Precious Descendant
Text: Isaiah 11:10
Doctrinal Locus: Second Article- Born of the Virgin Mary
Function: The hearers will see that we are descendants grafted into Jesus family tree.
1.
I have a number of people in my family who love researching our lineage. Some of them
have gone pretty far back, too! Hundreds of years. Hundreds of relatives from whom I’m directly descended. A number of times I have even had the assignment of researching back through
my lineage. I’ve made it back to my great-great-great-grandparents. It’s pretty neat to learn the
stories of how my ancestors came together. Have you ever thought about that? Just think, if
your great-great-great-great-great grandmother never met her husband, you would have never
been born! The history of your ancestors had to happen the way it did or you wouldn’t have
come into existence. If you don’t believe me, just watch Back to the Future! Marty traveled
back in time, messed up his parent’s relationship, and was almost erased from existence. Things
had to happen the way they did for you to be here! That’s a pretty cool thought. Like perhaps there was a plan of how you would come to be!
2.
In our library down by the gym, you can find a genealogy of Jesus Christ! Someone has
taken the time to trace out the lineage of Jesus as it is recorded in the Bible. As you read through
the names in the family tree, it brings to mind several stories from the Old Testament. It in fact
brings the Old Testament to life. Just like for you and me, the Lord had a plan of when, where,
how, and why He would bring the Baby Jesus into the world. Many things had to happen. This
is called the salvation history. And this history came to be through regular, every-day people.
People like you and me. Just minding their own business. Trying to make a life for themselves
and their families. Doing the best they could with what they had.
3.
Like everyone else, including you and me, Jesus lineage includes all the people from Ad-
am through Noah. Jesus was an Israelite, so His ancestors were those from Noah to Abraham.
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were Jesus’ forefathers! Looking into Jesus lineage brings us
clear back to the book of Genesis. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were the first three generations of
the nation of Israel. Faithful Abraham is quite the guy to have in your ancestry. He went when
God commanded him to move to a new land. He believed God when he heard his wife would
give birth at the age of 90. He didn’t even withhold his son from God! Isaac followed in the
footsteps of papa Abraham. He worked the land. He loved his wife. And he had some children.
Esau and Jacob. Jacob was a bit of a trouble child, however. He regularly wanted to do things
his own way. Not the way of his fathers’. Not the way of the locals. Not the way of God. And
doing things his own way got him into trouble. He was fleeing for his life on more than one occasion. And God took this small group of people. This insignificant, unimportant people and
grew them into a mighty nation! God took what was weak and made it into something that was
strong. And this was part of Jesus’ lineage.
4.
Another interesting story in Jesus’ Family Tree is that of King David’s great-
grandmother, Ruth. There is a whole book of the Bible dedicated to telling her story of faith in
the Lord. Keep in mind, in that day women were rarely included in a genealogy. Simply having
Ruth in the account is significant. So what’s so special about this woman? Well first of all she
was a Gentile! That’s right, in the lineage of Jesus the Israelite is a woman from Moab! Ruth
was a woman who was dedicated to her mother-in-law, Naomi. Both Ruth and Naomi were
widows and they stuck together. The Lord blessed these ladies with much. They came to Bethlehem with nothing but each other and the Lord provided them with land. He brought Boaz into
the picture as a husband for Ruth! The Lord took what was weak and insignificant. As I mentioned, the great-grandson of Boaz and Ruth was none other than the mighty King David him-
self! God took what was weak and made it into something that was strong. And this was also
part of Jesus’ lineage.
5.
And that brings us up to the ancestors of Jesus from our text. Jesus is said to be the root
of Jesse and the key of David! Now generally when we think of David, we think of the greatest
and mightiest king Israel ever had. We think of a man who was after God’s own heart. We think
of a boy who slew the great giant of a man, Goliath. We think of his great military expeditions.
How he repeatedly escaped with his life from King Saul. But what we may sometimes forget is
that David didn’t start out as this great man. He was the last born son of Jesse. Even Jesse
wasn’t that significant of a man. Jesse was the baby of the family and nothing more than a mere
shepherd boy. Oh, he was good with a sling-shot, but what early adolescent isn’t! No, there was
nothing special about this insignificant, scrawny little lad. Yet God took this boy who was weak
and made him into someone who was great. God made him into the greatest king Israel ever
knew. And both Jesse and David were members of Jesus Family Tree!
6.
If you get a chance, take a look at that lineage chart in the library. In bringing the past to
life, it also shows how all of the Old Testament points to and in fact leads up to Jesus Christ!
You will recall how time and time again, God chose the weak and insignificant of the world
instead of choosing that which was strong and mighty. He chose whom He wanted. And each
story in the lineage moved one step closer to the ultimate story. That of Jesus Christ. The Man
who was conceived of the Holy Spirit. He was born of the Virgin Mary. This little Baby Jesus is
the root of Jesse. The One who shall stand as a signal for the peoples. The one whom shall the
nations inquire. The One whose resting place shall be glorious. See, not only is Jesus a part of
this family tree, He is the very root of the family tree. It was for the purpose of bringing Jesus
into the world that this ancestry was established. That through this lineage all nations will be
blessed. That all nations will come to faith in Almighty God. That through this lineage all nations will eat of the fruit of life because this family tree is the Tree of Life! It is the Tree of Life
because Jesus is the root.
7.
And this Tree of Life. This root of Jesse. This Mighty Descendant of Adam, Noah,
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Ruth, Jesse, and King David. This most precious of all descendants was
nailed to a tree of death. Ultimately Jesus was born to be the sacrifice for all of His ancestors. Those who came before did so to ensure the Christ would be born. This precious descendant of Abraham was before Abraham. The seed of Jacob became Israel reduced to one as Almighty God poured His entire wrath upon Him as He hung from the Tree of Death. The root of
Jesse, the root of the entire family tree died the most humiliating of all deaths that those who had
come before and those who came after would look to Him and not taste death! Because death
was not able to contain Him. Like a new Tree breaking through the soil, Jesus victoriously broke
through the grave and lives! The Root of Jesse! The Tree of Life!
8.
I once heard someone talk of a tree that had several different kinds of fruit growing
on it. On the same tree grew red apples, green apples, oranges, pears, and plums. I would have
loved to see a tree like this. The person who owned the tree started with a simple apple tree.
Over the years, he scored the trunk of the tree, peeled back the bark, and inserted a branch from
another fruit tree. Over time, the wound healed and the grafted branch became a part of the apple tree. This is exactly what happened for you and me. Jesus Christ, who is the Vine, or the
root, or the trunk, was wounded so that you and I might be grafted in as branches! Jesus is the
Vine and you and I are the branches. We have come from all different backgrounds. We have
different talents and abilities. We bear different fruit. But we are all part of the same Tree! We
are members of the body of Jesus Christ!
9.
The Precious Descendant of all the heroes of faith from the Old Testament has brought us
into His family tree as well. Through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, we have a place as branches
of the tree. What’s more, since Jesus has grafted us into His family tree, you and I have become precious descendants. Precious descendants of the same faith that Abraham and his sons
held onto. The faith that enabled Ruth to stay with her mother-in-law. The same faith in which
David lived his entire life. That faith that we have been called to in the man, Jesus Christ. The
most Precious of all Descendants! Praise the Lord He has made us who were weak and insignificant on our own into strong branches in the Tree of Life! Let us pray we always bear good fruit!
Amen.