As we look to the Word of God this morning, I want you to open your Bible to the first two chapters of the gospel of Matthew…the first two chapters in the New Testament. They introduce us to the birth of the King. It never ceases to be a story of wonder, a story of blessedness, a story of supernatural intervention. No matter how many times we go over the birth of Christ, it still captures our fascination, fills our hearts with joy.
I’d like us to focus this morning along with Matthew on the birth of the King…emphasizing the Kingliness, the royalty of Jesus Christ. That is Matthew’s great intent. And certainly the carols that we sing at this time of year are reminders of the fact that Jesus Christ was born a King. We sing “Joy to the World” and that carol says “The Lord is come, let earth receive her King.” And then there is “It came upon a Midnight Clear,” in which we sing, “Heavens all gracious King.” “Angels We Have Heard on High” says, “Christ the Lord, the newborn King.” And my favorite carol, “Hark the Herald, Angels Sing” says, “Glory to the newborn King.” “We Three Kings of Orient Are,” we’re familiar with that carol, there is a line in there that says, “Born a King in Bethlehem’s plain.” Another one says, “King forever, ceasing never, over us all to reign.” Another one says, “King and God and sacrifice.”
The carol, “What Child is This” says, “This is Christ the King.” “Come Thou long expected Jesus” says, “Born a child yet a King.” And “Angels From the Realm of Glory” expresses, “Worship Christ the newborn King.”
All of these emphasize the great reality of the birth of Christ, that He is in fact born a King. The wise men who came seeking for Him, stopped in Jerusalem and asked, “Where is He who is born King?” The Christ child was born to be supreme ruler, supreme monarch. In fact, the writer of Revelation, John, says He is King over all kings and Lord over all lords. He is the greatest, the most supreme of all monarchs.
A king, as you know, has a sovereign right to rule. A king is the final court of appeal. He holds in his hand the power of life, the power of death, the right to make every decision and all decisions. Jesus Christ was born a King. He is different than any other King but nonetheless a King. The difference is in His surpassing royalty…His surpassing regal character…His surpassing Kingdom and dominion and authority and power.
But Matthew wants us particularly to understand that Jesus is King. And that His birth is the birth of a King. So in the first two chapters he focuses on the royal aspects of the birth of Christ, and that’s what I’d like you to look at with me this morning.
First of all, in chapter 1 verses 1 through 17 we have the genealogy of Jesus. That is, we have the line of descendants from Abraham down to the birth of Christ. This, Matthew wants us to understand, is His royal heritage. Anyone who is a king must have a royal heritage. A king has to have an authentic lineage. He must possess royal blood. In order to be fit to take the throne he has to have been descendant from a long line of royalty. And, in fact, that is precisely true of Jesus.
In Israel, the racial line of Jews came from Abraham. Abraham was the father of the Jewish people, so racially He would need to be a descendant of Abraham. Within the descendants of Abraham, the royal line began with David. So in order to have the pedigree of a king, in order to possess royal lineage, one would need to be a son of Abraham and a son of David. The racial line was promised through Abraham in Genesis 12. The royal line was promised through David in 2 Samuel chapter 7. And so, to qualify, Jesus needs to be son of Abraham, son of David. And the genealogy begins with these words, verse 1, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.”
The most important two names in the genealogy are given first…Abraham for racial lineage, and David for royal lineage. And then from verse 2 we have a more detailed presentation of that genealogy starting with Abraham and moving right on down through David in verse 6, ultimately to Christ in verse 16. And so, the Lord Jesus is son of Abraham, son of David. He fits the royal requirement. And in order to ascend to the throne, He needed to have that royal lineage.
Now I want to suggest to you that the detail of this genealogy is very important. Matthew is writing to a Jewish audience, primarily, who are tenacious about the matter of pedigrees. Certification is essential to them. Their whole culture is built around that. For example, when the children of Israel came into the land of Canaan and God gave them that land in which to dwell, He apportioned the land giving specific territory to every given tribe. So the tribe to which you belonged dictated where you lived and what land you possessed. Within the tribal territory, families assumed certain portions of land and your link to your family said where your home was, where your land was. And so, your lineage was very very important to establish the place of your residence. Tribes, families and ancestors’ houses were utterly essential in understanding your relationship and rights and privileges in the land of Palestine.
Whenever there was the need to sell or transfer or exchange property, it required a knowledge of family trees in order to ascertain to whom the property really belonged. And in the Jubilee Year, the fiftieth year when land all went back to its original family, again it was necessity for one who would claim a land portion because he was descendant to be able to prove that he was descendant of those to whom that land was originally given.
When the children of Israel were taken into captivity into Babylon from around the year 600 down to 586 B.C., they were taken into captivity, their land was desolated. They were dispossessed. At the end of the 70 years when they went back into the land, Ezra tells us that when they set about to reestablish themselves in the land after a whole generation or two of absence, it was necessary for people to prove their descent in order to lay claim to the land which was rightfully theirs.
When you come to the second chapter of Luke, which I read a little earlier for you, even then all of the Jews in Palestine went to the place of their ancestry to register for a taxation being imposed upon them by the Romans. So they were very much into your tribe and your family and your ancestors. That was just a part of life, very necessary and very essential.
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
