Latest / Chapel Talks / The Son of Abraham, Son of David, Son of God | Matthew 1:1–18 | Revd Dr Justyn Terry

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The Son of Abraham, Son of David, Son of God | Matthew 1:1–18 | Revd Dr Justyn Terry · Chapel Talks

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It's lovely to be with you. Great privilege to
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be here at Oak Hill. I've been here for several
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years, I've realised. It's lovely to be back
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again and have a chance to open up this passage
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from Matthew's Gospel. So prior to coming to
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Wycliffe Hall, I was actually 11 years at a theological
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college in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The evangelical
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college there for the Episcopal Church, now really
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more the Anglican Church of North America. And
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from time to time we'd go out. to other churches,
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often support churches, and often would take
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a student with us. And when we go to some of
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the more southern states, particularly I'm thinking
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now of places like South Carolina, we try to
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take someone who came from that sort of area,
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and it would be helpful that they could talk
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about their experience at the college. But it's
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also absolutely fascinating to me, particularly
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in some of those more southern states, they wanted
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to know the surname of the student. Because they
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reckon if they knew the surname, they could kind
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of see if they had a sort of family connection
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and work out if they kind of knew them. And it
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was quite a prominent thing. I realised a lot
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of folk coming out of those sort of communities,
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their family connections were really important
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to them. So when we hear a whole genealogy being
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read out, I think probably comes as a surprise
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to most of us raised in cultures that aren't
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as fascinated with family lines. I think to the
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folks in South Carolina and elsewhere, no surprise
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at all. But I should imagine even in our own
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cultures here, we begin to notice who we are
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and what we're doing. It's not unrelated to parents,
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grandparents and going back through. I was quite
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struck. I came across a little Christian tract
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that my grandfather had written decades ago.
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He died just after I was born. And so I was working
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very hard, not very long ago. I don't know if
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I've got it with me, but at the end we have.
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Here we go. A little gospel tract I carry about.
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My grandfather wrote a gospel tract? I've no
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idea. But it's not unusual. You know, someone
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in the medical profession? Well, maybe someone
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in their family is from the medical profession,
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or if you're a sports person or an actor, or
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maybe you're in ministry. Turns out, oh, well,
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you're not the first to be in ministry. We are
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influenced by our families. So whilst it might
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be to us a bit of a surprise to open such an
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important piece of written work as a gospel to
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do a whole list of a genealogy, no surprise.
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to a Jewish audience, because it's a wonderful
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way to introduce someone. You've got the family
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background. You can see the lineage. You can
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see where they've come from. And it's quite clear
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that Matthew wants us to notice two particular
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ancestors of Jesus, because clearly he thinks
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by noticing those two names, you're going to
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have an immediate introduction to who Jesus is.
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And the whole structuring of it is also making
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clear that this is an important announcement.
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This is a sovereign work of God. He's been working
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on for generations and generations. And we have
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these three groups of 14 generations. And again,
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mathematicians will spot don't exactly add up
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to 14. And if you worry about that, please do
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not worry about it. As Dick France points out,
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it's more of a theological 14 than a statistical
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one. I'm quite sure the person who wrote this
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was well able to count up to 14. That's not the
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point. It's not all about the numbers. But it's
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saying there's a lovely sense of a pattern unfolding.
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And now's the big moment. The Messiah has at
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last arrived. And by giving his genealogy, we've
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been given the backstory. But alongside that,
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we've also got some rather surprise candidates
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added in. Some of these, if you like, the irregularities.
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You don't expect to see Tamar in here. And Rahab,
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the prostitutes. And nor would you expect to
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see someone famously brought into the Bible narrative
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when she is committing adultery with King David,
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Bathsheba. And what about Ruth the Moabitess?
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Unlikely candidates. Everyone else in the list,
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until they get to Mary, is a man. They're being
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brought in deliberately to say, yes, these are
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key figures in the ancestry of Jesus. And just
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to kind of notice, I think maybe in theological
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college life, We can often feel that, you know,
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there are other people here who seem more worthy
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to be here than I am. I certainly remember that
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kind of feeling. And maybe you're not from a
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sort of generations of ministers. Now it's my
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moment. And maybe you're thinking, well, everyone
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else seems to know the Bible better than I do.
