Written ~ 01-01-2024
Matthew Chapter 1 (the entire chapter from the New Living Translation [NLT] will be included at the bottom of the page for your convenience)
Matthew 1:1
1 “This is a record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of David and of Abraham:”
The first seventeen verses of the Book of Matthew is a listing of 42 generations from Abraham all the way through to the birth of Jesus. You may wonder why it is important to have a genealogy list at the very beginning of the New Testament. Let’s look at the very last Book of the Old Testament… it is a prophecy from the Book of Malachi which was written around 430 B.C.
Malachi 3:1 says,
1 “Look! I am sending My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me. Then the Lord you are seeking will suddenly come to His Temple. The messenger of the covenant, whom you look for so eagerly, is surely coming,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
This message was given around 430 B.C., then the people of Israel waited and waited… nearly 400 years they waited before any news of any kind began to rustle in the wind about a coming Lord. By that time, many would have lost their way, the generations who would’ve learned about the prophecy in the Book of Malachi have now passed away and the anticipation of the coming Lord would have lessened with each generation.
So the importance of the genealogy in the first chapter of Matthew is to draw our attention to the Old Testament. Matthew needed to show the correlation between the coming Lord mentioned in the Old Testament time and time again to the prophesies that were being fulfilled with His birth. This genealogy is important in order to show the direct descent that Jesus the Messiah came from the line of David just as the Scriptures have said.
Isaiah 9:7… 7“His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of His ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!”
Isaiah 11:1-5… 1 “Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot — yes, a New Branch bearing fruit from the old root. 2 And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him — the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. 3 He will delight in obeying the Lord. He will not judge by appearance nor make a decision based on hearsay. 4 He will give justice to the poor and make fair decisions for the exploited. The earth will shake at the force of His Word, and one breath from His mouth will destroy the wicked. 5 He will wear righteousness like a belt and truth like an undergarment.”
Jeremiah 23:5… 5 “For the time is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will raise up a righteous descendant from King David’s line. He will be a King who rules with wisdom. He will do what is just and right throughout the land.”
As Joseph and Mary are preparing for the arrival of their newborn baby, Heaven is preparing for their King, the New Branch, the Word (John 1:1-5).
Let’s look a little closer at the list of names, the lineage of folks that will bring forth the King of all kings, the Lord of all lords. I heard a pastor say not too long ago, that Matthew was the only genealogist who listed women in his records, usually a descendant list would never include women. But here we have four very distinct women in the line of Christ.
When we look at a lengthy list of names like the one we have in Matthew 1:1-17, it’s very easy to skip over that whole section of chapter one. Some names are difficult to pronounce, we don’t know who they are, so why is it so important to have all of them listed in Matthew’s Gospel? We have established that we need to see how Jesus comes from the line of David, but what else? If we were to closely examine some of the names, we see men (and women) who were flawed, full of faith in God, but also full of doubt. These are imperfect people trusting in the Lord. God had promised Abraham descendants numbering as the stars in the sky (Genesis 15:5). But in Abraham’s impatience and Sarah’s doubt, he had a son through a servant girl named Hagar (Genesis 16:15). Abraham, though full of faith in the Lord, was flawed. But even through doubt and sin, God gave Abraham and Sarah a son from whom the numerous descendants would come (Genesis 21:1-7). His name, Isaac.
As we go down the list we see the name Tamar, her story is in Genesis 38, it is filled with deception and adultery. But through that sin God used her to continue the lineage of Christ.
Continue down the list, you may recognize the name Boaz. But did you realize that his mother was the prostitute Rahab? We first read about Rahab in Joshua 2:1-23, then again in Joshua 6:22-23. Boaz took Ruth as his bride. You can read all about Ruth’s story in the Book of Ruth.
In Matthew 1:6, we come to David. We know David as having the heart of the Lord, but he was not a perfect man. His adulterous affair with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11) led to the murder of her husband, but that relationship eventually produced Solomon (2 Samuel 12). King Solomon is the one who built the Temple of the Lord, he was a godly man, he was the man who asked God for wisdom instead of riches (1 Kings 3:1-15).
