Over the last ten years, my interest in the two sides of my own family tree has been growing. But it’s not because I now have a second hobby. My interest in genealogy is directly related to my first hobby. And other than making a few photo copies and buying a few copies from relatives, I haven’t spent more than $10 thus far. On a couple of journey’s into British Columbia, part of our time was related to my relatives, and Judy has faithful shared my excitement, despite not knowing anything about some of those people. And the truth is I have been surprised and pleased by my wife’s patience in this pursuit. Because here is the thing – most people are only concerned with their own genealogy. You could tell me that your great uncle was the King of Prussia, but what has that got to do with me? If you are prepared to show me a ring that your uncle received from Tsar Nicholas II, I’d give that some attention, but other than that we’re talking about distant relatives or perhaps only suppositions.
It seems to me that there are only two major groups of people who have been really interested in genealogies. The Mormons are quite interested, because it is related to some of their theology – their heresy. The Church of the Latter Day Saints believes that baptism is directly involved in their kind of salvation. Furthermore they believe that living people can be baptized on behalf of dead people, and in some mystical way, salvation can be passed on to those dead people. So for almost 200 years serious Mormons have been researching their families, in order to save deceased relatives by way of their baptism. Eventually they began to make their genealogical records available to non-Mormons.
The only other large group, to my knowledge, that has been seriously interested in family records were the people of Israel. One reason for that interest and their meticulous record-keeping has been to prove the lineage of the Messiah. Interestingly, despite what some Jews might claim, most, if not all the actual authenticated genealogical records, were destroyed toward the close of the first century after Christ. When the Roman General Titus destroyed the Temple in 70 AD, there wasn’t opportunity to protect or preserve the family records of Israel. One of the effects of that was that it has become impossible to prove the lineage of any alleged Messiah since that time. The Christ had to have been born before the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in AD 70.
This morning I want to quickly go through this long list of names again, but with a special purpose in mind. I will give you the Old Testament names of the people that I’d like you to notice. And I want you to remember some of the things about their lives. Please apply yourselves and listen; I know that these are not the names of your relatives. You might not be overly interested in this genealogy, but it is important, as I said last Sunday night. But this time my purpose is not so much to authenticate the lineage of Christ Jesus. This time I have something that really does relate directly to you and me.
Then “Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren.” If you know your Bible history you’ll remember that Jacob was a scoundrel. Even though the Lord had told his father that He had chosen Jacob and rejected Esau, Jacob used deceit and trickery to obtain his father’s blessing and to eliminate any competition from his brother. Early on in his life, there was nothing in Jacob which draws our attention, affection or respect.
Then “Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram.” The Judas of Matthew 1 is better known as Judah in the Old Testament, the father of one of the twelve tribes of Israel. The story of the birth of Pharez and Zarah is so disgusting that I’d rather not retell it here this morning. Suffice it to say that Pharez was a child of Judah’s adultery and incest. It could be argued that Pharez’ father was also, in another way, his grandfather. And yet, there in the lineage of Christ are the names of these wicked people. But they are wicked people whom the Lord touched with his grace – that is, they were “redeemed.”
The next few names are also found with different spellings the last verses of the Book of Ruth. For example, Booz is there given as Boaz. One of the primary characters of that book is Boaz, the great-great-great grandson of Pharez. Of course, the Book of Ruth is the heart-warming tale of the family of Elimelech of Bethlehem, Judah. Elimelech, suffering near starvation because of a famine, moved his wife and two sons to Moab. There those two boys married two of the forbidden daughters of Moab. Then all three of the men in that family died, leaving Elimelech’s widow and her two daughters-in-law. With death again staring her in the face, Mrs. Elimelech, a woman named Naomi, decided to return to Judah. When her daughters-in-law offered to go with her, she did her best to discourage them, releasing them from any family responsibilities which they created by marrying her sons. One daughter was delighted to go back to her father’s house, but Ruth vowed to go with her mother-in-law. Eventually, through love, through law, and through the providence of God, Ruth met and married one of the kinsmen of Elimelech. And together they had a son who eventually became the grand-father of David, king of Israel. The thing to notice is that Ruth was a Moabitess. Deuteronomy 23:3 says something which is repeated in other scriptures – “An Ammonite or Moabite shall NOT enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the LORD for ever.” Centuries later, Nehemiah understood this verse to mean that no Moabite could be a true worshiper of Jehovah. And yet here, by the grace of God was a Moabitess who loved the Lord and was in the lineage which brought the Messiah into the world.
