STRANGE FAMILY TREE
Matthew 1:3-6
Everyone has a past life before they trusted Christ as your Savior.
For some it is a past they would just like to forget because it is
painful to remember what they did or were like before Christ
changed their life and set them free from their sins.
No matter what your past or what sin you have committed Christ
will forgive you if you believe he died on the cross for their sins.
Romans 11:32 God has bound all men over to disobedience
so that he might have mercy on all.
Every person is just as guilty of committing sin as everyone else.
In the eyes of God every sin is a breaking of his law and therefore
we are guilty, not to one degree or another, but guilty before God.
It is because of God’s mercy that anyone is saved from their sins.
Genealogies
Genealogy is the study of the history of a family. They have
become are one of the most popular topics on the internet because
anyone can go and get information about their family line. If you
search your family line you might be surprised about some of your
ancestors and the lives they lived – some good and others bad.
The Jews loved genealogies because they were able to trace their
family line back to Abraham who was called by God to be the
father of their nation. In Jewish genealogies it was the custom to
only use the names of men, but Matthew named four women in his
genealogy (Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba) which shows that
he was conveying more than just a common genealogy.
2. Since Jesus is the one who “will save his people from their sins”
(1:21) the women imply he will offer forgiveness to everyone no
matter who they are or what they have done.
3. The women reveal something of the strange and unexpected
workings of Providence in preparation for the Messiah and they
point to Mary’s unexpected providential conception of Jesus.
God’s grace is seen in the inclusion of these four women.
TAMAR – Loveless
:3
Tamar enticed her father-in-law into an incestuous relationship
(Genesis 38). When her husband died Judah her father-in-law
did not give her his youngest son to be her husband so they could
have a child and the family line would continue.
Later when Judah came to the town where she live she decided to
entice him into a sexual relationship so she dressed herself like a
prostitute. Judah fell for her deceit and the result was she became
pregnant with twin boys who were named Perez and Zerah.
The reason that she enticed her father-in-law into an incestuous
relationship was because she felt rejected instead of loved so she
took things into her own hands to get the results she wanted. In
other words, she did not trust in the sovereignty of God so she did
whatever it took to get what she wanted.
Application
Have you ever been hurt by being rejected by your family?
1. Maybe you didn’t do what they wanted you to do.
2. Maybe you didn’t measure up to what they expected.
3. Maybe you didn’t respect your parents as you should have.
If his purpose was to include women he could have used such
prominent women as: Sarah, Rebecca or Rachel. The question
is why did he choose to use Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba?
Instead of taking things into our own hands we should trust God
who always loves us not matter what happens to us.
Reasons why these four women were included:
1. The first three were Gentiles which shows that the blessings
which the Messiah would bring will extend beyond Israel.
Jeremiah 31:3 I have loved you with an everlasting love;
therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.
Thomas Goodwin wrote, “For God to love us that is grace.”
RAHAB – Lost :5
Rahab the prostitute saved the spies and joined the Israelites when
the city of Jericho fell (Joshua 2, 5). We do not know why she
became a prostitute, but it could have been because she was poor
and saw it as a way to support her self. In the eyes of most people
she was a nobody who didn’t count for anything.
She was a Gentile, a pagan, an outcast and prostitute, in other
words she was as lost a sinner as you could be because she didn’t
know the true God and as a result lived a pagan lifestyle.
Ephesians 2:3 We all once lived in the passions of our flesh,
carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind.
Everyone before they came to trust Christ as their Savior
lived according to our own sinful desires and passions.
Matthew Henry wrote, “The fulfilling of the desires of the flesh
and of the mind includes all the sin and wickedness acted in.”
In Romans 2:10-12 Paul quotes Psalm 14:1-3:
There is none righteous, no, not one . . . no one understands;
no one seeks God. All have turned aside; together they have
become worthless; there is no one does good, not even one.
There is no one who is righteous; we are all sinners before God
even though we may view some people as more sinful than others.
How could Rahab be included in the genealogy of Christ?
Gary Inrig wrote, “When the Hebrew spies showed up in her city,
she revealed that she had a heart sensitive to God.” She had heard
what God had done for Israel when they crossed the Red Sea and
how they had defeated two nations of the other side of the Jordan.
Joshua 2:11 As soon as we heard it our hearts melted . . . the Lord
your God, he is God in heavens above and on the earth beneath.
