John 20:30-31 - Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.
3 reasons we can rejoice in His family tree
I. Because It Proves that God Fulfills His Covenant Promises
A. Promise to David (v. 1)
Psalm 89:28-29 - My lovingkindness I will keep for him forever, and My covenant shall be confirmed to him. So I will establish his descendants forever and his throne as the days of heaven.
2 Samuel 7:16 - Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.
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.
B. Promise to Abraham (v. 1)
Genesis 12:1-3 - 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.”
Genesis 22:18 - In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.
C. Promise to Judah (v. 2-3)
Genesis 49:9-10 - Judah is a lion’s whelp; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He couches, he lies down as a lion, and as a lion, who dares rouse him up? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
II. Because It Proves that God Brings Beauty from Ashes
A. Tamar: a story of injustice, betrayal, and deception (v. 3)
Genesis 38:7 - But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord took his life.
B. Rahab: a story of sexual sin
Hebrews 11:31 - By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient, after she had welcomed the spies in peace.
James 2:25 - In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?
C. Ruth: a story of loss
Ruth 1:16-17 - But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the Lord do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me.”
D. Josiah: a story of a wicked father and a seemingly impossible task
2 Kings 21:2-3, 16 - He did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord dispossessed before the sons of Israel. For he rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he erected altars for Baal and made an Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel had done…Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; besides his sin with which he made Judah sin, in doing evil in the sight of the Lord.
2 Kings 21:19-23 - Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem…He did evil in the sight of the Lord, as Manasseh his father had done. For he walked in all the way that his father had walked, and served the idols that his father had served and worshiped them. So he forsook the Lord, the God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of the Lord. The servants of Amon conspired against him and killed the king in his own house.
1 Kings 22:1-2 - Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem…He did right in the sight of the Lord and walked in all the way of his father David, nor did he turn aside to the right or to the left.
1 Kings 22:3 - The king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people entered into the covenant.
1 Kings 22:20 - All the priests of the high places who were there he slaughtered on the altars and burned human bones on them; then he returned to Jerusalem.
“Good or evil, they were part of Messiah’s line, for though grace does not run in the blood, God’s providence cannot be deceived or outmaneuvered.” (Matthew, Expositors Bible Commentary Vol 8, p.67)
E. Mary: a story of a poor, humble girl
III. Because It Proves that God Created an Amazing Story
Matthew 1:17 - 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.
A. A story line of need and involvement
B. A story line that has a clear solution
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