WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.580 It's lovely to be with you. Great privilege to 00:00:02.580 --> 00:00:05.960 be here at Oak Hill. I've been here for several 00:00:05.960 --> 00:00:07.759 years, I've realised. It's lovely to be back 00:00:07.759 --> 00:00:10.740 again and have a chance to open up this passage 00:00:10.740 --> 00:00:15.019 from Matthew's Gospel. So prior to coming to 00:00:15.019 --> 00:00:17.920 Wycliffe Hall, I was actually 11 years at a theological 00:00:17.920 --> 00:00:21.320 college in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The evangelical 00:00:21.320 --> 00:00:23.339 college there for the Episcopal Church, now really 00:00:23.339 --> 00:00:26.120 more the Anglican Church of North America. And 00:00:26.120 --> 00:00:29.170 from time to time we'd go out. to other churches, 00:00:29.370 --> 00:00:32.030 often support churches, and often would take 00:00:32.030 --> 00:00:34.770 a student with us. And when we go to some of 00:00:34.770 --> 00:00:36.450 the more southern states, particularly I'm thinking 00:00:36.450 --> 00:00:40.149 now of places like South Carolina, we try to 00:00:40.149 --> 00:00:42.450 take someone who came from that sort of area, 00:00:42.590 --> 00:00:45.329 and it would be helpful that they could talk 00:00:45.329 --> 00:00:48.369 about their experience at the college. But it's 00:00:48.369 --> 00:00:50.210 also absolutely fascinating to me, particularly 00:00:50.210 --> 00:00:52.570 in some of those more southern states, they wanted 00:00:52.570 --> 00:00:55.460 to know the surname of the student. Because they 00:00:55.460 --> 00:00:57.039 reckon if they knew the surname, they could kind 00:00:57.039 --> 00:00:59.140 of see if they had a sort of family connection 00:00:59.140 --> 00:01:03.020 and work out if they kind of knew them. And it 00:01:03.020 --> 00:01:05.579 was quite a prominent thing. I realised a lot 00:01:05.579 --> 00:01:07.200 of folk coming out of those sort of communities, 00:01:07.459 --> 00:01:10.299 their family connections were really important 00:01:10.299 --> 00:01:14.099 to them. So when we hear a whole genealogy being 00:01:14.099 --> 00:01:16.379 read out, I think probably comes as a surprise 00:01:16.379 --> 00:01:18.840 to most of us raised in cultures that aren't 00:01:18.840 --> 00:01:20.680 as fascinated with family lines. I think to the 00:01:20.680 --> 00:01:23.439 folks in South Carolina and elsewhere, no surprise 00:01:23.439 --> 00:01:26.239 at all. But I should imagine even in our own 00:01:26.239 --> 00:01:30.400 cultures here, we begin to notice who we are 00:01:30.400 --> 00:01:32.980 and what we're doing. It's not unrelated to parents, 00:01:33.120 --> 00:01:36.239 grandparents and going back through. I was quite 00:01:36.239 --> 00:01:39.060 struck. I came across a little Christian tract 00:01:39.060 --> 00:01:42.519 that my grandfather had written decades ago. 00:01:42.579 --> 00:01:46.379 He died just after I was born. And so I was working 00:01:46.379 --> 00:01:48.040 very hard, not very long ago. I don't know if 00:01:48.040 --> 00:01:49.239 I've got it with me, but at the end we have. 00:01:49.340 --> 00:01:51.519 Here we go. A little gospel tract I carry about. 