Matthew 1:1–25 (NASB95)

The Genealogy of Jesus the Messiah

1   The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham:

2   Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.

3   Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez was the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram.

4   Ram was the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon.

5   Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse.

6   Jesse was the father of David the king.

David was the father of Solomon by Bathsheba who had been the wife of Uriah.

7   Solomon was the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asa.

8   Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah.

9   Uzziah was the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah.

  10   Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, and Amon the father of Josiah.

  11   Josiah became the father of Jeconiah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

  12   After the deportation to Babylon: Jeconiah became the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel.

  13   Zerubbabel was the father of Abihud, Abihud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor.

  14   Azor was the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud.

  15   Eliud was the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob.

  16   Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.

  17   So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations.

Conception and Birth of Jesus

  18   Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit.

  19   And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly.

  20   But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.

  21   “She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

  22   Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

  23   “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which translated means, “God with us.”

  24   And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife,

  25   but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.

Introduction To Matthew Chapter 1

Mark 2:14-20, Luke 5:27-30, Matthew 9:9-14

14 As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax booth, and He *said to him, "Follow Me!" And he got up and followed Him.

15 And it *happened that He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and sinners were dining with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many of them, and they were following Him.

 16 When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, "Why is He eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners?"

 17 And hearing this, Jesus *said to them, "It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

 18 ¶ John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and they *came and *said to Him, "Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?"

 19 And Jesus said to them, "While the bridegroom is with them, the attendants of the bridegroom cannot fast, can they? So long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.

 20 "But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.

Luke 5:27 ¶ After that He went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, "Follow Me."

 28 And he left everything behind, and got up and began to follow Him.

 29 And Levi gave a big reception for Him in his house; and there was a great crowd of tax collectors and other people who were reclining at the table with them.

 30 The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at His disciples, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?"

Matthew 9:9 ¶ As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man called Matthew, sitting in the tax collector's booth; and He *said to him, "Follow Me!" And he got up and followed Him.

 10 Then it happened that as Jesus was reclining at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were dining with Jesus and His disciples.

 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, "Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?"

 12 But when Jesus heard this, He said, "It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick.

 13 "But go and learn what this means: 'I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT SACRIFICE,' for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

 14 ¶ Then the disciples of John *came to Him, asking, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?"

The Holy Gospel Of Our LORD Jesus Christ

Response By ALL: All Glory To YOU LORD Christ

Lesson

Lesson 1 The Overview of Matthew

We will look at

Who Matthew is?

Where Matthew came From?

What Does it Mean to be a Levi?

And What Does It Say About Our Call To Christ

As We Start the Series on the Gospel of Matthew this Lesson will perhaps be the MOST Important as it will help us keep the writer in mind as we go through this amazing Gospel.

I also need to tell you something about my own understanding of the Bible.

I am perhaps the one of the most reformed Pastors you will ever encounter, and that not to brag it just the truth.

What do I mean?

Well I believe that When the Bible Tells us we are Dead in Our Trespass and Sins I actually really believe this.

Eph 2:1 ¶ And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,

 Eph 2:5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

 Col 2:13 ¶ When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions,

That means I had actually NOTHING to do with my Salvation and conversion as NO Dead man can help himself.

My Wife and I recently went to the local Funeral Home to pay respect to a dear friend and person of faith.

But no matter how much we might have wished to talk to our friend, they were very much dead and had NO ability to respond. This is our estate outside of the Regeneration by the Will of the FATHER, Through our full purchase by our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ, and the true indwelling of the HOLY SPIRIT.

Only Then can we say for real “I accept Jesus Christ as my LORD and Savior” and yes those words have indeed been ordained by GOD alone.

Romans 9:11 for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God's purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls,

 12 it was said to her, "THE OLDER WILL SERVE THE YOUNGER."

 13 Just as it is written, "JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED."

And a quick reminder, the LORD is justified in hating us all as HE is only doing rightly to Esau, and it is Amazing Grace and Mercy free to us but Costing Jesus Christ Everything as HE bore the Price.

It also means that Our FATHER In Heaven Alone Chose me and not because I was “Good” But Because of mercy alone. Mt 16:17 And Jesus said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.

So you will not hear me ever tell you what you have to do, but instead what the LORD Jesus HAS DONE.

This is a huge difference and actually most likely contrary to what you hear each week in “Reformed” Churches.

So I hope this will help as we walk through the text of Matthew and learn to understand it that you will understand I actually am teaching from the traditional and yet cast aside Reformed, Actually only and  True understanding of the Bible.

You might again say what does this have to with our lesson?

Well I would suggest again Everything.

Who Matthew is?

This why the Story I told was so important as Matthew is again one of those people in the Bible who like we all had his eyes (Spiritual) opened to Jesus Christ and only by Jesus Christ.

We can’t rush past the fact that Matthew is a Tax Collector and the fact that it means he is YES SCUM to the Jews!

Please note the reaction of the Pharisees “11 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, "Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?"

So to the religious leaders this is a kin to eating with Please insert your favorite sinner here.

I will tell you bluntly the term Sinners and Tax Collectors is not only disparaging to these groups of the highest order, but also where your Church and Mine have to be on guard, as what were the Pharisees suggesting, and what were they indeed blind too?

That is correct that these Scum where Sinners!

This means What?

They saw themselves as Righteous

This is the Blindness of the Church and the struggle we have today as we are quick to Cherry Pick what Sin is worse than the other, when EVERY Sin condemns us to Hell deservedly.

There has NEVER been nor EVER will be a Sinless Person Save our LORD Jesus Christ and the point of Jesus living a full and perfect life!

So when I tell you these next things keep in mind that Ro 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

And saved alone by

 24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;

So when I tell you Matthew is looked at as the Bottom of the barrel, and that might be todays Pharisaical Churches the Homosexuals, the Academics, the Non Churched just to name a few.

The Pharisaical Church forgets that EVERY person who walks in to the Church Building is a Sinner, that NO one Righteous save Jesus Christ could ever enter the Church Building!

It is why the Starting point of Matthew indeed is in getting to know this author of this book.

Let’s remember Matthew is a sell out to the Jews and is in league with Rome and now you understand the reason the Pharisees see him as what one wipes from your shoe when someone does not clean up after their dog.

This helps us move to our second point,

Where Matthew came From?

You may have asked why are we reading the account from 3 different Gospels?

Well I am sure some have picked up on this, the other two gospels call Matthew by what name, and this is a BIG thing?

Mark 2:14 As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax booth, and He *said to him, "Follow Me!" And he got up and followed Him.

Luke 5:27 ¶ After that He went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, "Follow Me."

Levi!

Yet Matthew calls himself Matthew 9:9 ¶ As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man called Matthew, sitting in the tax collector's booth; and He *said to him, "Follow Me!" And he got up and followed Him.

As will Mark and Luke when they list the Apostles names.

Now I am sure what you might have heard from one of your favorite Theologians, Todays Scribes I fear, that we cannot be sure that Matthew and Levi are the same, oh yes they do like to argue about crap like this, and also things like whether the LORD’S half-brother James wrote James, discounting the fact that Jude declares Jude 1:1 ¶ Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ: and James Himself can’t be the brother of John as he was executed by Herod early on, and James the Less (kind of cool Less is known), while Paul himself points out in Ga 1:19 But I did not see any other of the apostles except James, the Lord's brother, is still the prominent in the Church.

So their arguments are as valuable as those of the Scribes and Pharisees of Jesus day, Yes Worthless!

I know some might ask what makes me such an expert?

Well, Nothing save the HOLY SPIRIT, and the Love the LORD has given me in Christ Jesus to read study and teach the Bible for the last 29 years, so I humbly suggest that many of the “Theologians” have been at the task of proclaiming the LORD WORD less time than I have been blessed to.

We will review what Levi means, but first I just want it to sink in a second, as Matthew did not just sell out to Rome, but He also has completely abandoned His religion.

Can you imagine how deep an abandonment this is?

You go from being named Levi, to not just selling out to Rome, but also abandoning this very special name as well!

That allows us to flow to point three

What Does it Mean to be a Levi?

As I promised, Levi is NO insignificant name, and why our first reading was chosen.

What was the charge of the Tribe of Levi?

As Our Reading reminded us Numbers 3:12 "Now, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the sons of Israel instead of every firstborn, the first issue of the womb among the sons of Israel. So the Levites shall be Mine.

Levi is to be of the LORD, and please again don’t fall into the trap of believing Matthew and Levi are not one and the same as Matthews Gospel is about what?

The fulfillment of Prophecies pointing to the Jews that this really IS the Messiah!

Only one raised in and trained in the Scriptures as a Levite could be as fluent in the promises of Scripture, as the writer of Matthew IS!

So the writing of Mathew itself tells us Yes Matthew is Levi, and means He not only Walked away from His People, but from His Religious Training and the LORD.

Let’s not be surprised as Matthew would not have been the first to leave the Faith after being raised in it, nor as we also understand even after being called Scum of the Earth by the “Church Leaders” of the time the Pharisees He would have His eyes opened by the TRUE protector of the Faith the LORD Jesus Christ.

This takes us to our epilogue

And What Does It Say About Our Call To Christ?

It tells us when the LORD who alone really does awaken us from the Dead, does indeed call us we cannot resist!

Matthew had the perfect job, in good with the Government, and yet when encountered on life’s road by Jesus Christ was not able to resist.

This sounds a lot like our own personal call, because it IS!

I know things might not have been swimmingly great like Matthews set up, but we were just as dead in our sins and when we were awaken from the Dead by the HOLY SPIRIT we cannot resist, even better we  as with Matthew, we also cannot help but Live For Jesus Christ as for the first time we really are alive in HIM alone by the preordained will of the Father.

Next we will start walking through the Genealogy Of Jesus in Both Matthew 1, and Luke 3.

Lesson 1 The Overview of Matthew

We will look at

Who Matthew is?

Where Matthew came From?

What Does it Mean to be a Levi?

And What Does It Say About Our Call To Christ

Mark 2:14-20, Luke 5:27-30, Matthew 9:9-14

14 As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax booth, and He *said to him, "Follow Me!" And he got up and followed Him.

15 And it *happened that He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and sinners were dining with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many of them, and they were following Him.

 16 When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, "Why is He eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners?"

 17 And hearing this, Jesus *said to them, "It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

 18 ¶ John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and they *came and *said to Him, "Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?"

 19 And Jesus said to them, "While the bridegroom is with them, the attendants of the bridegroom cannot fast, can they? So long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.

 20 "But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.

Luke 5:27 ¶ After that He went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, "Follow Me."

 28 And he left everything behind, and got up and began to follow Him.

 29 And Levi gave a big reception for Him in his house; and there was a great crowd of tax collectors and other people who were reclining at the table with them.

 30 The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at His disciples, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?"

Matthew 9:9 ¶ As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man called Matthew, sitting in the tax collector's booth; and He *said to him, "Follow Me!" And he got up and followed Him.

 10 Then it happened that as Jesus was reclining at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were dining with Jesus and His disciples.

 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, "Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?"

 12 But when Jesus heard this, He said, "It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick.

 13 "But go and learn what this means: 'I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT SACRIFICE,' for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

 14 ¶ Then the disciples of John *came to Him, asking, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?"

The Holy Gospel Of Our LORD Jesus Christ

Response By ALL: All Glory To YOU LORD Christ

Lesson

Lesson 1 The Overview of Matthew

We will look at

Who Matthew is?

Where Matthew came From?

What Does it Mean to be a Levi?

And What Does It Say About Our Call To Christ

As We Start the Series on the Gospel of Matthew this Lesson will perhaps be the MOST Important as it will help us keep the writer in mind as we go through this amazing Gospel.

I also need to tell you something about my own understanding of the Bible.

I am perhaps the one of the most reformed Pastors you will ever encounter, and that not to brag it just the truth.

What do I mean?

Well I believe that When the Bible Tells us we are Dead in Our Trespass and Sins I actually really believe this.

Eph 2:1 ¶ And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,

 Eph 2:5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

 Col 2:13 ¶ When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions,

That means I had actually NOTHING to do with my Salvation and conversion as NO Dead man can help himself.

My Wife and I recently went to the local Funeral Home to pay respect to a dear friend and person of faith.

But no matter how much we might have wished to talk to our friend, they were very much dead and had NO ability to respond. This is our estate outside of the Regeneration by the Will of the FATHER, Through our full purchase by our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ, and the true indwelling of the HOLY SPIRIT.

Only Then can we say for real “I accept Jesus Christ as my LORD and Savior” and yes those words have indeed been ordained by GOD alone.

Romans 9:11 for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God's purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls,

 12 it was said to her, "THE OLDER WILL SERVE THE YOUNGER."

 13 Just as it is written, "JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED."

And a quick reminder, the LORD is justified in hating us all as HE is only doing rightly to Esau, and it is Amazing Grace and Mercy free to us but Costing Jesus Christ Everything as HE bore the Price.

It also means that Our FATHER In Heaven Alone Chose me and not because I was “Good” But Because of mercy alone. Mt 16:17 And Jesus said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.

So you will not hear me ever tell you what you have to do, but instead what the LORD Jesus HAS DONE.

This is a huge difference and actually most likely contrary to what you hear each week in “Reformed” Churches.

So I hope this will help as we walk through the text of Matthew and learn to understand it that you will understand I actually am teaching from the traditional and yet cast aside Reformed, Actually only and  True understanding of the Bible.

You might again say what does this have to with our lesson?

Well I would suggest again Everything.

Who Matthew is?

This why the Story I told was so important as Matthew is again one of those people in the Bible who like we all had his eyes (Spiritual) opened to Jesus Christ and only by Jesus Christ.

We can’t rush past the fact that Matthew is a Tax Collector and the fact that it means he is YES SCUM to the Jews!

Please note the reaction of the Pharisees “11 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, "Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?"

So to the religious leaders this is a kin to eating with Please insert your favorite sinner here.

I will tell you bluntly the term Sinners and Tax Collectors is not only disparaging to these groups of the highest order, but also where your Church and Mine have to be on guard, as what were the Pharisees suggesting, and what were they indeed blind too?

That is correct that these Scum where Sinners!

This means What?

They saw themselves as Righteous

This is the Blindness of the Church and the struggle we have today as we are quick to Cherry Pick what Sin is worse than the other, when EVERY Sin condemns us to Hell deservedly.

There has NEVER been nor EVER will be a Sinless Person Save our LORD Jesus Christ and the point of Jesus living a full and perfect life!

So when I tell you these next things keep in mind that Ro 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

And saved alone by

 24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;

So when I tell you Matthew is looked at as the Bottom of the barrel, and that might be todays Pharisaical Churches the Homosexuals, the Academics, the Non Churched just to name a few.

The Pharisaical Church forgets that EVERY person who walks in to the Church Building is a Sinner, that NO one Righteous save Jesus Christ could ever enter the Church Building!

It is why the Starting point of Matthew indeed is in getting to know this author of this book.

Let’s remember Matthew is a sell out to the Jews and is in league with Rome and now you understand the reason the Pharisees see him as what one wipes from your shoe when someone does not clean up after their dog.

This helps us move to our second point,

Where Matthew came From?

You may have asked why are we reading the account from 3 different Gospels?

Well I am sure some have picked up on this, the other two gospels call Matthew by what name, and this is a BIG thing?

