All right, well we are continuing this morning through the Gospel of Luke.
Last Sunday we heard about Jesus' baptism and the powerful sign that God gave that Jesus was indeed his son.
The people saw the Spirit of God come down upon Jesus from what appeared to be a rift in the sky
and they heard God speak audibly from heaven stating that Jesus was his son.
And we talked about last Sunday how the Spirit coming down upon Jesus like this should give us great expectations for what Jesus will do and say.
And Luke's about to get to all that, but before he does, Luke wants us to be clear about who Jesus is with regard to his humanity.
And so right in the middle of this account, Luke writes out the genealogy of Jesus.
We're in Luke chapter 3, verse 23.
Now Jesus himself was about 30 years old when he began his ministry.
He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph, the son of Heli, the son of Methat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Jani, the son of Joseph.
And the list goes on like this for quite a while.
The son of, the son of, the son of the son of the son of 76 names in total from Jesus all the way back to Adam, the first man ever created.
Let's talk about genealogies for a minute.
Most of us might find genealogies boring and dry.
If we think about our everyday conversations, when's the last time somebody asked you about your distant ancestry?
Probably not very often.
In our modern North American culture, genealogies and family trees are just not valued as much as they used to be by previous generations.
And then we could add to all of that some of the statements made in the Bible about genealogies.
Paul, in his letter to Timothy, said this in 1 Timothy 1, verse 3.
He commanded Timothy to stay in Ephesus so that he might command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer
or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies.
He said such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God's work.
He wrote this to Titus in Titus 3, verse 9.
He said,
Avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law because these are unprofitable and useless.
So there's a sense in which spending a lot of time tracing out our ancestry is simply a waste of time.
It's unprofitable. It's useless.
Paul, in his letter to the Philippians, even refers to his own ancestry in chapter 3.
He says that he's of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews.
But then he dismisses all of that as putting confidence in the flesh.
He says,
I consider that rubbish and loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus and being found in him.
So there's a sense in which our culture actually does well not to obsess or worry about genealogies and ancestry.
But it hasn't always been this way.
In the distant past, genealogies were a big deal.
Back in the days of kingdoms and empires and family dynasties and nobility of all different varieties,
ancestry was a huge deal.
Many civilizations in the past upheld the royalty of a particular family.
And so ancestry mattered greatly.
And of course, they would pay extra careful attention to keep those genealogical records well.
And in much of human history, that approach to ancestry really has been about putting confidence in the flesh.
But at some point, we have to come to grips with the reality that there are quite a few genealogies in the Bible.
By one count, there are about 25 to 30 genealogies in the Bible.
And now some of those would be really short and just a few names.
But some are longer, multiple chapters.
And if God has seen fit to preserve these words for us in his scriptures,
then there must be great value and importance and purpose to these genealogies in particular.
For example, one of the great purposes of genealogies in the Bible is simply to answer the question of who we are,
where we came from.
And so it's really great to have Genesis chapter 5,
which traces things from Noah and the great flood all the way back to Adam,
the first man whom God created.
Genealogies in the Bible reveal the truth of where we came from.
Another great benefit to genealogies is that they help us see the movement
and grouping of families and peoples as they spread out over the earth.
The table of nations in Genesis chapter 10 is very helpful.
We learn there that some of the grandsons of Noah were named Egypt and Canaan and Cush.
And then the descendants of these men became nations,
which are part of our world story as time went on.
And so genealogies give us helpful historical context about who's who in the ancient world.
But there are three things that really stand out to me when it comes to genealogies in the Bible.
The first is that genealogies reveal the faithfulness of God.
If we look back on the history in the Bible,
we see that time and time again, God makes promises.
And he makes very specific promises to many different people.
Great promises about how things will go for their descendants, for their offspring,
which if we think about is quite something.
God frequently makes promises which cannot even be seen to be kept until generations have passed.
Promises so big that we die before they come true.
But then future generations are able to look back and see the amazing faithfulness of God.
God's consistent ability to keep his word.
Without the genealogical records of the Bible,
how would we be able to see if God's promises came true?
How would we see that God did indeed make Abraham's offspring into a great nation?
How would we be able to see that God did in fact keep every man over 20
except Joshua and Caleb from entering the promised land, as he said?
