Matthew 1:1-17
God’s Sovereignty in a Family Tree
Woodlawn Baptist Church
December 7, 2003
Thanksgiving is behind us and we are officially in the Christmas season. Folk are counting down the shopping days, the economic analysts are checking the fourth quarter profits, Santa is out in full force in the toy stores and malls, families are shopping and spending and making sure they’ve bought all the right presents for all the right people, stress levels are going up right along side credit card balances, and we’re already hearing the usual cries from those who say its all too commercialized. On the radio stations we’re told that we need to return to the real meaning of Christmas, but what does that mean? I’ve heard people say that the real meaning of Christmas is love, or family, or giving. There’s the “spirit of Christmas” and the “Christmas spirit.” One guy said in the paper this week that we all just need to rent a cabin in the woods and refuse to participate. Over and over we’re going to hear how Satan has duped the world and now Christ has been forgotten in it all, as though he had never thought about doing that before the multi-media days.
In Matthew 1:1-17, Matthew records for us a genealogy that we often pass over with all its begats, but I want to suggest to you this morning that there is much contained in that genealogy for us to learn. One such thing is that Satan’s work surrounding the birth of Christ is not a new thing. Now, Christmas as we know it today is a relatively modern idea with all the trees and lights and presents, but the attention given to the birth of Christ by both men and angels is at least as old as the promise given in Genesis 3:15. After the fall of man, the Lord told Satan,
“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”
From that day man began to look for the one who would come and bruise the head of Satan, and Satan began to work to prevent it, but if anything leaps from the genealogical record it is God’s declaration that regardless of the work of Satan He was the victor and the Savior had been born. God majestically proved the right of Christ to ascend the throne and pronounced Him King. God in His sovereign work claimed the victory and triumphantly declared that He could not be overcome!
To say that God is sovereign is to say that God’s rule is independent and absolute. Listen to what He says in Isaiah 46:9-10.
“Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure…”
Psalm 135:6 says,
“Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places.”
God does what he wants – He has the right and the power to do whatever makes Him happy. That’s what it means to say that God is sovereign. Because of man’s sin, God determined to bring a Savior into the world to save the world, and nothing on earth could change that! Satan could do what he wanted, could bring all the forces of hell against God’s plan, but nothing he did, nothing he tried, nothing he planned could thwart the plans and purposes of God! Now let’s read Matthew 1:1-17 and watch the sovereign hand of God at work.
“The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren; and Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram; and Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon; And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse; and Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias; And Solomon begat Roboam; and Roboam begat Abia; and Abia begat Asa; And Asa begat Josaphat; and Josaphat begat Joram; and Joram begat Ozias; and Ozias begat Joatham; and Joatham begat Achaz; and Achaz begat Ezekias; and Ezekias begat Manasses; and Manasses begat Amon; and Amon begat Josias; and Josias begat Jechonias and his brethren, about the time they were carried away to Babylon: and after they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel; and Salathiel begat Zorobabel; and Zorobabel begat Abiud; and Abiud begat Eliakim; and Eliakim begat Azor; and Azor begat Sadoc; and Sadoc begat Achim; and Achim begat Eliud; and Eliud begat Eleazar; and Eleazar begat Matthan; and Matthan begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.”
God’s Sovereignty Is Put On The Line In His Promises
In verse 1, Matthew opens with these words, “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” The very first thing you notice in reading this portion of Matthew is that the emphasis is going to be on one character: Jesus Christ. The book is not about Matthew, it’s not about Peter or John or anyone else, it’s about Jesus, and because it’s about Jesus it warrants our interest and our time, even in spite of such a list of names!
Then Matthew says that Jesus is the son of David and is the son of Abraham. Now he’s going to list these two men again, so why list them here at the beginning like this? I think he did in part because of the two covenants associated with these two men. First is the Abrahamic Covenant. The Abrahamic Covenant is a wonderful covenant of promise to Abraham in which God confirmed His great plan of salvation and the means through which God would bring into being a new race which would ultimately inherit the earth. , God promised to Abraham a seed, which was Jesus Christ. Look with me at Galatians 3:16. Paul said,
“Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.”
What promises are we talking about that were made to Abraham and to his seed, Jesus Christ? They were promises of a great nation or people and of a great land. There is more to the covenant than that that we’ll not consider this morning, but for now I want you to understand this: that the fulfillment of that covenant rested in Jesus Christ. You don’t have to understand all about the Abrahamic Covenant to understand that had Jesus not been born God would have been a liar. There’s another thing I want you to understand concerning the timing of God’s promises to Abraham. It’s been 2000 years since the birth of Christ, and those 2000 years seems like an eternity to us who are on this side of His birth. Abraham lived and heard God’s promise more than 2000 years before the birth of Christ! You and I have trouble keeping promises we made this morning. We hardly remember promises we made weeks and months ago. Imagine 2000 years! That seems like an eternity to us – but it’s just a passing moment to the eternal God who created time! God could make a promise like that to Abraham because there wasn’t any doubt about His ability to keep such a promise.