00:01:52.120 --> 00:01:54.040 My grandfather wrote a gospel tract? I've no 00:01:54.040 --> 00:01:56.840 idea. But it's not unusual. You know, someone 00:01:56.840 --> 00:01:58.819 in the medical profession? Well, maybe someone 00:01:58.819 --> 00:02:01.299 in their family is from the medical profession, 00:02:01.439 --> 00:02:04.159 or if you're a sports person or an actor, or 00:02:04.159 --> 00:02:06.180 maybe you're in ministry. Turns out, oh, well, 00:02:06.280 --> 00:02:08.819 you're not the first to be in ministry. We are 00:02:08.819 --> 00:02:11.939 influenced by our families. So whilst it might 00:02:11.939 --> 00:02:14.039 be to us a bit of a surprise to open such an 00:02:14.039 --> 00:02:17.159 important piece of written work as a gospel to 00:02:17.159 --> 00:02:20.319 do a whole list of a genealogy, no surprise. 00:02:20.889 --> 00:02:22.669 to a Jewish audience, because it's a wonderful 00:02:22.669 --> 00:02:25.409 way to introduce someone. You've got the family 00:02:25.409 --> 00:02:27.990 background. You can see the lineage. You can 00:02:27.990 --> 00:02:29.930 see where they've come from. And it's quite clear 00:02:29.930 --> 00:02:33.330 that Matthew wants us to notice two particular 00:02:33.330 --> 00:02:36.389 ancestors of Jesus, because clearly he thinks 00:02:36.389 --> 00:02:39.210 by noticing those two names, you're going to 00:02:39.210 --> 00:02:43.669 have an immediate introduction to who Jesus is. 00:02:44.669 --> 00:02:46.590 And the whole structuring of it is also making 00:02:46.590 --> 00:02:48.330 clear that this is an important announcement. 00:02:48.469 --> 00:02:50.909 This is a sovereign work of God. He's been working 00:02:50.909 --> 00:02:53.669 on for generations and generations. And we have 00:02:53.669 --> 00:02:56.990 these three groups of 14 generations. And again, 00:02:57.009 --> 00:02:59.389 mathematicians will spot don't exactly add up 00:02:59.389 --> 00:03:02.030 to 14. And if you worry about that, please do 00:03:02.030 --> 00:03:04.009 not worry about it. As Dick France points out, 00:03:04.069 --> 00:03:06.469 it's more of a theological 14 than a statistical 00:03:06.469 --> 00:03:08.919 one. I'm quite sure the person who wrote this 00:03:08.919 --> 00:03:11.719 was well able to count up to 14. That's not the 00:03:11.719 --> 00:03:13.539 point. It's not all about the numbers. But it's 00:03:13.539 --> 00:03:16.659 saying there's a lovely sense of a pattern unfolding. 00:03:17.580 --> 00:03:21.000 And now's the big moment. The Messiah has at 00:03:21.000 --> 00:03:24.460 last arrived. And by giving his genealogy, we've 00:03:24.460 --> 00:03:27.539 been given the backstory. But alongside that, 00:03:27.599 --> 00:03:29.800 we've also got some rather surprise candidates 00:03:29.800 --> 00:03:32.740 added in. Some of these, if you like, the irregularities. 00:03:33.500 --> 00:03:37.469 You don't expect to see Tamar in here. And Rahab, 00:03:37.469 --> 00:03:39.590 the prostitutes. And nor would you expect to 00:03:39.590 --> 00:03:42.629 see someone famously brought into the Bible narrative 00:03:42.629 --> 00:03:45.430 when she is committing adultery with King David, 00:03:45.629 --> 00:03:49.370 Bathsheba. And what about Ruth the Moabitess? 00:03:50.270 --> 00:03:52.330 Unlikely candidates. Everyone else in the list, 00:03:52.449 --> 00:03:55.810 until they get to Mary, is a man. They're being 00:03:55.810 --> 00:03:58.189 brought in deliberately to say, yes, these are 00:03:58.189 --> 00:04:02.110 key figures in the ancestry of Jesus. And just 00:04:02.110 --> 00:04:03.849 to kind of notice, I think maybe in theological 00:04:03.849 --> 00:04:06.599 college life, We can often feel that, you know, 00:04:06.620 --> 00:04:08.419 there are other people here who seem more worthy 00:04:08.419 --> 00:04:10.879 to be here than I am. I certainly remember that 00:04:10.879 --> 00:04:12.840 kind of feeling. And maybe you're not from a 00:04:12.840 --> 00:04:15.300 sort of generations of ministers. Now it's my 00:04:15.300 --> 00:04:18.480 moment. And maybe you're thinking, well, everyone 00:04:18.480 --> 00:04:20.600 else seems to know the Bible better than I do. 00:04:20.759 --> 00:04:23.040 And they've got this wonderful ministry experience. 