Matthew 1:1-25 Don’t Think Wrath OR Mercy, Think Wrath AND Mercy.

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Throughout church history, there have been times when preachers have focused on God’s wrath, always preaching fire and brimstone, while spending very little time considering mercy.

Here in the 21st century, the trend is the opposite. Most preachers present God as all-merciful, and refuse to preach about the lake of fire or the final judgment.

The reality is the Bible teaches both. God is merciful, but He also exercises wrath.

The opening chapter of Matthew lists the ancestors of Jesus. The background of some of His ancestors is clear evidence that God extends mercy.

Before I get into that, let me remind you of some changes. As of today, Bible Mountain will start publishing everyday. Over the course of this coming year, I am going to read through the entire New Testament, starting with the Gospel of Matthew. Each day I will read a portion of scripture and draw a contrast between how humans want to think and act, versus how the Bible tells us to think and act. Free subscribers will receive one post via email per week. Paid subscribers will receive a post via email everyday. If you haven’t signed up for the paid subscription yet, please do so today.

Let’s start reading the Gospel of Matthew.

Matt. 1:1 ¶ The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham:

The book of Matthew starts out with a list of the ancestors of Jesus.

Matt. 1:2 ¶ Abraham was the father of Isaac,

and Isaac was the father of Jacob,

and Jacob was the father of Judah and his brothers.

Matt. 1:3 And Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar,

and Perez was the father of Hezron,

and Hezron was the father of Ram.

The story of Judah and Tamar is one of the distasteful stories in the Bible. It is recorded in Genesis 38. Tamar was Judah’s daughter-in-law, but her husband died. When Judah did not give his youngest son as a husband to Tamar, Tamar pretended to be a prostitute and tricked her father-in-law into impregnating her. The resulting children were Perez and Zerah. Judah, Tamar, and Perez were all ancestors of Jesus, despite the incestuous nature of their relationship.

Matt. 1:4 And Ram was the father of Amminadab,

and Amminadab was the father of Nahshon,

and Nahshon was the father of Salmon.

Matt. 1:5 And Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab,

and Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth,

and Obed was the father of Jesse.

Rahab was a prostitute in Jericho. She was a Canaanite. You can read about her in Joshua 2 & 6. When Joshua sent two spies to scout Jericho, Rahab helped them. When Jericho was destroyed, the Israelites allowed Rahab and her family to live. Rahab, even though she was a prostitute and a Canaanite, was an ancestor of Jesus.

Ruth was a Moabite. The entire book of Ruth is devoted to her story. She was an ancestor of Jesus even though she was a Moabite and not an Israelite.

Matt. 1:6 And Jesse was the father of David the king.

And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah.

The account of David fathering Solomon is found in 2Sam 11-12. David saw a beautiful woman named Bathsheba and slept with her even though she was married to Uriah. She became pregnant. David had Uriah killed and then married Bathsheba. The child died, but later Bathsheba gave birth to Solomon who became king in place of his father David. Yahweh was very displeased with David’s actions, but He still allowed David, Bathsheba, and Solomon to be ancestors of Jesus.

It is interesting that Matthew did not use Bathsheba’s name. Instead, he called her the wife of Uriah, reminding us of the adultery and murder committed by David.

Matt. 1:7 And Solomon was the father of Rehoboam,

and Rehoboam was the father of Abijah,

and Abijah was the father of Asa.

Matt. 1:8 And Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat,

and Jehoshaphat was the father of Joram,

and Joram was the father of Uzziah.

Matt. 1:9 And Uzziah was the father of Jotham,

and Jotham was the father of Ahaz,

and Ahaz was the father of Hezekiah.

Matt. 1:10 And Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh,

and Manasseh was the father of Amon,

and Amon was the father of Josiah.

Matt. 1:11 And Josiah was the father of Jeconiah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

Matt. 1:12 ¶ And after the deportation to Babylon:

Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel,

and Shealtiel was the father of Zerubbabel.

Matt. 1:13 And Zerubbabel was the father of Abihud,

and Abihud was the father of Eliakim,

and Eliakim was the father of Azor.

Matt. 1:14 And Azor was the father of Zadok,

and Zadok was the father of Achim,

and Achim was the father of Eliud.

Matt. 1:15 And Eliud was the father of Eleazar,

and Eleazar was the father of Matthan,

and Matthan was the father of Jacob.

Matt. 1:16 And Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.

Matt. 1:17 ¶ Therefore all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ, fourteen generations.

There were 1,000 years between Abraham and David, but only around 500 years between David and the deportation and between the deportation and the Christ. However, the number of generations for each segment of time was 14, meaning one segment of 14 generations took 1,000 years while the other two segments of 14 generations only took around 500 years. This is probably because life expectancy during Abraham’s life was much longer than it was 1,000 years later. Men were living 150-200 years when Abraham lived. 1,000 years later life expectancy was under 100 years. That would have changed the number of years per generation.

Matt. 1:18 ¶ Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit.

Matt. 1:19 And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly.

Matt. 1:20 But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the One who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.

Matt. 1:21 And she will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

Matt. 1:22 Now all this took place in order that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled, saying,

Notice the word fulfilled. This word appears many times in the New Testament. This word is misunderstood.

There were many occasions during the Old Testament time period when prophets predicted events that would happen in the future. When most Christians see the word fulfilled in the New Testament, they assume the Bible is telling them that an Old Testament prediction came true. Sometimes that is what the word means.

However, the word fulfilled more often means that history was repeating itself. In other words there was an event in the Old Testament time period, and then something similar happened in the New Testament time period.

That is the usage in this verse. Jesus being born of a virgin was very similar to something that was recorded in the Old Testament.

Matt. 1:23 “BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL,” which translated means, “GOD WITH US.”

This verse quotes Isaiah 7:14. The 7th chapter of Isaiah tells us that Ahaz was the king of Judah. Yahweh told Azah to ask for a sign as proof that Yahweh would do what He said He would do. Ahaz refused, but Yahweh gave him a sign anyway. The sign was that a young lady would bear a son, and before the son was old enough to know right from wrong, Yahweh would do what He said he would do.

Just as a young lady gave birth to a son in the days of Isaiah, so too Mary, a virgin, would give birth to a son.

Matt. 1:24 And Joseph got up from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife,

Matt. 1:25 but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.

Over the centuries of Christianity, preachers have swung back and forth between overemphasizing God’s wrath or overemphasizing His mercy. The Bible teaches both. The genealogy and birth of Jesus is one way the Bible teaches God’s mercy.

There are four women mentioned in Matthew’s genealogy. All of them had events in their life, not necessarily their fault, that made them less than ideal for being ancestors of Jesus. However, God used them anyway to produce the line of people that eventually gave birth to Jesus.

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“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”