WHAT’S IN A LINEAGE? WHAT’S IN A CURSE?

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LUKE 3:23-38
Lesson #11
WHAT’S IN A LINEAGE? WHAT’S IN A CURSE?

• Memory Verse: Psa 80:17
• From the beginning of the book of Genesis, God told the people to keep the record of their genealogical lineage. Periodically through that book there are the lists of names of who descended from whom.
• Why were the genealogies so important to God?
  • In the Old Testament, the Jewish priests were to be from the tribe of Levi and the high priest was to be descended from Aaron.
  • The Jewish kings were to be descended from the tribe of Judah.
  • Remember that Jesus came in the fullness of time.
    • The genealogies marked the generations of time until Christ came.
    • Notice that after Christ came we don’t find lists of genealogies in the New Testament.
    • Therefore, all the genealogies in the Bible relate specifically and directly to the coming of the Messiah.
      • The Jews obediently kept the genealogic records in the temple very faithfully until the temple was destroyed in 70 AD by the Roman army.
      • Because the official records were destroyed with the temple in 70 AD, most Jews today do not know from which of the 12 tribes of Israel they come.
  • Remember that prophecies were given so that man would recognize the Messiah when He came.
    • Some of those prophecies in the Old Testament involved individual people and their families.
    • For example:
      • God said that the Messiah would be a king from the tribe of Judah. (Gen 49:9-10)
      • God said that the Messiah would come through Abraham.
      • God said that the Messiah would come through Isaac and not Ishmael.
      • God said that the Messiah would come through David.
    • Because of the importance of the genealogies Luke already told us in Luke 2:4 that Jesus came from the lineage of David.
• Before we look at the genealogy in Luke 3, we must first consider the importance of a curse.
  • In the Old Testament, because of some specific sin, we sometimes see God place a curse on a blood line.
  • Why did God do that?
    • God’s intention was to keep the bloodline to Christ pure so as to fulfill prophecy perfectly.
    • Man in his rebellion, and Satan in his deception from time to time threatened to subvert God’s plan to bring the Messiah into the world in the fullness of time. Let us consider two prominent examples:
      • =1= For example: Gen 38 Tamar and Judah
        • We have already seen that the tribe of Judah was to be the tribe through which the kings and Jesus Christ, the Messiah, was to come.
        • Gen 38 tells us that Judah, the patriarch of the tribe, did not value God’s order of things. He married a Canaanite woman against the will of God.
        • Two of Judah’s sons died because they were evil. A third son married Tamar before he died. They had no children. There was no one to carry on the tribal name. How can God bring the Messiah by means of a tribe if the tribe ends with Judah?
        • According to God’s command, Judah was supposed to give Tamar to Judah’s other son, but he failed in this responsibility.
        • Tamar disguised herself as a prostitute and seduced her father-in-law, Judah. Tamar had twin boys, Perez and Zerah by Judah. Their son Perez is in the genealogy of Jesus Christ. (Mat 1:3)
        • A curse of disinheritance was put on the bloodline of the tribe of Judah for 10 generations. (Deu 23:2)

When Israel asked God for a king, (Remember kings were to come through the tribe of Judah.) the curse of Tamar was still on the lineage of Judah. God gave them Saul from the tribe of Benjamin according to His permissive will.

The curse on ten generations ended with the reign of King David from the tribe of Judah according to God’s perfect will.