How would we be able to see if God's word about cutting off the line of Eli from the priesthood ever came true?
So this is one truly breathtaking thing about God that genealogies of the Bible reveal.
They reveal his consistent faithfulness to keep his multi-generational promises.
The second thing, genealogies reveal the sovereign power of God
and the wisdom of God.
And it's kind of related to the faithfulness of God
because at some point we just have to ask the question,
how is it that God can be right about what's going to happen in the future 100% of the time?
And we start to see that it's not just predictions that God is making,
but God's actually claiming to be actively at work
to bring to pass the things that he promises and foretells.
And there are many stories in the Bible
where human beings in their pride or their arrogance
or sometimes even in their ignorance
do something that would seemingly thwart the plan of God
and keep his promise from coming true.
And yet, amazingly, God demonstrates his ability
and his power
to rule over all that happens on earth
in such a way that everything that he said
comes to pass.
So genealogies give us the needed contours of that story
so that we can see the power of God at work
from generation to generation.
Not only his power, but also his wisdom.
I mean, how could God know
who would do what
in generations down the line
before any of them had even been born
unless he were truly all-knowing?
Third, and probably the most significant,
genealogies reveal God's plan of salvation.
And it ends up being like this
simply because God makes his promises to save
in a way that's tied to future offspring,
as I said earlier.
Think of the promise God made in the garden
to the serpent after Adam and Eve sinned.
He, the offspring of the woman,
will crush your head
and you will strike his heel.
Think of the promise God made to Abraham.
All people on earth will be blessed through you.
Think of the blessing of Jacob,
the grandson of Abraham,
which he gave to Judah before he died.
He said,
the scepter will not depart from Judah,
nor the ruler's staff from between his feet
until he to whom it belongs shall come
and the obedience of the nations shall be his.
Think of the covenant promise
made to the great King David,
a descendant of Judah,
about how his son would reign
on his throne forever.
This is from 1 Chronicles 17.
When your days,
this is God speaking to David,
are over and you go to be with your ancestors,
I will raise up your offspring to succeed you,
one of your own sons,
and I will establish his kingdom.
He is the one who will build a house for me
and I will establish his throne forever.
I will be his father
and he will be my son.
I will never take my love away from him
as I took it away from your predecessor.
I will set him over my house
and my kingdom forever.
His throne will be established forever.
Notice all these promises of salvation
and deliverance and blessing
are made about the future descendants
of each person.
And not only that,
but they seem to be narrowing things down
in God's great plan of salvation.
First, we're looking to a descendant of Eve,
just a human being.
Then, a descendant of Abraham,
a man who lived many generations after.
Then a descendant of Isaac and Jacob,
Judah, and then David.
Suddenly, had we lived in any of these times,
genealogies and ancestry
are now extremely important
because God is promising such great things
through the unfolding of generations.
But not just any genealogy is extremely important.
One genealogy in particular
is of immeasurable value
because through this line,
the Savior, the Deliverer,
the King,
promised,
is revealed.
I mentioned earlier
that there's about 25 to 30 genealogies
in the Bible,
but in the New Testament,
there are only two.
And both of them
are for one person,
Jesus.
If there's any genealogy ever
that we should care about,
it's this one.
If there's any
that displays
the time-enduring,
multi-generational faithfulness of God,
it's this one.
Because in this genealogy,
the Savior,
the Messiah,
the Son of God Himself
is revealed.
And so let's dig into it
a little bit together this morning.
The first thing we notice here
is how Luke refers to Joseph,
the father of Jesus.
Jesus was the Son,
so it was thought of Joseph.
Already, we need to pause and reflect.
Why does Luke say it that way?
Well, Luke's already shown us
in the story that he's been telling
that Jesus was conceived
and born of the Holy Spirit and Mary.
without a human father.
God's Spirit will overshadow you
and cause you to conceive
such that the child to be born
will be called the Son of God,
said Gabriel.
So Luke's reminding us
right here at the beginning
that Jesus was thought
or considered to be
the son of Joseph
by all the people around him
as he grew up.
But Joseph was only his father
in a legal,
head of the household,
perhaps even adoptive
sort of way
rather than in the ordinary
biological way.
From there he goes on.
And Joseph
was the son of Heli.