David is mentioned as well because of the Davidic Covenant. In the Davidic Covenant God made a promise to King David that his throne would be established forever. Someone from David’s family, one of his descendants, would sit on the throne throughout eternity. Jesus Christ is the literal fulfillment of that promise. He is King Jesus! Matthew’s genealogical record is one that assures the Jewish readers that He has every right to the throne, and one day He will sit on David’s throne and will rule and reign with a rod of iron in righteousness! Again God fulfills a promise made to a man hundreds of years before the promise would be fulfilled, and again, with absolutely no doubt in the omniscient mind of God as to His ability to bring it to pass.
The purposes of God could not be frustrated. He does what He wants to do and He did it just the way He wanted to do it. You can think of any covenant or promise in the Bible, write them all down and He’s either already fulfilled them or is at work bringing them to pass today. God’s promise to Noah, God’s promise to Adam, God’s promises to Isaac and Jacob so many more; hundreds of prophecies fulfilled down to the tiniest detail all point to the truth we are considering: God’s sovereignty is put on the line every time He makes a promise.
Now, think about God’s promises to you: promises of a home in heaven if you a one of His children, promises of His personal return to pick you up, promises of daily provision, of eternal salvation, of His tender care, His presence in your life. Pick any or all of them – look them all up and ask yourself, “Will God bring them to pass?” That’s about as foolish as asking if there’s a cow in Texas! Why? Why is it foolish to wonder whether God will bring His purposes to pass? Because…
God’s Sovereignty Overcomes The Sin Of Man
Look back at those 17 verses with me and think about how man’s sin could have affected the outcome. No amount of human planning could have put this list of people together and come out with Jesus Christ. Look at the people and some of their sinful choices:
· Abraham in verse 2 made a sinful choice to shortcut God’s plan for a son. He was told that he and Sarah would have a child, but when they got impatient they chose to try things their own way and have a son through Hagar, Sarah’s servant. That son was Ishmael, but God’s plan for a Savior didn’t involve Hagar or Ishmael.
· In verse 3 Judah and Tamar are mentioned. Tamar was Judah’s daughter-in-law. His oldest son married her and died. His second son married her and died. Judah only had one other son left, and when he got old enough to marry her as he was supposed to do, Judah was afraid to let them get together for fear of his life. Tamar dressed up like a prostitute and disguised herself so that one day Judah came along and “hired” her. The children that resulted from that affair are the great-grandparents of Jesus.
· Rahab in verse 5 is a harlot, but she was the mother of Boaz, who would later marry Ruth. Ruth was a Moabite woman. The Moabites were the descendants of Lot. Where did Lot’s children come from? From his incestuous affair with his two daughters.
· King Solomon was the child of David with Bathsheba, who is mentioned in verse 6. This was the wife he stole from Urriah the Hittite after David had him murdered.
Liars, cheaters, murderers, prostitutes, drunks, idol worshippers – it’s really quite a list of men and women, men and women who had no earthly idea of what God had in store for them in bringing about the birth of Jesus Christ. Of course the greatest work of God in overcoming the sin of man was his work in overcoming the sin curse passed along through man to everyone born of mankind. Romans 5:12 tells us that…
“by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”
Paul would go on to say that because of one man’s offense, Adam’s offense, death was passed to all of mankind. That’s why no one on earth could be the sacrifice for sin. There wasn’t a man or woman on earth who had ever been born or that would ever be born who could atone for the sin of man. Why? Because man was dirty and sinful. God wasn’t going to accept a sin-filled sacrifice to pay for sin – He wanted perfection, and that perfection was brought about in the person of Jesus Christ.
Matthew says in verse 16 that Joseph was the husband of Mary, and that Christ was born of him. But further on in the chapter he’s going to say that Joseph never had sexual relations with Mary until after the birth of Christ. How can that be? According to verse 18, “Mary was found with child of the Holy Ghost.” There’s no need for me to explain in this setting what happens in conception concerning the fertilizing of an egg. Suffice it to say that when a man and a woman come together and that process occurs, a child is conceived and the sin curse is passed along. The woman possesses inherited sin just like the man does, and it is passed along when the two come together. However, in the virgin birth of Christ, God went to work supernaturally to bring about conception in Mary that didn’t involve passing along the inherited sin nature, and the result was the perfect, sinless child of God named Jesus.
Some people say that God couldn’t do that, but I say that God can do what He wants to do. If He could create the heavens and the earth and animals and man…If God could flood the earth and cause a 90 year old woman to give birth and part a sea and allow a fish to swallow a man and do all the things we know that He did, then why can’t He put a Savior in a sinner and have Him born in a stable in Bethlehem? There’s nothing that God can’t do that He wants to do, and do you know why? Because God does what He wants – He has the right and the power to do whatever makes Him happy. That’s what it means to say that God is sovereign! Not only does the sovereignty of God overcome the sinful choices of man…
God’s Sovereignty Overcomes The Work Of Satan
Look with me to Revelation 12:1-5. John recorded the scene for us.
