As 2020 approached perhaps you looked back over the last year. Maybe you scanned a journal, reviewed your camera roll, or if you are over 40, pulled out actual photo albums. These pictures help us remember where we have been, what we looked like, the clothes we wore...yikes!, and the relationships we maintained over time.
Maybe you went way back. Maybe old black and white albums were handed down to you and you peered into the past with faces that look much like your own. Maybe you marveled at how much has changed and yet how much never changes...the bridge of a nose, the shape of the face, the mischievous sparkle in the eye.
As we open the book of Matthew it is like blowing the dust off Jesus’s old family albums and reviewing God’s faithfulness over time to His people. God made a promise way back in Genesis 3:15 that he planned to keep. He used actual people with tangible virtues and vices to accomplish His purposes. He reminded them in each generation that HE was faithful. Matthew 1:1-17 documents many of these people all in one place. Jesus arrived right on schedule in a chosen family. This is His family tree.
Matthew 1:1-17
1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, 4 and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5 and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of David the king.
And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, 7 and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, 8 and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, 9 and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10 and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, 11 and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.
12 And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13 and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, 14 and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, 15 and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, 16 and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.
17 So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.
[ WHAT ] is this passage saying and what is a key truth or thought that we learn?
+ How is this genealogy organized? [v1 and 17]
+ What names surprised you in verses 2-6? Is there a specific person’s story you want to review?
+ Did you note how many women are listed in the genealogy? Did this surprise you?
+ Do you notice any missing names in the genealogy? Why might Matthew choose to list some and not others?
+ How are verses 6, 11, and 16 natural breaks? A significant person? An unforgettable event?
+ Take a moment to see where 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles end. How/where do we see God’s faithfulness through the exile?
+ According to verse 16 whose family tree is Matthew documenting between Jacob and Jesus?
+ Why are genealogies important to our study of God’s Word?
[ HOW ] is the Lord calling me to action/obedience?
+ Is there sin to confess or a next step to take? How has it gone since last time?
+ How does God’s faithfulness in the lives of these ordinary, yet extraordinary men and women encourage you as you live out your own story today?
[ WHO ] am I walking with and praying for to discover Jesus?
+ What is my next step?