00:04:23.480 --> 00:04:25.160 And I can see they've got these great gifts. 00:04:25.220 --> 00:04:28.779 What am I doing here? But God's called you in. 00:04:28.860 --> 00:04:31.660 He's preparing you for something. And God delights 00:04:31.660 --> 00:04:34.500 to keep on bringing people in. So don't in any 00:04:34.500 --> 00:04:37.459 way discard yourself or put yourself out of what 00:04:37.459 --> 00:04:40.819 God is doing. He delights to call us in. So I 00:04:40.819 --> 00:04:42.899 want us to really look at this passage, particularly 00:04:42.899 --> 00:04:47.000 focus around three key names, Abraham, David, 00:04:47.160 --> 00:04:50.439 and of course, Jesus. Because this is the way 00:04:50.439 --> 00:04:53.079 that the gospel starts and how we are introduced 00:04:53.079 --> 00:04:56.740 to the central figure. So we begin by noticing 00:04:56.740 --> 00:05:00.370 we have the introduction to Jesus. as the son 00:05:00.370 --> 00:05:04.350 of Abraham, who of course came to bring the blessing 00:05:04.350 --> 00:05:06.910 to the nations, as Jesus was just about to do. 00:05:07.370 --> 00:05:09.689 And again, funnily enough, Tom Wright likes to 00:05:09.689 --> 00:05:11.790 call it a drum roll, this sense of, and here 00:05:11.790 --> 00:05:14.269 are the generations of, which again, not very 00:05:14.269 --> 00:05:16.829 exciting language to English ears, but if you're 00:05:16.829 --> 00:05:19.689 familiar with Genesis, time and again, a big 00:05:19.689 --> 00:05:22.129 moment is introduced in Genesis 2, Genesis 5, 00:05:22.370 --> 00:05:25.610 these are the generations of. It's like the opening 00:05:25.610 --> 00:05:28.589 of a new chapter. Something significant is really 00:05:28.589 --> 00:05:30.910 going on. Something is about to happen that you 00:05:30.910 --> 00:05:34.269 really need to pay extra attention to. And so 00:05:34.269 --> 00:05:37.129 it's all this begetting. You've got the Greek 00:05:37.129 --> 00:05:42.149 word here, agenison, and it's talking about the 00:05:42.149 --> 00:05:45.389 begetting, the generation of one generation after 00:05:45.389 --> 00:05:48.769 another. And it's talking about how God has been, 00:05:48.790 --> 00:05:52.069 over these years, faithfully preserving, protecting, 00:05:52.269 --> 00:05:55.730 and bringing through his people this one particular 00:05:55.730 --> 00:05:59.649 son. called Jesus. And I notice of course with 00:05:59.649 --> 00:06:02.149 Abraham, obviously you can say, but one of the 00:06:02.149 --> 00:06:04.129 things that is quite clearly prominent in the 00:06:04.129 --> 00:06:07.230 life of Abraham is a man of unusually remarkable 00:06:07.230 --> 00:06:10.990 obedient faith. When he's called out of his homeland, 00:06:11.310 --> 00:06:13.230 where no doubt he was quite safe and secure and 00:06:13.230 --> 00:06:15.389 kind of knew how things work, to go into a far 00:06:15.389 --> 00:06:18.170 country that he will be told the name of after 00:06:18.170 --> 00:06:21.579 he'd set off, that is quite a journey. Even just 00:06:21.579 --> 00:06:24.339 setting off from England or London, heading out 00:06:24.339 --> 00:06:26.300 to Pittsburgh, at least we knew where we were 00:06:26.300 --> 00:06:29.480 going. It's a big enough challenge, even knowing 00:06:29.480 --> 00:06:32.259 where you're going, having to dislocate, relocate. 