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And they've got this wonderful ministry experience.
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And I can see they've got these great gifts.
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What am I doing here? But God's called you in.
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He's preparing you for something. And God delights
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to keep on bringing people in. So don't in any
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way discard yourself or put yourself out of what
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God is doing. He delights to call us in. So I
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want us to really look at this passage, particularly
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focus around three key names, Abraham, David,
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and of course, Jesus. Because this is the way
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that the gospel starts and how we are introduced
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to the central figure. So we begin by noticing
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we have the introduction to Jesus. as the son
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of Abraham, who of course came to bring the blessing
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to the nations, as Jesus was just about to do.
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And again, funnily enough, Tom Wright likes to
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call it a drum roll, this sense of, and here
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are the generations of, which again, not very
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exciting language to English ears, but if you're
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familiar with Genesis, time and again, a big
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moment is introduced in Genesis 2, Genesis 5,
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these are the generations of. It's like the opening
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of a new chapter. Something significant is really
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going on. Something is about to happen that you
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really need to pay extra attention to. And so
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it's all this begetting. You've got the Greek
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word here, agenison, and it's talking about the
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begetting, the generation of one generation after
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another. And it's talking about how God has been,
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over these years, faithfully preserving, protecting,
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and bringing through his people this one particular
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son. called Jesus. And I notice of course with
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Abraham, obviously you can say, but one of the
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things that is quite clearly prominent in the
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life of Abraham is a man of unusually remarkable
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obedient faith. When he's called out of his homeland,
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where no doubt he was quite safe and secure and
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kind of knew how things work, to go into a far
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country that he will be told the name of after
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he'd set off, that is quite a journey. Even just
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setting off from England or London, heading out
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to Pittsburgh, at least we knew where we were
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going. It's a big enough challenge, even knowing
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where you're going, having to dislocate, relocate.
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It's a very big deal. But he was willing to do
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it. He knew that God had told him, off he goes.
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He gets sent off to a distant country. Well,
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of course, we see that with the Son of God. He
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comes to us, if you like, from a distant country
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and a much more glorious one. And so we see that
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wonderful faithfulness and of course the astonishing
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story of him even offering up his son Isaac,
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the one who he'd been waiting for, the one who
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God had promised to give him and then having
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to have the faith presumably to believe that
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God could raise him from the dead. Extraordinary
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faith. Now of course there are other ways we'll
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see later where Abraham doesn't measure up to
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Jesus in all sorts of ways but we notice he's
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a man of obedient faith. But we also notice here's
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a man through whom God was going to bring blessing
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to the nation. So we come back to chapter 12
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of Genesis. And right there we see that the Lord
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said to Abraham, leave your country, your people,
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your father's household and go to a land I will
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show you. I will make you a great nation. I will
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bless you. I will make your name great and you
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will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless
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you. And whoever curses you, I will curse. And
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all peoples on earth will be blessed through
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you. Quite an extraordinary promise. And of course,
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some blessings did indeed come through Abraham.
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But of course, what we're waiting for is the
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great blessing still to become fulfilled in Jesus.
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He's the one who's come to fulfill that covenant
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promise. He's come to bless the nations. Yes,
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the people of Israel, but not just the nation
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of Israel. He's come to bring a blessing. To
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the nations. As I said, of course, we've got
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to notice there are all sorts of ways that Jesus
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vastly exceeds, of course, Abraham. Abraham,
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he has his failings. He passes his wife off as
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his sister. Partial truth, but of course, significantly
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deficient on the whole truth. There are all sorts
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of other ways he fails. He doesn't just have
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a child with Sarah. He has other children. What
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is going on? He's not a paragon of virtue. But
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he is a way of beginning to think. This is the
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sort of ancestor that Jesus has. Someone who's
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willing to obediently travel off and the person
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who's willing to faithfully be used by God to
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bring a blessing to the nations. And so from
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the start, Matthew wants us to know that this
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Jesus, he has a clear, solid Jewish ancestry.