Already we run into a major
and challenging discussion.
Don't worry,
we're not going to go through
every name at this level in detail.
Otherwise,
this will be the best sermon
on genealogy
that you never heard.
Joseph was the son of Heli.
But the other genealogy
of Jesus
given in Matthew's Gospel
says Joseph's dad
was a man named Jacob.
Let's see if I can put them
on the screen both together
side by side.
So what's going on here?
And as we continue
down the list of names
comparing Matthew
and Luke's genealogies of Jesus,
we notice that there are
two different sets of names
until we get down
to verse 27.
Zerubbabel,
the son of Shealtiel
in Luke's Gospel.
Both Matthew and Luke
have him
in their genealogies of Jesus.
And then we also notice
that from Shealtiel
all the way down
to King David,
there are two different
sets of names
given by Matthew
and Luke.
So what's going on here?
How can there be
two significantly
different genealogies
for Jesus?
And this turns out
has been a sort of puzzle
which has had scholars
and commentators
and Christians
speculating and discussing
back and forth
for almost 2,000 years.
Even the early church fathers
acknowledged these differences
in their writings
all the way back
in the second century.
In the year 220 AD,
there was a guy named
Julius Africanus.
He's the first man
we know of
to propose some sort
of explanation
to the reason
for the differences.
And there are primarily
two explanations
for the differences
between Luke's genealogy
of Jesus
and Matthew's.
One common idea
is that Luke
is actually giving us
the genealogy of Mary
rather than Joseph.
With this understanding,
there's a lot of emphasis
here on
on that phrase,
so it was thought
of Joseph.
In other words,
Joseph was not
biologically
Jesus' father.
But,
let's continue
to give his
relatives,
Heli was
biologically
his grandfather.
And so,
the idea here
is that
this whole
lineage
traces out
through Mary
all the way back
to King David
and then Matthew's
would be
through Joseph.
Personally,
I find this view
unconvincing.
Grammatically,
the natural way
to understand this
is that Joseph
was the son
of Heli,
regardless of what
so it was thought
is taken to mean.
And it does make sense
to us
to trace it back
through Mary
because that's
the biological connection.
But,
if we look at
how genealogies
were done back then,
it was always,
always,
always traced
through the father.
Sometimes,
there'd be the mention
of the mother
alongside the name
of a man,
but predominantly
through the father.
Though,
if this is the case,
if this is Mary's
genealogy,
then it certainly
would show
how Jesus
was biologically
descended from David.
The second view
is that both
of these genealogies,
Matthew
and Luke's,
trace Jesus'
ancestry
through Joseph.
So,
then the big
questions with
this view are,
how is it
that Joseph
had two dads?
Similarly,
if we look down
to verse 27
in Luke,
how is it
that Shealtiel
had two dads?
If we look
at what's happening
here,
from King David,
the lines
basically diverge,
then they converge
again at
Zerubbabel,
son of Shealtiel,
then they diverge
again and converge
again at Joseph
and then Jesus.
And all of that
happens over a span
of about a thousand
years.
Julius Africanus,
the man that I
mentioned earlier,
reminds us that
there was the
Jewish custom
from the law
of Moses
whereby
if a man
died
and left
his wife
behind
childless,
then his
brother
was permitted
to marry
his widow
and could
raise up
offspring
for his
deceased
brother.
This custom
was called
leverite marriage
and it was
still well-known
enough in Jesus'
day that the
religious leaders
asked him a
trick question
about it.
So that's one
possible explanation
for how a man
could have
two fathers.
He could be
considered the
son of his
deceased father
by his family
name,
but be
biologically the
son of his
dad's brother.
A second
possibility
whereby a man
could have
two dads
is in the
case of
adoption.
This is one
more familiar
to us.
Perhaps
Joseph's birth
dad was
Jacob,
as stated in
Matthew,
but then for
some unknown
reason,
Jacob died,
leaving Joseph
an orphan,
and then
Joseph was
later adopted
by Heli.
Both of these
possibilities imply
that one of
these fathers
was Jacob's
biological dad
and the other
his legal or
adoptive or
head of the
household father.
And the
effect then
would be having
two different
genealogies like
this, it would
confirm that both
of Joseph's
fathers were
descended from
David.
In a sense
removing any
doubt as to
the ancestry
of Jesus,
in case anyone
might call it
into question.
We simply
don't know
which of
these possibilities
it was that
explain these
two convergences
in Jesus'
line from
David.
Both of
these things,
adoption and
levirate marriage,
are relatively
uncommon,
but over the
span of a
thousand years,
is it
conceivable
that there be
two adoptions?
Or one
adoption and
one levirate
marriage,
causing Jesus
in a sense to
be doubly
related to
David?
I think that
seems a
reasonable
explanation.
Not only that,
we have to
remember that
the people
descended from
David,
especially
closer to
him,
would have
considered
themselves to
be of
royal birth,
related to
the great
king David,
and so of
course they
would have
kept track
of their
genealogical
records
meticulously,
knowing the
promises God
had made.
It's even
more likely
that an
adoption or
a levirate
marriage or
two took
place over
the centuries
in order to
ensure that
the family
name carried
on down the
line to the
next generation.
So that's a
lot to say
that we don't
know all the
details of why
these two
genealogies are
different,
but there
are at least
a few good
possibilities to
explain how
they ended up
different from
each other,
and it shouldn't
be a reason to
doubt the
accuracy of the
Bible.
With that out of
the way,
let's look at
some of these
names and
think about what
Luke wants us
to see by
including all of
this in his
account.
Let's start with
one of the more
significant names.
Zerubbabel,
son of Shealtiel,
in verse 27.
Very significant
figure.
He was the
grandson of
Jehoiachin,
king of Judah,
and Jehoiachin
was the second
last king of
Judah leading up
to the exile.
In fact,
Jehoiachin himself
was actually
captured by the
Babylonian army
in Jerusalem,
and then he was
taken prisoner to
Babylon along with
many of the other
people of Judah.
But by the power
and working of
God, God brought
many of his
people back into
Israel out of
exile 70 years
later, and
Zerubbabel, the
grandson of
King Jehoiachin,
was one of the
men who came
back.
He's mentioned
several times in
the book of
Ezra.
He helped with
the rebuilding of
the temple, the
city of Jerusalem,
and the wall.
He's mentioned in
the books of
Nehemiah and
Haggai and
Zechariah.
He's referred to
not as a king,
but as the
governor of
Judah, probably
because in his
days, the land
was under the
rule of the
Persian Empire.
And yet,
Zerubbabel was
the royal heir to
the throne.
And probably,
he was regarded
as the leader and
installed as
governor because of
his descent from
the kingly line of
David.
Zerubbabel is
probably the first
name that most
of the Jews would
have recognized in
Jesus' genealogy.
The next most
familiar name in
the list was
likely King
David, the son
of Jesse, in
verse 31.
And this is part
of the point of
this whole genealogy.
It's to show that
Jesus is the
promised son of
David, the
Messiah.
And we've talked
a lot about that,
so we won't say
too much more
about him.
Before David,
you might recognize
Boaz's name if
you've read the
Old Testament book
of Ruth.
He was the guy
that married Ruth,
the Moabite widow
of his relative.
And if we keep
going back, we see
that all these men
were descendants of
Judah, one of the
twelve sons of
Jacob, and the
other patriarchs as
well, Isaac and
Abraham.
Really significant
figures in the book
of Genesis.
At Abraham is where
Matthew starts his
genealogy of the
genealogy of
Jesus.
But Luke just
decides to keep
on going right
past Abraham
through Shem and
Noah, all the way
back to Adam, the
first man God
created.
And it's worth
mentioning that
everything from Adam
down to King David
was common
knowledge.
It's all found in the
Old Testament
scriptures.
A huge chunk of
that is found in
Genesis, and then
there's the rest of
it's found in Ruth
and in 1 Chronicles
chapter 1.
But why does Luke
decide to go back
so far?
Why go all the way
back to Adam?
I mean, is he just
like to have a
complete record?
Is he obsessed with
details?
Or are there other
reasons?
These are the three
reasons that I
thought of.
First, going back
through all of these
men should bring to
mind, if we know the
scriptures, all of the
different promises and
covenants made to each
one of them.
And I think Luke wants
us to remember exactly
what was prophesied
to men like Judah by
his father Jacob, or
the covenant that God
made with Abraham.