00:06:32.600 --> 00:06:35.980 It's a very big deal. But he was willing to do 00:06:35.980 --> 00:06:38.420 it. He knew that God had told him, off he goes. 00:06:39.259 --> 00:06:41.420 He gets sent off to a distant country. Well, 00:06:41.500 --> 00:06:43.379 of course, we see that with the Son of God. He 00:06:43.379 --> 00:06:46.139 comes to us, if you like, from a distant country 00:06:46.139 --> 00:06:49.439 and a much more glorious one. And so we see that 00:06:49.439 --> 00:06:51.279 wonderful faithfulness and of course the astonishing 00:06:51.279 --> 00:06:54.100 story of him even offering up his son Isaac, 00:06:54.300 --> 00:06:57.600 the one who he'd been waiting for, the one who 00:06:57.600 --> 00:07:00.660 God had promised to give him and then having 00:07:00.660 --> 00:07:02.279 to have the faith presumably to believe that 00:07:02.279 --> 00:07:05.279 God could raise him from the dead. Extraordinary 00:07:05.279 --> 00:07:08.939 faith. Now of course there are other ways we'll 00:07:08.939 --> 00:07:10.980 see later where Abraham doesn't measure up to 00:07:10.980 --> 00:07:13.300 Jesus in all sorts of ways but we notice he's 00:07:13.300 --> 00:07:16.870 a man of obedient faith. But we also notice here's 00:07:16.870 --> 00:07:18.930 a man through whom God was going to bring blessing 00:07:18.930 --> 00:07:24.069 to the nation. So we come back to chapter 12 00:07:24.069 --> 00:07:27.410 of Genesis. And right there we see that the Lord 00:07:27.410 --> 00:07:30.790 said to Abraham, leave your country, your people, 00:07:30.910 --> 00:07:33.910 your father's household and go to a land I will 00:07:33.910 --> 00:07:38.430 show you. I will make you a great nation. I will 00:07:38.430 --> 00:07:41.410 bless you. I will make your name great and you 00:07:41.410 --> 00:07:44.290 will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless 00:07:44.290 --> 00:07:47.689 you. And whoever curses you, I will curse. And 00:07:47.689 --> 00:07:50.850 all peoples on earth will be blessed through 00:07:50.850 --> 00:07:55.370 you. Quite an extraordinary promise. And of course, 00:07:55.389 --> 00:07:57.329 some blessings did indeed come through Abraham. 00:07:58.769 --> 00:08:00.509 But of course, what we're waiting for is the 00:08:00.509 --> 00:08:03.529 great blessing still to become fulfilled in Jesus. 00:08:03.610 --> 00:08:06.310 He's the one who's come to fulfill that covenant 00:08:06.310 --> 00:08:09.269 promise. He's come to bless the nations. Yes, 00:08:09.310 --> 00:08:12.310 the people of Israel, but not just the nation 00:08:12.310 --> 00:08:14.490 of Israel. He's come to bring a blessing. To 00:08:14.490 --> 00:08:16.970 the nations. As I said, of course, we've got 00:08:16.970 --> 00:08:19.329 to notice there are all sorts of ways that Jesus 00:08:19.329 --> 00:08:23.029 vastly exceeds, of course, Abraham. Abraham, 00:08:23.129 --> 00:08:26.069 he has his failings. He passes his wife off as 00:08:26.069 --> 00:08:28.769 his sister. Partial truth, but of course, significantly 00:08:28.769 --> 00:08:31.889 deficient on the whole truth. There are all sorts 00:08:31.889 --> 00:08:33.789 of other ways he fails. He doesn't just have 00:08:33.789 --> 00:08:36.629 a child with Sarah. He has other children. What 00:08:36.629 --> 00:08:40.509 is going on? He's not a paragon of virtue. But 00:08:40.509 --> 00:08:43.230 he is a way of beginning to think. This is the 00:08:43.230 --> 00:08:45.830 sort of ancestor that Jesus has. Someone who's 00:08:45.830 --> 00:08:49.450 willing to obediently travel off and the person 00:08:49.450 --> 00:08:52.110 who's willing to faithfully be used by God to 00:08:52.110 --> 00:08:54.429 bring a blessing to the nations. And so from 00:08:54.429 --> 00:08:57.409 the start, Matthew wants us to know that this 00:08:57.409 --> 00:09:01.169 Jesus, he has a clear, solid Jewish ancestry. 