This sermon was preached to Grace Church Guildford on 16 January 2022. The full video recording of the service can be found below along with the transcript.
Who do you think you are? That’s the title of a popular BBC documentary series. If you have never seen it, each episode follows a celebrity who is investigating their family history to learn more about themselves. For example, if turn to BBC 1 tomorrow night at 9pm and you will watch a well-known actor discover that his great-great-grandfather was a blind musician. However, did you notice the title of the show is not ‘Where did you come from?’ Rather it is, ‘Who do you think you are?’ The underlying premise is that ancestry impacts identity. That who you are, at least in some small way, is influenced by where you came from, your family history, the events that took place long before your birth. We all recognise this, accept that, for good or for ill, family traits or tragedies have a knock-on effect on us. However, for a few people, their identities are more than merely influenced by their ancestry: who they are is in fact entirely defined by where they come from. For example, take the Royal Family. Prince Charles only has his identity of Prince of Wales because of his ancestry. If he was born in different family, had another lineage, he would simply be identified as ‘Charles’ and have a very different life. Where he came from has determined who he is. We cannot comprehend his identity without considering his ancestry.
When Matthew begins writing a book to explain who Jesus is, he starts with where Jesus came from. It seems that just like Prince Charles, to comprehend Jesus’ identity, we must consider his ancestry. Therefore, in order to show who Jesus is, Matthew submerges us in his family history and records. What is it that Matthew is trying tell us? What do we learn about Jesus’ identity from his ancestry? Well, I think if we look closely enough, Matthew makes it clear to us. In 1:1 he calls this ‘the genealogy [i.e. family history] of Jesus’. But did you notice Matthew then immediately ascribes three titles to Jesus? He calls Jesus (1) the Messiah; (2) the Son of David; and (3) the Son of Abraham. And then, from 1:2, Matthew begins working backwards through these titles, using a genealogy to prove that Jesus is entitled to each of them. In 1:2-6a, he starts with Abraham, showing that Jesus is the Son of Abraham. In 1:6b-11, he passes through David, proving Jesus is the Son of David. And then in 1:12-16, he completes the connection to Jesus, confirming Jesus to be the Messiah. In 1:17 Matthew again tells us this is what he means, explaining he deliberately drew his genealogy in these three equal, particular paragraphs: (1) Abraham to David (1:2-6a); (2) David to Babylon (1:6b-11); and (3) Babylon to the birth of the Messiah (1:12-16).
We are going to consider each of these three paragraphs together. However, before we do, can you see in starting like this, with a record of Jesus’ genealogy, Matthew shows us one key way we get to know Jesus better, is by knowing the Old Testament better. Further, Matthew helps us do this by summarising it in three simple steps, three chapters that cover what happened between Genesis and Jesus. If you struggle to recall, or need a refresher, on the big picture of the Old Testament, you can remember it in these three movements we will consider together.
1. FROM NOMAD TO NATION – From Abraham to David (1:2-6a)
If you were to write a book, how would it begin? A wise quotation? A witty comment? A warm opening scene to draw readers in? I’m sure it wouldn’t start with a long list of names! There is a reason that movies no longer have their credits at the beginning – viewers want to get to the action! And yet, did you notice that not only Matthew begins this way, but so does Chronicles? Even more surprisingly, the whole Bible begins with a book about genealogies! Genesis gets its name from repeated genealogies. For example, in Genesis 2:4, the account of creation is introduced as ‘the genealogy of the heavens and earth’. Or in Genesis 5:1, ‘the genealogy of Adam’. Whole chapters of Genesis are filled with family records. Why? Well, from the beginning of the Bible, we see that God created a connection between seed and salvation, descendants and deliverance. After sin entered the world in Genesis 3, God promised that it would be the offspring of Adam and Eve, their seed, that would crush Satan and accomplish salvation. From then, mankind has been watching and waiting for that delivering descendant, the Saviour Seed. God’s people were fascinated by family history, for through it they anticipated their future hope.
This continues throughout Genesis. However, in Genesis 12, God’s plan to send a Seed Saviour takes a big step forward. He chooses Abraham, a childless wanderer, and promises to make this nomad into a nation. To not only bless him and his descendants, but to bless all peoples on earth through him. Again and again, God repeats this promise to Abraham. For example, in Genesis 22:17-18, the Lord tells him, "I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed...". From this we see that Father Abraham was to have many sons. Under God’s blessing, his family was to grow into a great nation and expand across the earth. However, there would be one particular son, not just a son of Abraham, but the Son of Abraham, the offspring through whom all nations would be blessed.
