Who is Jesus in the geneaologies?

Luke 3:23 When He began His ministry, Jesus Himself was about thirty years of age, being, as was supposed, the son of Joseph . . .

4,000 years is a huge block of time.  Yet in Luke's account of Christ's geneaology, in a span of 15 verses, some 72 names, spanning a period from Genesis up to the time of Christ's birth are listed for us.  Called by some "the scarlet thread of redemption", the bloodline that extends from Adam and Eve down to Christ is shown here in Luke. 

Why is Luke's geneaology different than Matthew's? 
Three reasons can be given in answer to this question. 

1. Two valid ways of identification First, if you compare the two records, they not only differ in the amount of names, but in how they arrange the names.  Matthew's geneaology is taking you from Abraham up to Christ - an ascending geneaology.  Meanwhile Luke takes you from Jesus' birth all the way back to Adam - a descending geneaology.  Both types were valid ways of determining one's identity back in Bible times. 

2. Jesus is the True King and the New Adam.  Also too, Matthew presents Jesus as King, establishing Him as a legitimate heir to David's throne and as the fulfillment of God's promises to Abraham.  Therefore there was no need to go back further than Abraham - for it would not had suited Matthew's purpose in what He was writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.  Luke on the other hand is presenting Jesus as the New Adam, the perfect man.  Thus it makes sense to show how He is related all the way back through Adam - since he is the one who came to represent Adam and his lineage on the cross.

3. Jesus is the literal and legal heir to the throneFinally, Luke is presenting Jesus' bloodline as it pertains to Mary's side, since Luke was demonstrating that Jesus had a physical bloodline connecting back to David, through Abraham, all the way back to Adam.  Though Mary Jesus received the bloodline from her that is directly connected back to David, thus qualifying Him as a physical heir to the trhone of David.  In Matthew's account, the concern was establishing Jesus'  as the legal heir of David's throne.  Thus Joseph was not nor did not have to be Jesus' actual father.  However he was Jesus' legal guardian, therefore Jesus was, touching his humanity, legally qualified to assume David's throne. 

Who is Jesus in the geneaologies?
Therefore we can conclude that Jesus Christ, as seen through the lenses of His genealogies, is the: True King (Matthew); the New Adam (Luke); The Fulfillment of Abraham's promises (Matthew); the Savior of Adam's race (Luke); the Messiah of Israel (Matthew) and the Savior of the World (Luke). 

The beauty of those first words

Matthew 1:1 The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham:

400 years had passed since God had spoken a word in Israel.  Not one word of God was heard in all the land or the world.  God's hand was working behind the scenes, guiding both history and the specific bloodline of Jesus Christ.  In Matthew's Gospel we see a total of 52 names, three sets of 14 generations, depicting the bloodline of Jesus Christ from Abraham up to the birth of the Messiah.  Many folks are tempted to skip over these geneaologies that occur in Matthew and Luke, however, all scripture is profitable for instruction, for correction, for rebuke and for training in righteousness.  (2 Timothy 3:16).  To get the most out of this first chapter in Matthew, let the reader note the following key features:

1. Abraham, the head of the first 14 names, represents the Promise of salvation.
Abraham heads up both the first leg of this geneaology, as well as the whole list of names mentioned by Matthew.  We read of Abraham's life in Genesis 12-25.  It was to Him that God promised a nation (Genesis 12) and a ultimate redeemer or "seed" (Genesis 15).  God's promise of salvation, first mentioned back in Genesis 3:15, is brought into sharp focus through the life of Abraham.  Found over 100 times in the Bible, Abraham is used to illustrate what it means to trust in the Lord by faith (Romans 4) and to live out the life of faith through obedience to the word (Hebrews 11).

2. David, the head of the second 14 names, represents the Prophecy of salvation
In Matthew 1:6-11 records the next fourteen generations of Christ's bloodline, beginning with David.  In 2 Samuel 7:13-16 God gives David a prophecy through the prophet Nathan that from his bloodline would come a descendant to rule and reign.  This descendant's kingdom would last forever.  In other scriptures, such as Psalm 2, 45 and 89 we see God expanding and explaining this prophecy.  It is God's prophecy about David that takes the promise of Abraham and gives it flesh and bones.  Clearly the promise of salvation will indeed be the Person of Salvation. 

