St Louis UBF UBF Bible Study : Matthew 1:1-17

Bible Study Materials

Matthew 1:1-17

by Paul Choi 12/06/2011

Question

THE GENEALOGY OF CHRIST JESUS

Matthew 1:1-17

Key Verse: 1:1

1.Read verse 1. Who are these three men and why are they mentioned in this order? (Ge 12:2; 17:5-7, Heb 11:8-9, 2 Sam 12: 1 Ki 1)

2. Who are the five women mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus? What do they have in common and how did each show courageous faith, overcoming a tragic fate? (Ge 38:14,25-26; Joshua 2:8-11; [Heb 11:31]; Ruth 1:16-17, 2 Sam 12; 1 Ki 1, Lk 1:38)

3. How did the genealogy of Jesus relate to the history of Israel? What do you know about each of these kings?

4. How does this genealogy reveal God’s grace and God’s faithfulness? What does it show about his redemptive history? What does it show about Jesus?

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THE GENEALOGY OF CHRIST JESUS-questions-2011.doc

Message

THE GENEALOGY OF JESUS

Matthew 1:1-17

Key Verse: 1:1 “A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham.”

Each Christmas season we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, who came to this world as a true king, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Whenever we sing “Hallelujah” from Handel’s ‘Messiah’, our hearts are filled with unutterable joy and excitement, a spirit of victory and glory. It is because Jesus Christ our king rules our hearts with his love, peace and salvation. In preparation for our 2011 Christmas worship service, we will study the book of Matthew. We will study why Jesus has become our king and our true object of worship, love and devotion. Please prepare your heart to welcome the baby Jesus as your King and Savior.

Today’s passage is the genealogy of Jesus Christ. Some may wonder why we have to study this tedious genealogy, “Who begat whom”, which may seem unnecessary even to read. However, without studying this passage, we cannot understand why Jesus became our King and Savior. There were several explicit reasons why the author Matthew put the genealogy of Jesus on the first page of his book. Let’s study patiently and prayerfully about the meaning and purpose of the genealogy of Jesus Christ.

First, Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham. (1) Look at verse 1. “A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham.” Matthew described Jesus as the Son of David and the son of Abraham. David and Abraham are very important figures in the genealogy of Jesus because both of them were God’s covenant people. The Covenant was an unbreakable and irrevocable contract between God and men. God made his covenant for the messiah, the Savior of the world, with Abraham and David, promising that he would send the Messiah through their descendant. In Genesis 12:2,3 God called Abraham and blessed him, “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing…,and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” Let’s notice the words, “all people on earth will be blessed through you.” It means that Abraham would be a source of blessing and through his descendant God would send the messiah to this world. Galatians 3:16 says, “The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ.” During Abraham’s lifetime, Abraham made many mistakes before God. Out of fear he lied and almost lost his wife to gentiles (Ge12:19). Out of impatience, he took a concubine who gave birth to an illegitimate son (Ge 16). Despite his weak points God appeared to him and reminded him of the covenant so that Abraham might live by faith to the end. (15:1-21,17:6-8,22:18). God made his first covenant with Abraham for the Messiah to this world.

David was a shepherd boy before he was anointed by the prophet Samuel to be a future king of Israel. There was a famous story of how the shepherd boy David knocked out the giant Goliath in one shot with his sling. David feared God and pleased Him with his faith. After he became king, he served his people with justice, compassion and love. He was known as a man after God’s own heart. God was pleased with David and established a covenant with him that God would raise a Savior King from David whose kingdom would last forever. God said this to David through the prophet Nathan in 2 Samuel 7:12-13 which says, “When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.” As God had promised, around 1,000 years later, he sent Jesus Christ as a descendant of David.

What does the fact that Jesus was the son of David and the son of Abraham teach us? It means that Jesus is the Promised Messiah, not a man who came out of nowhere. The birth of Christ Jesus was predicted even in the beginning of the world. After Adam sinned against God, he and this world were cursed. There was no way for man to be saved from curse and death. But, God promised to send a Savior through the offspring of a woman, who would crush Satan’s head and rescue his people from their sins.(Ge 3:15). The prophet Isaiah, who had lived around 700 B.C. prophesied about the birth of Jesus in this, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” (Is 7:14) He continued, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Is 9:6)

Jesus is the Messiah. The word “Messiah” in Hebrew is ‘Christ’ in Greek, which means “the anointed one.” In the Old Testaments kings, prophets and priests were anointed by God. Jesus became the Christ anointed by the Holy Spirit. The name Jesus means “The Lord saves,” “the Savior”. The angel Gabriel visited the Virgin Mary and announced the birth of Jesus and asked Mary to name her son Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. (Mt 1:21) Jesus is the promised Messiah, the Savior of the world who will save his people from their sins.

