The Coming Kingdom: Matthew 1.1-17 (6)
Pray Psalm 137.4, 5.
How shall we sing the LORD’s song
In a foreign land?
If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
Let my right hand forget its skill!
Sing Psalm 137.4, 5.
(Gift of Love: Though I May Speak)
How can we sing, exalt Your Name, or praises bring amid our shame?
If we forget Your Church’s fame, O LORD, then let our hands grow lame.
Read Matthew 1.1-17; meditate on verse 17.
What three names stand out? What does each represent?
Prepare.
1. Where does this “summary” of Jesus’ genealogy begin? Why?
2. How is Jesus referred to here? Why?
Meditate.
In Luke 4, in His first public proclamation, Jesus deliberately chose a passage that includes these words: “To proclaim liberty to the captives…” (Lk. 4.18). Jesus applied those verses from Isaiah to Himself. His coming signaled the release of the captives and the bringing of liberty to all who are oppressed.
This verse is a “summing-up” both of Jesus’ genealogy and His mission. He came to fulfill all the promises of God, as represented in Abraham (Gen. 12.1-3; cf. 2 Cor. 1.20). He came to assume the throne of His father, David, to be the everlasting King of kings and Lord of lords. And He came as the Christ, the Messiah and the Anointed One, to deliver God’s people from their captivity and to transfer them into His Kingdom.
We should meditate a bit on Matthew’s threefold mention of fourteen generations. Three is the number of the Trinity, and so the three sections of fourteens suggests that this genealogy derives from God’s plan and was sustained by His sovereign will and power. Fourteen is twice seven, the number of perfection, suggesting that the One with Whom this genealogy ends is doubly perfect—Son of God and Son of Man. Forty-two can be regarded as six sevens or “weeks” of generations, which terminates in a seventh generation that begins with Jesus, comprised of all those who, descending from Him by faith, enter the rest of God (cf. Heb. 4.1-10). We are part of that new “seventh” generation that Jesus came to inaugurate. Matthew’s readers would have pondered those three fourteens from every conceivable angle. Those who had come to believe in Jesus would surely have seen in them a statement concerning the Person and work of our Lord.
In the final verse, Matthew recapitulates the genealogy and its message: Jesus is the Heir of God’s promises, the King of Israel, and One Who has come to set the captives free. This is our Jesus and, through Him, our salvation.
Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
“So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations,
from David until the captivity in Babylon are fourteen generations, and
from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ are fourteen generations” (Matt. 1.17).
“Therefore My people have gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge;
their honorable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst…
Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as if with a cart rope…
Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
who put darkness for light, and light for darkness;
who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
…because they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts,
and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
Therefore the anger of the LORD is aroused against His people…
For all this His anger is not turned away,
but His hand is stretched out still” (Is. 5.18, 20, 21, 24, 25).
“All day long I have stretched out My hands to a disobedient and contrary people” (Rom. 10.21; Is. 65.2).
“But God demonstrates His Own love toward us,
in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Much more then, having now been justified by His blood,
we shall be saved from wrath through Him” (Rom. 5.8).
From captivity Christ Jesus has rescued us; for it is not hard to see ourselves described in these Old Testament passages. Nor is it hard to accept, that just as they needed God’s outstretched hand of salvation, so did we. Our past lineage is irrelevant, our present lineage life-saving!
“Oh, give thanks to the LORD!
Call upon His Name;
make known His deeds among the peoples!
Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him;
talk of all His wondrous works!
Glory in His holy Name;
let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the LORD!
Seek the LORD and His strength; seek His face evermore!
Remember His marvelous works which He has done,
His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth,
O seed of Abraham His servant,
you children of Jacob,
His chosen ones!
He is the LORD our God;
His judgments are in all the earth.
He remembers His covenant forever,
the word which He commanded,
for a thousand generations,
the covenant which He made
with Abraham, and His oath to Isaac, and confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, to Israel
as an everlasting covenant” (Ps. 105.1-10). The past, present, future Kingdom of God.
Abraham to David to captivity to Jesus to us—servants of the living, reigning God.
Reflect.
1. When did Jesus deliver you from captivity to sin? What was that like?
2. How can you pray for the people in your Personal Mission Field who are still in captivity to sin?
3. How can you see that people in your community are captive to sin? How should you pray for them?
The reason why forty-two generations are given according to the flesh of Christ being born into the world is this: forty-two is the product of six times seven. Six, however, is the number that signifies work and toil, for the world was made in six days—it is a world made in work and toil and pain. So, appropriately, there are forty-two generations before Christ being born into the world in toil and pain, and these generations contain the mystery of work and toil. Anonymous (no date), Incomplete Work on Matthew, Homily 1
Pray Psalm 137.1, 2, 6-9.
This bitter, angry psalm betrays a heart in deep distress for the sin that led to judgment and captivity. We can pray this psalm against the enemy of our soul and call on the Lord to cleanse us of all our sins, crush the head of Satan (Gen. 3.15), and bring our spiritual foes to ruin.
Sing Psalm 137.1-3, 6-9.
(Gift of Love: Though I May Speak)
We sit beside the waters deep in broken pride, to mourn and weep
for Zion’s woes and all our sin: How great our foes, without, within!
If ever praise forsake my tongue, if Zion’s ways no more be sung,
if greater joy by me be found, my lips destroy, no more to sound.
Remember, LORD Your boasting foes, who hate Your Word and visit woes
on your dear sheep that they may die: Cause them to weep and mourn and sigh.
How blessed are You, our sovereign LORD, Who judgment true shall soon accord
to all who seek Your sheep to kill. Preserve the meek who serve You still.
T. M. and Susie Moore
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment to give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
Other columns of interest: This week: Our Read Moore podcast invites you to bring Joy to Your World!. And our Crosfigell teaching letter is pursuing a brief series on the early 6th-century Irish saint, Coemgen. Check out our other excellent writers. Click here to see all the other columns and writers available to you.
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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.