3. Jeconiah, the head of the third set of 14 names, represents the Problem addressed by salvation
Anyone who reads the story of Jeconiah will understand the fact that he had been cursed by God as a result of treachery against God and the throne of Israel.  His bloodline was cursed and thus he represents the problem being addressed in God's sending of His Son - the curse of sin.  Jeremiah 22:24-30 records God's words against Jeconiah and his descendants. 

The miracle of Christmas reveals that a sinless Savior would indeed be born from an otherwise long line of sin, treachery and failure.  Just as the light of the sun is not affected when it shines upon a trash heap, so it is that the Virgin born Son of God could be sinful despite coming from a curse bloodline.  If anything, to bear the curse of sin was the very reason why God the Son came to be born in a stable. (Please compare Galatians 3:10,13) 

4. Jesus, the final name in the genealogy, is the solution to the problem of sin, the fullfillment of every prophecy and the personification of the promise of salvation
Therefore it is fitting that even the geneaology of Jesus Christ would tell the saga of salvation:  God began with a promise, reinforced it with prophecy, to address the problem of sin with the solution: Jesus Christ.  Truly those first words of the New Testament would be God's final word on all that pertains to what He was accomplishing through Jesus Christ. 

The Bible's Unbroken Chain of Christmas

God's promise of salvation from Genesis to Revelation
In today's blog I want the reader to witness some of the major prophecies that stretch from Genesis to Revelation to reveal God's purposes and plans that He had in the sending of God the Son to this earth.

Beginning the Journey - the first mention of the Gospel
In Genesis 3:15, we begin our journey.  Called by many the "protoevangel" or "the first mention of the Gospel", we discover that God had a plan ready to go.  Knowing that Adam and Eve would break the covenant of works, wherein He knew they would disobey His commands to them, God killed two animals in their place, offering them a covenant of grace.  In Genesis 3:15, we see the concept of "seed", that is, God promised that a redeemer would come through the bloodline issuing forth from Adam and Eve.

Noah, the flood and the promise
In our next stop we come to Genesis 5 and 6, where in a period of 1656 years, or ten generations, God speaks to Noah to build an ark.  Following the flood, one of Noah's three sons, Shem, would be chosen by God to carry on the specific promise of salvation in his blood line.  We see a narrowing effect of God's promise, going from humanity in general to a branch of humanity.

The Patriarchs and the promise
From Shem we come ten more generations to Abraham in Genesis 12.  It is at this chapter that God narrows the bloodline of redemption down to a family.  From Abraham would come Isaac and Jacob, the patriarchs of the nation of Israel.

The promise is reinforced by prophecy
As we travel from these three men we come to Genesis 49:10, where we discover that one of Jacob's twelve sons - Judah - is given the prophecy of the Messiah coming from his lineage.  Jacob's twelve sons of course would be the founders of the twelve tribes of Israel.  Out of those twelve tribes, the tribe of Judah would be the one from whence the Christ child would come.

God's symmetry and orchestration of History as the backdrop leading to the promise
As we fast forward ten generations from Judah, we arrive at David.  In 2 Samuel 7:13-16 we see God's promise of a descendant sitting upon his throne.  Once we come to the Gospel of Matthew, we find a summary of the entire Old Testament in the geneaology of Jesus - From Abraham to David - 14 generations; from David to the end of the Old Testament 14 generations and from the end of the Old Testament to Jesus' day - 14 generations.  In all, roughly 2,000 years or more stretches from Abraham to Jesus.  In Luke's Gospel the geneaology there goes back even further to Adam.  From Adam to Jesus stretches some 72 names, or over 4000 years.  

Consider the New Testament's picture of the first coming
But now what about the rest of the New Testament?  What does it have to say about Christ's first coming and God's plan of salvation?  In the Gospels, we discover that the baby born in Bethlehem was to die on the cross and be risen from the dead.  Following His resurrection He would ascend and be seated at the righthand of God.