I think he even wants
us to think back to
what happened.
In the garden, with
Adam.
And what this does is
it helps us see that
this man, Jesus, at the
end of this long line,
is the one through whom
all these promises made
will be kept.
The second reason that
perhaps that he goes
back to Adam, it
reminds us of what
happened with Adam.
and how he rebelled
against God.
How he plunged all of
humanity into sin and
guilt.
It reminds us of how we
all became liable to
judgment before God.
But not only this, it
reminds us that God has
been unfolding his plan
to save us since the
very first day that we
defied him.
Through all these
generations, God has
been working to bring
our salvation.
And this man at the
end of this line is
the one.
He is the Savior who
can fix what Adam
broke.
And a third reason.
Going from Jesus all
the way back to Adam,
the first man reminds
us that Jesus is truly
one of us.
We already heard at the
beginning the statement
that reminds us of
Jesus' divinity.
That he was the son,
so it was thought,
of Joseph.
But the rest of this
genealogy highlights his
humanity.
He is descended from
all of these men,
even the first man,
because he is truly
human, truly one of us.
Luke wants us to feel
this.
Son of God, yes, but
also son of Adam,
son of man.
Another thing that I
noticed as I was
studying through this
is that between Jesus
and David, there are a
lot of unfamiliar names.
Maybe you feel that
when you read through
this and you just kind
of feel that urge to
skim, because how do I
pronounce that anyway?
Zerubbabel and Shealtiel
would be the exception
here, but other than
them, many unfamiliar
names.
Mena, Malaya,
Jonam, El-Madam,
Resa, Jossik, Nagai,
Janai, Helai.
I looked these up in a
concordance, and the
only time they appear
in the Bible is right
here in this genealogy
of Jesus.
Some of these were
common Jewish names
written about or
mentioned in other
Jewish literature, but
these men in particular
from Jesus' ancestry are
all men that we know
nothing about today.
Their names didn't
make it into the
historical writings of
Josephus or into
other Jewish writings,
which means that these
were likely just
ordinary men.
People unknown to the
world, not famous,
not well-known, men
who went about their
business, worked,
raised families, and the
first time we hear about
them in history is here
in this genealogy of
Jesus.
I got thinking about
that.
God used ordinary men
to bring about his
great purposes.
All through these
generations, the world's
attention was somewhere.
It was on other things
going on.
It was on other
notable figures and
celebrities.
And yet here, in this
line of people that
nobody's ever heard
about, God was working
to bring his great
salvation through these
seeming nobodies,
these ordinary dads in
their days.
God loves to bring great
things through the
seemingly common and
ordinary.
It's one of his
signature moves.
The words of Paul come
to mind here.
God chose the lowly
things of this world
and the despised
things and the
things that are not
to nullify the
things that are so
that no one may boast
before him.
We sometimes lament
over the fact that the
names in some of these
genealogies are
unfamiliar to us.
You know, like, who
are these guys?
But what if that's the
point?
Here's a genealogy
that traces out the
ancestry of the most
important person in
history.
And yet we don't even
know who half of these
men are.
Nobody did until Jesus
came and somebody got
these records from
Mary.
God has done this in a
way to keep us from
putting confidence in
the flesh, as we talked
about earlier.
together.
Well, we've talked
about genealogy a lot
and I hope that some of
this has been helpful to
you this morning.
At the end of all this,
we still may not care
too much for
genealogies, just like our
world around us.
But there's one.
There's one that we
should care about.
And it's this one.
Here we see in brief
record form how God's
loving plan to save us
unfolded.
We see how through 75
plus generations, God
was faithful and he kept
his word.
We see God's wisdom in
choosing ordinary men so
that no one can boast or
put confidence in the
flesh.
And we see that
nothing, nothing can
stop God from doing as
he has promised.
So glory be to him.
Let's pray.
Father in heaven, thank
you for these words.
Maybe not the first
words that we would
choose for our favorite
verses in your word, but
we know that in them is a
wonderful truth and it
all points to you and
your grace, your
faithfulness, your love,
your power, your
salvation.
We thank you that you
did send Jesus into our
world to save us and to
be our king when he
returns now and when he
returns.
And I pray that our
hearts would be filled
with joy because of
that.
Pray this in your name.
Amen.