00:09:01.649 --> 00:09:05.289 His father is Abraham. So he comes to bring a 00:09:05.289 --> 00:09:07.370 blessing to the nations. But what we also see 00:09:07.370 --> 00:09:09.509 when we get a little bit further down to verse 00:09:09.509 --> 00:09:14.159 6, Jesus is also... the son of david who amongst 00:09:14.159 --> 00:09:17.960 many other things vanquishes his enemies that's 00:09:17.960 --> 00:09:20.419 also a clear central part of what jesus has come 00:09:20.419 --> 00:09:24.919 to do so here we go verse six and jesse the father 00:09:24.919 --> 00:09:28.100 of king david david was the father of solomon 00:09:28.100 --> 00:09:30.759 his mother had been uriah's wife and on we go 00:09:30.759 --> 00:09:34.279 again back into this long list of great names 00:09:34.279 --> 00:09:36.620 it's also noticeable he's the only one who actually 00:09:36.620 --> 00:09:39.299 gets the title king Well, guess what? His son 00:09:39.299 --> 00:09:42.820 Solomon was also king, but doesn't get mentioned. 00:09:43.539 --> 00:09:45.779 He's the only one who really makes the grade 00:09:45.779 --> 00:09:49.360 in a way worth recording for future posterity. 00:09:49.639 --> 00:09:52.320 He is, if you like, the nearest thing to an ideal 00:09:52.320 --> 00:09:54.919 king because he was willing to faithfully do 00:09:54.919 --> 00:09:57.019 what God called him to do. And he was willing 00:09:57.019 --> 00:09:59.159 to go out and fight the enemies of God and bring 00:09:59.159 --> 00:10:02.220 the victories of God, thereby displaying the 00:10:02.220 --> 00:10:05.360 glories of God. And so we see also picking up 00:10:05.360 --> 00:10:07.379 that wonderful Old Testament lesson. If you go 00:10:07.379 --> 00:10:09.580 back to Genesis 49, some of the ways in which 00:10:09.580 --> 00:10:13.440 Jacob was blessing his son Judah, well, some 00:10:13.440 --> 00:10:17.700 of that was being fulfilled in King David. There 00:10:17.700 --> 00:10:20.659 was a sense in which he was able to really go 00:10:20.659 --> 00:10:23.139 forward against the enemies of God and bring 00:10:23.139 --> 00:10:25.679 that triumph. The scepter would be with him. 00:10:25.720 --> 00:10:27.840 We see other prophecies fulfilled. Well, it's 00:10:27.840 --> 00:10:29.840 beginning to be fulfilled. If you go back to 00:10:29.840 --> 00:10:34.100 some of Balaam's prophecy back in... Numbers 00:10:34.100 --> 00:10:36.779 24, that expectation of someone that God would 00:10:36.779 --> 00:10:39.919 raise up to bring provision for his people. Well, 00:10:39.960 --> 00:10:42.820 again, you see bits of that being fulfilled in 00:10:42.820 --> 00:10:45.840 the life of David. As a wonderful summary towards 00:10:45.840 --> 00:10:48.399 the end of his life to Samuel 8, all the different 00:10:48.399 --> 00:10:51.879 nations he triumphed over. The peace that God 00:10:51.879 --> 00:10:54.559 had brought. And it's not just for him, it's 00:10:54.559 --> 00:10:57.139 for him and his mighty men. So again, heading 00:10:57.139 --> 00:10:58.779 out into ministry, don't think it's all up to 00:10:58.779 --> 00:11:01.710 you. You need a team around you. people who can 00:11:01.710 --> 00:11:03.809 give you that shared wisdom and discernment. 