John Calvin wrote, “Rahab declares, in absolute terms, that
whatever power exists resides in the God of Israel alone,
that he commands all the elements, that he orders all things
above and below, and determines human affairs.”
She choose to believe there was only one true and living God
instead of the many idols which the people around her worshiped.
Hebrews 11:31 By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with
those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly
welcome to the spies. She risked her life to protect the lives of
the spies because she believed there was only one true God.
Calvin wrote, “She professed her full persuasion of what God
had promised to the Israelites. The evidence of her faith was
that she received the spies at the peril of her life. She is
mentioned as a harlot in order to amplify the grace of God.”
Based on her faith in the true God her life was spared and she was
accepted into the community of Israel in spite of her sinful past.
Application
Inrig wrote, “Our lives are a series of defining moments.
And defining moments are occasions that do three things:
they expose our true values, test our deepest commitments,
and, by our response, shape our character.”
1. Through circumstances God brings us to a point where we
have to choose to believe in him as the only true God or not.
2. God will not force us to believe, but gives us evidence of who
he is so we can choose to believe in him.
3. We have to choose to believe our self regardless of what
other people around us choose to believe or not believe.
RUTH – Leftout
:5
Ruth was a Moabite, who was the ancestors of the incestuous
relationship between Lot and his oldest daughter. They were
Gentile outcasts who were not permitted by God to worship in
the tabernacle with the Israelites.
She loved her mother-in-law Naomi so much that after her husband
died she left her own country to come to live in Israel (Ruth 1:19 ).
They both had lost their husbands and widows were extremely
poor since they did not have a husband to care for them.
Ruth 1:16-17 She made a lifetime commitment to Naomi,
“Where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge.
Your people will be my people and your God will be my God.
Where you die I will die and there will I be buried.”
Arriving in Bethlehem, Ruth had a ‘chance’ encounter with a
wealthy landowner named Boaz as she was gleaning for food.
They married and she had a son named Obed, who was the father
of Jesse, who was the father of David. As a result of her decision
to leave her homeland she became the great-grandmother of King
David (Ruth 4:13-17).
Alexander Whyte wrote, “Ruth’s heart was so full of the cords
of love to Naomi that those strong cords drew her out of the land
of Moab and knit her deep into the lineage of Israel, and into the
ancestry of Jesus Christ.”
Application
1. Through difficulties God brings us to a place to trust him.
We can choose to trust in our self or in God to sustain us.
2. God rewards our faith in him by providing for our needs.
We don’t always get what we want, but he provides for our needs.
BATHSHEBA – Lawbreaker
:6
Bathsheba committed adultery with King David (II Sam. 11).
The wife of Uriah – Matthew used the description of her from
II Samuel 12:9,10,15 where she was called the wife of Uriah
because he was her legal husband when she became pregnant.
David had seen her taking a bath and had her come to his palace
where they committed adultery and she became pregnant. David
tried to cover up their affair by having her husband Uriah killed
in battle so that he could then marry her which he did.
They had broken the 6th commandment: You shall not commit
adultery (Exodus 20:14). She was just as guilty of adultery as
David because we are not told that she resisted his advances.
Matthew Henry wrote, “She too easily consented to it because he
was a great man and known for his goodness.” Adam Clark wrote,
“We hear nothing of her reluctance, and there is no evidence that
she was taken by force.”
The punishment for adultery was death (Leviticus 20:10), but God
was gracious so they were not put to death, but the child which was
conceived out of their adultery died.
There are always consequences to our sins. Sometimes we suffer
the consequences and sometimes other people suffer because of us.
APPLICATION
In the genealogy of Jesus Christ we have four women mentioned:
two were prostitutes, one was a pagan Gentile and another was an
adulteress. They included to show that God offers forgiveness to
anyone no matter who they are (their background) or what they
have done (their sins) because he is merciful.
Romans 3:23 All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
No matter what your background or what sin you have committed
you can be forgiven if you believe Jesus died for your sins.
There is no sin which cannot be forgiven by the blood of Christ.
CONCLUSION
Jesus summed up his ministry in a simple statement which was
recorded in three gospels (Matthew 9:13, Mark 2:17, Luke 5:32)
I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
Jesus came to earth to invite those who felt the guilt of their sins
to trust him as the only one who could offer them forgiveness.
Romans 2:4 God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance.