The Life of Christ
The Genealogy of Christ (Part 3 of 6)
by
Rev. Mark Perkins, Pastor
Denver Bible Church
326 E. Colorado Ave.
Denver, Colorado 80210
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The Abraham Connection
From Abraham to David, there are fourteen generations. Abraham-Isaac-Jacob-Judah-Perez-Hezron-Ram-Admin-Amminadab-Nahshon-Salmon-Boaz-Obed-Jesse-David.
Between the genealogies in Luke and Matthew there is only one
difference, and that is the Luke's insertion of Admin between
Ram and Amminadab. This points out the reality of skipped generations
in genealogy lists.
It was a common practice to skip a generation and go from grandfather
to grandson. Sometimes that generation was skipped due to a spiritual
failure in the person in question; more often, there is no reason
given.
We will concentrate on Abraham, Nahshon, and Boaz in this line.
This line covers the age of the patriarchs, from God's covenant
with Abraham to the next covenant with David. Its chronology
runs from Abraham's birth in 2160 B.C. to Israel under king Saul
in 1004 B.C.
Abraham
Gen 12:1-3 records Abram's first call:
"Now the Lord said to Abram, 'Go forth from your country,
and from your relatives and from your father's house, to the
land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation,
and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall
be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you, and the
one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families
of the earth will be blessed.'"
Abraham had to leave his own country because God had a wonderful
place reserved for him and his progeny. He also had to leave
because his first home and his family and relatives would have
been a fatal distraction to him.
The covenants to Israel.
God provided the nation of Israel a fantastic portfolio of grace
blessings in the form of covenants. A covenant is based on the
attributes of God.
It finds its motive in the love of God. There is nothing treacherous or deceitful about a covenant.
It finds its modus operandi in grace. God gives based on his thinking, power, and merit.
It finds its dependability in faithfulness. The blessings always wait for Israel to take them.
It finds its timing and organization in order. Everything is arranged by the capabilities of God in eternity past.
It finds its enactment in the sovereignty of God. God chooses to bless Israel.
It finds its revelation in the truth of God. God is forthright and clear and honest in His communication of the details of His covenants. He always keeps His Word.
The only thing that Israel is to provide is their acceptance
of the very first covenant, which is the spiritual one. The spiritual
covenant is the relationship with God provision. In it, God provides
Israel with everything that they need to have a national relationship
with Him.
They have the information that they need in order to have a relationship with Him.
They have the power that they need in order to have a relationship with Him.
They have the righteousness that they need in order to have a relationship with Him.
This relationship with God is the greatest of all the covenants,
and it provides the best of the blessings.
Abraham is an example: until he got his relationship with God
on track, he would not receive the remainder of his covenant
blessings.
During the age of Israel, only racial Jews receive the blessings
of the covenants to Israel.
Individual Gentiles may still fulfill the plan of God for individuals,
and they may share in the covenants to Israel by way of blessing
by association.
The covenant to Abraham includes the promised land, a new and
unique race, blessing by association to all who bless his race,
a curse on the anti-semitic, and a messianic clause.
The land is defined in Gen 15:18-21.
The Jews must fulfill the spiritual covenant, and accept Christ
as Messiah in order to fully inherit this land. This will not
occur until the second advent of Christ. This is the messianic
clause.
The new and unique race is formed at the conception of Abraham's
first son by Sarah, providing a brand new genetic race through
the seed of Abraham.
All who bless the Jews are in turn blessed by God. Throughout
history the Jews encounter a massive amount of murderous persecution.
Whenever a person or a nation provides protection, or aides them
in some way, or just has a virtuous mental attitude about their
race, that person or nation is blessed by God.
All who curse the Jews are in turn cursed by God. Anti-semitism
is a death wish.
Abram did as the Lord commanded, and went out from Ur when he
was 75 years of age.
Abram means, "top father (as in rank), or exalted father
(as in respect)".
Sarai means, "contentious woman".
When he arrived in the new land at Shechem, he worshipped God.
Soon after Abram arrived in the new land, a terrible famine hit,
and he went down to Egypt to eat. This caused a complication.
Abram feared that he would be killed by the Egyptians if they
knew that Sarai was his wife, because she was very beautiful.
He was an oaf, and cared more about his safety than what would
happen to Sarai in the Egyptian harem.
Therefore, he lied to the Egyptians, and told them that Sarai
was his sister.
Pharaoh took Sarai for his own, but by stealing her (unwittingly)
from Abram he was the first to invoke the cursing clause of the
Abrahamic covenant.
When the cursing hit, Sarai blabbed the whole deal to Pharaoh,
and so Pharaoh was upset with Abram, but he did not kill him!
He was honorable and gave Sarai back and sent the whole entourage
back to Canaan.
When he arrived, Abram held a worship service in honor of the
Lord. Apparently he had recovered from his devious ways.
When Abram returned to the land, he and his nephew Lot were so
prosperous that their herds were always getting tangled together,
and their shepherds were at the point of engaging in a range
war. Therefore, Lot decided to go down into the Jordan valley
with his bunch in order to avoid further confrontations.
After a time, Lot became entangled in a local war. Genesis 14
tells the story.
When Lot was living down in the Jordan valley, the kings of Sodom
and Gomorrah fought a big battle, where they were defeated.
Lot got himself tangled up in it all somehow, and he was captured
by the victors. They took their spoil and Lot as well and left
for points North.
Abram heard about this and did the honorable thing: he took the
men of his household, 318 all told, and formed them into a fighting
force.
They must have been well trained, because they pulled off the
most difficult of all military maneuvers, a coordinated night
action.
They rescued Lot and all his goods, and returned to their homes.
It is here that Abram has another worship service.
Next is the story of Abraham's offspring.
Abraham's Offspring
The story of Sarai's treachery begins in Genesis 16.
"Now Sarai, Abram's wife had borne him no children, and
she had an Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar. So Sarai said
to Abram, 'Now behold, the Lord has prevented me from bearing
children. Please go in to may maid; perhaps I shall be built
up through her.' And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. And
after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram's
wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her maid, and gave her to
her husband Abram as his wife. And he went in to Hagar, and she
conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress
was despised in her sight. And Sarai said to Abram, 'May the
wrong done me be upon you. I gave my maid into your arms; but
when she saw she had conceived, I was despised in her sight.
May the Lord judge between you and me.'"
This was not a good marriage. We have already seen the treachery
of Abraham, and now it is Sarai's turn.
Sarai is barren, and no doubt she had quite a complex about it.
So Sarai conceives a plan. Maybe Abram was bugging her all the
time about children. Maybe the incident with Pharaoh had turned
her off to him in some way.
Because of all this, Sarai just wanted to get it over with. However,
she did not realize, that God's plan included her as well.
And Abraham was dumb enough to go along with the plan.
Of course, Hagar conceived right away, and after living for so
long with Sarai, the contentious woman and no doubt the contentious
master, she could not help but exult over her.
Poor Sarai. Her plan had failed miserably. What was worse, she
had this daily reminder of her failure to give Abram an heir.
Every time that Hagar craved new and unusual food combinations
she probably winked in Sarai's direction.
The first thing that Sarai did was to try to take it out on her
husband. "I may have suggested it, but you didn't have to
go through with it. This is all your fault!" She had become
quite irrational.
The second thing that Sarai did was to try to take it out on
Hagar. She verbally and mentally and physically abused this poor
pregnant woman. Hagar had to leave.
But the Lord would deal justly with Hagar, and she believed in
him, and returned to the authority of Sarai, and things were
better from then.
Now this plan had backfired terribly, and both Abram and Sarai
suffered for it.
There is no Biblical record of the next fifteen years. But we
know from the next part of their lives, Abram and Sarai have
improved their relationship with God tremendously.
In Genesis 17, the story picks up again.
"Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared
to Abram and said to him, 'I am God Almighty; walk before Me,
and be blameless. And I will establish My covenant between Me
and you, and I will multiply you exceedingly.' And Abram fell
on his face, and God talked with him, saying, 'As for Me, behold,
My covenant is with you, and you will be the father of a multitude
of nations. No longer will your name be called Abram, but your
name will be Abraham; for I will make you the father of a multitude
of nations. And I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will
make nations of you, and kings shall come forth from you. And
I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants
after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant,
to be God to you and to your descendants after you. And I will
give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your
sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession;
and I will be their God.'
God renews the covenant with Abram because Abram has grown spiritually
to the point where he has capacity for all the great covenant
blessing that God has prepared for him.
Abram falls on his face because he now has true humility. This
is a humility that can only come from an intimate knowledge of
God. Abram developed that knowledge over the fifteen years since
the Hagar disaster.
Now Abram is Abraham, the father of a multitude.Now he is ready
for the next test.
Gen. 16:9, "God said further to Abraham, 'Now as for you,
you will keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you
throughout their generations. This is My covenant, which you
will keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you:
every male among you shall be circumcised. And you shall be circumcised
in the flesh of your foreskin; and it will be a sign of the covenant
between Me and you.'"
Had Abraham not been a mature believer, he probably would have
said something along the lines of, "You want me to do what
to my what?!" Instead, he humbly complies.
And, he must have been a great leader, because his entire household
was under the requirement as well. "You want us to do what
to our whats?!"
But this was the beginning of the miraculous birth of Isaac.
The Birth of Isaac
Gen. 17:15, "Then God said to Abraham, 'As for Sarai your
wife, you will not call her name Sarai, but Sarah will be her
name. And I will bless her, and she will be a mother of nations;
kings of peoples will come from her.' Then Abraham fell on his
face and laughed, and said in his heart, 'Will a child be born
to a man one hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety
years old, bear a child?' And Abraham said to God, 'Oh that Ishmael
might live before thee!' But God said, 'No, but Sarah your wife
will bear you a son, and you will call his name Isaac; and I
will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant
for his descendants after him.'"
The birth of Isaac would mean the creation of a new race on the
planet - the race of the Jew.
The new race had these assets:
Client nation status. They were a nation that had a special relationship with God, and they were used as a witness to the entire world.
A special code, in the Mosaic Law.
A great land in which to live.
Fantastic leadership, in the Davidic dynasty.
A wonderful future, under the leadership of Jesus Christ in the Millennium.
Unique mental prosperity, which provides the basis for success in any endeavor.
The purpose for the new race was to represent God as a witness
to the entire world during the last half of the Old Testament
dispensation; to stand as the sole witness to the world during
the tribulation; to serve as the basis for the people of the
millennium.
The new race was being propagated for their leader, who would
come more than two thousand years later.
The impact of the new race in history. Pro-semitism would always
receive blessing by association. Anti-semitism would always receive
cursing by association.
In this passage, Abraham listens to what God has to say, and
comes to an erroneous conclusion.
He thinks it through, laughing all the while.
Sarah cannot have children.
I cannot give her what she needs to have children.
Then the Lord must want to use Ishmael as my seed, and must have all along!
Wrong, says God.
Isaac to Jesse
Isaac was born to Abraham and Sarah. He would marry Rebekhah,
and father the twins, Jacob and Esau. It is worthwhile to note
that Rebekhah, too, was barren. She was the second in the line
to find healing in God. Another miracle to continue the line
of Christ.
Jacob. This man was no prince, at least at first. He took
advantage of his older brother, Esau, and took his birthright
from him. Later he would wrestle with God, and in that match
he would win God's respect. God changed his name to Israel, 'wrestler
with God'.
Judah was one of the twelve sons of Israel. Tamar, the
widow of both his first and second sons, tricked him into sexual
relations by disguising herself has a prostitute. Tamar did this
as revenge, because Judah had wronged her by not giving her to
his third son. She became pregnant by this liaison, and bore
him twin sons. Judah would go on to spiritual maturity, in spite
of his early handicaps.
Perez was the second born son of Judah, the second of
twins. However, he was the one through which the line of Christ
would run. Not much is know about this man, except his birth.
Hezron forms a link in the genealogy, but not much else
is known about him.
Ram forms another link.
Amminadab We know only one thing about this man: his daughter
was the wife of Aaron the High Priest under Moses. He was a man
of the Exodus, and he died in the desert.
Nahshon. Now we can tell something of this man. His sister
Elisheba was married to Aaron. He was also a man of the Exodus
generation, the captain of the tribe of Judah. He must have been
a talented military leader, but he died in the desert with the
rest of his generation.
Salmon married Rahab, the famous prostitute of
Jericho. Although little is mentioned of Salmon, Rahab deserves
mention.
She was a prostitute in the town of Jericho, and when two spies
from the army of Israel come to scout the town they are going
to destroy, they happen upon Rahab's house of ill repute (O.K.,
even 3500 years ago military men had an instinct for this sort
of thing).
She saved these two spies from certain death by hiding them.
Rahab speaks to the two spies, and here is what she said, "I
know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the terror
of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the
land have melted away before you. For we have heard how the Lord
dried up the water of the Red Sea before yo when you came out
of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who
were beyond the Jordan, to Sihan and Og, who you totally destroyed.
And when we heard it, our hearts melted and no courage remained
in any man any longer because of you; for the Lord you God, He
is God in heaven above and on earth beneath."
Then the spies promise her that she and her family will be spared,
and they are.
Rahab and her extended family were the only survivors of the
town of Jericho. All the others were killed. Rahab lived out
her years with the nation of Israel, and she married Salmon.
Boaz was the son of Salmon and Rahab the prostitute. It
was his destiny to marry a foreign woman named Ruth.
Elimelech lived in Bethlehem with his wife Naomi and two sons,
Mahlon and Chilion.
A famine came upon the land, and so Elimelech took his wife and
sons to the land of Moab.
Elimelech died in Moab, and after his death, his sons took Moabite
women for wives. Their names were Ruth and Orpah (not Oprah).
Sadly, both the sons also died before they could give sons to
their wives.
After some quibbling, Ruth determined to return to Bethlehem
with her mother in law, while the other daughter in law stayed
in Moab.
Ruth believed in God, and she wanted to be in the land of promise.
By her hard work in the fields she earned the respect of Boaz,
a man of Bethlehem, and eventually he would marry her.
Through Ruth and Boaz, the line of Christ was continued.
Obed was the son of Ruth and Boaz, and he was the grandfather
of David.
Jesse, Obed's son, was David's father.
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