The list goes on, reading through the Old Testament gives the accounts of these different individuals. It might be a list we skim over, but each of them have purpose in the Word of God. God assembled each of these moments exactly the way they needed to be, in order for Christ’s birth to fulfill everything that was said about Him in the Scriptures.
The rest of Matthew’s first chapter shows us a man named Joseph. He was a good man, he was the one chosen to be Christ’s earthly father. Mary may get a lot of attention as the mother of Jesus, but Joseph is the fatherly influence that a young boy needs, he will teach Jesus everything he knows, bring Him up in the carpentry trade. I believe the righteousness and obedience we find in Joseph is exactly the right type of person for Jesus to be brought up under. The events that take place in Matthew 1:18-25, could’ve caused any number of men to run, to flee from the embarrassment, but he knew the Lord and trusted in His Word.
So, if you have ever wondered what your purpose in life is… look to this list of men (and women), they are people that loved the Lord, there are also people who didn’t start out knowing the Lord or trust in Him, but God used them, He used them even in their doubt, in their sin, in their rebellion. Many would never know the role they played in the genealogy list written in Matthew chapter one which brought forth a King.
Today is the first day of the New Year. So many new opportunities are set before us. Think of today as walking through the open door of promise. God’s Word brings us promise, and today marks the first step towards this journey of walking through the New Testament each day to learn more about Christ. We have the wonderful opportunity here to gain wisdom, knowledge and a strengthened trust in the Lord if we would just continue… one step at a time, one chapter at a time. Listen, be still when the Lord speaks to your heart. Let the Light of Jesus Shine on this journey through the New Testament.
~AMEN~
Matthew Chapter One
The Ancestors of Jesus the Messiah
1 This is a record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of David and of Abraham:
2 Abraham was the father of Isaac.
Isaac was the father of Jacob.
Jacob was the father of Judah and his brothers.
3 Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah (whose mother was Tamar).
Perez was the father of Hezron.
Hezron was the father of Ram.
4 Ram was the father of Amminadab.
Amminadab was the father of Nahshon.
Nahshon was the father of Salmon.
5 Salmon was the father of Boaz (whose mother was Rahab).
Boaz was the father of Obed (whose mother was Ruth).
Obed was the father of Jesse.
6 Jesse was the father of King David.
David was the father of Solomon (whose mother was Bathsheba, the widow of Uriah).
7 Solomon was the father of Rehoboam.
Rehoboam was the father of Abijah.
Abijah was the father of Asa.
8 Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat.
Jehoshaphat was the father of Jehoram.
Jehoram was the father of Uzziah.
9 Uzziah was the father of Jotham.
Jotham was the father of Ahaz.
Ahaz was the father of Hezekiah.
10 Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh.
Manasseh was the father of Amon.
Amon was the father of Josiah.
11 Josiah was the father of Jehoiachin and his brothers (born at the time of the exile to Babylon).
12 After the Babylonian exile:
Jehoiachin was the father of Shealtiel.
Shealtiel was the father of Zerubbabel.
13 Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud.
Abiud was the father of Eliakim.
Eliakim was the father of Azor.
14 Azor was the father of Zadok.
Zadok was the father of Akim.
Akim was the father of Eliud.
15 Eliud was the father of Eleazar.
Eleazar was the father of Matthan.
Matthan was the father of Jacob.
16 Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary.
Mary gave birth to Jesus, who is called the Messiah.
17 All those listed above include fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the Babylonian exile, and fourteen from the Babylonian exile to the Messiah.
The Birth of Jesus the Messiah
18 This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. 19 Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly.
20 As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”
22 All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through His prophet:
23 “Look! The virgin will conceive a child!
She will give birth to a son,
and they will call him Immanuel,
which means ‘God is with us.’”
24 When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. 25 But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus.