“On a sultry day in July of the year 1505 a lonely traveler was trudging over a parched road on the outskirts of the Saxon village of Stotternheim.” ¹ Thus begins Roland Bainton’s biography of Martin Luther. And it is fitting, isn’t it? If you want to pull your readers into a book, you begin with a dramatic scene like this and use words that conger up images in one’s mind, such as “sultry day,” “lonely traveler,” and “parched road.” A good writer just knows how to reach out and grab you; that is a good introduction to a story of one’s life.

Matthew’s introduction is quite a bit different, however. He begins writing, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” and goes on to record the genealogy of Jesus, writing, “Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob …” Well, you get the picture. It’s not the most exciting way that you would think of to tell of the words and deeds of someone. This is not how a biography, it would seem, should begin.

Was it then that this is all Matthew had to begin Jesus’ life? Sure, Jesus did many things later, but there just wasn’t much there early on. But that cannot be the case, for we must not forget the miraculous nature of his birth and the tense drama that surrounded it. And Matthew knows this story. In fact, he takes it up from the perspective of Joseph, which goes for quite an interesting setting.

We know from Luke that what has occurred is that Joseph had gotten engaged to Mary. We read this in Matthew 1:18 as Matthew writes, “Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph …” And engagements or betrothals at this time and in this culture were legally binding. So, if you wanted to separate, you had to legally divorce your fiancée. But there would be no reason for that it would seem, for Mary and Joseph were both great people; this was a great occasion – two young, great people awaiting their marriage day.

However, Matthew tells us that something interesting happened here. He writes at the end of verse 18, “Before [Mary and Joseph] came together [Mary] was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit” which translates into Joseph’s perspective as, “Mary’s pregnant and Joseph knows that it isn’t his,” for Joseph is not yet aware that Mary’s child was the Christ, conceived by the Holy Spirit.

So, Joseph is in this dilemma. If he goes through with the wedding, then everyone is going to think that Joseph had gotten Mary pregnant out of wedlock when the baby arrived in a shorter period than nine months after their wedding. Yet, he would know differently, wondering if he could ever trust his wife, who had gotten pregnant. However, if he divorces her, he exposes her to public shame. The whispers around the area would be, “That’s the girl that cheated on Joseph while they were engaged and got herself pregnant.” And Joseph loves Mary and is a righteous man, so he doesn’t desire that anymore than she would.

Thus, Joseph comes up with a solution. Matthew writes in verses 19-21, “And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.” He’ll divorce her, while drawing as little attention to her as he can. But then something happens; an angel comes to Joseph to tell him what has occurred, “But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus [which means, ‘Yahweh Saves’], for he will save his people from their sins.”

So, everyone can breathe a sigh of relief, Joseph can marry his wife, though she be with child, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. Now everyone will understand when they think that Joseph and Mary have been sexually immoral prior to their marriage, for Joseph will be able to say, “No, no, the child in her womb was conceived by the Holy Spirit.” No, Joseph’s marriage to Mary brought little relief from public speculation and ridicule; it was simply a move of great faith and obedience to God.

And so we read, “When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus” (1:24-25).

So, you see, Matthew does tell the great story, with drama. He is definitely aware of an exciting event with which he could have gripped the reader. But he doesn’t. He begins with a genealogy of Jesus. Why would he begin with something that seems so boring when he has so many more exciting things to say?

I think I can show you what’s going on here by making a comparison. I’ve started a couple of conversations this past week saying, “Lili and I slept for six and a half consecutive hours last night.” Now, your sleeping patterns are not an especially exciting topic with which to begin a conversation. However, for those who have the background information to know that we have a six week old boy, it is a cause for much amazement and rejoicing.

The same thing is happening in this beginning of Matthew. Matthew is making a declaration of who this baby is. And the first thing he tells us by this awkward beginning is that Jesus is the Davidic King who was promised.

Jesus is the Davidic King

You see, God’s people were promised the Messiah very early on. We hear that Abraham is promised a son through whom all the earth would be blessed. Then, from the time of Judah we read in Genesis 49:10 of the scepter remaining with him “until the one comes to whom it belongs.” Finally, David is told that he would have a descendant reign on the throne of the kingdom forever.

That is why Matthew begins saying, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.” He is saying, “Look, this is the one who was promised.” And the genealogy that follows would have been read with unparalleled excitement as they see he really is the Son of Abraham and the Son of David.

But why does Matthew make such a big deal about the Babylonian exile, when Israel was conquered in 587 B.C. and taken captive to Babylon? Why mark is as one of the four pillars along with Abraham, David, and Christ?

Well, the answer is found in the promise that had been made to David. He was promised to have a descendant reign on the throne of his kingdom forever. Now, there are two ways in which this promise could have been fulfilled. First, the kingdom could have kept going on with David’s descendants becoming king, one after another after another. Or, one of David’s descendants could live forever.

And what the Babylonian exile assured us is that the first was no longer an option. After 587 B.C. David had no descendant on the throne. The tree of David’s kingdom had been cut to a dead stump. So, there seemed no hope.

However, Isaiah made promises, texts we read every Christmas. He wrote in Isaiah 9:6-7, “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor; Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.” So, they had promises to hold on to before the exile, but promises they probably looked to more desperately after the exile.

The exile brought great struggle and depression as they saw that the Davidic kingdom had been severed to a dead stump, but again, they could look to Isaiah and remember the prophecy, “Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse [the father of David], and a branch from his roots will bear fruit.”

And they had waited for 587 years without any of David’s sons coming to reign on the throne. Many of them probably gave up on the promises, but for those who held to the scriptures and picked up Matthew’s gospel, this genealogy would have brought tears of joy to his eyes. For Matthew was saying nothing less than that the Davidic king had arrived. It would only be confirmed as Jesus rose from the dead to live forevermore.

So we see from this first chapter of Matthew that Jesus is the Davidic king. But we see more.

Jesus is the Savior of his people

Again, it helps to remember background. For Abraham had been promised that through his seed all the nations would be blessed. That is to say, God will forgive the sins even of the Gentiles. And this is only confirmed in the genealogy. For Matthew includes four women (when only men were typically given in genealogies), and they are unlikely women at that. You don’t see here Sarah, Rebekah, or Leah? You see Tamar (1:3), Rahab (1:5), Ruth (1:5), and Bathsheba (“the wife of Uriah” – 1:6). Tamar would be known as the one who seduced her father-in-law, Rahab as the prostitute; Ruth as the Moabite, and Bathsheba as the Hittite with whom David had an affair. But why?

I think it is because he wanted to show that the promise to Abraham was being fulfilled. Christ was coming to save. In fact, Joseph was told to name the child “Jesus,” which means, “Yahweh saves.” And he was not simply coming to save those who appeared decent, or Jews alone. He was coming to save men and women from every nation and those who were dead in their sin and hopeless, without anything to show for themselves. As we read last week from John 1, “As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.” Jesus was not coming as a king simply to sit on a throne in Jerusalem; he was coming to lay down his life for his people that he might bring them to God.

Finally, we see another aspect of Jesus from Matthew’s gospel.

Jesus is the fulfillment of all the promises and prophecies of the coming Messiah

I’ll point you to a few of them in this first and second chapter this morning.

First Matthew shows that Jesus’ birth fits the prophecies of the Messiah. He points out that Isaiah prophesied of a virgin having a son in Isaiah 7:14, which is fulfilled as we read Matthew 1:22-23. He then points out, after mentioning that Jesus was born in Bethlehem that this fulfills what was prophesied by Micah, as he wrote of Micah 5:2 in Matthew 2:5-6, “For so it has been written by the prophet, ‘And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the leaders of Judah; for our of you shall come forth a ruler, who will shepherd by people Israel.’” Thus, Jesus is clearly the one who was promised.

Then, he shows us that Jesus is the true Son of God. In chapter 2, Matthew speaks of how Joseph brought Jesus out of Egypt at the death of Herod and writes that this happen so that “what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, ‘Out of Egypt did I call My Son” (2:15). Now what’s so confusing about this is that Matthew is quoting Hosea 11:1. And when we read Hosea 11:1, we read that God is speaking of Israel as he brought them out of Egypt. He is calling them his Son.

So did Matthew make a mistake? No. Rather, he is saying that Israel was a type to which Jesus is the antitype (or true fulfillment). Matthew sees that where Israel was to be an obedient son before the Lord, Israel failed, but Christ is now the true Israel and indeed the truly obedient Son. This is the connection that he wants us to see there.

Jesus himself declares this same thing as Isaiah 5 had spoken of Israel being the vine of the Lord that was cared for and nourished and produced wild grapes (i.e. disobedience). Therefore, understanding that, Jesus says in John 15:1, “I am the true vine.” He is saying there that Israel served as a type of what He is. Through Israel, the nations were to be blessed; the nations finally are blessed through Him. Israelites were to be those obtaining the blessing of salvation; all those in Christ will obtain the blessing of salvation. Jesus is the Son of God that was typified by Israel. This is indeed the declaration that Matthew makes in using Hosea 11:1.

Finally, Matthew shows that Jesus is the one who will bring deliverance and usher in the New Covenant. As Matthew speaks of Herod killing all the male babies two years and under during the first two years of Jesus’ life, he sends us back to Jeremiah 31:15 as he writes in 2:17-18, “Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled, saying, ‘A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children; and she refused to be comforted for they were no more.”

This time when Matthew reflects on the hopelessness of Israel as all the babies are being killed, he calls our attention to Jeremiah 31:15, which speaks of conditions in the exile. Thus, as we turn there, we see that the text pictures Rachel (i.e. the symbolic mother of all of Israel) weeping because the Israelites are being transported into exile. However, as we look at the context of that chapter, we also see that in the midst of the exile, hardship, and seeming hopelessness, God is promising a New Covenant and deliverance from exile. Therefore, Matthew is certainly keying his readers back to this and to the genealogy in chapter 1, reminding them that the hopelessness of the exile and the lack of a Davidic king has come to an end. It was promised and it is here. Just as Jeremiah 31 had Israel weeping while God was paving the way for her redemption, so in Matthew 2 Israel weeps for the death of the male babies while God is bringing forth the baby who is the Divine Child.

Therefore, Matthew’s clear announcement in these first two chapters is that the Messiah has come. Jesus fulfills every promise and prophecy. He is the Davidic Son who will reign on the throne of the kingdom forever – for he lives forever. And he is the one that brings salvation to the ends of the earth. Therefore, this Christmas, may we celebrate the reality of who Jesus really is, and may we worship him as we should.

Amen.

¹Roland Bainton, Here I Stand, 21.

THE KING, THE SAVIOR, AND A PROMISE FULFILLED