Address—P.L. Johnson
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Want to turn to Matthew chapter one?
The first first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. Well, as we all know, this is the beginning of what is called the New Testament.
The very opening of that portion.
Of the word that brings before us the introduction into this world of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And I was thinking of the contrast.
The way the New Testament begins, verse one says the book.
The first thing that is brought before us.
In this gospel, and indeed this whole portion of the Word of God is the book.
Contrast that with the beginning of Genesis One you remember there we have in the beginning.
God, there's nothing said about a book.
God is brought before us because we know, of course, that there was a time in the past eternity when there was nothing existing but God himself. In the beginning God, there was a time when there was no physical elements in the universe. Indeed, there was no universe, there was nothing but God.
The Supreme Being, the one who inhabits eternity from everlasting.
But when they come to the New Testament.
We have not the the beginning here is does not begin with God, but it begins with the book, because we have a history now recorded.
In the books of the Old Testament, from Genesis right through Malachi, we have a recorded history of man and God's ways and dealings with man, the 1St man.
Because as we've mentioned before in some of these addresses that not only was there the 1St man, Adam, but there is a second man. And the the prior to what we have here, what the book would suggest to us is that God has recorded a history and he's recorded a history of the first man. And we know.
Something about his history. Those of us who are familiar with the Old Testament, we know that while.
Man was created upright and in innocency and without sin.
We know that he fell into sin and the history of man and God's dealings with man.
That we have in this book, when we arrive at this point, is a history of failure in responsibility, but a history too of patients on the part of God and a history of faithfulness on the part of God and prophetic utterances too, that would declare what God is going to do despite the condition and the failure of man and his lack of fulfilling his responsibility.
But I think of the.
When we come to the New Testament, and we know of course, it's only fitting that we should have in the beginning of the New Testament, these four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, that bring before the bring before us the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Brings before us that one who was introduced after the long period of recorded history of man and his failure in God's dealings with him. There is introduced in this Gospel of Matthew the Lord Jesus Christ, as we have read, and he is introduced in this Gospel especially I believe.
In connection with the title The Christ, well, you'll notice as we read the genealogy.
And when we when we start with Abraham, the genealogy starts with Abraham, and it goes down through all of the descendants of Abraham, through David, right down till we come to Jacob.
Who was who begat Joseph? And Joseph was the husband of Mary.
And it was of Mary that Jesus is born, who is called Christ. So you might say that the.
The genealogy.
Culminates and terminates in the the expression the Christ Jesus, who is called the Christ. So in the Gospel of Matthew he is presented especially in that light as the Christ, the son of David, the anointed one. That's what the Christ means, the anointed man, God's anointed and David is especially.
Set forth in the Old Testament as God's anointed king, he was the.
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He was the one who whom God raised up to set forth God's thought in regard to man being in the place of administration.
We know, of course, that when man was created, in the beginning God had had, you might say, thoughts in regard to man, just like when anyone would would perhaps.
Build a piece of machinery. Why you have the the builder, the inventor or the architect. Whoever builds that particular machinery has certain faults in mind as to what it how it should perform.
And what it would be used for, and its usefulness and things of that nature. Well, God had thoughts in mind in regard to man. His thought was that man should be the one who would be.
His administrator on the earth, you remember Adam was placed put in a position of headship and he was told to have dominion.
Dominion over the fowls of the air and the beasts of the earth and the fishes of the sea. God's thought in regard to man is that he should be the administrator of God's bounties, the administrator of God in God's representative, the one who really bore testimony to God here in this world.
And we know, too, that God's thought was that man should serve him.
He was put into the garden to tend the garden. He was given a little service to do. God's thought was that man should be his servant and serve him. And we know also that it was God's thought that man should be, should reflect the glory of God. He was made in the image and likeness. Image, of course, speaks of representation, likeness, all that brings before us.
A moral thought that man should bear a moral likeness to his Creator.