There have been many great men and women in human history such as Buddha, Socrates, Confucius, Mohammad, and so on. However, in this world there is no one whose birth had been predicted and prophesied like that of Jesus. There is no one who had been foretold by so many people of God for generations and generations but Jesus Christ. It is because Jesus is the Promised Messiah, the Anointed One, and the Savior of the world. Jesus Christ is the son of Abraham and the son of David. He is the fulfillment of God’s long-term prophecies and covenant with Abraham and David for world salvation.

Jesus Christ is the Savior King. Unlike the genealogy of Jesus in Luke’s gospel, the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew’s gospel shows the succession of the throne, which means the record of the lineage of the kings of Judah. Matthew, who was a Jew, emphasized that the Messiah would come as the King of the Jews out of lineage of King David. Like Matthew, all the Jews believed that the Messiah would come as the King of the Jews. Indeed, Jesus was born to Joseph and Mary, who both were the descendants of King David. The birth of Jesus as a king also fulfilled God’s prophecy. The prophet Micah prophesied this, “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will rule over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” (Mic 5:2)

What is a king? A king is a ruler who rules his people by power and authority. There have been numerous kings and queens in human history. Their kingdoms rose and fell like sunrise and sunset. Their glory and splendor were like flowers in the field, which flourished today and withered tomorrow. They all died of their sins and were no more. However, our King Jesus is different. He is our eternal King and his kingdom will never end. He came to this world to die for our sins, not his own, and he rose again from the dead. He is the firstfruits of the resurrection and the provider of eternal life. He will come again to judge the world and take his people into his kingdom.

Jesus is our Savior King. He is the horn of salvation who rescues us from the hand of our enemy Satan. Above all he died for our sins and crushed the head of Satan through his glorious resurrection. Jesus is the King of peace and King of love. There is real peace in Jesus because he himself became a peacemaker between God and sinners. He loved us to the point of giving his life for us on the cross. He prayed for those who harmed him and persecuted him. Jesus is the King of compassion and the King of humility. He was born in a manger to the Virgin Mary. He was the Son of God but appeared as a man. That is why we acknowledge Jesus as the real king, King of kings and Lord of lords. I pray that we all may receive Jesus as our King and Savior. Let us put down our pride, unbelief and selfishness and accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. He is our King and we are his subjects. Blessed are those submit their lives to the Lord, King Jesus. Amen.

Second, five women in the genealogy (2-6) The genealogy of Jesus in Matthew’s gospel is divided into three periods: First, from Abraham to King David, called the “patriarchal period” (2-6); second, from King David to the exile to Babylon, called the “pre-exilic period” (6-11); and third, from the exile to the Christ, called the “post-exilic period” (12-17). Each period contains fourteen generations. There are three women in the first patriarchal period. Who are they? They are Tarmar, Rahab, and Ruth. (3,5) Putting women’s names in the genealogy was very unusual and somewhat in conflict with the male-dominant Jewish tradition. It will be more interesting to us when we know who these women were. First, Tamar. She was Judah’s daughter-in-law. In Genesis 38, she disguised herself as a prostitute and slept with Judah, her father-in-law, and gave birth to twins named Perez and Zerah. To the human point of view, Tamar was an immoral woman. However, Judah confessed that Tamar was more righteous than he.(Ge 38:26) It was because she risked her life to continue her husband’s line out of her loyalty and faithfulness to him. She kept her duty to her husband by faith. Rahab was a prostitute in the city of Jericho. During the war of conquest for the Promised Land, she hid two Israelite spies in her house. To the human point of view, she was a traitor, who betrayed her country. However, she was regarded as a faithful woman because she had a personal faith in the God of Israel, the God of heaven and the earth (Josh 2:10). Later the report of the two spies contributed to the rise of morale of the Israelites. (Josh 2:24) Ruth was a Moabite widow whose mother-in-law’s name was Naomi. After Ruth’s husband died, Naomi suggested that Ruth return to her country and remarry. However, Ruth said to Naomi, “Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me…” (Ru 2:16) In this way Ruth didn’t go back to her country, but served her mother-in-law to the end. She showed her enduring faithfulness to her husband and to her mother-in-law. Above all, she had a personal faith in the God of Israel. God made her a great-grandmother of King David.(5,6)