In Romans 9:1-5 we discover he is descended from David, as well as God over all, forever to be praised.  Galatians 4:4 tells us that Jesus Christ came in the fulness of time.  Ephesians reveals that Christ was pre-existent from all eternity.  Philippians unfolds the truth of God the Son taking upon Himself Human flesh.  Colossians tells us that He is the fulness of the Godhead bodily.  

1 Timothy 3:16 gives us the jurney of Jesus from the moment he left the presence of God's Holy angels in Heaven, to His birth, His life and His ascension.  Hebrews 10:4-5 actually records the words Christ was speaking when he had journeyed from heaven into the Virgin's womb.  1 John records how the apostles handled and saw the God-man.  2 and 3rd John emphasize that God coming in human flesh is a fundamental article of Christian faith.  Revelation, the final book of the Bible, gives us 40 different names of Jesus in the first chapter alone, connected to the fact that He had taken upon Himself human flesh and that He is now and forever the eternal Godman - soon to return.  

By the time you compute all of the prophecies concerning His birth and first coming - you uncover 109 of them!  God orchestrated all of them - with the goal of glorifying Himself in the Son and among all who by His grace, through faith, would believe upon Him. (John 3:16, 6:40, 17:3)

A Christmas Poem - God's Revealed Savior

God’s Revealed Savior

God Veiled His Son from human view

God drew a plan on what to do

The Son and He saw humanity’s curse

Mankind’s sin would only grow worse

A bloodline from Adam and Eve had been decreed

From Adam to Abraham came the Seed

A nation born from slavery’s hate

Israel would grow and exist as a gate

God the Son would open the door assigned

In Mary’s womb humanity and Deity did align

The One Who omnipotent, with worlds at His command

Would be veiled in weakness, with soft infant hands

Omniscience whose knowledge knew no bounds

Would be veiled in frailty uttering cooing sounds

The One who Omnipresent in time and space

Would limit Himself to human space

Though veiled in flesh His deity remained

A cross was his destiny, with his blood to be stained

Revealed he was, died he did

The guilt of sin, its penalty to rid

He rose and ascended, his body now changed

            The Revealed Savior accomplished what had been arranged

Where did the Magi come from?

Daniel 2:12 Because of this the king became indignant and very furious and gave orders to destroy all the wise men of Babylon.

Matthew 2:1-2 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, 2“Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.”

How God worked through a teenage boy to preserve a critical element in history
So who were these mysterious Magi from the East?  Many have offered their theories over the years - but the one that has stood the test of time more than any other is that these who came to worship the Christ child, two years following his birth in Bethlehem, can be traced back to the days of Daniel.

We first meet Daniel in his book when he was but 15 years of age.  He, along with his fellow Jews, were taken away captive to Babylon in 605 b.c (that's over 600 years before the birth of Jesus).  In Babylon there was a religion that was dedicated to worshipping various Babylonian deities, chief of which centered around the false god Marduk and astrology. 

An angry King is soothed by God's word
King Nebuchadnezzar, ruler of the Babylonian Empire, had a dream one night that frightened and alarmed him.  When he consulted his counselors and magicians, none could give him the meaning.  God was showing that the religion of Babylon was more of smoke and mirrors than reality.  When the King issued a death decree on all the wise men of that day (including Daniel), Daniel, the text tells us, gained favor in the sight of the chief executioner. 

With God there are no surprises and no accidents
All of Daniel 2 records how Daniel spoke to his three other friends (the guys who would be cast into the fiery furnace in Daniel 3) and prayed to the Lord for wisdom.  God gave him the interpretation and Daniel spoke to the King about the meaning of his dream.  What God had shown Nebuchadnezzar was the entire sweep of history leading up to the days of Christ's birth.  Furthermore, as a result of God's work through Daniel, the King was convinced to drop the death decree and spare the lives of the Magi in Babylon.