Some of the thoughts that God had in regard to man, and I believe that when Israel was chosen to be God's people here on the earth, those thoughts were brought over into that nation. He redeemed that nation and and brought them to himself with the object that they should fulfill. These thoughts that God had in regard to man, that in that nation all of the families of the earth might be blessed that they might be.
The dispensers of blessing on earth.
To administrate, to be the center of administration, and to be the center of testimony. He established a testimony in Jacob. The testimony of God was established in that people.
And we know too, that it was God's thought that Israel should be his servant, as he said to Pharaoh. Let my son go, that he may serve me.
And it was God's thought that Israel should be a reflection of himself here in this world to bear testimony.
To himself. Well these thoughts that God had in regard to man and in regard to the nation.
I believe when the Lord Jesus came into this world, he filled out those thoughts.
He filled up the thoughts of God in regard to man and what we have in the first three gospels.
Matthew, Mark and Luke I believe, is the Lord Jesus filling out those thoughts of God.
In Matthew's Gospel, he is the great administrator. He's the son of David.
He's the great administrator. He is the one who is the anointed man to whom God can commit everything.
Into his hands.
And he's to be head.
That's why we find in the Gospel of Matthew takes the place of teaching like the Sermon on the Mount where we have those various teachings of the Lord. You know, in chapters 5 through 7 of Matthew we have what is called a Sermon on the Mount. Actually those.
Those things that the Lord brought out in those three chapters, 5-6 and seven, were not uttered all at one time, but the Spirit of God has Matthew to bring them together because he's emphasizing.
The Lord Jesus as the great Administrator, the Son of David, and the one in whom the testimony of God is set forth in this scene.
And in the Gospel of Mark, we know, of course, that he is the.
He is seen as the servant.
The one who serves God, the one who does everything well, that's the great, you might say The sort of the theme of the Gospel of Mark. I think it's in Chapter 7 when the the word is uttered. He hath done all things well.
There have been many who had served God in the past.
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And served in measure. But here is one who served God well. He fulfilled all that God looked for in man as serving him.
And in the Gospel of Luke, I believe we have there brought before us the Lord Jesus Christ in manhood as the one who bears all of the moral features and characteristics of God. You remember in the Gospel of Luke when the when the Angel Gabriel speaks to Mary, he says, That holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called.
The Son of God.
Shall be called the Son of God. Now in the Gospel of John chapter one, John says that that the Lord told him that the one upon whom he saw the Spirit descending and abiding upon him, he says the same is the Son of God. I believe the two expressions are not identical. In Luke it says He shall be called the Son of God.
In John's Gospel it says he is the Son of God.
And I believe the distinction is this. In the Gospel of John, it's designating his person. He is in his own person, the Son of God. But in Luke I, I believe he's bringing out the fact that that man would bear the moral features and characteristics of God. They would come out in his walk, in his ways and his words and his deeds and everything about him would bear all of the features of God.
Of course, as I say in his person, he is the Son of God.
But he also revealed, or you might say exhibited.
In his walking ways, that which would be an exhibition of God in his love and his compassion, His Holiness, His righteousness, everything that and all of the the features that belong to God himself. The moral features that belong to God were seen in the Lord Jesus. Well, the 1St 3 gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke in a way.
Is a continuation, you might say.
Of the beginning that we have in the book of Genesis, in the beginning God created and that that started a story, so to speak. And that continues on through the Old Testament, right through these first three gospels. And you might say that in these first three gospels we have the Lord Jesus Christ filling out all of the thoughts of God that he had in the very beginning when he created.
The heavens and the earth, and he placed man here.
It's the Lord Jesus coming in to fulfill all of the thoughts of God.
To carry out.
Imperfection.
That which the 1St man failed to carry out.
You know, I believe it's, it's a very, it's a wonderful thing to see that God never let the thing fall to the ground. In other words, whatever object or whatever thought he has is always brought to fruition. God never begins a project and then has to break off. That's a characteristic of man. You remember those that began to build the Tower of Babel.
Well, they didn't finish, they had to leave off building and we find that this is a characteristic of man.
He may not be able to carry his thoughts through, but God had fulfilled them. Well, we know the 1St man wasn't able to fulfill those thoughts of God. He failed. But the Lord Jesus comes and he, he fulfills every thought of God in regard to the king, in regard to the prophet, in regard to the priest, in regard to the administration in Matthew, in regard to the servant, in.
Mark and in regard to the the moral characteristics of himself to be displayed in man in the Gospel of Luke.
But now John's Gospel is stands apart from the other three.
And I believe that scene in the way John's gospel starts.
We have another expression of in the beginning. You see, we have two beginnings.
You might say in the Word of God we have in the beginning in Genesis one, and that carries us right through these synoptic gospels. But when we come to the Gospel of John, we have in the beginning was the word that we're going back even beyond the beyond the creation of the world.
We're going back to that.
Beginning when God created the heavens and the earth.
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And in the beginning was the word.
And the word was with God and the word was gone. Takes us right back. And so the Lord Jesus is presented in the Gospel of John, not as coming in to fill out all of the thought thoughts of God in regard to to man here in this world, but he is presented there is that which comes down from heaven, that which is divine, that which is is altogether of God and has no relationship to man and responsibility at all.
And so in the Gospel of John, we don't have the Lord being presented.
To the Jews to be received, we don't have him presented. To man to be accepted.
Man is seen in the very beginning of John's Gospel to be in total darkness, and without life and perishing, and that which comes down from heaven.
Gives life under the world. It's a divine person come down in this world because the Word was made flesh or the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We read well back here to the Gospel of Matthew.
As I say, the primary thought in connection with the Lord here in the Gospel of Matthew is the Christ as we read.
In verse 16 because when we come to the terminus of the genealogy, we have.
The expression Christ. But now we have other names in this chapter.
Notice verse 21.
Word to.
Joseph.
She shall bring forth a son, and I shall call his name Jesus.
The name Jesus brings before us the man.
That's his name as man, Jesus.
And here it's in connection with his being the Savior. We know, of course, that Jesus is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew Joshua.
And incidentally, I might say that if.
If some have wondered if you when you read in the third chapter of Hebrews.
And when they read their about it says that if Jesus had given them rest, they would have been no promise of arrest to come. Maybe you remember that expression. Well, the word there, of course is Jesus in the Greek, but it it's referring to Joshua.
It's referring to Joshua because Joshua is the Hebrew name and Jesus is the Greek, and it means literally Jehovah saves.
Our Jehovah's savior. That's the meaning of the Word, the name Jesus.
But Jesus, you might say, designate the man.
The man Jesus. But now notice another name in verse 23.
Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel. Now Emmanuel is not Greek, it's a transliteration of the Hebrew, which means literally God with us.
As you see, it's interpreted here by the Spirit of God. God with us.
This is a designation of his person.
He is God. He is God.
Jesus brings before us his manhood as the man Jesus hear God with us. It brings before us his deity, a divine person, God with us. And these two names given to the Lord here bring before us what God is for us, what God is for us.
That is, that God has come down to be with us. God with us.
And we know why He has come down. He has come down in order to save us, to be our savior.
In order to be our savior.
Of course, in order to do that, he had to become man. He had to be a man.
But this is what he is on God's heart for us. But as I've already referred, you look again to that verse 16.
When he is called the Christ, this is what he is for God.
As Jesus and Emmanuel, it's what He is on God's part for us.
As the Christ is what He is here in this world for God.
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Here I believe that's why we have the expression in First Corinthians 12 when the apostle Paul says as the body talking about the human body has many members and yet it's one body, so also is the Christ.
Now you're not talking about Jesus.
He's not talking about the man Jesus when he says so. Also is the Christ. He's talking about the church.
The church, the body of Christ. It's called the Christ because the church is here for God.
It's it's the anointed vessel, you might say. It's the church is here as the depository of all of the blessings of God to be in the place of administration in this world. It's the place where God puts his testimony.