00:11:03.830 --> 00:11:06.070 So many times in the New Testament, it's presbyters 00:11:06.070 --> 00:11:09.610 rather than a presbyter heading off into a leadership 00:11:09.610 --> 00:11:12.669 role. So again, people around you. And so often 00:11:12.669 --> 00:11:14.570 those sort of friendships that are key people 00:11:14.570 --> 00:11:16.190 around you, maybe the sort of senior leadership 00:11:16.190 --> 00:11:19.149 team or equivalent, produce some of the most 00:11:19.149 --> 00:11:21.889 rich and vibrant relationships. I'm still in 00:11:21.889 --> 00:11:24.190 touch with people I've served with in years gone 00:11:24.190 --> 00:11:26.549 by. It's a wonderful sense that we're in this 00:11:26.549 --> 00:11:29.759 together, the mighty men and women of God. being 00:11:29.759 --> 00:11:31.759 called into his kingdom work without his help 00:11:31.759 --> 00:11:34.639 we're in real trouble but we get a ringside seat 00:11:34.639 --> 00:11:37.659 to see what the lord will do and that is a really 00:11:37.659 --> 00:11:40.019 beautiful thing and of course one of the central 00:11:40.019 --> 00:11:43.580 victories was david up against goliath before 00:11:43.580 --> 00:11:47.159 he was the king and jr packer loves to pick up 00:11:47.159 --> 00:11:49.600 this story and show how this kind of begins to 00:11:49.600 --> 00:11:51.820 help us think towards things like substitutionary 00:11:51.820 --> 00:11:55.159 atonement because when david arrives at the battlefield 00:11:55.159 --> 00:11:58.659 his life is not in danger he's not a soldier 00:11:58.659 --> 00:12:01.440 and yet he's willing to go and put his life on 00:12:01.440 --> 00:12:04.600 the line against the giant Goliath presumably 00:12:04.600 --> 00:12:07.360 because Saul wasn't willing to we already know 00:12:07.360 --> 00:12:08.919 that Saul was the nearest thing that the Israelites 00:12:08.919 --> 00:12:11.480 had to a giant he was head and shoulders above 00:12:11.480 --> 00:12:13.740 the rest of them but he's sitting quietly in 00:12:13.740 --> 00:12:16.960 his tent said oh you can borrow my armor you 00:12:16.960 --> 00:12:19.679 go and fight him not the quality of kingship 00:12:19.679 --> 00:12:22.259 we're really looking for didn't put David off 00:12:22.259 --> 00:12:25.019 he goes out there and he brings Goliath down 00:12:25.960 --> 00:12:28.980 He puts his life on the line, substituting himself 00:12:28.980 --> 00:12:32.940 to bring salvation to that army. And indeed, 00:12:33.039 --> 00:12:35.100 if you like, to prefigure the great work that 00:12:35.100 --> 00:12:37.980 Jesus would do in his substitutionary atonement 00:12:37.980 --> 00:12:41.320 for us. So we do see a wonderful way in which 00:12:41.320 --> 00:12:44.179 King David is, if you like, prefiguring the great 00:12:44.179 --> 00:12:47.220 victories that Jesus was about to unfold. Of 00:12:47.220 --> 00:12:49.779 course, as Gospel of Matthew will later go on 00:12:49.779 --> 00:12:52.000 to tell us. And again, we have to notice, yes, 00:12:52.240 --> 00:12:54.879 he falls short. There were all sorts of ways 00:12:54.879 --> 00:12:58.200 in which his great victories show taint of sin 00:12:58.200 --> 00:13:01.299 and selfishness and shortcoming. Clearly he should 00:13:01.299 --> 00:13:04.259 not have had an adulterous relationship with 00:13:04.259 --> 00:13:06.179 Bathsheba. He should not have arranged the death 00:13:06.179 --> 00:13:09.480 of her husband Uriah. On and on goes the list 00:13:09.480 --> 00:13:13.100 of failings. But he was, we know, a man after 00:13:13.100 --> 00:13:16.700 God's own heart who repented when he sinned. 00:13:17.080 --> 00:13:19.460 And God was merciful and kind and forgave him. 00:13:20.039 --> 00:13:22.000 And so we see how these things are again just 00:13:22.000 --> 00:13:24.480 beginning to point us to who Jesus is going to 00:13:24.480 --> 00:13:28.320 be. Who Jesus was and is. He comes not only to 00:13:28.320 --> 00:13:31.659 be a son of Abraham, but also the son of David. 