Babylon would be conquered by Persia, but the Magi would still remain
In Daniel 5 we see the final night of the Babylonian empire.  In history the fall of Babylon to Persia occurred in 538 b.c.  By this point Daniel is in his eighties, and the Jews have been in exile for nearly 70 years.  Still clinging to the Lord, Daniel is shown in Daniel 6 being thrown into the lion's den.  After God preserves Daniel through the night, sending his angel to shut the mouth's of the lions, King Darius decrees that the governors of the now new empire, Persia (called Satraps), be cast into the Lion's Den.

So where are the Magi?  Undoubtedly Daniel is still working among them.  At the end of Daniel 6, Darius issues a decree that all people everywhere are to dear the God of Daniel.  Many scholars believe Daniel may have given Darius the words to write.  This act of toleration enables Daniel to act as a missionary among the court of the Magi.

The prophecies of Israel are made known to the Magi
When we come to Matthew 2, over 600 years later, the Magi relate to Herod that they were following a star that had appeared to them in the East some two years before.  This star evidently pointed them to one "born King of the Jews".  Now where did these otherwise pagan Magi, of the Persian religion of Zoroastrianism, derive their understanding of the "King of the Jews"?

Undoubtedly there is only one conclusion:  God used Daniel some 600 years before to relay to them of how God was going to send a Messiah to Jerusalem from a Jewish bloodline.  Though the Pagan system of the Persians would persist, this one truth from scripture would be preserved up to Jesus' day. 

The East would bow to the God man
It would then come, in the fulness of time (Galatians 4:4), that a star (or something like it) would appear in the skies over what is now modern day Iran.  For two years these Magi would travel.  The star would lead them to a home in Bethlehem.  There they would meet Mary, Joseph, and Jesus - the only sinless toddler!  Undoubtedly God had been orchestrating this meeting for over 600 years!  Through the life of a young boy Daniel, God would preserve a group of Pagans who down through the centuries would preserve a nugget of truth whose fruit would not be born until the days of Jesus. 

What the facts about the Magi tells us about the significance of Christmas
Once the Magi arrived, God's grace led them to the God man - whom they bowed down aand worshipped.  If anything, Christmas reminds us that God's plan to seek and to save that which was lost involved time, involved unlikely characters and involved the scriptures.  Truly God's Word does not return void - since the written word points us to the Living word - Jesus Christ.   

How God's love would triumph over Satan's Hatred

Revelation 12:7 And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war,

In this third and final episode of John's vision in Revelation twelve, we see him doing a couple of things:  first he is expanding in more detail upon the previous scene in Revelation 12:4-6 and second, he is including some of the details from the scene in Revelation 12:1-2.  When he does this, we are getting a complete picture of history as scene from both the visible and invisible realms.  Clearly one of the themes associated with this vision is the wrath and hatred of satan for God, Christ and the people of God.  All of these events center upon the moment when Christ entered into time on that Christmas night.  The question we want to know the answer to is: why does satan hate Christmas?

1. Satan was expelled from heaven.  Michael, the archangel and chief guardian over the nation of Israel, led the offense against the angelic rebellion.  We cannot imagine the scale of the battle - being that the combatants would had numbered in the trillions.  We cannot imagine the power involved in such a fight, since scripture records how one angel for instance would wipe out 185,000 human soldiers. (2 Kings 19:35)
That ancient battle did take place, and as a result, Satan and his minions have been on the assault ever since as a result of their defeat.

2. Satan hates the nation of Israel
There are two reasons why Satan would hate Israel.  First is because Michael, the one who led the effort to cast him out of heaven, was assigned guardianship over Israel (please note Daniel 10).  Undoubtedly Satan's memory is still fresh.  But even moreso Satan's hatred for Israel stems from the fact that through that nation, and through the bloodlines of men like Judah and David in its history, God brought God the Son from eternity into time.  No doubt Satan tried to foil God's plan, but of course as scripture reveals, Christ was born, was crucified, raised from the dead and will return once again.

3. Satan hates God's people
As you look at this text, you find out that Satan as turned his attention to accusing and persecuting the people of God.  Revelation 12:11 reveals - “And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death."  We read of further details in Revelation 12:17 - "So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus." 

