The Right King at the Right Time (Matthew 1:1-17)
The Right King at The Right Time
Matthew 1:1-17
This morning we embark upon a new study of the word of God.
We begin our study of Matthew’s gospel.
As with all the gospel writers, Matthew writes with a distinct purpose.
Matthew’s purpose is to reveal that Jesus is King
And that you must submit to Him.
Matthew is consumed with the King and His Kingdom.
32 times Matthew uses a phrase “The Kingdom of Heaven”
HE TELLS US WHAT THE KINGDOM REQUIRES
Matthew 3:2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Matthew 4:17 “From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
HE TELLS US WHO THIS KINGDOM BELONGS TO
Matthew 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 5:10 “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
HE TELLS US WHO WILL NOT ENTER THIS KINGDOM
Matthew 5:20 “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 18:3 “and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 19:23 “And Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.”
HE TELLS US WHO IS THE GREATEST IN THIS KINDGOM
Matthew 5:19 “Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
AND HE LISTS MANY PARABLES BY WHICH TO EXPLAIN IT
Matthew 13:31 “He presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field;”
Matthew 13:33 “He spoke another parable to them, “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened.”
Matthew 13:44 “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”
Matthew 13:45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls,”
Matthew 13:47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind;”
It is easy to see that Matthew is consumed with the kingdom of heaven
And the King who will rule it.
• He wants you to know that Jesus is the King.
• He wants you to know that Jesus is the Messiah.
• He wants you to know how you should respond to this King.
And this morning we begin our study of this great book.
This book begins the only way it possibly could; with a lineage.
There are two main points which we will develop out a little further.
#1 JESUS IS THE RIGHT KING
Matthew 1:1-17
No doubt having just completed our study of the book of kings
You should have a much better understanding as to who this list is all about.
This is the royal line.
If a man was to claim a right to the throne of Israel,
He must prove that he is of this line.
That is precisely what Matthew sets out to prove.
But he does much more than that.
HE SHOWS US WHY JESUS IS THE RIGHT KING
1) HIS PEDIGREE
And this is the obvious one.
(1) “The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham:”
Although the next 15 verses set out to prove this point,
Matthew really states the heart of the matter right there.
If you were going to try and prove that you had found the Messiah,
You had better be able to prove his lineage all the way back to two people.
One was “Abraham” the other is “David”.
Pedigree was everything to the Jews.
We remember Paul before salvation boasting about being “of the tribe of Benjamin”
We remember the Pharisees boasting “We are of Moses”
The Jews loved their lineage.
In fact, you may remember when the children of Israel returned from Babylon, there was a certain division of priests who had lost their papers declaring their pedigree.
Ezra 2:59-62 “Now these are those who came up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addan and Immer, but they were not able to give evidence of their fathers’ households and their descendants, whether they were of Israel: the sons of Delaiah, the sons of Tobiah, the sons of Nekoda, 652. Of the sons of the priests: the sons of Habaiah, the sons of Hakkoz, the sons of Barzillai, who took a wife from the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and he was called by their name. These searched among their ancestral registration, but they could not be located; therefore they were considered unclean and excluded from the priesthood.”
If you could not prove your lineage, you could not serve.
How much more important when dealing with the Messiah.
Obviously in order to prove that you have found “The King of the Jews”,
You must first prove that you are dealing with a Jew.
The right King must be a child of Abraham.
Genesis 22:18 “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
It would be through the “seed” of Abraham
That the entire world would be blessed.
Paul even stated this fact specifically in his letter to the Galatians.
Galatians 3:16 “Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as referring to many, but rather to one, “And to your seed,” that is, Christ.”
Paul clarifies the statement of God to Abraham
By revealing when God made the promise concerning Abraham’s seed,
He was talking about the Messiah.
It was understood that the Messiah was a Jew.
But the Messiah must have a more specific lineage than that.
He can not only be a child of Abraham,
But more specifically he must be a child of David.
2 Samuel 7:12-16 “When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. “He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. “I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me; when he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men, but My lovingkindness shall not depart from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. “Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.”‘”
God made a binding promise to David,
And that is that the kingdom would never depart from his line.
It is not an uncommon thing to see a kingdom change family lines.
Look at the throne of England.
For a while it was occupied by the Tudors, then the Stewarts, then the Hanobers, and now presently by the Windsor’s.
And so Jesus didn’t have to be of David to be King,
He had to be of David in order to fulfill prophecy.
