Some of us know a lot about our family line. Some of us . . . not so much.
I know on my mom’s side that two Kirkland brothers came down to the Medulla area just after the Civil War and started a new life. From them came many, many Kirklands, of which I am one.
On the McCraw side, I know that we have a lot of challenges with families staying intact; I hoped to change that legacy in my household.
Some of you could tell me a lot about your ancestry, and some of you know very little. My wife has done a lot of ancestry work for others, and she is always fascinated and wants to tell me all about other people’s families.
Family lines are interesting, and sometimes they’re important.
There is one family line that is very important, and that is the family line of the Messiah, the one who was to come and bring hope to the people of Israel.
In today’s message, we’re going to continue our series called “The Prophecies of Christmas.” Today, we’re going to learn about “A Miraculous Line.”
Before we do, let’s go to God in prayer and ask Him to speak to us.
(prayer)
The line from which the Messiah was to come was very important.
You see, there were specific prophecies about the Messiah, and the Jewish people knew one way to look for the Messiah was to look for someone who would fit this criteria.
So, as we dive into these prophecies, let’s pay attention to these important people from Jewish history and how they fit into the miraculous line of Jesus the Messiah.
By the way, we’ll spend some time in Matthew 1 as we look at the genealogies provided for us to see the family line of Jesus.
First, we learn that . . .
I. Jesus is from the line of Abraham.
We see right away in Matthew 1:1–2 “An account of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham: Abraham fathered Isaac, Isaac fathered Jacob, Jacob fathered Judah and his brothers.”
So, Jesus is from the line of Abraham, but why does that matter?
Well, of course, all the Jewish people are from the line of Abraham, as Abraham was the grandfather of a man named Jacob, who would later come to be named Israel.
So, in short, the Jewish Messiah needed to be Jewish.
However, there is also a specific prophecy related to the line of Abraham.
Listen to this prophecy in Genesis 12:1–3: “The Lord said to Abram: Go from your land, your relatives, and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, I will curse anyone who treats you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
Do you hear that last part? God says to Abraham, “All the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
What’s that all about? If you track the history of the Jewish people, they have not really had a global reach to the effect that they have been a blessing to all of the world. In fact, historically, the Jewish people have not always been well-loved by the world. So, what does this mean?
Of course, if you are listening with your gospel ears, you know that this prophecy can only be fulfilled through the coming of the Messiah, who came not only for the Jewish people to be blessed, but for all the world to be blessed.
It was through Abraham’s line that Jesus would come, which is why all the world would be blessed through Abraham.
There would be One who would miraculously come from Abraham, who was greater than Abraham.
In fact, Jesus said of Himself in John 8:58 Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.”
Jesus was born on the earth much later than Abraham, but He said He was before Abraham.
In fact, the title “I am” that Jesus used of Himself was one that the Jewish people only used when referring to God. Yet, Jesus used the title to refer to Himself, of course implying that not only was He before Abraham, but He Himself was God.
From the miraculous line of Abraham, a prophecy would be fulfilled. Through Abraham, all the world would be blessed.
Second, we see that . . .
II. Jesus is from the line of David.
Don’t forget that Matthew starts off by telling us that Jesus is the Son of David.
Matthew says in Matthew 1:1, “An account of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.” Then, Matthew adds in Matthew 1:6 “and Jesse fathered King David.”
Well, what’s significant about someone being the Son of David?
First of all, we must remember that David was the favorite king of all of Israel.
David was anointed to be king by the prophet Samuel.
David was a king chosen after God’s own heart.
David killed the giant Goliath.
David led Israel to victory over their historic enemy, the Philistines.
David brought great military and financial success to the people of Israel.
So, Jesus is from the line of the most beloved king Israel ever had.
However, there’s more to it than that. There’s also a great prophecy about the line of David.
The prophet Isaiah says in Isaiah 9:6–7 “For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be on his shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. The dominion will be vast, and its prosperity will never end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from now on and forever. The zeal of the Lord of Armies will accomplish this.”
We see in Isaiah, several hundred years before Jesus was born on the earth, that a child would come. We looked at those prophecies last week.
One characteristic we see about this child is that He will reign on the throne of David. As King, He will establish Israel with justice and righteousness.
How long will this last? The prophet says, “from now on and forever.” Well, who could this prophecy be about?
Many kings came after David. One of the greatest to come after him was his son Solomon, one of the wisest and wealthiest men to ever live. However, as great as Solomon was, he is no longer ruling.
There is only one child who came from the line of David, who would become king, who would rule with righteousness and justice forever and ever, and that is King Jesus!
This title, “Son of David,” was one that the people recognized as one of great significance and would associate that title with the Messiah. When Jesus came, people would sometimes recognize that He was the promised Messiah and associate that title with Him.
In the Gospel of Luke, we hear a blind man use this term.
Luke 18:38 says, So he called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
As that blind man recognized, we also must recognize that Jesus is indeed the Son of David. He fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah.
Jesus is from the line of David.
Finally, we see that . . .
III. Jesus is from a line of providence.
Now, when we use the word providence, what we mean is that God is in control of all things, and He is working things out to accomplish His purposes in the world.
We see this reality in the coming of Jesus.
Now, before we get too far into this discussion, you may realize that there are what seem like discrepancies between the genealogies in Matthew 1 and Luke 3.
These are not really discrepancies; rather they are different angles that speak to the genealogy of Jesus.
It’s commonly believed that Luke’s line follows the line of Mary while Matthew’s follows the line of Joseph, the earthly father figure of Jesus.
Also, there are times when genealogical records may skip a generation in order to emphasize someone who is the leader of a family.
For example, the middle name of my oldest son, Jeremiah, is Kirkland; and the middle name of my youngest son, Samuel, is Charles. Further, the first name of my nephew is Everette. All of these names honor my grandfather, Charles Everette Kirkland.
So, my grandfather carries great significance in my family. In a way, someone could say that all the great-grandsons come from the family of Charles Everette Kirkland, even though he was their great-grandfather rather than their father.
So, these supposed discrepancies are really not discrepancies at all.
I wanted to share that information with you in case you had questions about those genealogies.
However, for just a moment, let’s look and see how God worked providentially through the line that led to the birth of Jesus the Messiah.
First, we learn that Jesus is the son of Adam. What Adam messed up, Jesus would fix. As Adam brought sin to humanity, Jesus would bring redemption to humanity.
Also, Jesus is the Son of Abraham, who would bless all the peoples of the earth.
Next, Jesus is the son of David. David was Israel’s favored king, but Jesus would come as the greatest King who would show His favor to the world.
Further, Jesus is the Son of sinners. That is to say, there are several people throughout His family line who were notorious sinners or who committed major sins at times, including Adam, Abraham, and David. You see, Jesus is the Perfect One from the line of imperfect ones.
Jesus is also the Son of women. Some of you may think that’s obvious, yet the Jewish people often did not consider women to be worthy to be mentioned in genealogies. Yet, Jesus is listed as the son of several women, including His mother Mary (verse 16), Rahab (verse 5, who was a lady of the evening, by the way), Tamar (verse 3), Ruth (verse 5), and Uriah’s wife (who was Bathsheba, verse 6). By the way, at least three of these (maybe four) were not even Jewish. The providential line of Jesus included these women. God was doing something unique and special to bring about His Son, Jesus the Messiah.
Finally, we see that Jesus was the Son of THE woman.
You may recall the prophecy that God Himself delivered in Genesis 3:14–15 “So the Lord God said to the serpent: Because you have done this, you are cursed more than any livestock and more than any wild animal. You will move on your belly and eat dust all the days of your life. I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”
Jesus would, in fact, come from THE woman, Eve, and He would, in fact, crush the head of the serpent as Jesus rose from the dead and would continue to bring new life to all of those who would call upon His name.
As we consider the miraculous line of Jesus, we must also appreciate the providential line of Jesus.
God was working out His plan to bring Jesus the Messiah.
Let that take us to our bottom line for today:
Bottom Line: Christmas fulfills the prophecy of the miraculous line.
Over the last few days, my family was able to spend some time at the beach. I’m officially approaching “old man status” so I spent a lot of time looking for sand dollars. In fact, I found about 75 sand dollars. When you’re looking for sand dollars, you learn to look for signs for where you might find a sand dollar. You pay attention to the tide, you may attention to the angle of the beach, you pay attention to the wind and waves, you pay attention to the shape of bumps in the sand, you look for sand dollars creeping out of the sand, and more. When you pay attention to the signs, you’re more likely to see the sand dollars.
So, also, God promised that He would send a Messiah to rescue His people from their sins. He promised that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent. He promised that the line of Abraham would bless the world. He promised that the Son of David would be a great ruler. God told us what the signs would be. Are we paying attention?
If we simply look for the signs, we will truly see that Jesus is the Messiah from the miraculous line.
Challenge yourself this week in this way:
Weekly Challenge #1 – Reflect upon the miraculous line.
Consider that Jesus is from the line of Abraham.
Consider that Jesus is from the line of David.
Consider all that God providentially did to bring about the birth of Jesus the Messiah.
(Gospel presentation)
(closing prayer)
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