It's the church is that to which God is committed everything.
God has not committed anything to this world.
Remember John's Gospel when we read there in the second chapter of John's Gospel that that when there were many that saw the miracles that Jesus did and they believed on him, but he says that he did not commit himself and demand because he knew what was in man. God would commit nothing to man in the flesh. He did one time he he anointed Saul. He anointed Saul to be king and when he anointed Saul that meant that he committed.
Himself to solve that, Saul might represent him as head over his people. But Saul we know failed, and I believe that that's the only time we can say that God committed himself to man in the flesh.
And man proved that he could not bear that committal. He was not faithful. And so the Lord says he didn't. He says he didn't permit himself to man, for he knew what was in man. But we read in the second Epistle to the Corinthians how that God has anointed us.
He has anointed the believers. Those who find the assembly have been anointed of God.
That is, God has committed himself to us that we might be for Him in this world.
That we might bear his testimony, That we might preserve everything that is of himself.
And that we might dispense the blessing that he has for this poor world.
That's why the House of God is called a pillar in support of the truth, and the church is called the Christ or the Anointing. God commits himself to his people.
And I was thinking of the 31St Proverbs 31 in connection with the virtuous woman.
It speaks of the have her husband.
As he would go off to to his daily work, it says that the heart of her husband, Speaking of this virtuous woman, the heart of her husband can safely trust in her. He more or less committed everything of the household to her. He went off and he could safely trust in her to do what? To feed the household.
We read that and to clothe them so that she wouldn't be afraid of the cold because they were all clothed in scarlet and so to discipline them, but the heart of her husband could safely trust in her. And I, I thought of that's a little picture I believe of, of Christ the Lord Jesus committing his things to to his bride. We know, of course, we're not united to him as his bride yet, but we are those who have been espoused to Christ.
Virgin. And we would we would want to be like that virtuous woman and say that the heart of our Lord can safely trust in US of what he's been committed, what he's committed to us. You know, that's what Paul says to the elders of Ephesus.
When he called them to my leaders in Acts 20, he says I have not shunned.
To declare unto you all the counsel of God.
He says I've committed everything to you. The whole truth of God, it's all been committed to you.
Now The thing is, can the can the heart as it were of our husband safely trust in US? Well, God committed everything to the Lord Jesus as Christ. He says in the 11Th chapter of of this gospel that all things have been delivered into his hands.
God could safely trust in Him. He's the Christ.
Well, I'd like to look a little bit of this genealogy that we have here in connection with the thought of the Christ as being the one who was here for God, and you might say the one with whom the testimony of God was associated.
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The vast authority of the United one, and the testimony when God, if God, has a testimony in this world.
The first thing we can say, I believe about it is that that testimony will be supported by His word. It'll be validated by His word.
And I believe that's what the genealogy. The purpose of the genealogy in Matthew's Gospel is to give validity to the title of Jesus as the Christ.
He would not have right, he would not have the right to to be presented to the world. God could have never presented him to the world as the anointed, as the Christ if he were not of the lineage of David, if he did not have right and title to that place and the genealogy is brought in here to support the.
The title of the Lord Jesus is the Christ as the Son of David.
United 1 as the King.
And so the genealogy comes first in the Gospel of Matthew, you'll notice in verse one.
The birth of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Now it doesn't say the son of Abraham, the son of David, as one would think Abraham was prior to David. But David comes first. He's called the son of David before spoken of as the son of Abraham because he's presented in this chapter, in this God, in this gospel, as the anointed, the anointed and David.
Is typically the anointed man the anointed king?
So was it did not, did not fulfill the thoughts of God as to the United. That's why he was set aside and Samuel was sent to the House of Jesse to anoint David to be king. He's God's anointed man, the son of David, and he's a type of the Lord Jesus as the Christ.
So he is mentioned first before you have Abraham. But when we come to the setting forth of the genealogy, rightfully in verse two, it begins with Abraham. Well, you know, it's remarkable really to see how precise and accurate the word of God is.