00:13:32.299 --> 00:13:36.340 He's a royal family. You can imagine at this 00:13:36.340 --> 00:13:38.759 point, this is sort of reading that someone like 00:13:38.759 --> 00:13:40.519 King Herod would not have enjoyed very much. 00:13:41.159 --> 00:13:43.580 Because King Herod, who was on the throne, half 00:13:43.580 --> 00:13:47.500 Jewish, half Edomite. didn't enjoy hearing people's 00:13:47.500 --> 00:13:49.460 ancestry because he couldn't have had a reading 00:13:49.460 --> 00:13:51.840 like that. His ancestry did not go back to Abraham. 00:13:52.179 --> 00:13:54.240 And he was so angry about that, he had all the 00:13:54.240 --> 00:13:57.779 records destroyed. So no one was quite sure where 00:13:57.779 --> 00:14:01.279 their ancestry went back to. It was quite clear 00:14:01.279 --> 00:14:03.480 that God was doing something unique and powerful 00:14:03.480 --> 00:14:07.720 in raising up his servant, Jesus. And then what 00:14:07.720 --> 00:14:10.679 we, of course, have here is in Jesus, we have 00:14:10.679 --> 00:14:15.720 the Son of God inaugurating God's kingdom. So 00:14:15.720 --> 00:14:18.340 when you get to the end of this list, and Jacob, 00:14:18.580 --> 00:14:22.620 the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, slight 00:14:22.620 --> 00:14:25.919 chicane at that point, because Jesus is not the 00:14:25.919 --> 00:14:29.220 son of Joseph. Already a little bit of a hint 00:14:29.220 --> 00:14:31.320 that something strange is going on here. And 00:14:31.320 --> 00:14:33.820 of course, one has to read on. And then if you 00:14:33.820 --> 00:14:37.419 may have attended a Christian nativity stories 00:14:37.419 --> 00:14:39.080 in the past, we'll know what's coming up next. 00:14:39.500 --> 00:14:42.539 We see the whole story unfold, an amazing, miraculous 00:14:42.539 --> 00:14:47.029 revelation that God is taking on human flesh 00:14:47.029 --> 00:14:52.690 yes to be a son of Abraham yes to be a son of 00:14:52.690 --> 00:14:55.309 David but most significantly to be the son of 00:14:55.309 --> 00:14:58.250 God no matter how well you do as a son of Abraham 00:14:58.250 --> 00:15:01.090 no matter how well you do as a son of David you're 00:15:01.090 --> 00:15:03.009 not going to be able to fulfill the covenant 00:15:03.009 --> 00:15:05.809 promises it has to be a divine as well as a human 00:15:05.809 --> 00:15:08.190 deliverer and that's what we see unfolding in 00:15:08.190 --> 00:15:10.549 the verses that come next we see this wonderful 00:15:10.549 --> 00:15:13.330 sense of God having preserved his people through 00:15:13.330 --> 00:15:16.240 the exile That's something you can't simply take 00:15:16.240 --> 00:15:18.500 for granted. It's not like the nation went on 00:15:18.500 --> 00:15:20.620 holiday for a little while to Babylon. Holiday 00:15:20.620 --> 00:15:23.320 over, we all pack up and come home. A lot of 00:15:23.320 --> 00:15:26.179 the folks never came home. When nations are sent 00:15:26.179 --> 00:15:28.299 into exile, that's often the end of a nation. 00:15:29.279 --> 00:15:31.740 What happened to the ten tribes north of Judah? 