The Promised Messiah Come at Last!

Matthew 1:1-17

1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham:

2 Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers. 3 Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez begot Hezron, and Hezron begot Ram. 4 Ram begot Amminadab, Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmon. 5 Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse, 6 and Jesse begot David the king.

David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah. 7 Solomon begot Rehoboam, Rehoboam begot Abijah, and Abijah begot Asa. 8 Asa begot Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat begot Joram, and Joram begot Uzziah. 9 Uzziah begot Jotham, Jotham begot Ahaz, and Ahaz begot Hezekiah. 10 Hezekiah begot Manasseh, Manasseh begot Amon, and Amon begot Josiah. 11 Josiah begot Jeconiah and his brothers about the time they were carried away to Babylon.

12 And after they were brought to Babylon, Jeconiah begot Shealtiel, and Shealtiel begot Zerubbabel. 13 Zerubbabel begot Abiud, Abiud begot Eliakim, and Eliakim begot Azor. 14 Azor begot Zadok, Zadok begot Achim, and Achim begot Eliud. 15 Eliud begot Eleazar, Eleazar begot Matthan, and Matthan begot Jacob. 16 And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ.

17 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.

Here begins the promise left from four hundred years ago by Malachi.  Matthew starts the lineage of Jesus on the human side with Abraham as the father of us by faith (Galatians 3:9) instead of going to the absolute beginning of Adam, the son of God as given in Luke 3:38 which focused on His divinity as well as humanity.  This account shows us that God is faithful in His promises, that He is sovereign in His choices and history, that He uses men and women (5 mentioned here) and above all that the Lord is the God of grace to preserve this lineage and show it to us to demonstrate His promises.  Jesus as Messiah was the Anointed One in the picture and type of King David (Jeremiah 23:5-6, 33:15-16) which made the scriptures difficult to separate which was being talked about in the Old Testament prophecies about the Christ to come.  He was spoken of there the whole time in scripture (Luke 24:27) but the eyes and ears of most were shut until He lived and died and arose among us (Luke 24:31, 34-35) and opened our eyes to see and ears to hear Him.  These genealogies are just added breadcrumbs leading back to tie the promises with the reality of Jesus the Messiah spoken of who had come at last to deliver (save) His called and chosen people at last according to His promises.  The long-hidden mystery of the identity of the Anointed Savior (Romans 16:25, Ephesians 3:9, Colossians 1:27) was unveiled before us at last!  The significance of the generations were also shown to be in equally divided from Abraham to David, David to the Babylonian captivity, and from captivity to Jesus Christ being born among us.  The exact number of generations was not the focus, for these represented the Abrahamic covenant (vv. 2-5), the Davidic covenant (vv. 6-11), and the anticipated New Covenant in verses 12-16 which Malachi and others had spoken of (Micah 5:2, Malachi 4:2) before the four hundred years of silence from the messengers of God until He became a man among us (John 1:14) to show us His glory.  Yes, it is not the numbers or even the persons of the generations listed which are the most important message, but that the promised Messiah had come at last!