"The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham."
We now move from Old Testament to New—the time is right for two more babies—John the Baptist and Jesus. But first we need to focus on a genealogy, one that makes clear the legal heir to the throne. I know the temptation is to skip over it because they are so dull and boring, but, wait a minute—not this one! Saville once said, "A dull man is so near a dead man, that he is hardly to be ranked in the list of the living: and as he is not to be buried whilst he is half alive, so he is as little to be employed whilst he is half dead." These people listed are surely dead, but they are not dull at all—nor were they "unemployed!"
We don’t have room here to speak of all of them, but it is interesting to note that the list contains five women. The first one is Tamar—"Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah (their mother was Tamar)." (NLT vs.3a) To make a long story short, Tamar's husband had died, leaving her childless. So, to solve the problem herself, she disguised herself as a prostitute. Having intimate relations with her own father-in-law, Judah—a great-grandson of Abraham—she ended up having twins. An interesting side-note is that when a baby's hand came forth, the midwife tied a scarlet cord on it—to signify him as the firstborn, and therefore, the one to receive the double inheritance. But, in the process of the birth, his hand went back in and the other baby was born first. Hmmm—sounds eerily similar to Jacob and Esau, our topic a few days ago. The second woman in the list is Rahab, a prostitute in Jericho who helped the two spies from the Israelite camp. How? By letting a scarlet cord hang out her window on the wall as a sign. Scarlet?—Hmmm? Could it all be pointing to the scarlet blood of Jesus Christ that would grant us eternal safety, as well as a double portion of God's inheritance? The third woman is Ruth, a Moabitess widow, who, through her obedience to the Lord's leading for her life, would come to be the great-grandmother of King David. And then would come Bathsheba—"David was the father of Solomon (his mother was Bathsheba, the widow of Uriah)." (NLT vs.6b) An affair; deception, and murder to cover it up—not exactly the character one would expect to find in the line of Jesus!
The fifth and final woman in this genealogy, is Mary—"Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ." (KJV vs.16) One thing you had to have noticed in this is that the Lord is more than willing to employ sinners in His Plan—even Mary—her name actually means, "Rebellion," but, Praise God, she knew her need—God was her Savior! (Luke 1:47) Baby after baby, person after person, generation after generation—God can, and will, "employ" a willing heart. If God refused to use sinners, whom would He use? All have sinned—including you and me! Praise God—He loves us too much to leave us in that state of dullness to His word and His ways; half dead to His glorious plan of salvation; and buried in a sea of self!
~ Rev. Roy D. Warren, Jr.