Let us step back and just think about that for a moment. How wonderful is it that God’s great plan, big idea, main work in this world, is to bless us? To glorify himself by being good to us. The Bible tells us this world exists so God, the one who is good, will look good by doing good to us. Christian, is that how you think about God’s work in your life? If we are honest, sometimes we feel God is out more to control us than to bless us. Like a dog pulling on a lead, our sinful desires cause us to strain against God’s commands. He is the one stopping us from marrying the person that we want, from participating in the practice that brings us pleasure, indulge the idol that occupies our hearts. Perhaps tonight it seems more like God is dragging you on a lead. That he has sent your life down a path that you never wanted it to take. The loss of a loved one or job. Conflict with those once close to you. The steady breakdown of your body. Brothers and sisters, whether it is his commands or your circumstances that you are finding hard, do not doubt that God’s purpose, God’s promise, is to bless you. Our God is good. Our God only does good. Therefore, we can trust that he is even using our burdens to bless us and others. Will you believe this, even if you can’t see it? Will you comfort yourself with Paul’s words in Romans 8:28, that in all things God is working for your good? Will you draw fresh courage from this truth, like the hymn writer William Cowper did, seeing even that ‘clouds you so much dread, are big with mercy and shall break, with blessing on your head’?
God’s aim with Abraham was giving birth to a new nation bless all other nations. We see this here in Matthew 1:2-6a. These names cover a period when Israel expanded, overcame its enemies, settled in a land. We also begin to see the blessing of other nations. Contrary to convention, as genealogies are generally male, Matthew includes three women. By doing so, he deliberately highlights something. Why mention Tamar, Rahab, and Ruth? What do they have in common? They are gentiles, from Canaan and Moab, nations around Israel. Through Abraham’s family, God was extending his good kingdom across the earth. But then, in 1:6b-11, the story changes trajectory.
2. FROM KING TO COLLAPSE – From David to Babylon (1:6b-11)
By the start of 1:6, we have reached the climax of the nation’s history. Matthew highlights this to us by mentioning ‘King David’. Every name on the list after David is a king, and yet only David is given his royal title. This is unsurprising. After all, David was the one specially chosen by God to be king and have his sons reign after him. We have seen that God promised Abraham descendants who would become a kingdom covering all the earth. But it was to David that God promised a descendant who would be king over this kingdom, reigning for all eternity. Abraham was promised a universal kingdom. But David was promised an eternal king. That is what we read of in 1 Chronicles 17:11-12. God tells David, "I will raise up your offspring after you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom...I will establish his throne forever." The Son of David was to reign forever. And yet, we see the sons of David fell from that throne, in 1:11 we are told the kingdom collapsed, the Davidic heir captured.
The cause of this collapse is highlighted to us from the very beginning of these verses. There was a crack present in the foundation of this kingdom, a weakness evident from the moment it was established. See in 1:6 we have another woman mentioned. It should cause us to ask, why does Matthew break convention again? Why is she included? Notice that while Bathsheba is referenced, she is not named. Instead, she is identified as ‘Uriah’s wife’. Matthew highlights that while David had the royal son God promised, he had it with another man’s wife. David committed adultery. And it wasn’t just David, for his sons followed in their forefather’s sinful footsteps. Solomon indulged idolatry. Rehoboam lost half the kingdom through cruelty. The flaw in the foundation of this kingdom was the king’s sin. Generation after generation, sin continued and even increased. For example, in 2 Kings 21:9 we are told of Manasseh, mentioned here in 1:10, he lead the people so far astray, that Israel ended up doing even more evil than the nations around them. Instead of extending blessing to nations, David’s descendants exceeded them in evil. And so, in the end, in his just judgement, God used an enemy, Babylon, to cause the collapse of David’s kingdom, to remove his sons from the throne. This family was not fit to rule God’s kingdom forever. Like Prince Andrew this week, the identity given to David’s sons by their ancestry was removed due to their actions.
This decline from the time of David to the exile in Babylon is recorded in the book of 1-2 Chronicles. And yet, as we seen in our reading earlier, 1 Chronicles begins this story by tracing descent, not from David, but all the way back from Adam, the first man that God made and set in his creation. This is crucial, for it is only by considering his ancestor Adam that we can comprehend David’s identity, understand his flawed family. God’s aim with Adam, was the same as his later aim with Abraham. Placed in paradise, Adam was to expand Eden, the place of God’s blessing, to the ends of the earth. And yet by disobeying God, by succumbing to sin, Adam ended up extending a curse instead. This curse not only covered all creation, but all nations, all of Adam’s descendants. Paul explains this in Romans 5:12, stating "sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned." Like a long mathematical calculation, the error in the first line means the whole sum is skewed. Like a polluted water source, contamination in the well means every drop drawn out is infected. Because Adam sinned in the beginning, all mankind are sinners from birth, naturally opposed to God, inclined against his commands, set on making themselves feel good rather than making God look good. That is why King David, reflecting on how his ancestor Adam impacts his own identity, says in Psalm 51:5, "Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me." Christians call this the doctrine of Original Sin.
