Joseph's Delight (Lessons from His Lineage)

Series: The Message of Christmas
Sermon: The Message of Joseph
Matthew 1:18-25


Series: The Message of Christmas
Sermon: The Message of Joseph
Matthew 1:18-25

There is a lesson to be learned from the lineage of Joseph found in Matthew 1:1-17. In the very first verse, we find that Matthew describes "Jesus the Messiah" as the son of David and the son of Abraham. Matthew's intent is to demonstrate Jesus as the Messiah in His writing. His first step, ...by revealing that Jesus is the son of David and the son of Abraham is to demonstrate that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Davidic covenant and the Abrahamic covenant. For reference purpose, the Davidic covenant is found in I Chronicles 17:11-14. A look at Jesus fulfilling the Davidic covenant can be found in Acts 13, primarily focus on the context around verses 36 and 37. God's covenant with Abraham is found in the very first book of the Bible in Genesis 12:1-3. Galatians 3:13-14 shows Paul demonstrating that Jesus fulfilled that covenant. Now most people find the begat chapters of the Bible, but each person is telling a story. The purpose of the "begat" chapters in the Bible in both the Old and the New is one of the ways that we can tie the two testaments together because they show the Messianic line from the curse of Eden to the cradle of Christ. A remarkable truth about Jesus's ancestry line is there is a picture of God's grace being painted. The actual line of Jesus is found in Luke 2 since that has been determined to be the lineage of Jesus through Mary. Matthew's intent is to show the regal line of Jesus and leads to his legal stepfather. Notice in verse 18 that Matthew made a point to not call Joseph the father of Jesus but one who is betrothed to Mary who is the mother of Jesus. Why? Because as mentioned before (yesterday's post) Joseph is the legal father but not the literal father, for that title belongs to God. Now let's get back to the wonderful message of the lineage. A message demonstrated by Matthew in verse 17: So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations (Matthew 1:17). What Matthew is demonstrating here is the faithfulness of God in keeping his promise (Luke goes back to Adam). In a world where things are becoming more instant, we must discover that God does not keep His promise on your time, He does so on His. Wait on Him. He is faithful. His promise is sure and true. With patience, allow Him to do His work and when He does, nothing can surpass God's promise fulfillment. Look no further than the kept promise of the Messiah.