The Coming Kingdom: Matthew 1.1-17 (1)
Pray Psalm 22.23-25.
You who fear the LORD, praise Him!
All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him,
And fear Him, all you offspring of Israel!
For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted;
Nor has He hidden His face from Him;
But when He cried to Him, He heard.
My praise shall be of You in the great assembly;
I will pay My vows before those who fear Him.
Sing Psalm 22.23-25.
(Darwall: Rejoice, the Lord is King)
All you who fear the LORD, now praise His holy Name!
You children of His glorious Word, declare His fame!
We stand in awe of our eternal God, and on His mercy call.
For He has not despised the anguish of our King,
Nor from Him hid His eyes, Who knew such suffering.
Let praise arise from all who love and serve the Ruler of the skies!
Read Matthew 1.1-17; meditate on verse 1.
What do the names David and Abraham suggest?
Prepare.
1. How does Matthew refer to Jesus?
2. What is a genealogy, and why do we need to have a genealogy of Jesus?
Meditate.
Verse 1 is an ascending genealogy in summary. It begins with Jesus and works up through David—Israel’s greatest king—to Abraham—from whom God promised kings would descend (Gen. 17.6). By implication, therefore, Jesus is a King in the line of David. This is what Matthew will proclaim: Jesus, the promised King has come to bring His Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven (Matt. 4.17; 6.10).
Genealogies are Old Testament literary devices. Matthew begins his gospel with the most important genealogy of all, as if to drag the entire Old Testament in to the New, into Jesus.
Matthew immediately identifies Jesus as the Christ—the One anointed by God for the salvation of His people—and as the Son of David. Jesus is the heir to the promise God made to David of an eternal Kingdom (2 Sam. 7.12, 13). He is both Savior and King, God and Man.
And through Jesus come all the great and precious promises God made to Abraham, including the promise of a Kingdom, coming through the tribe of Judah (Gen. 49.8-11). Jesus embodies and fulfills all the promises of God (2 Pet. 1.4; 2 Cor. 1.20).
Savior, King, Fulfiller of all the ancient and precious promises of God? How does Jesus do that? Patience, reader: And settle in for the greatest story ever told. Jesus’ story, and yours.
Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
“Remember the Law of Moses, My servant, which I commanded him…with all the statutes and judgments. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.
And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers,
lest I come and strike the earth with a curse” (Mal. 4.4-6).
Then silence. For four hundred years. But instead of sending a curse, God sent us a Savior.
“The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham…” (Matt. 1.1).
The Fulfillment of every Old Testament prophecy through This One. This Jesus.
This Lamb of God to take away the curse—the sins of the whole world (Jn. 1.29).
In Luke’s genealogy we are taken all the way back to the very beginning:
“Now Jesus…being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph” was “the son of David…the son of Abraham…the son of Adam, the son of God” (Lk. 3.23, 31, 34, 38).
And Mary said:
“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant;
for behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.
For He Who is mighty has done great things for me.
And holy is His Name.
And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has helped His servant Israel,
in remembrance of His mercy,
as He spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his seed forever” (Lk. 1.46-55).
“…in you [Abraham] all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 12.3).
Now this long-awaited Messiah has appeared—fully God and fully Man.
Because God so loved the world… (Jn. 3.16).
Reflect.
1. What does it mean to say that Jesus is “the Christ”, the “Anointed One” of God?
2. How does the mention of David teach us to think about Jesus in His coming to earth?
3. How about Abraham? How does that encourage us to think about Jesus? See if you can work your answers to these questions into one sentence.
He is before the centuries and of one substance with the Father himself, from the standpoint of eternity. But by this genealogy he is also numbered among the families of humanity according to the flesh. For in truth, while remaining God, Christ became man without ceasing to be God…. Severus (488-538), Cathedral Sermons, Homily 94
Pray Psalm 22.27-31.
Jesus came to save and rule us; now He sends us to proclaim Him and His Kingdom to the world. Pray for grace and strength to make the most of every opportunity to be His witness today.
Sing Psalm 22.27, 28.
Psalm 22.28 (Darwall: Rejoice, the Lord is King)
All nations shall repent and hasten to the LORD;
All those to whom His truth is sent shall praise His Word.
The LORD is King!
His sovereign rule on high now we His people sing!
Psalm 22.29-31 (Dix: For the Beauty of the Earth)
All the prosp’rous of the earth shall before His mercy fall;
bending low before His worth, hear them humbly on Him call.
Even those low in the grave He will by His mercy save.
Let the generations all witness to His saving grace;
let them to all nations call, “Bow before His holy face!”
Let the children of the earth hear of Jesus’ saving worth!
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.
