Hope’s Arrival

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Matthew 1:1 ESV

I was asked to teach my parent’s Sunday School class a few weeks ago. In particular, they had recently talked about whether the Old Testament was useful and necessary for the Christian today and I was asked to speak to that point. In my preparation, I included a few statements that I thought would rile them up for good discussion. When the time came, I eagerly said what I thought would cause some raised eyebrows in the classroom: “Christ’s character cannot be fully known apart from the Old Testament.” I prepared for opposition and discussion, but what I received in response was a rather solemn agreement from convinced and eager people.

I had assumed that the problem was that modern Christians simply devalued the Old Testament and didn’t think it mattered as much as the New Testament. What I realized as I taught my parent’s class is that many Christians know that the Old Testament is part of Christ’s story and an equal half of God’s plan. That is wonderful news in the wake of some notable pastors turning from the Old Testament. The need I found in that classroom was not for convincing, but showing. They knew that they would be able to glory in Christ better and deepen the joy of their hope in God through the Old Testament and all they needed was someone to show them where and how.

The Apostle Matthew, whose gospel is written with Old Testament prophecy in mind, reaches across the gap of culture and history to help us see the great hope that was kindled in the beginning and fulfilled in the coming Messiah. While the “Christmas story” begins in Matthew 1:18, it is in the overlooked first 17 verses that Matthew speaks to us of a God who promises and works, a people who eagerly waited, and a great hope in the advent (which means coming) of redemption. Matthew 1:1 begins these thoughts by moving his readers back to a serpent, a pagan, and a king.

I recently asked a couple of people in a bible study where the first gospel message in the Bible was. The answer that seemed most comfortable to them was Isaiah. They were surprised to see me flipping all the way back to Genesis 3! In the midst of God’s curse there is a gospel message? Yes! In Genesis 3:15, the first messianic hope is kindled in mankind. God promises that the Son of the woman would crush the head of the serpent and the serpent would bruise His heel. In the very chapter in which mankind fell to sin, God spoke of Christ coming to Earth to save.

The eagerness of Adam and Eve when they had Cain, a son (4:1), and the delight in Seth their replacement son (4:25) all speak to their deep-set desire for the Son to come! Even Noah was seen as a son-figure! His father called him the one who would relieve the curse! (5:28-29) Throughout the history of mankind, there has been a deep-set hope. Many do not even realize that they hold it, yet inside all of us, we ache for a Son to come and crush the head of the serpentine ruler of this broken world!

Then, we come to Abraham, whose covenant with God retraced and clarified the original promise. The covenant that God made with Abraham was constantly being re-affirmed to him and his children, and so it is spread throughout all of Genesis. But, to sum it up, God promised Abraham four things: Land, Seed, Blessing, and Relationship. The land promise echoed Eden and was fulfilled once in Joshua’s conquest of the Land and more fully in the New Heavens and New Earth. The Relationship (You will be my people and I will be your God) was enacted with Israel and God was and is always faithful to His people. But the other two, the Seed and the Blessing, are of note. You see, the promise was that Abraham would have innumerable descendants and that that “seed” would bless all of the nations.

This promise never found its completion in Israel, Abraham’s descendants, as they were incredibly wicked. A great case study is Jonah, an Israelite prophet, who was angry enough to die at the idea of a gentile nation repenting before God! But, Matthew announces to us the greatest news of all time! The true Seed of Abraham had arrived, and He would bless all nations! This Seed would go on to bring the gentiles who were far off from God and under the condemnation of His wrath into His fold and through this Son of Abraham, people of all nations have received every spiritual blessing in Christ! Through this Son, all who believe were given the blessing of an unhindered relationship with God Almighty, a new and better Land, and are made ‘sons of Abraham’ and ‘children of God’!

Not only is Christ the Son of Abraham, but the Son of David. God’s covenant with David was within the confines of the Abrahamic covenant, but was extended to David’s line more specifically. God promised David a house, meaning a family and descendants, who would always reign on the throne of Jerusalem. In my humble opinion, this actually may be one of the most significant events in all of history. From Genesis 49 on, the promise of a great king can be found throughout the Bible. The Pentateuch looks forward to a ‘lion king’ from Judah. The Prophets looked forward to a righteous King, Judges recounts what happened when Israel had no King. Samuel-Chronicles details what happened to Israel with a flawed human king. Always at the forefront of the Old Testament authors’ minds was the thought of the coming King, a ruler with the authority to bring justice and righteousness to God’s people.

Jesus is this righteous ruler! Hebrews teaches us that a source of strength to endure suffering is knowing that Christ is reigning over this world and He is a just King. Even though we do not always see His reign over the world now, when He comes again we will know it in full. Revelation reveals the slain lamb to be the Lion of Judah who reigns and rules and restores righteousness and order to a broken world. What we learn from Jesus as David’s Son is that He has all power, He is in control, He is worthy of obedience, and He is righteous and good. With the blind man of Luke 18, we may cry “Son of David, have mercy on me!” and He will hear and He will assure us of His control and His love and His great mercy with which He leads us. Only the King can bring about peace, righteousness, and justice in the Kingdom. Only the King can assure us of our salvation. Only the King can promise us safety in His hands!

So, what kind of Christmas hope can we find in the prelude of Matthew, before the story even begins? We find more than a thousand years of hope tangled into a knot of intricate, passionate, desperate longing for the Promised One to come. We find the expectation of all nations being blessed and we find the comfort of a King who, in full control of the universe, lowered Himself to being a servant, and gave His life so that we as the people of God might cry out “The Lord is our righteousness!”

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.  In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: The LORD is our righteousness.’

Jeremiah 23:5-6

And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.”  So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

Galatians 3:8-9