Jesus might indeed seize the throne,
But if He was not descended of David then He is not God’s Messiah,
For God promised the kingdom would never depart from David.
And every Jew knew this.
Even while debating with the Pharisees Jesus asked:
Matthew 22:42 “What do you think about the Christ, whose son is He?” They said to Him, “The son of David.”
To say that Jesus is the Messiah if He doesn’t descend from David IS A WASTE OF TIME.
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 it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.”
And so Matthew reveals the pedigree of Jesus.
But this is not the only thing that makes Him “The Right King”
2) HIS PERFECTION
Now obviously when we talk about the perfection of Jesus,
You most likely begin to think about His sinless life.
But I am not talking about His character here.
Rather here I mean that He was the perfect candidate.
In fact, He was the only candidate.
WHY?
While every Jew was looking for the Messiah from David’s line,
Some must have realized that the Kingly lineage
Had a prophetic flaw.
It was seemingly impossible for anyone to fulfill all the prophecies concerning the kingly lineage.
(11) “Josiah became the father of Jeconiah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.”
Surely you remember Jeconiah.
The writer of Kings called him Jehoiachin.
We called him “The Despised King”
Jeremiah 22:24-30 “As I live,” declares the LORD, “even though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were a signet ring on My right hand, yet I would pull you off; and I will give you over into the hand of those who are seeking your life, yes, into the hand of those whom you dread, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of the Chaldeans. “I will hurl you and your mother who bore you into another country where you were not born, and there you will die. “But as for the land to which they desire to return, they will not return to it. “Is this man Coniah a despised, shattered jar? Or is he an undesirable vessel? Why have he and his descendants been hurled out And cast into a land that they had not known? “O land, land, land, Hear the word of the LORD! “Thus says the LORD, ‘Write this man down childless, A man who will not prosper in his days; For no man of his descendants will prosper Sitting on the throne of David Or ruling again in Judah.'”
Just as God promised that David’s kingdom would not end,
God promised the absolute end of Jehoiachin’s.
That is a poison pill right here in the middle of the prophecy.
HOW CAN HE BE DAVID’S SON AND NOT JECONIAH’S?
THIS IS WHAT MAKES JESUS ABSOLUTELY EXCLUSIVE.
(16) “Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.”
It is very interesting that after using the same phrase over and over, Matthew omits it when he finally gets to Jesus.
“the father of…”
Matthew did not call Joseph the father of Jesus.
He merely said that Joseph was married to His mother.
The point here is that Jesus was not the blood relative of Jeconiah,
And so He dodged that poison pill prophecy in Jeremiah.
Jesus still got His political right to the throne through Joseph,
But was not Joseph’s blood descendant.
NOW AT THIS POINT, THE OTHER SIDE WOULD CRY FOUL.
“Wait a minute, if he is not Joseph’s blood son,
Then he isn’t the blood son of David and He cannot be king.”
TURN TO: LUKE 3:23-38
If you were to hold those lineage’s side by side
You would notice some distinct differences.
1) They are in reverse order
2) Luke goes all the way back to Adam
3) They are not the same people
When studying you learn that Matthew 1 contains Joseph’s lineage,
But Luke 3 contains Mary’s lineage.
This is Mary’s lineage.
This is the blood line of Jesus.
(31) “the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David”
This is Nathan’s line
Matthew gives Solomon’s line
Jesus got a blood right to the throne through His mother Mary
And the political right to the throne through His father Joseph.
But it was done in such a way so
As to avoid the negative prophecy concerning Jeconiah.
The point is that the Messiah could not have been just anyone.
Not to mention:
• Malachi said He had to be born in Bethlehem.
• Isaiah said He had to be born of a virgin.
• Daniel said He had to die 483 years after the command to rebuild the temple.
Jesus was the perfect candidate.
He was the right King because of His pedigree, because of His perfection
3) HIS PITY
Israel didn’t need another tyrant on the throne,
They had plenty of those in the past.
Israel didn’t need another self-centered, self-serving ruler,
They had plenty of those as well.
Israel needed a true shepherd as their leader.
THAT IS WHAT GOD HAD PROMISED.
TURN TO: EZEKIEL 34
God had scorn for the bad shepherds.
(READ 2-4)
God had scorn for the brutal sheep.
(READ 20-22)
GOD PROMISED DELIVERANCE THROUGH A GOOD SHEPHERD / PRINCE
(READ 23-24)
God promised a merciful and compassionate shepherd
Who would tend the flock of God and not devour them.