I'm satisfied that the mind of man could have never written a book so precise and so accurate, without any slip UPS, without any flaws. It would take a divine hand with divine knowledge, a divine person, to set out what we have in the Word of God so accurately.
To see here that when he begins, the genealogy doesn't begin with David.
He began with Abraham as the father of the nation, and we go on down the line. But as I say, the.
It's all with a view of validating the title of the Christ. So we had to begin in in Matthew's Gospel, we have to begin with the genealogy.
And I'm thinking now in contrast with Luke's gospel.
Remember Luke's gospel? The genealogy comes in in chapter 3.
It comes in after we have the record of his birth. It comes in after we have the record of of an experience of his in Jerusalem as a boy of 12. We find the genealogy comes in after his baptism.
Upon the occasion really of his baptism, just after that we have the genealogy in Luke.
It comes in in the beginning, in Matthew, because you could not speak of him as the Christ without the the lawful right to take that title. And the genealogy establishes that. But you see in Luke it's not a question of being the Christ. In Luke what is emphasized is the manhood, the humanity of Christ.
That holy thing, that one who would be called the Son of God, the manhood of Christ. And so we find there that it's after we have demonstrated the perfection of himself in manhood, we have him as a perfect boy. Isn't that right? As a boy of 12, he's perfect because he's even then in the things of his Father.
And while he's in the things of his father, he is at the same time subject to his parents.
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That's perfection, isn't it, to have a heart for the things of God, an interest in the things of God, and yet subject to his parents because he was a boy of 12 Perfection and it's after the the Father exclaims from heaven, thou art my beloved son in thee. I'm well pleased and it seems to me as if the genealogy comes in.
To tell us where this man came from.
Because there's never been another man like him. There's been never been another boy like him.
And where did he come from? Well, you'll find the genealogy in Luke begins with Jesus and goes backward and goes right up to God.
It goes backward, whereas here it begins with Abraham and comes downward to Jesus.
He is at the terminus of the genealogy in Matthew, but in Luke.
He's the beginning because the genealogy begins there, as if to say this man Jesus.
And it treats him right back to God, Right back to God well.
But here we have the genealogy, as I say, validating his title as the Christ, which is in connection with the testimony. And keep in mind as we think of the of the Lord Jesus as the Christ, that now that he's gone back to the glory.
And there is the continuation of the Christ in this world, in the church.
I believe the Church is looked at in that way as a continuation.
Of the Christ, the anointed one now is the church, and the testimony is found in the church, the testimony of God. And so the the testimony is validated, you might say, even today.
I'd like to say this in regard to the testimony of God. You know, there's a difference between.
The testimony of God and what people speak of as being a testimony. We hear that expression sometimes someone say, well, I want to be a testimony.
To the Lord, well, that's all well and good. I know what they mean. They mean they want to honor the Lord.
They want to give a good account of themselves that they might be they might reflect the the graces of Christ and the the love of God and the goodness of God. And that's all well and good. But there is in Scripture the thought of the testimony. Paul says to Timothy, be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony. He doesn't say, don't be ashamed to be a testimony.
But be not ashamed of the testimony.
And there's a difference. The testimony is what God has established himself in this world as his testimony. Like in the Old Testament, the testimony of God was in Israel, nowhere else.
He established a testimony in Jacob.
And I think we read the other day in Psalm 122 how that Jerusalem, that whether the tribes go up to the testimony of Israel, that's the testimony of God was found in that people and specifically in the city of Jerusalem, nowhere else.
Not in Nineveh, not in Babylon, nowhere else except there the testimony of the Lord. But does that mean that God did not work anywhere else? No, that isn't true.
Now we don't if when you read the Old Testament, you may not be aware in reading of the Old Testament that God ever worked outside of Israel.
Well, I mean there are certain occasions like we know that like the Lord said that there were many lepers in the days of Elijah, but none were healed.
Except name and the Syrian that's outside of Israel.