Mark 2:14 As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax booth, and He *said to him, "Follow Me!" And he got up and followed Him.

Luke 5:27 ¶ After that He went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, "Follow Me."

Levi!

Yet Matthew calls himself Matthew 9:9 ¶ As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man called Matthew, sitting in the tax collector's booth; and He *said to him, "Follow Me!" And he got up and followed Him.

As will Mark and Luke when they list the Apostles names.

Now I am sure what you might have heard from one of your favorite Theologians, Todays Scribes I fear, that we cannot be sure that Matthew and Levi are the same, oh yes they do like to argue about crap like this, and also things like whether the LORD’S half-brother James wrote James, discounting the fact that Jude declares Jude 1:1 ¶ Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ: and James Himself can’t be the brother of John as he was executed by Herod early on, and James the Less (kind of cool Less is known), while Paul himself points out in Ga 1:19 But I did not see any other of the apostles except James, the Lord's brother, is still the prominent in the Church.

So their arguments are as valuable as those of the Scribes and Pharisees of Jesus day, Yes Worthless!

I know some might ask what makes me such an expert?

Well, Nothing save the HOLY SPIRIT, and the Love the LORD has given me in Christ Jesus to read study and teach the Bible for the last 29 years, so I humbly suggest that many of the “Theologians” have been at the task of proclaiming the LORD WORD less time than I have been blessed to.

We will review what Levi means, but first I just want it to sink in a second, as Matthew did not just sell out to Rome, but He also has completely abandoned His religion.

Can you imagine how deep an abandonment this is?

You go from being named Levi, to not just selling out to Rome, but also abandoning this very special name as well!

That allows us to flow to point three

What Does it Mean to be a Levi?

As I promised, Levi is NO insignificant name, and why our first reading was chosen.

What was the charge of the Tribe of Levi?

As Our Reading reminded us Numbers 3:12 "Now, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the sons of Israel instead of every firstborn, the first issue of the womb among the sons of Israel. So the Levites shall be Mine.

Levi is to be of the LORD, and please again don’t fall into the trap of believing Matthew and Levi are not one and the same as Matthews Gospel is about what?

The fulfillment of Prophecies pointing to the Jews that this really IS the Messiah!

Only one raised in and trained in the Scriptures as a Levite could be as fluent in the promises of Scripture, as the writer of Matthew IS!

So the writing of Mathew itself tells us Yes Matthew is Levi, and means He not only Walked away from His People, but from His Religious Training and the LORD.

Let’s not be surprised as Matthew would not have been the first to leave the Faith after being raised in it, nor as we also understand even after being called Scum of the Earth by the “Church Leaders” of the time the Pharisees He would have His eyes opened by the TRUE protector of the Faith the LORD Jesus Christ.

This takes us to our epilogue

And What Does It Say About Our Call To Christ?

It tells us when the LORD who alone really does awaken us from the Dead, does indeed call us we cannot resist!

Matthew had the perfect job, in good with the Government, and yet when encountered on life’s road by Jesus Christ was not able to resist.

This sounds a lot like our own personal call, because it IS!

I know things might not have been swimmingly great like Matthews set up, but we were just as dead in our sins and when we were awaken from the Dead by the HOLY SPIRIT we cannot resist, even better we  as with Matthew, we also cannot help but Live For Jesus Christ as for the first time we really are alive in HIM alone by the preordained will of the Father.

Matthew Chapter 1 Lesson 3 What a Genealogy  

When we have a Long Reading, I feel it is important to allow the Text to do what it already has and that is to speak for itself.

As I said last week we will NOT go line for line, nor name for name, Nor will I belabor each point.

I will only say that to the original audience as I am sure it would be today, the listing of a Genealogy at the very beginning of a book would cause up to sit up and take notice.

It would as I am sure was Matthew’s intent cause us to dig deep into the why’s and who’s of this list.

Where our audience today might not get is how absolutely radical this listed Genealogy is, and Matthew of ALL people is well aware of how the woman listed should be head snappers as they are NOT Israelites!