You say, “Yes that is true, but where do you see that in the lineage of Christ?”
You don’t see it spelled out in His character,
But you do see it in who He chose to allow in His lineage.
Now let me ask you this:
• If there was a case of incest in your family history would you tell anyone?
• If there was an adulterous affair would you include that in your registry?
• If someone in your past married an unclean foreigner would you tell others?
• How about if one of your relatives was a prostitute, would you announce it?
Jesus did.
In fact He magnified it.
Aside from Mary, only 4 women are named in this lineage.
He only named the ones
That could have potentially been embarrassing to Him.
(3) “Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar”
Genesis 38:6 “Now Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.”
You may remember that God killed Er and Er’s brother (Onan) refused to raise up children for his brother and so God killed him too.
Tamar then became a prostitute and one day her father-in-law Judah
Went in to her and that is how Perez was conceived.
Incest in the Messianic line.
(5) “Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab”
She is the prostitute of Jericho who hid the spies and saved her own life.
This prostitute was proselytized and ended up marrying David’s great-grandfather.
Prostitution in the Messianic line.
(5) “Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth”
Of course Ruth is not remembered as a harlot of sorts, but she was a Moabite.
She was unclean, and off limits to a Jew.
(6) “Jesse was the father of David the king. David was the father of Solomon by Bathsheba who had been the wife of Uriah.”
A case of adultery right there in the Messianic line.
Those are things that we would try to cover up.
Yet they are the things that God chose to purposely bring to light.
WHY?
He was revealing that Jesus was not an aristocrat
Who would look down His nose at mankind.
Jesus would be a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
Jesus would be a man tempted in all things as we are.
Jesus would be a man of compassion and sympathy.
He would be unlike any king Israel had ever had.
Jesus would be sympathetic.
And how many times do we read the words “moved with compassion”
In regard to the ministry of Jesus.
He was the right king.
Because of His Pedigree, His Perfection, His Pity.
#2 JESUS CAME AT THE RIGHT TIME
Matthew 1:17
Romans 5:6 “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”
Galatians 4:4-5 “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”
What Paul revealed is that Jesus came at precisely the right time.
It was not an accident.
“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.”
Matthew breaks the past down into three time periods.
1) THE PATRIARCHS
This was Abraham to David.
It was the time of the patriarchs, a time when God was revealing Himself and making promises to His people.
It encompassed the deliverance of the Exodus and the giving of the Law.
It was the time when God chose His people
And then called them to love Him in return.
2) THE MONARCHY
This was David to Jeconiah.
And if the time of the patriarchs was the time of God’s invitation,
The time of the monarchy signified Israel’s response to that invitation.
And they answered with a resounding “NO”.
It was a time of extreme spiritual decline.
It was a rapid descent filled with idolatry and disobedience.
3) THE DARK AGES
This was Jeconiah to the present period.
Israel rebelled against God and spend 70 years in Babylon as punishment,
But even upon returning, they never again had one key ingredient:
The Presence of God.
(Remember Ezekiel actually saw God depart from the temple)
Beyond that, after Malachi’s prophecy
That even signified the end of the prophets.
There had been 450 years of silence since God had last spoken.
A silence broken by “the voice in the wilderness” (John the Baptist)
It was the dark ages for Israel.
And what Matthew reveals is that Israel had no place else to go.
The only thing that would save her and turn her around
Was the coming of the king.
This was the right time for the king to come, for Israel was out of options.
Israel needed a Savior.
Jesus was the right king at the right time.
And Matthew begins His gospel with that precious truth.
And let me just say to you this morning,
That that is precisely who Jesus is to you as well.
HE IS THE RIGHT KING AND IT IS THE RIGHT TIME.
John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”
He is the right King (in fact the only king)
2 Corinthians 6:2 “for He says, “AT THE ACCEPTABLE TIME I LISTENED TO YOU,
AND ON THE DAY OF SALVATION I HELPED YOU.” Behold, now is “THE ACCEPTABLE TIME,” behold, now is “THE DAY OF SALVATION”
It is the right time.
Matthew’s point is the same to all who read his gospel account.
Submitting your life to Jesus is not an option.
God had made Him both Lord and Christ.
Submitting your life to Him is a requirement.
And to all who reject this king,
They are guilty of high treason before Holy God
And will indeed pay the punishment for their crime.
Jesus is the king and you must submit your life to Him.
Philippians 2:9-11 “For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