But Naaman wasn't associated with the testimony of the Lord, testimony of God.
After he was healed, he went back to his own country, and he says, the good Lord, pardon me if he went into the House of his God and so forth. But God worked even outside of Israel, and that's true today. God may work anywhere.
God may work in any places, but the testimony of the Lord is not just where God is working. And sometimes there's confusion in connection with that. Some people think, well, if God is working over here, I want to be there. I want to be where God is working. Oh no, we want to be where the testimony of the Lord is.
We want to be where God has placed His testimony, and there's only one way we can find that, and that's through the Word of God. We can't find that place by looking around to see where God is working.
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God can work anywhere, and He does, and He always has. But he has a testimony and he establishes a testimony, and that testimony is validated by the Word of God. Just like here when the Lord Jesus came as a testimony to Christ in this world, it was validated by the book of the generation.
He had a right entitled to it, and so we want to remember that that God has a testimony.
And we find it through the Word of God, as the Spirit of God opens up to us, the mind of God in the Word, we will find where He has established his testimony. But I'd like to point out a few things in this genealogy that we might say characterizes the testimony because we can be sure of this, that God is not going to allow anything in the line of the genealogy that would be a blight on the testimony.
I think that's why Joseph.
Is presented here as a righteous man. In the Gospel of Luke, Mary is prominent, not Joseph.
Of course, the reason being in keeping with Luke's theme of the humanity, the manhood of Christ, we have the Mother, the one of whom Jesus was born prominent. But here Mary is only mentioned, as it were. By the way, Joseph is the prominent 1.
Because Joseph is the one who is in the lion of this genealogy. And Joseph.
Is the one who is not spoken of as the father of Jesus. Oh how accurate the word of God, how careful the word of God is a God in recording is there's never a slip. It's remarkable that that and I as I said a few moments ago, it's evidence, I believe of a divine hand. Notice how it reads in verse 16. We have this beginning all the way down in the genealogy. Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of Mary.
Of whom was born Jesus. It doesn't say Jacob begat Joseph and Joseph begat Jesus.
It says that Joseph was the husband of Mary because Joseph was in the line of the genealogy and the right or the title to be the anointed, the king came through Joseph.
As being of the lineage of David, it didn't come through Mary, it came through Joseph. So Joseph is the is the husband of Mary, but it's scripture is very, very careful.
To present it as it really was, he was the husband of Mary, but she it was of Mary that the the Lord was born by the Holy Spirit as the verses that follow show. But you notice in verse 19, then Joseph her husband being a just man or righteous. You see God would not have had an unrighteous man in that lineage right here. I believe that is the fault here is that he was he was a just man.
Righteous man, because righteousness is.
One of the characteristics of the testimony of the Lord.
And in the day of ruin we have in two Timothy 2. In the day of ruin, when.
Evil has been brought in to that which professes the name of Christ.
So that we have a great house condition.
We're told to depart from iniquity and to separate from vessels under dishonor and follow righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart, but follow righteousness because righteousness characterizes the testimony of the Lord.
And anything that is characterized by unrighteousness.
Is not the testimony of the law.
Anything that goes on with positive evil.
And allows vessels under dishonor is not the testimony of the Lord, it's not following righteousness. But now if you look at in the genealogy, the first thing I want to point out is that we have four women mentioned in the genealogy.
In verse three we have Tamer mentioned.
And in verse five we have Rahab.
And Ruth and in verse six her that had been the wife of your eyes Bathsheba 4 women are brought before us and we know, of course, that with each one of them there was some particular blot upon either their character or their lineage. Like Ruth Ruth was a Moabites and the Moabites were were excluded from the congregation of Israel, even to the.
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Generation.
She was one outside and had no place, no right, No title to a place of blessing.
The others were involved in Sin Tamer and Bathsheba and rehab, of course the harlot it brings before us persons who had no merit of their own.
Persons who had no claim upon God's blessing, who had no right nor title the blessing, but nevertheless were brought into blessing, each one of them brought into this lineage of the Lord Jesus.