So let’s look at;

We Know Most Of These People!

What is Matthew’s Central Point Showing us?

No We Are NOT Perfect, Christ ALONE Is!

We Know Most Of These People!

As I have been saying and is most important, We DO know most of these people, and if you think these are “special GODLY People” then you actually DID NOT do your Homework, nor have really read the Bible, for this list is actually as Great representation of We Humans period!

They are as we are Sinners.

They are set apart NOT because they are “Good” as if we really looked at this list we will see clearly that they are Sinners and also sinners saved ONLY by the Grace of GOD the Father.

It is crystal clear that the Human side of the Blood Line of Jesus Christ can ONLY bring Filth and Sin to the line.

It is why after all Jesus had to be the Seed of the Woman, as HIS FATHER had to be and always was GOD the FATHER.

If we look for anything “good” in us we are starting at the wrong perspective.

Are Starting point and this Genealogy bears witness is HELPLESS Sinners, let’s review again Psalm 51 our first reading, what should we notice?

David is NOT defending himself with the Law, but understands He is rightly condemned by the law and can only beg for the Mercy of GOD.

Jesus Himself says John 15:16 "You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.

This is the very reason we posted BOTH Genealogies these past two weeks, as neither Joseph’s and Mary’s line can provide anything but the Human Component to Jesus Bloodline.

In any real review of these names we see that one of ours can be easily inserted and NOT because we are good, but an equal Sinner.

This takes us seamlessly to

What is Matthew’s Central Point Showing us?

Matthew as we talked about last week is writing His account to His Jewish People, and writes as we discussed only in a way that a well-trained Levite could.

His central point was to make clear, and for the record it is the Central point of the Bible, that ALL of the Prophecies and ALL of the Bible have been pointing to Jesus Christ alone.

It is as we said the reason Matthew starts with a Genealogy, as He wants to walk us from the promise made to Abraham, all the way to Joseph is ONLY for pointing to the promised Messiah.

We should also take note that an important ingredient is included in this Bloodline and can you guess what it is?

It is not a pure Israel  bloodline as we have two Gentile Elements being introduced in Judah and Tamar the Canaanite, Boaz will come from this line, and in the Union of Boaz (Son of Rahab a Gentile Harlot )and Ruth the Moabite we now have a better than 2/3 mix of Gentile Blood in the line of Christ.

It means if we are paying attention that King David is a true mutt and can be none other.

This is to say that the line of Christ has always been for both Jews and Gentiles, as Jesus is both Jewish and Gentile.

As we look at the third point it is perhaps the point that has tripped up the Synagogue and Church to this day

No We Are NOT Perfect, Christ ALONE Is!

Let us not forget for a minute Matthew’s background as he scribes this Genealogy that points only to Jesus Christ.

Let’s not take for granted that He is not aware of the relevance of each of these listed, nor that as He penned this list He did not have at least a moment or two when His pen stopped, and He just said WOW!

It has always been for all mankind!

For this trained Jew of Jews  who abandoned His religion to have His eyes opened by the HOLY SPIRIT and then to just scribing the Mutt like background of Jesus that He alone would be aware of.

Oh NO this is NOT idle Speculation as Matthew includes 3 Gentile Woman in His Genealogy and makes sure we too notice them.

We also must note that this trained Levite throughout his book DOES not point to the law for our redemption but ONLY to the Central point of His Book the fulfiller of ALL Prophecy, Yes Jesus Christ HIMSELF.

So as we digest for a second week the point of the Genealogy and what Matthew is driving us toward it will not be about our rescue of ourselves through the law, but the ONLY HERO of the Story as it has been and forever will be Our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ.

And that this rescue is for Jew and Gentile alike for it was fully purchased by as the Book of Hebrews says Hebrews  4:14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

 15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.

 16 Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

(NAS95)

Use Matthew Chapter 1 above Lesson as your text