These verses points to the saints of God who have lived throughout the ages of the Old Testament as well as this current church age.  They also speak of those saints who will endure to the end of history leading up to Christ's return.  All believing Jews and Gentiles in the Lord Jesus Christ embody the reality to which the hope of Christmas points: the victory of God through Jesus Christ. 

As we close today's blog, I'm reminded of a 500 year old hymn written by Martin Luther entitled "A mighty fortress is our God".  In that hymn we find these words:

"But still our ancient foe, doth seek to work us woe; his power and wrath are great, and armed with cruel hate, none on earth is his equal."  Then later on in the hymn we find these words: "were not the right man on our side, the man of God's own choosing; Just ask who that may be, Christ Jesus it is He; Lord Sabaoth His name, from age to age the same, and He will win the battle."

Christ's defeat of Satan and the demonic realm

Revelation 12:3-4 Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems. 4And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.


Demons, Angels and the war in the heavenlies
John, the human author of the Book of Revelation (along with the Divine Author, God the Holy Spirit), takes us now into "Episode Two" of this grand vision of history leading up to and beyond that Christmas night.  It is here that we get a clear view of the origin of the demonic realm, the great fight in the heavenly realms leading up to Christ's birth, and the warfare that will continue until the end of time.

1. The Great Red Dragon. This is none other than Satan himself.  We see him appearing as a serpent in Genesis 3:1.  His nature as a Dragon, as "that serpent of old", is full and complete, as seen in the repetition of the number seven.  According to Old Testament passages such as Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28, Satan was not always Satan. He was created as an angel, a chief Angel, perhaps the chief choir director of the angelic hosts.  He was "Lucifer", the "enlightened one", who in focusing upon his created beauty became prideful.

2. A third of the stars.  According to John, Lucifer rebelled and seduced 1/3 of the angelic host to follow him in a massive revolt in heaven.  This revolt might very well had occured either between days 1 and three of the creation days described in Genesis 1, Psalm 104 or perhaps shortly after the completion of the creation described in those same chapters.  We know that angels are described as "stars" since we see such description in Job 38:7. 

Some of these "fallen ones", these demons, had reblled so badly as to "lose their former estate" and were chained in the darkest regions until the time of the final judgment. (Jude 6)  Others of these fallen angels were permitted by God to roam over the earth and torment people, as seen in the eight or nine occassions where Jesus performed exorcisms in Matthew, Mark Luke and John. 

Lucifer Himself is currently "Prince of the power of the air" and "a god of this age".  (2 Corinthians 4:1-6).  He is roaming to and fro over the earth, along with his demonic hoards, seeing whom he may torment, destroy and blind to the truth of God. (1 Peter 5:8).

3. Stood in front of the woman.    John next writes that This Dragon stood in front of the woman, awaiting to devour her child.  Clearly Satan, though powerful, is still a creature, being that he did not know when exactly the day nor hour would occur for Jesus to enter into this world.  He is behind the persecutions of the Jews throughout the Old Testament.  Galatians 4:4 tells us that Jesus was born into this world in the fulness of time.  Despite the Old Serpent's best efforts, the Christ-child was born.  The Virgin Mary was that woman, who in the bloodline ordained from God from Eve, through Abraham, through David would bring to bear his purposes in her. 

4. The One born a king will rule as The King In Revelation 12:5-6, we see a summary statement from the moment of Christ's birth in Bethlehem to when He will return to earth to rule and reign as King.  Satan will attempt to destroy Israel in the days leading up to Christ's return.  God will have provision for protecting her in the last 31/2 years leading up to the second coming of Jesus Christ. 

5. Christmas reminds us that God finishes what He begins, He has defeated the enemy
Just as God would accomplish His purpose in the birth of Christ in His first coming, the purpose of God will reign supreme in the Second coming.  The outcome of the warfare is sure.  Christmas reminds us of the victory of God in Jesus Christ: His birth declared victory; His cross won victory; His resurrection and ascension confirmed victory; His word communicates victory and the Soon return will demonstrate to all that He alone is the victorious King of Kings and Lord of Lords.