“And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: and she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.”
The woman who was with child was Israel, but get a hold of this image and go all the way back to Adam and Eve to the time that God promised a Savior to them. He was there, in His infancy. They gave birth to Seth, who gave birth to Enos, and so the process was begun. You see, the woman was God’s people, and if you’ll keep hold of the image of those people as the mother, they carried in their womb the child Jesus all through the Old Testament, and the dragon, Satan, stood before the woman trying to devour her child as soon as it was born.
I want to assure you that Satan didn’t sit idly by through all those centuries waiting for Christ to be born. God didn’t tell him when it was going to happen – like His second coming, the first coming was surrounded in secrecy. That’s why Eve thought one of her children was going to be the Savior. So far as Satan knew, the Christ could have been born to any of those offspring. That’s why as you look at the people mentioned in Matthew’s lineage you see lives wrecked by sin and shame – Satan was out to destroy them all! He worked to pervert the lineage, to destroy it, to pollute it, and to scandalize it. All you’ve got to do is open your eyes and see it! Where did Sarah get the idea to have her husband have a child with Hagar? How is it that Bathsheba happened to be taking a bath within plain site of David’s porch? I’ll tell you how – there was spiritual wickedness at work in high places. We just studied the book of 1st Samuel in Sunday School and how King Saul kept trying to kill David. Who do you think was behind that murderous plot? There was a wicked angel named Satan standing in the way waiting to devour the child, and the very people who would bring Him forth. Jesus parents and grandparents all the way back didn’t wrestle against flesh and blood, “but against principalities, against powers, and against the rulers of the darkness of this world.”
Look at Revelation 12:5 again. What do you see recorded there? “And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.” Now go back to Matthew 1 and look at those first 16 verses. You see all the names, but put them all together and you’ve got Israel, the woman of Revelation 12, and verse 16 triumphantly declares, “And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.”
Conclusion
How could it be that Satan worked and schemed and threw all he had at God’s people, a sinful fallen people, and they still brought forth that child? Only because of the sovereign will of God at work! I think there must have been great delight in heaven that day long ago when the babe was born in a manger in Bethlehem. As you read the gospel accounts of the angel chorus singing, you have to wonder what great praise was going on at the throne of God. From the days of Adam to the days of Mary and Joseph God had been working to bring forth His Son into the world – not to condemn the world, but that all might believe and be saved!
Matthew’s genealogy is a victorious declaration of God’s great sovereignty – I told you earlier that God does what he wants – He has the right and the power to do whatever makes Him happy. That’s what it means to say that God is sovereign. Because of man’s sin, God determined to bring a Savior into the world to save the world, and nothing on earth could change that! But now I want to qualify that statement. Nothing on earth had the power to change what God had purposed to do in providing a Savior, and God’s great desire is that everyone be saved – that’s what brings Him the most pleasure, but the fact is that most people never will be saved.
Could God in His sovereign will force you to accept His Son Christ? Could He make you be saved? There are many who teach such a thing, but God doesn’t force salvation on anyone; He gives you the freedom of choice. What you decide to do with Christ is up to you, and should you choose to reject Him you’ve not made God any less sovereign, in fact, rejecting His offer of salvation will only give you an opportunity to see His sovereignty at work in the judgment.
While Mary was pregnant with Jesus, the angel told Joseph one night, “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.” She did bring forth that child named Jesus, and He has done everything that could possibly be done to save you from your sins. He lived a perfect, sinless life. He died on the cross to pay the ransom for your sin. He rose from the dead on the third day victorious over death, hell and the grave, and He extends an invitation to you this morning to receive Him as your Savior.
Perhaps this morning you have been wrestling with some other decision God has in mind for you to make. It may concern following Him in baptism or church membership. It may be in some place of ministry, or God may be dealing with you about some other thing. Maybe there’s an apology you need to make or a relationship you need to restore. Could it be that there’s unconfessed sin in your life that you need to deal with? Something to which you need to surrender? A move you need to make?
Brother Kevin, if you only knew how bad I’ve messed up my life. If you only knew what my circumstances are. If you only knew… I wish I knew how many times I’ve heard people say those things and try to use them as reasons they can’t do what God wants them to do. Listen, if God wants you to do that thing, don’t you realize by now that He can overcome your sin? He can even overcome what Satan is doing right now to destroy your life – but you’ve got to allow Him the freedom to help you. You’ve got to come to that place where you are tired of fighting and you’ll give up before the Lord. If God could sovereignly work to bring about the birth of Christ, an even that all of hell worked to oppose, don’t you think God can sovereignly work to perform all His good will in your life? Won’t you let Him today?