Uriah’s wife was named ‘Bathsheba’, who had committed adultery with King David. It is quite surprising that such an adulterous woman was in the genealogy of Jesus. But, one thing admirable she did was to mother Solomon, who succeeded David as king. Her courageous request was regarded as an act of faith.(1Ki 1:29,30) You know who Mary was. She was a pure virgin who was engaged to marry Joseph in the small town of Nazareth. She accepted the angel’s message by faith and gave birth to a son named Jesus. Mary’s obedience and faith made God’s promise fulfilled and his will accomplished.

What does these five women’s appearance in the genealogy of Jesus mean to us? It means that there are no human barriers or preference in God’s redemptive history. In other words, God uses anyone, even such imperfect women, for his glorious work of salvation. Tarmar, Rahab and Ruth were not Jews, but gentile women. Their lives were immoral to human eyes like Uriah’s wife. However, they were used as mothers of the Messiah Jesus and their names were recorded in the genealogy of Jesus. It must be a marvelous grace of God. It is possible only with God who is merciful and gracious by forgiving sins of the world from generations to generations. This world will not allow morally and ethically corrupt people to be seated in honorable positions. In America, no one can run for president if he or she has a private scandal. According to this moral measurement, five women in the genealogy of Jesus should not be accepted. However, God accepted them and used them preciously as mothers of the Messiah Jesus. It could be done only by God’s grace, not by any human achievements or conditions.

Here, we learn one very important thing, that everyone has hope in God. Regardless of race, age, gender, culture, or any social conditions, God can use us for his glorious redemptive history. Why not me if Abraham was used by God? Why not me if Ruth became the grandmother of King David? God blesses us when we live by faith. God uses us when we respond to his call. God does not look at our outward appearance, but looks at our hearts (1Sa 16:7). He is so merciful and gracious that he forgives us all our sins, covering our weak points, and uses us when we become faithful to him. God uses faithful people rather than able people. There is hope in God. This hope is the living and everlasting hope kept in heaven for you and for me.

Third, God’s faithfulness in Israel’s history.(7-17) King David was a great king. But he committed adultery with Uriah’s wife and paid the fatal cost of his sins. After his son King Solomon, his kingdom was divided in two, the south, Judah, and the north, Israel. In Jewish history, there were unceasing conflicts and wars between the two divided kingdoms. There were 13 kings of Judah from the age of Solomon to the exile to Babylon. However, there were more evil kings than good kings in the sight of God. Their unceasing and increasing idol worship and infidelity provoked God to anger until God put them under the siege of the Babylonia. The invasions of their enemies were like ebbs and tides and the destiny of the nation was like a smoldering wick before the perfect storm.

Despite human unfaithfulness and in the midst of national turmoil, God kept his promise. God kept his covenant with Abraham and with David and sent Jesus Christ as their seed. After the exile to Babylon, the throne of Israel was gone. The lineage of King David seemed to be exterminated. However, it never happened because God continued the lineage of King David very faithfully until Christ was born as the son of Joseph. There is a saying, our unfaithfulness cannot nullify God’s faithfulness. (Ro 3:31) In other words, regardless of our weak points and sins, God fulfills his will through his chosen people. Faithfulness is God’s divine character. Because of his faithfulness, we have hope. Because of his faithfulness, we can come to God as we are seeking his mercy and blessing. Our God is so faithful that he cannot but keep his promise with each of us. Whenever he makes a promise with you personally, he keeps it. At the beginning of the year, Missionary Isaiah made a vow to God that he would serve three Wash U students with Bible if God solved his problems. As Isaiah prayed, he now serves three Wash U students through weekly Bible study. Our God is so faithful that he keeps his promise with those who trust in him and pray to him.

Today we studied about the genealogy of Jesus. You don’t have to memorize all the names of the kings, but should remember that our God is faithful and that he keeps his promises. He is also so gracious that he can use you regardless of your human condition and situation. What a blessing when your name is written in the book of life! What a privilege if you are used in God’s redemptive history! Above all, we are all privileged to worship Jesus as our King and Savior. Let us prepare this coming Christmas worship service with joy and gratitude so that we all may sing Hallelujah together from our hearts. May God bless you and bless America. Amen.

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