I believe it speaks of grace.
That's another feature of the testimony of God. It's characterized by the grace of God.
The grace of God, that grace of God that bring us, bringeth salvation.
And that grace of God that teaches us, you see, because we read in Titus not only.
That it brings salvation for all men, but it teaches us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live righteously and soberly and godly.
In this present world, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ.
That's what characterizes the testimony Grace, not only the grace that saves in the gospel.
But the grace that would cause the people of God to be exercised about a godly walk and ways.
And I think of the number 4 two, and I suppose that most of us are.
Have some understanding that numbers are significant in scripture.
And the number four is used in Scripture to denote universality. As we read it, we know of the four corners of the earth in the four points of the compass, four winds of the sea, as you've spoken of #4 is the number that speaks of universality. So I believe it speaks of that, that universal grace going out to the whole world.
That's one of the features of the testimony. Not only righteousness, but grace.
Grace reigns through righteousness, we know. But now notice another element.
As we go on down to the through these kings of the lineage of David.
When we come to verse 8.
We read that ASA begat Josephine. That's Jehoshaphat.
In the Old Testament and Jehoshaphat begat Joram or Jehovah.
And Jehovah.
'S or Uzziah.
And I will turn back for a moment in the Old Testament to the genealogy, and we will see.
That between Jerome and Osias, Jehovah and Uzziah, there are three kings.
That are not mentioned here.
Someone might say, oh, oh, the rider made a mistake. No, the rider didn't make a mistake. It would have been very easy for Matthew.
Very easy for Matthew to have to have.
Resorted to the scriptures and look to the scriptures and read in the in the Kings and the Chronicles.
The kings as they went on down the line, and he would have known that that there was Jehovah has and Josiah or Joash rather and Amaziah.
That are omitted here. He would know that they were there, but they were omitted for a reason.
And the reason is not merely as we have in the 17th verse where we have 14 generations from Abraham to David and 14 generations from David to Le Carring way of Babylon, and then 14 generations in the caring way of Babylon under Christ. It wasn't merely to get that number. I believe we'll see in the Scriptures themselves a reason for the omission of those three names that God could not include them in the genealogy because.
What those 3 kings were connected with?
Had to be expunged.
To indicate that the character with which they were connected has no place in the testimony of the Lord. So turn back to First Chronicles chapter 21.
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Or rather.
The second book of Chronicles.
Chapter 21.
And verse one Now Jehoshaphat slipped with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David, and Jehovah his son reigned in his stead. Verse 5 Jehovah was 30 and two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 8 years in Jerusalem, and he walked in the way of the kings of Israel.
He was of the tribe of Judah, but he walked in the ways of the king of Israel like as did the House of Ahad, for he had the daughter of Ahab Dwight.
He had the daughter of Ahab. And who was that? Athelia. And who was the mother of Athelia? Jezebel. Abraham's wife was Jezebel. Ahab and Jezebel their offspring. Athalia became the wife of this king Jehoram.
No doubt before he was king but became his wife.
Now notice we have after Jehovah passes off the scene in chapter 22 and verse 2.
40 and two years old was a Haziah. Now he's the youngest son of the king Jehovah.
40 and two years old was a his eye when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Athelia. The daughter, our granddaughter. It should be in the Hebrew it's the same word, daughter, granddaughter, the granddaughter of Umrah. Umrah, of course, was the father of Ahad. So Anthalia was the wife of Jeholem and was the mother.
Ahaziah was the offspring of.
You might see the family of Jezebel.
Offspring of Jezebel's family, now a haziah, is omitted in that genealogy.
And his son Joash is omitted, and Joash his son Amaziah is omitted. And then the genealogist taken up again in Uzziah 3 generations. And I believe the thought is there. I think we have a statement in Scripture and various occasions, how that God visits the iniquity of the fathers on the children. And even unto I forget the expression even of the 4th or 5th generation. But here we see that you might say.