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His father is Abraham. So he comes to bring a
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blessing to the nations. But what we also see
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when we get a little bit further down to verse
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6, Jesus is also... the son of david who amongst
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many other things vanquishes his enemies that's
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also a clear central part of what jesus has come
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to do so here we go verse six and jesse the father
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of king david david was the father of solomon
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his mother had been uriah's wife and on we go
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again back into this long list of great names
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it's also noticeable he's the only one who actually
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gets the title king Well, guess what? His son
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Solomon was also king, but doesn't get mentioned.
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He's the only one who really makes the grade
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in a way worth recording for future posterity.
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He is, if you like, the nearest thing to an ideal
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king because he was willing to faithfully do
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what God called him to do. And he was willing
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to go out and fight the enemies of God and bring
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the victories of God, thereby displaying the
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glories of God. And so we see also picking up
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that wonderful Old Testament lesson. If you go
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back to Genesis 49, some of the ways in which
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Jacob was blessing his son Judah, well, some
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of that was being fulfilled in King David. There
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was a sense in which he was able to really go
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forward against the enemies of God and bring
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that triumph. The scepter would be with him.
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We see other prophecies fulfilled. Well, it's
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beginning to be fulfilled. If you go back to
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some of Balaam's prophecy back in... Numbers
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24, that expectation of someone that God would
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raise up to bring provision for his people. Well,
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again, you see bits of that being fulfilled in
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the life of David. As a wonderful summary towards
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the end of his life to Samuel 8, all the different
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nations he triumphed over. The peace that God
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had brought. And it's not just for him, it's
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for him and his mighty men. So again, heading
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out into ministry, don't think it's all up to
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you. You need a team around you. people who can
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give you that shared wisdom and discernment.
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So many times in the New Testament, it's presbyters
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rather than a presbyter heading off into a leadership
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role. So again, people around you. And so often
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those sort of friendships that are key people
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around you, maybe the sort of senior leadership
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team or equivalent, produce some of the most
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rich and vibrant relationships. I'm still in
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touch with people I've served with in years gone
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by. It's a wonderful sense that we're in this
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together, the mighty men and women of God. being
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called into his kingdom work without his help
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we're in real trouble but we get a ringside seat
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to see what the lord will do and that is a really
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beautiful thing and of course one of the central
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victories was david up against goliath before
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he was the king and jr packer loves to pick up
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this story and show how this kind of begins to
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help us think towards things like substitutionary
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atonement because when david arrives at the battlefield
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his life is not in danger he's not a soldier
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and yet he's willing to go and put his life on
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the line against the giant Goliath presumably
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because Saul wasn't willing to we already know
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that Saul was the nearest thing that the Israelites
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had to a giant he was head and shoulders above
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the rest of them but he's sitting quietly in
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his tent said oh you can borrow my armor you
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go and fight him not the quality of kingship
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we're really looking for didn't put David off
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he goes out there and he brings Goliath down
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He puts his life on the line, substituting himself
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to bring salvation to that army. And indeed,
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if you like, to prefigure the great work that
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Jesus would do in his substitutionary atonement
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for us. So we do see a wonderful way in which
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King David is, if you like, prefiguring the great
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victories that Jesus was about to unfold. Of
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course, as Gospel of Matthew will later go on
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to tell us. And again, we have to notice, yes,
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he falls short. There were all sorts of ways
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in which his great victories show taint of sin
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and selfishness and shortcoming. Clearly he should
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not have had an adulterous relationship with
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Bathsheba. He should not have arranged the death
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of her husband Uriah. On and on goes the list
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of failings. But he was, we know, a man after
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God's own heart who repented when he sinned.
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And God was merciful and kind and forgave him.