00:15:33.679 --> 00:15:35.779 It's much more of a scattering effect. So the 00:15:35.779 --> 00:15:38.279 very fact that God had graciously preserved his 00:15:38.279 --> 00:15:41.779 people through all those generations of exile 00:15:41.779 --> 00:15:44.200 was again a way in which we could say... God 00:15:44.200 --> 00:15:47.940 was faithfully preserving his people and bringing 00:15:47.940 --> 00:15:50.279 them back safe and well. He was so determined 00:15:50.279 --> 00:15:52.740 to bring his blessing to the nations, so determined 00:15:52.740 --> 00:15:55.240 to bring a vanquishing of the enemies, he was 00:15:55.240 --> 00:15:57.000 watching over his folks throughout all these 00:15:57.000 --> 00:16:00.679 things. And of course we notice that when Jesus 00:16:00.679 --> 00:16:03.590 comes... not only to fulfill those promises of 00:16:03.590 --> 00:16:05.830 blessing to the nations, but also to fulfill 00:16:05.830 --> 00:16:08.250 the promise of the vanquishing of enemies. It's 00:16:08.250 --> 00:16:10.570 not just the nations of Philistines and others. 00:16:10.889 --> 00:16:13.649 It's actually to overcome the much bigger, greater, 00:16:13.710 --> 00:16:17.570 more pernicious enemies of sin and death and 00:16:17.570 --> 00:16:20.429 the devil. He comes to take them on so that his 00:16:20.429 --> 00:16:23.409 kingdom can be inaugurated, so the spirit of 00:16:23.409 --> 00:16:26.029 God can come back, the glory of the Lord can 00:16:26.029 --> 00:16:29.029 be revealed, and his full purposes can be made 00:16:29.029 --> 00:16:31.820 known. So that at last the blessings can indeed 00:16:31.820 --> 00:16:35.320 come to the nations and peace be restored on 00:16:35.320 --> 00:16:37.580 the earth and the new heavens and the new earth 00:16:37.580 --> 00:16:41.059 and all that is to come. So we can see these 00:16:41.059 --> 00:16:43.559 things neatly tucked away in this sort of wonderful 00:16:43.559 --> 00:16:46.820 overture to the whole of the gospel that lies 00:16:46.820 --> 00:16:50.039 ahead of us. But it's also a great reminder, 00:16:50.039 --> 00:16:52.700 not only for the celebrations of Christmas that 00:16:52.700 --> 00:16:55.460 we'll be engaged in these next days, but also 00:16:55.460 --> 00:16:58.360 in the ministries that lie ahead. You can have 00:16:58.360 --> 00:17:00.299 every confidence that this Jesus that you go 00:17:00.299 --> 00:17:02.980 out to proclaim, not only is he the son of Abraham, 00:17:03.179 --> 00:17:06.519 not only is he the son of David, he's also the 00:17:06.519 --> 00:17:09.319 son of God. And that is the reason we have good 00:17:09.319 --> 00:17:12.099 news, a blessing for the nations, an overcoming 00:17:12.099 --> 00:17:15.180 of our enemies, and an inauguration of the kingdom 00:17:15.180 --> 00:17:18.140 that one day will be revealed in all its glory. 00:17:18.819 --> 00:17:20.880 And our joy is to live in the knowledge of these 00:17:20.880 --> 00:17:23.420 things and to be equipped to go and proclaim 00:17:23.420 --> 00:17:26.759 these things faithfully to all generations. Let's 00:17:26.759 --> 00:17:32.599 bow our heads in prayer. My dear God, we do thank 00:17:32.599 --> 00:17:35.920 you for your gospel writers who've helped us 00:17:35.920 --> 00:17:38.220 to see who Jesus is. We thank you particularly 00:17:38.220 --> 00:17:41.240 for the witness of Abraham and David, but most 00:17:41.240 --> 00:17:43.599 of all for the life and work of Jesus and for 00:17:43.599 --> 00:17:45.279 his presence amongst us now through the Spirit. 00:17:46.019 --> 00:17:48.519 We pray that in this season of Advent and as 00:17:48.519 --> 00:17:50.940 we prepare for Christmas, that the good news 00:17:50.940 --> 00:17:53.220 of Jesus will be proclaimed in power in this 00:17:53.220 --> 00:17:55.990 nation and around the world. that people would 00:17:55.990 --> 00:17:58.930 hear and see and come to be followers of him. 00:17:59.369 --> 00:18:02.829 I need to equip each one of us here present to 00:18:02.829 --> 00:18:05.690 go and proclaim these glad tidings. And we pray 00:18:05.690 --> 00:18:07.890 these things in Jesus' name. Amen.