesus' position is unique
In v16 see the care with which Matt not only keeps the royal lineage of Jesus in view, but carefully distinguishes Joseph as the husband of Mary the mother of Jesus. Joseph is not the father. Who is then?
Vs 18-25 explains how Jesus is conceived by the Holy Spirit. Moreover Matt points out that again and again in these early chapters that this should not be a surprise, it should not be unexpected. In v22 he refers to a prophecy of Isaiah. See also 2v6, 2v15, 2v23.
Matthew was writing to a primarily Jewish audience, remember - these lines which may seem like obscure references to us today would have been very well known to the first century Jew.
The position of Jesus is unique . He is at the same time fully human and yet fully divine, fully God too. Like many things about Christianity it has given theologians something to discuss for many years. Matthew doesn't try to explain how this can be possible, and I can't either - I just stand with the earliest testimony of the church that this simply is how it is. Matthew affirms here that Jesus has a human family tree, which stretches back through the line of David to Abraham. He simultaneously affirms that Jesus was born of the virgin Mary through the intervention of the Holy Spirit.
Humanity's plight is redeemable.
The Old Testament history of Israel is full of rebellion against God, sadness and evil. This genealogy tracks a downward spiral after the life of David. The Bible doesn't gloss over the harsh realities of life and nor should we.
Sadly wherever we look we see failure - internationally we still see wars, economic imbalance, ecological disaster. We see many of these things at a national or local level too. Sadly even in relationships and families things often don't go well. The Bible says that the reason for all of this can be summed up in one word - Sin. Nowadays "sin" has either a nudge-nudge, wink-wink connotation about it, or is seen as an intolerant expression. Truly though, it is merely selfishness and rebellion against God and his laws.
It was just this kind of rebellion against God and his laws that led to the exile of Israel from their land noted in v12. God isn't a disinterested bystander to this world, but continually involved in it.
Yet amidst all that is bad, Matthew resolutely shows us hope rather than despair. How so? Look at the women listed in this genealogy of Jesus, this history of Gods plan. It was rare enough for women to be included in a list such as this but we have Tamar, who was guilty of incest, Rahab who was a prostitute, Ruth who was a pagan from the ancient enemy nation of Moab and the "wife of Uriah", Bathsheba, who committed adultery with David.
Yet all of them find themselves in the life story of Jesus. And you and I can find ourselves as part of the life story of Jesus too. In particular we see the two pagan women, Rahab and Ruth, outside of Gods people and Gods promise. Yet when the opportunity arose they chose to leave their old life and turn to follow the Lord God.
This is good news for us today. Right at the start of the gospel of Jesus we find that nobody is too bad, too fallen to be redeemed. Everything can be forgiven for those who turn to God, through Jesus. Why is this? It is because Jesus loves us soooo much. When we put Felicity to bed at night we say "do you know how much I love you? Soooo much"<stretch arms wide apart>. Jesus said that. when he stretched out his arms for us on the cross.
Conclusion
Gods plan is secure - he is working out his plan of salvation in history.
Jesus' position is unique - he is Son of God and Son of Man, Born to be king and saviour
Our plight is redeemable - No matter what our background, no matter what mistakes we have made in the past or problems we have now, we can still turn to God and be saved for eternity by his plan of salvation through Jesus and his work.
Alex White
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