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2025 Christmas Message #1

THE GENEALOGY OF JESUS THE MESSIAH

Matthew 1:1-17

Key Verse: 1:1

1. How does Matthew introduce Jesus (1)? What does “Messiah” mean (Isa 7:14; 9:6-7, Mic 5:2)? How is Jesus the answer to God’s promises to humanity through David and Abraham (Ge 22:18; 2Sa 7:12–13,16)? What kind of men were Abraham and David? (Ro 4:3,6-8)
2. ​​How was God with his people from the time of Abraham to David (2–6a; Gen 49:10; Ruth 2:11-12)? From the time of David to the exile (6b–11; 2Ki 18:5-7a; 23:3)? How were most of the other kings in this list a bad influence to their people (2Ki 21:9-12)? How was God with his people in spite of their rebellion and corruption?
3. How was God with his people during and after the exile? (12-17; 2Ch 36:22-23; Ez 8:31,32,35; Hag 2:4)? How does God work in spite of tragic human events?
4. Why might Matthew have included five women in the genealogy (3,5,6,16)? How did each one show herself to be a woman of unique faith? (Gen 38; Heb 11:31; Ru 1:14,16; 1Ki 1:15-17,29-30; Lk 1:38)
5. How did God fulfill his promises (16-17)? What was God's purpose for Jesus? (Mt 1:21, 23)

12-07-2025

Matthew 1:1-17

The Genealogy of Jesus the Messiah

Good morning everyone! Today marks the first Sunday in December, and the first Christmas worship service for this year. I wanted to start off with a survey: by a show of hands, how many of you know the names of your parents? Now, how many of you know the names of your grandparents? Great-grandparents? Great-great-grandparents?

To give a little bit of background about myself, my mom is Korean and my dad is white. I have an aunt and uncle on my dad’s side who wanted to learn about the history of the Forbes family, so they took an ancestry DNA test. It turns out that they are roughly 30% Sardinian from my grandmother’s side and 25-35% Celtic from my grandfather’s side. Sardinia is an island in the Mediterranean Sea that’s part of Italy. The term “Celtic” refers to people from the areas including Ireland and Scotland. So I am roughly 15% Italian and 15% Scottish or Irish. That was pretty cool for me to learn. To be honest though, I never really cared much about my family’s history or my lineage. It seems that most people today don’t really care about their family’s lineage and only care about themselves in the here and now.

With all this in mind, it’s interesting that the book of Matthew starts with the genealogy of Jesus. Matthew, the author of this gospel, was a former tax collector, and would have a good mind for numbers and organization. He would have been familiar with the lineages of the people in his area, for tax purposes. When Jesus called Matthew to be His disciple, it’s very likely that Matthew wrote down what he observed during Jesus’s ministry and later compiled his notes into the gospel of Matthew. Due to how the book is written, many scholars agree that Matthew wrote this book to a Jewish audience.

So why did Matthew start his gospel with the genealogy of Jesus? Although people today generally don’t care about their genealogy, the Jews cared a lot about their lineage. A person’s genealogy can tell a lot about who they are- their ethnicity, family identity, culture, and social standing. Learning about genealogies can also help us see a person’s place in history. The genealogy of Jesus shows us His connection to the figures from the past and the implications for the future. Today, we’ll look at three different things the genealogy of Jesus shows us about who Jesus is and what He came to do.

First, we have Abraham and a universal blessing. Can all of the fathers in the room please read verse 2? “Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.” (Matthew 1:2) Last July, my wife, Grace, and I went to Zion National Park in Utah. One part of the park was called “the Court of the Patriarchs”, where we could see three big mountains. A Methodist minister, Dr. Frederick Fischer, was so awestruck by the mountains that he named them after the Jewish patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. These patriarchs, particularly Abraham, hold almost a mythical importance in the Jewish faith. Interestingly, unlike the gospel of Luke, Matthew starts the genealogy of Jesus from the patriarchs of the Jewish faith, rather than from the first created human, Adam. This is because Matthew was writing to a Jewish audience and focused on Jesus’s Jewish lineage, which started from Abraham.

So who is Abraham? Abraham was a man who lived in a place called the Ur of the Chaldeans with his father. Genesis 12 describes God’s call and promise to Abraham: “The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. “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. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”” (Genesis‬

In Genesis 17, Abraham was 99 years old and Sarah still wasn’t able to have a baby. God once again makes a covenant with Abraham, but this time adding a requirement: ““Every male among you shall be circumcised. You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you.” (Genesis‬

To recap, Abraham is 75 years old when God calls him and makes a promise to make him into a great nation. God establishes two covenants to confirm His promise to Abraham, including the covenant of circumcision. At the age of 100, Abraham finally has Isaac through Sarah, who is the son of promise. Just one chapter later in Genesis, God tests Abraham: “Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”” (Genesis‬

So how is Jesus connected to Abraham? God promised Abraham that He would make him into a great nation. That part of the promise has been fulfilled through the establishment of the nation of Israel. Remember though, that the promise also was that all people on earth would be blessed through Abraham’s descendants. Before the birth of Jesus, God’s blessing was given only to the Jews, so the blessing was localized, not universal, as was promised. The universal blessing didn’t start through the birth of Abraham’s son Isaac, but through the birth of Abraham’s later descendant, Jesus. God’s promise wasn’t fulfilled when Abraham offered Isaac on the mountain as a sacrifice, but when Jesus offered Himself on the mountain of Calvary. The Jews experienced God’s blessing in the form of God’s protection and favor. When Jesus died on the cross, God’s blessing was extended to all people in the form of salvation and reconciliation to God.

Finally, the sign of God’s promise is no longer circumcision, but faith. Galatians 3 says: “Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.” (Galatians‬

Next, we have David and an eternal kingdom. If you know anyone who is into sports, you may have heard of the term “the goat”. When people talk about who is “the goat”, they aren’t talking about an animal, but the “greatest of all time”. A very common “goat” debate is for basketball, where people argue whether Michael Jordan or LeBron James is the greatest NBA player of all time. According to a 2024 survey by The Athletic, Michael Jordan is considered the goat by 45.9% of responders, and LeBron is considered the goat by 42.1%. So it’s a pretty even split, even though Michael Jordan is clearly the right answer. If you were to survey the Jews and ask which Jewish king was the goat, there would be 100% agreement that David was the greatest king of all time. It wouldn’t matter if you took the survey today or 1000 years ago; they would all agree that David is the goat.

Now, you might wonder why Abraham isn’t considered the goat. The reason is that the Israelites weren’t always a kingdom, and Abraham wasn’t a king. The Israelites were initially led by the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and so on. After that time, they were enslaved by the Egyptians and later delivered from slavery under the leadership of Moses. After the time of Moses, the Israelites were led by Joshua into the promised land of Canaan. In the promised land, the Israelites are led by a series of judges. The final judge is Samuel, who served as judge, priest, and prophet. In 1 Samuel 8, the Israelites ask Samuel for a king because they want to be like other nations. In 1 Samuel 9, God reluctantly agrees to anoint a king through Samuel, whose name is Saul. At first, Saul is a good king who leads the Israelites to many victories. However, Saul continues to disobey and sin against God, leading to God choosing a different king. It’s at this point that David is introduced as the youngest son of Jesse, while he is a shepherd. Samuel anoints David to be king, which creates strife between Saul and David, since kingship is meant to pass to the king’s son. After a long period of conflict between David and Saul, Saul dies during a battle against the Philistines, leading to David becoming the next king over Israel.

David is considered the greatest king of Israel for a number of reasons. First, and possibly foremost, David is described as “a man after God’s own heart.” He consistently gave reverence and priority to God, despite being a powerful king. Most kings in that time thought of themselves as a kind of god, but David knew that he was simply a servant of God. David led as a shepherd, rather than a cruel king. Second, David united the twelve tribes of Israel and formed a strong and unified kingdom. The Israelites were no longer a scattered group of tribes, but a unified nation through David’s leadership. Third, David captured Jerusalem and made it the center of the Israelites kingdom, including making it the center of worship. David brought the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem, which represented God’s presence. He also started the process of gathering materials for the building of the temple in Jerusalem, which was completed by his son, Solomon. David took these measures to prioritize the worship of God in the nation of Israel.

The final reason David is considered the goat is a significant one in the Jewish faith: the Davidic covenant. In 2 Samuel 7, God made a promise to David that his kingdom would be established forever. “When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, 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.” (2 Samuel‬

How is Jesus connected to David? Just as David was a shepherd and led the people as a shepherd, Jesus is our Good Shepherd. Jesus cares for us as a shepherd cares for their sheep, with love and compassion. David was a man after God’s own heart, while Jesus lived a life of perfect obedience to God, even to the cross. David united the nation of Israel, while Jesus unites all people to Himself through the universal blessing we spoke about earlier. David established Jerusalem as the center of worship, while Jesus established worship that is based on spirit and truth. Finally, Jesus is the promised messiah from the line of David. Since Matthew was writing to a Jewish audience, he had to make it clear that Jesus was from the line of David. Otherwise, there was no way they would accept Jesus as the promised messiah. Even with the genealogy to prove Jesus’s lineage, most Jews, even today, don’t accept Jesus as the promised messiah. The Jews expect the messiah to be a political leader, and Jesus didn’t align with that expectation. What’s interesting is that many genealogical records are no longer available, especially any that would connect someone today to David. So anyone today who claims to be the promised messiah would have a lot of trouble convincing the Jews that they are a descendant of David.

In the gospel accounts, Jesus introduced the Kingdom of God, which was different from what the Jews anticipated. Luke 17 says “Once, on being asked by the Pharisees (who were Jews) when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.”” (Luke 17:20-21) The Pharisees wanted to know when the Kingdom of God would come. Jesus’s answer was that the Kingdom of God was already in their midst. The Pharisees expected to see physical evidence of the Kingdom of God, but the Kingdom of God is not a physical kingdom, but a spiritual one. The Kingdom of God works in people’s spirits and hearts by freeing them from the power of sin, not by freeing them from political enemies. Furthermore, the Kingdom of God is not a temporary kingdom, but an eternal one. David was able to bring peace to the nation of Israel, but that peace was undone after he died. The Kingdom of God is eternal because it is led by an eternal king, Jesus Christ, who is the King of kings. Jesus may have left the earth in His physical form, but He is still reigning over the Kingdom of God, which He will do for eternity. Someday, He will return in power to bring the full force of the Kingdom of God here on earth. The invitation for us is to be a member of His kingdom, where we can experience victory over sin, unification with God and each other, and true worship. Jesus’s connection to David is an eternal kingdom, where we can experience God’s perfect rule and reign, forever.

Finally, we have Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba, and a marvelous grace. Can all of the women read the verses on the screen? “Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar” (Matthew‬

Tamar was the daughter-in-law of Judah, who was one of the sons of the patriarch Jacob. Genesis 38 tells the story of how Tamar was married to Judah’s son, Er, but Er dies before Tamar can have any children. In Jewish custom, it is the responsibility of the brother to continue the family line if a man dies before his wife can have any children. So another of Judah’s sons, Onan, is given to Tamar in marriage, but he also dies before Tamar can have any children through him. In order to preserve the family line, Tamar disguises herself as a prostitute and tricks Judah, who is her father-in-law, into sleeping with her. Through this encounter, Tamar gets pregnant and gives birth to Perez, who is listed in the genealogy of Jesus. I think this is needless to say, but Tamar’s incestous relationship with Judah was very shameful and sinful.

Rahab was a prostitute whose story is told in the book of Joshua. When the Israelites spy out the land of Canaan, they entered the house of Rahab in Jericho. Rahab could have exposed them as spies, but she instead hid the spies in her house. The spies agreed to spare her and her family’s life because she helped them by not exposing them. When the Israelites conquered Jericho, they saved Rahab and her family. God used Rahab, a prostitute, as an instrumental part in Israel’s history, and she is in the direct lineage of Jesus.

Ruth was a Moabite, not an Israelite, and her story is told in the book of Ruth. Ruth was married to a man named Mahlon, but he died, along with Ruth’s father-in-law. Ruth’s mother-in-law, Naomi, urged Ruth to go back to her hometown in Moab and to go back to her former life. However, Ruth decided to stay with Naomi and go to the land of Judah, and she eventually married Boaz, who was a relative of Naomi’s husband. Ruth had every reason to go back to Moab and to abandon the Israelites and their God, but she decided to stay with Naomi. Despite being a Gentile, God honored Ruth’s faith, and Ruth and Boaz became the grandparents of the goat, King David.

Bathsheba is referred to in this passage simply as “Uriah’s wife”. Her story starts in 2 Samuel 11, which tells us that King David was supposed to be at war, but remained in Jerusalem. Uriah was a general in David’s army, and he was out fighting in the war. From the palace roof, David saw Bathsheba bathing and was filled with lust, so he abused his authority as king to sleep with her. David wanted to hide this sinful encounter from Uriah, but Bathsheba got pregnant. David once again abused his kingly authority and arranged for Uriah to die in battle by placing him in the front lines. Bathsheba was the victim of David’s sin, and she became an adulteress against her will. Her husband was set up to die in battle in order to hide this adulterous relationship. Despite all of this, it’s through Bathsheba that the royal line continued, starting with King Solomon, and culminating in King Jesus.

Let me ask you this: if you were God, would you want these four women in the lineage of your messiah? Tamar, who committed incest; Rahab, the prostitute; Ruth, a Moabite Gentile; and Bathsheba, someone forced into adultery? If I were God, I’d make sure that the messiah came from a pure background, free from any shameful pasts. At the very least, I wouldn’t record these people in the genealogy of the messiah. But that’s not what God did. Matthew, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, included these women to show that Jesus didn’t come from a pure background. Jesus’s lineage is full of sinful people, but Jesus freely identifies with them. Even the great patriarch Abraham and the great king David were sinful men. As we just covered, David committed adultery and conspired to have Uriah killed. Abraham lied about the identity of his wife multiple times out of fear that he would be killed.

Jesus’s association with these women, and in fact every single person in His genealogy is a sign of His marvelous grace. Jesus did not come in spite of sinful people, He came because of them. He came to save all people from their sins, not to condemn them. One of the most common and sad misconceptions about Christianity is that you need to clean yourself up before Jesus will accept you. The genealogy of Jesus points us to the fact that He freely associates and identifies with sinners. We don’t need to clean ourselves up; we simply need to have faith in Jesus and to believe in His salvation work on the cross. The inclusion of women in the genealogy also points to the fact that Jesus doesn’t discriminate between men and women- He came for all people: men, women, old, young, Jew, and Gentile. Jesus’s connection to the women in His genealogy is a marvelous grace, shown to sinners.

Not too long ago, someone asked me if I was a pastor at this church. I told him no, and wondered why he asked me that question. He mentioned that he saw me presiding, and assumed that I must have been a pastor or something. I guess since I’m giving a sermon today, it’s probably a good idea to mention that I am still not a pastor, nor have I gone to seminary school. Reflecting on that experience, I realized that this guy must have wondered why I would serve the church if I wasn’t a paid minister.

Oftentimes, I end up serving the church out of habit or sense of duty. However, today’s passage reminded me that I serve the church as a way to continue the lineage of faith that has been passed on to me. My dad was raised Catholic, and was introduced to Washington UBF later in his life. He went to Korea to teach English to members at UBF, which is where he met my mom. I grew up in Maryland, where I attended Washington UBF for most of my life. I was so blessed to be surrounded by people who poured into my life, from my childhood through my young adult years.

In 17 days, I am going to turn 31 years old. I know it’s hard to believe since I don’t look a day over 20, but it is true. As I get older, I feel more and more of a responsibility to share my faith to those younger than me. Since so many people have helped me grow in my faith, I feel a responsibility to do the same for others. I think it would be an absolute shame if the legacy of faith that was given to me stopped being passed down because of me. May God help me be faithful in sharing Jesus with those He has placed in my life.

Matthew didn’t write the genealogy of Jesus only for historical record-keeping, but to also reveal the significance of who Jesus is in history. Today we learned that Jesus’s connection to Abraham points to a universal blessing. Jesus’s connection to David points to an eternal kingdom. Jesus’s connection to Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba points to a marvelous grace. In this first Christmas message, the invitation today is to have faith in Jesus, the Messiah, who came to this earth so that we can be beneficiaries of a universal blessing, members of an eternal kingdom, and recipients of a marvelous grace. If you already have faith in Jesus, the invitation is to pass that faith on to those around you. Don’t let the lineage of faith stop with you. Our connection to Jesus isn’t through a physical bloodline, but through faith in the blood He shed on the cross. May God bless you all this Christmas with His love and grace through Jesus, the Messiah.