So, who do you think you are? If I was to meet you for the first time later, I doubt you would introduce yourself with a lengthy genealogy like this one. And yet, do you realise that just like those celebrities on the BBC programme, or the Prince of Wales, your ancestry affects your identity. That where you come from has an impact on who you are. I’m not just talking about bad habits you picked up from your parents, or family traits that you have inherited. Our ancestry as human beings affects us in a much more significant way than that. If you were to write out your own genealogy, trace your family history all the way back to the very beginning, do you realise that the first name on that sheet of paper would be the first name in 1 Chronicles 1:1? Adam. King David and his descendants listed here in 1:6-11 are simply one branch of the much larger flawed family of all humanity. Like David, we were all born sinners. And like David and his descendants, we have demonstrated this that in what we say, do, think. We naturally reject God’s good rules and insist on living life according to our own desires. If you are not a Christian this evening, have not yet turn from sin and trusted in Jesus for forgiveness, do you realise that like David and his descendants, you are facing God’s just judgement, a trial for your crimes against your Creator. And the Bible tells us that for our crimes, we deserve not merely exile from God’s blessing for 70 years in Babylon, but exile for eternity in Hell. And yet, just as this genealogy doesn’t end in 1:11, your journey need not end with such a sentence. For our God brings people back from exile, saves them from judgement through Jesus, his Son. As Matthew later tells us in his book, Jesus lived the perfect life, free from all sin, in order to take the punishment, we deserve, dying on the cross and rising from the dead for all those who would put their trust in him. If you turn from your sin and seek forgiveness through his sacrifice tonight, you can be right with God [...].
3. FROM CRISIS TO CHRIST – From Babylon to the Birth of Jesus (1:12-16)
In 1:12 we pass by where Jamie was in Ezra 1-2 this morning. The story of the nation’s return through Ezra, as David’s descendant Zerubbabel, mentioned at the end of 1:12, came home from exile. While I don’t want to spoil the end of Jamie’s series, I need to give you a sneak preview: for here in Matthew 1 we see that exile was not enough. The efforts of Ezra and the reforms of Nehemiah don't work. The same flaw that was in David and his descendants before the exile remained in them after the exile. The power of sin persisted over the people. And so Zerubbabel became just another name in our long list, carrying hope forward, but not fulfilling it. Indeed, God sent prophets like Haggai and Zechariah to tell Zerubbabel exactly that, explain while God’s promises would not be fulfilled in him, God would keep his commitments. And so from 1:13, generation after generation passed, until in 1:16, we read ‘Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary... the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah.’
That term ‘Messiah’ is well-known today, popular culture often using it to describe someone special or unique. However, it is much richer than many realise. It can also be translated ‘Christ’ and is a title that captures all the commitments God has made to mankind. Messiah is the meeting point of all God’s promises, the person through whom they all will come to pass. As Paul explains in 2 Corinthians 1:20, it is the one in whom all God’s promises find their yes! Here in Matthew’s Gospel, we especially see that the Christ was to be the one through whom God keeps his promises to Abraham and David. For example, later in Matthew 22:41, Jesus will ask the Pharisees, the Jewish religious experts, who they think the Messiah is, and they reply that he is the Son of David. That is, he is the one who fulfils God’s promise to David. Here in chapter 1, from the very beginning of his book, Matthew makes the case that Jesus is this Messiah, the one who is both Son of Abraham and Son of David. Notice that Jesus is not just a son of Abraham or a son of David biologically. But is the Son of Abraham and the Son of David theologically. Abraham was promised a universal kingdom, and Jesus is the one who arrived to achieve it. David was promised an eternal king, and Jesus is the descendant who fulfils it. Jesus is the eternal king with a universal kingdom. He not only rules for all eternity, but he reigns over all the earth!
Sometimes in a secular culture, we Christians can feel like the bad guys: the ones who live differently, need to be kept at a distance, perhaps even teach dangerous things. However, do you see how freeing these truths are for our evangelistic interactions and conversations? We serve a God is relentless in working to bless this world. Do good to all the nations of the earth. As carriers of the good news of what he has done, we aren’t the bad guys. We are the good guys! The ones who are seeking to bless those around us, to extend the joyful kingdom of our good King to the very end of the earth. Surely greatest good we can ever do for someone else is to tell them about this Jesus!
If I had to sum up the book of Matthew in five words, it is that Matthew is about ‘The King and his Kingdom’. Time and time again, as we walk through the book, we will return to those two key concepts, thinking about what Matthew teaches us either about our King or his Kingdom. We have already seen this is the author’s main emphasis right from his opening paragraph. And that continues throughout, right to the end of the book. In fact, the final verses of Matthew, which Andrew read out this morning, advance the very same argument as these opening ones. In 28:18-20, Jesus explains to his disciples, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations... And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Christ is the Eternal King, for has received all authority and will rule for all time, and he will have a Universal Kingdom, for he has sent us, his disciples, to extend it across all nations. God’s great goal of blessing this world failed with Adam, floundered with Abraham and David, and yet is fully fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Is it any wonder that this book is called the Gospel of Matthew, that is literally the Good News of Matthew? Is there any better news than that? A good king who reigns for all eternity over a good kingdom that covers all the earth. Surely in the Gospel we have something to be glad about! And to sing about! Let us do just that as we close with our final hymn, ‘Crown Him with Many Crowns.’
ALEXANDER ARRELL