04 An Amazing Genealogy

            The Uniqueness of Jesus’ Birth

The first thing you need to know in researching your ancestors is how to spell genealogy J 

Secondly, it is amazing to realize that you are the result of an untold number of ancestors.  They do not multiply.  They double with every generation: 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, etc.  Wow!  You may remember their names for 2 or 3 generations then they fade out of sight.  So when I trace my line (Glass & Brumbaugh)  and follow them back 6 generations I have  64 persons involved.  It’s exciting to follow them back as far as you can.  I have collected several shelves of books and multiple notes of our genealogical roots.

Another fascinating study is the genealogy of Jesus.  These records are only found in 2 books of the Bible.  Matthew 1:1-17 and Luke 3:23-38.  Matthew traces Jesus lineage through Joseph’s line back to David and Abraham for a total of 41 generations divided into 3 sections.  Luke traces Mary’s lineage back to David to Abraham and on to Adam, the son of God.  In this line Luke lists a total of 71 generations.  Matthew goes back only to Abraham. 

You will notice that the ancestral line of both Mary and Joseph is the same from Abraham through David.  Then this common ancestry is divided.  The royal line of Jesus flows through Matthew’s account of Joseph back to King David who was told that his kingdom would remain forever (2 Samuel 7).  The blood line of Jesus, the natural son of Mary, flows through Luke’s account of Mary back to Adam, the son of God showing Jesus is the Son of God.

In Matthew 1:1, Jesus is called the son of David.  In 2 Samuel 7:13 the prophet Nathan tells David that his kingdom would remain forever.  I Chronicles 22:6-10  states that his son, Solomon would build the temple, the house of God.  Solomon is not mentioned in Mary’s line given in Luke.    But there is a problem.  David’s kingdom was to last forever, but his descendant Jeconiah [a.k.a. Jechonias, Jeconiachin, or Coniah] was an evil king and the Lord said (Jer. 22:24-30) that none of his descendants would sit on the Throne.

Jeremiah 22:24-30

"As I live," says the Lord, "though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were the signet on My right hand, yet I would pluck you off; 25and I will give you into the hand of those who seek your life, and into the hand of those whose face you fear--the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the hand of the Chaldeans. 26So I will cast you out, and your mother who bore you, into another country where you were not born; and there you shall die. 27But to the land to which they desire to return, there they shall not return.

28"Is this man Coniah a despised, broken idol--A vessel in which is no pleasure?

Why are they cast out, he and his descendants, And cast into a land which they do not know?

29O earth, earth, earth, Hear the word of the Lord!

30Thus says the Lord:

'Write this man down as childless, A man who shall not prosper in his days;

For none of his descendants shall prosper, Sitting on the throne of David, And ruling anymore in Judah.' "

So it is interesting to see the descendants listed in Luke beginning with Adam, the son of God and continuing to Abraham.  Here the ancestral line for both Joseph and Mary are united through King David.  Now these lines are divided for some 41 generations.  We’re not certain how many children David had, but with his wife Bathsheba he had 4 sons, Shimea, Shobab, Nathan and Solomon.  Nathan was a progenitor in the line of Mary.  Solomon was in Joseph’s line.  These two separate lines continue for 41 generations with no possibility of the unique union of the royal line with the blood line initiated by God through Adam.  Then Joseph proposes to Mary.  And history takes a dramatic turn, all by the hand of God. 

In this the uniqueness of Jesus’ birth can be seen.  God’s promise to David regarding the kingdom had to come through his descendants, but Jeconiah was a bump in the road.  Joseph was in this line so he was disqualified by the curse on Jeconiah.  But Jesus was the step son of Joseph, not his son.  The text refers to Jesus as "the supposed son of Joseph." So Jesus was in the royal line of David, but not under the curse of Jeconiah.  Mary’s lineage was unique in that it was traced back to God starting with Adam.  So Joseph represented the Royal line.  Mary represented the Son of man, the son of God.

Luke 1:30-35

Then the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. 32He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. 33And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end." 34Then Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I do not know a man?" 35And the angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.

Go Tell It on the Mountains

Refrain
Go, tell it on the mountain,
Over the hills and everywhere
Go, tell it on the mountain,
That Jesus Christ is born.

While shepherds kept their watching
o’er silent flocks by night,
Behold, throughout the heavens
There shone a holy light

Refrain

The shepherds feared and trembled,
When lo! above the earth,
Rang out the angels chorus
That hailed our Savior's birth.

Refrain

Down in a lowly manger
The humble Christ was born
And God sent us salvation
That blessed Christmas morn.

Refrain