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And so we see how these things are again just
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beginning to point us to who Jesus is going to
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be. Who Jesus was and is. He comes not only to
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be a son of Abraham, but also the son of David.
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He's a royal family. You can imagine at this
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point, this is sort of reading that someone like
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King Herod would not have enjoyed very much.
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Because King Herod, who was on the throne, half
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Jewish, half Edomite. didn't enjoy hearing people's
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ancestry because he couldn't have had a reading
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like that. His ancestry did not go back to Abraham.
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And he was so angry about that, he had all the
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records destroyed. So no one was quite sure where
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their ancestry went back to. It was quite clear
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that God was doing something unique and powerful
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in raising up his servant, Jesus. And then what
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we, of course, have here is in Jesus, we have
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the Son of God inaugurating God's kingdom. So
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when you get to the end of this list, and Jacob,
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the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, slight
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chicane at that point, because Jesus is not the
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son of Joseph. Already a little bit of a hint
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that something strange is going on here. And
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of course, one has to read on. And then if you
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may have attended a Christian nativity stories
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in the past, we'll know what's coming up next.
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We see the whole story unfold, an amazing, miraculous
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revelation that God is taking on human flesh
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yes to be a son of Abraham yes to be a son of
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David but most significantly to be the son of
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God no matter how well you do as a son of Abraham
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no matter how well you do as a son of David you're
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not going to be able to fulfill the covenant
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promises it has to be a divine as well as a human
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deliverer and that's what we see unfolding in
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the verses that come next we see this wonderful
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sense of God having preserved his people through
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the exile That's something you can't simply take
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for granted. It's not like the nation went on
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holiday for a little while to Babylon. Holiday
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over, we all pack up and come home. A lot of
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the folks never came home. When nations are sent
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into exile, that's often the end of a nation.
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What happened to the ten tribes north of Judah?
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It's much more of a scattering effect. So the
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very fact that God had graciously preserved his
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people through all those generations of exile
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was again a way in which we could say... God
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was faithfully preserving his people and bringing
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them back safe and well. He was so determined
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to bring his blessing to the nations, so determined
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to bring a vanquishing of the enemies, he was
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watching over his folks throughout all these
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things. And of course we notice that when Jesus
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comes... not only to fulfill those promises of
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blessing to the nations, but also to fulfill
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the promise of the vanquishing of enemies. It's
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not just the nations of Philistines and others.
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It's actually to overcome the much bigger, greater,
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more pernicious enemies of sin and death and
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the devil. He comes to take them on so that his
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kingdom can be inaugurated, so the spirit of
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God can come back, the glory of the Lord can
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be revealed, and his full purposes can be made
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known. So that at last the blessings can indeed
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come to the nations and peace be restored on
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the earth and the new heavens and the new earth
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and all that is to come. So we can see these
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things neatly tucked away in this sort of wonderful
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overture to the whole of the gospel that lies
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ahead of us. But it's also a great reminder,
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not only for the celebrations of Christmas that
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we'll be engaged in these next days, but also
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in the ministries that lie ahead. You can have
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every confidence that this Jesus that you go
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out to proclaim, not only is he the son of Abraham,
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not only is he the son of David, he's also the
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son of God. And that is the reason we have good
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news, a blessing for the nations, an overcoming
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of our enemies, and an inauguration of the kingdom
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that one day will be revealed in all its glory.
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And our joy is to live in the knowledge of these
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things and to be equipped to go and proclaim
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these things faithfully to all generations. Let's
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bow our heads in prayer. My dear God, we do thank
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you for your gospel writers who've helped us
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to see who Jesus is. We thank you particularly
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for the witness of Abraham and David, but most
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of all for the life and work of Jesus and for
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his presence amongst us now through the Spirit.
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We pray that in this season of Advent and as
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we prepare for Christmas, that the good news
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of Jesus will be proclaimed in power in this
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nation and around the world. that people would
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hear and see and come to be followers of him.
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I need to equip each one of us here present to
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go and proclaim these glad tidings. And we pray
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these things in Jesus' name. Amen.