Generations are omitted 3 Generations are expunged from the genealogy because of that hateful thing, idolatry. Introduced into the House of David. Introduced into the House of David through that wicked woman Jezebel. Jezebel brought it in, of course, to Israel. She was a Sardonian and a worshipper of Bail, and when she came in as the wife of Ahab, she brought in the prophets of.
Worship of Baal, and now it's brought into the House of Judah.
Because Ahaziah is the offspring, the offspring of that wicked woman, and so they're expunged.
Well, you know, I might just say a word to you in a very practical way in regard to this turn back in the Second Chronicles, I believe, to chapter 19.
Chapter 18 This man Jehoshaphat, You know Jehoshaphat was a good king.
And there were many godly features about the man, and he was as to his own walk, he seemed to be very circumspect.
But he was careless about his associations.
We read there.
In verse one, Jehoshaphat had riches and honor and abundance, and joined affinity with Ahab.
Ahab Now Ahab had Jezebel for his wife, and here he is joining affinity with Ahab. And notice what he says in verse 3. And Ahab king of Israel, said unto Joshua, king of Judah, wilt thou bear with me to Ramoth Gilead? And he answered him, I am as thou art, and my people as thy people, and we will be with thee in the war. It's sad to see this man Jehoshaphat so careful about his own walk. He didn't take up idolatry, he he.
Took away the high places out of Judah, but he was careless about his associations.
And the result of his affinity, where they have the result of his associating with Ahab.
His son Jehoram became acquainted with Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, and hear a marriage ensues. And so now that wickedness of Jezebel is introduced into the House of David, and God says the three kings that are descendants of that Jezebel are expunged. So when we go back to that genealogy in Matthew, we see that those 3 kings.
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Are omitted and we go from Jehovah to Uzziah.
Indicating that the testimony of God is to be in separation from evil.
Jehoshaphat didn't do that.
He joined affinity where they had and idolatry came in and that's what we find in the history of the Church in Revelation 2 and three, isn't it because the separation was broken down. Why there were those who who had the doctrine of Balaam. They were allowed in there in the midst to teach the people of God to to commit fornication and eat things, sacrificing to idols and then finally in Thyatira Jezebel.
Is permitted to teach and seduce my servants. Well, those elements are not to be found. And the testimony of the Lord. And we might say that where those elements are found, it's evidence that it's not the testimony of the Lord.
So back in the Gospel of Matthew again and that genealogy.
We find that.
This genealogy is presented to to validate the title of Christ. He, the Lord Jesus, is to be presented publicly as sustaining the testimony of God as the anointed one in this world, and God would validate that title, that place by the genealogy. Now the Church is in that place.
The church is the Christ, the Saints who formed the church, and God would would have his testimony to be according to the book. The Scripture would would validate that testimony and he would have it to be characterized by righteousness, that which is right according to his, to his precious word. He would have it to be characterized by grace, the grace that saves, that sends out the gospel, the grace that that teaches.
As to the godly walk, and he would have it free from idolatry. Anything that would displace Christ, anything that would displace God, anything that would bring in evil, anything that that would introduce the idolatrous elements of this world, he would have the testimony to be free from that, even as is indicated here in connection with the Lord Jesus as the Christ.
Now I would just like to say in closing that the 14 generations that are mentioned three times.
We know that three is the number that speaks of the fullness of testimony, 2 is an adequate witness, three is fullness of witness and testimony, and 14 would be twice times seven. I trust you don't think I'm getting fanciful, but I believe the numbers are found there and the number seven we know is the number of.
Completion and finality.
I think that we have here, we have the we've reached finality as to the testimony of God and the person of Christ.
And the church is not looked at as a new testimony, but a continuation of that testimony.
So that there is that when the church is taken out, we find that the judgment of God.
Comes into this world and the we The Kingdom is not really a time of testimony. The Kingdom is a time of display.
The present time is a time of testimony, and the church is the Christ, and to bear the features of the Christ and the features of the testimony that is seen in this chapter, shall we pray?