• • • • =2= For example: Jer 22:24-30 King Jeconiah
        • After the reign of King David all of the kings of the Southern kingdom of Judah were from the tribe of Judah through Solomon.
        • However, just before the Babylonian captivity, God decided that evil King Jeconiah was to be the last in the direct line from Solomon to rule as a king.
        • Therefore, God placed a curse on the bloodline that came from King Jeconiah.
        • When God cursed this lineage of kings, it seemed as though the prophecies of the Messiah’s coming through the tribe of Judah would never be fulfilled.
        • Instead God used the bloodline from David through Nathan to give us the Messiah from the tribe of Judah.
• Mat 1:1-16
  • Why does the Bible have Joseph’s genealogy when he was not the father of Jesus Christ?
    • Joseph legally adopted Jesus.
    • Jesus legally inherited the title to the kingly lineage from King David, but Jesus did not inherit the curse on King Jeconiah because Jesus was not the son of Joseph.
    • Joseph’s genealogy starts with Abraham and goes forward to Jesus Christ. Remember that Matthew’s purpose was to prove that Jesus was the legitimate King descended from Abraham and David.
  • Some things to notice in Joseph’s genealogy:
    • Mat 1:1 tells us that Joseph descended from Abraham and from David.
    • Mat 1:2 tells us that the promise of the Messiah came from Abraham through Isaac and through Judah.
    • Mat 1:3 tells us about the incident with Judah and Tamar that produced Perez in the bloodline.
    • Mat 1:5 gives us the introduction of Ruth, a gentile, into the bloodline.
    • Mat 1:6 gives us the beginning of kings from the tribe of Judah including David and Solomon.
    • Mat 1:11 tells us about Jeconiah, the cursed king that ended the lineage of kings from Judah.
    • Mat 1:12 tells us that Joseph’s lineage continues in the line from King Jeconiah down to Jesus.
    • Mat 1:16 tells us that Joseph’s father’s name was Jacob, and that Jesus was born of Mary, the wife of Joseph. Notice it does not say Jesus was born of Joseph because His father was the Holy Spirit.
• Read Luk 3:23-38
  • The genealogy in the book of Luke is that of Mary, the mother of Jesus.
  • Luke’s genealogy starts with Jesus Christ and goes backward to Adam. Remember that Luke’s purpose is to prove that the Messiah is the perfect man descended from Adam through David.
  • Since the gospels already had the genealogy of Joseph in the gospel of Matthew, why do we need the genealogy of Mary in Luke?
    • Remember the curse on King Jeconiah that prohibited a king from reigning if he descended from Jeconiah.
    • Luke’s genealogy proves that Mary was also in the bloodline from King David but verse 31 tells us that she descended from Nathan and not from the cursed branch of Solomon.
    • Therefore, while Joseph gives Jesus the legal inheritance to be a king, Mary gives Jesus the blood lineage to be a king without the curse.
  • The father of Joseph:
    • There is a discrepancy between the two genealogies regarding the father of Joseph.
      • Matthew tells us that Joseph’s father was Jacob. (Mat 1:16)
      • Luke tells us that Joseph’s father was Heli. (Luk 3:23)
    • How do we resolve this apparent discrepancy?
      • The words “son of” are not in the original documents of the Bible in verse 23 where it says, “Joseph, who was the son of Heli.”. (Luc 3:23)
      • Joseph’s father’s name was actually Jacob while Heli was Mary’s father.
  • Why is Luk 3:31 important?
    • Luke 3:31 tells us that Mary descended from King David through Nathan in Mary’s genealogy.
    • In Mat 1:6 tells us that Joseph descended from King David through Solomon in Joseph’s genealogy.
      • This is important because of the curse placed on the lineage of Kings from Solomon. Remember that no descendant from Jeconiah could rule as king forever.
      • There was no curse on the lineage from Nathan. Jesus Christ, the Messiah and King comes to reign based on Mary’s genealogical bloodline from King David as established by Luke.
  • Summary:
    • While we do not like to read all the strange names in the genealogies of the Bible, they are important. Why?
      • The genealogies verify that God is concerned about each and every person individually no matter who his parents were or from what ethnic identity he comes. Their names are placed in the Bible as inspired scripture.
      • God had a plan and worked out the details by using people and generations. As inspired scripture He gives us the details so that we can trace the miracle of His plan from generation to generation.
      • God was concerned about verifying the identity of His Son Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah. In that way, man was without excuse when he failed to recognize who Jesus was and what He came to do. For this reason the writers of the gospel of Matthew and the gospel of Luke were moved by Holy Spirit to include these genealogies for us.
    • When Luke takes Mary’s genealogy back to Adam, it is to prove that what Adam lost through sin, Jesus Christ restored through His sacrifice on the cross.
      • For this reason Jesus Christ is called the last Adam.
      • Read 1Cor 15:45
  • Notice that Luke tells us that Jesus was about 30 years old when he began to minister. (23)
    • This was the common age for a man to begin his life’s work. The Law of Moses included this age as a requirement to serve God. (Num 4:3, 35, 39, 47) In fact, Num 4 mentions 4 times this requirement.
    • It was probably in the fall of 28 AD.

Homework
Luke 4:1-14

• Application of Luk 3:23-38
  • Think about your own family and the people from whom you descended.
  • Can you identify any that were Christians and probably prayed for your salvation?
  • Think about those in your family that are not born-again Christians. Pray for them.
• Preparations for Luk 4:1-14
  • Read Luk 4:1-14
    • Why does the temptation in the wilderness occur immediately after Jesus’ baptism?
    • What does Heb 4:15 mean in relationship to this event in the wilderness?
    • Why is it important for us to know that Jesus ministered in the power of the Holy Spirit when He was fully God even as a baby? (1, 14)
    • What can we learn from Jesus’ experience about how to fight against temptation?
• Memory verse: Luk 4:14a “And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee…”