“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.” We are probably all familiar with David’s sin with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah. The sins there include adultery and eventually murder. But the child of that union was named Solomon, and above all of David’s children that man succeeded him.
The next few verses give us the names of a number of Solomon’s descendants up to the fall of Jerusalem before the Babylonians. Some of these names, in their Old Testament versions, are among the most honorable – Asa, Hezekiah, and Josiah. But several of these people were among the most wicked and disgusting in the history of Judah. Jehoram, Uzziah or Ahaziah, Joash, and Manasseh. “Manasseh (for example) was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem: But did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, like unto the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel.” Jehoiakim, Zedekiah, and Jehoahaz were brethren at about the time of the Babylonian captivity. They either were killed or went into captivity because of their sins against the Lord.
The thing that I’d like you to notice is that all of these people, some wicked, some idolatrous, and some aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, were all in the genealogy of Joseph, the husband of Mary. The Book of Luke, which we will not get into, gives us the lineage of Mary herself. These were the people through whom the promises of God were passed on to the eventual Messiah. These people supply the legal and physical right to David’s throne to the eventual King of Kings. And here is the point….
This is the way that God works in this world – in spite of His omnipotence and sovereignty. Or perhaps I should in holy accord with of His omnipotence and sovereignty. God delights in reaching down into the gutters of Bagdad, Beirut, Bethlehem, Brighton and Birmingham, to pick-up slimy idolaters like Abram. He regenerates the heathen, putting life into that spirit which had been born dead in trespasses and sins. Abram, along with a new name, was given a desire to love and serve the true God – Jehovah. In a very similar way, God spoke to the heart of Ruth, telling her to go to the place that He would lead her. Of course, she willingly responded, and not only did the Lord give her a new heart – a non-Moabite heart – but He made her a part of the lineage of the future Messiah – her Saviour.
The Bible loudly echos what our hearts only whisper. “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes.” “There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.” There is only one cause behind Abram’s faith and obedience, and Ruth’s faith and obedience. It is the grace of the Almighty expressed directly toward them. These two were foreign-born idolaters, but the Lord chose to love and to save them, despite their backgrounds.
Then there were people like Pharez and Solomon. These two men were “shapen in iniquity; and in sin did (their mothers) conceive them.” Their father’s were adulterers, and one even murdered in order to cover up his adultery. They were born in – and through – sin. But there is a sense in which we were all born in iniquity, and David confessed to this fact himself. That is, since our parents were sinners, we were born sinners. Even if our parents were born again – regenerated – even though our parents were Christians when we were conceived, they could not pass their spiritual life on to us. But such things are insignificant problems to the Almighty Saviour. He who created life in the first week can create it again in the last week. He who created physical life can re-create spiritual life, when He chooses. As Jesus said, “ye must be born again.” And he makes it happen.
Then there are people like Judah and David. Both were filthy sinners, unworthy of the time of day from the infinitely holy God. And yet there they are in the lineage of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a sense in which it does not matter to God how wretched your sin might be. It doesn’t matter if you have murdered someone, like your unborn baby, sometime ago. It doesn’t matter if you stole from your employer, or that you were promiscuous in your youth. I say that “it doesn’t matter” – in the sense that God’s grace is greater than any and all sins. Of course God hates these sins of ours. He hated them so much that He ordained that Jesus Christ His son should die to make an atonement for them. But one of the lessons contained in these verses is that God’s grace is greater than our sins.
And another lesson is that God is going to be glorified whether we repent of our sin as David and Jacob did, or whether we stubbornly refuse and are destroyed in God’s judgment as was Jehoiakim and his brothers. The question for you and me, is whether or not God has put in our hearts a desire for Him. Will you repent and follow Christ as did Abraham and Ruth? Will you acknowledge your idolatry and will you cast it aside in favor of love for the Savior and His Word? We will never be a part of the lineage of Christ. But perhaps you can be a part of the line of evangelism from one sinner to another. Are you a child of God by faith in Christ Jesus? Have are you living in repentance before God as David and Judah were? Have you met Christ at the cross in repentance and faith?