Would you now once again turn with me to the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew chapter 1. I want to do the last part of the series, short series, three sermons on the genealogy, the history of Jesus Christ. And I want to read this afternoon the verses 11 through 17. Actually, it's 12 through 17. Matthew chapter one, beginning to read at verse 12. And after they were brought to Babylon, Jehoiach, Jehoiach Nias, begat Salathiel and Salathiel begat Zerubbabel and Zerubbabel begat Abidud and Abidud begat Eliakim and Eliakim begat Azor and Azor begat Zadok and Zadok begat Achim and Achim begat Eliud. And Eliud begat Eleazar, Eleazar begat Matan, and Matan begat Jacob, and Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who was called Christ. Thus far, the reading of God's holy word. May he add his blessing to the hearing, the reading, and the preaching of his word again this afternoon. Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ gathered here with me in Jordan this afternoon As we return to examining Matthew's account of the origin of Jesus, I remind you that genealogies were important in Old Testament Israel. It was important for their national life as well as for their personal life. Why? Well, for instance, when Israel entered into the land of Canaan, a person's genealogy determined what land they got and how much they got. Land was allotted according to tribes. And furthermore, genealogies were also crucial in Israel after the deportation to Babylon. Remember now, Israel had been taken into captivity. And there in Babylon, they had been stripped of any status or dignity. And when, after the 70 long years, she comes out of captivity, who, for instance, are going to be her priests? God had ordained that only the sons of Aaron, the sons of Levi, were to serve in that capacity. But how would they know who they were unless they had remembered the family tree, unless they had kept record of their genealogy? And so the Jews had faithfully kept records of their genealogies even in the time of the deportation. And when we read our New Testament, we see that many Jews still knew what tribe they were from, even though the tribes had long since ceased to live in the areas originally allotted to them. They had entered the promised land some 1,200 years earlier, and now many no longer lived in their own tribal territory, but they still knew into which tribe they had been born. They knew their heritage. They knew their genealogy. For example, Saul of Tarsus could still say, I am a Benjaminite. We hear also of a prophetess from Asher. And we learn of Jesus being one of the tribe of Judah. In other words, genealogies played a very important role in Israel. And here in our text, Matthew sets the stage to show that Jesus had fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah as being from the house and the lineage of David by first of all proving Jesus' ancestry and tracing it to that line from David. And Matthew calls Jesus the son of David. And when he says that, he is telling us that Jesus is the one in whom we find the fulfillment of the promises that were made to David. But remember with me now, the earlier two sermons in this series, in the verses 1 through 5, we saw the rise and the fall of the house of David. It was a period of 14 generations, and it was a time of spiritual heights and spiritual lows. And then in the verses 6 through 11, we saw another period of 14 generations, but this time it was a time of only spiritual lows. It was a time of spiritual declension. It was a time in which we saw the descent into obscurity of the house of David. It was a time when we saw the church going into Babylonian captivity. It was a period of 14 generations, but it was 14 generations of only spiritual decline. In fact, it is almost as if the house of David is going to become extinct. David's throne, David's dynasty ceases to rule in Israel. David's rule and throne virtually disappear from the scene. And what we're now going to see in the next period of 14 generations is that just when we think David's line has become totally extinct, then comes the root from the stump of Jesse. At the end of this period, this period of the 14 generations, it's a time of absolute and complete hopelessness. Then suddenly, then suddenly the branch, the righteous branch comes. Then comes the one who is a greater king and a greater Lord than David or his descendants, any of them ever were. My dear people of God, what we need to keep in mind here is that Matthew is reminding us that Jesus is the fulfillment of the promise that God had given to David in 2 Samuel 7, verse 12 and 13, when he promised to put on David's throne a son who would rule forever. And that prophecy was not fulfilled in Solomon, as glorious as his reign may have been. And it was not fulfilled in the sum total of all the kings of Israel, as impressive as that dynasty at times may have been. No, the fulfillment of that promise of God was, of course, in Christ. Beginning with Abraham, the genealogy of Matthew gives us the royal family that finally culminates in the birth of Christ. The list is divided up into the three sections of 14 generations each. The first 14 begins with Abraham, ends with David. And those generations, we could say, were characterized by the fact that God reveals himself as calling life out of death. You remember that God begins by bringing forth seed out of a man over 100 years old and him as good as dead. God in his wisdom wanted to demonstrate that that which was impossible with man was possible with God. Also during that same period, God brings the holy seed into Egypt in order that he might call his son out of Egypt as the prophets had foretold. You remember all of that, I hope, from our first sermon together in this series. The second series of 14 generations begins with Solomon, David's son, with Bathsheba, and ends with Jeconiah, Josiah's son. And that period is marked by only great declension. With the exception of a couple of brief periods of an attempt at revival, as was, for instance, the time of Hezekiah and with Josiah, there is only constant declension and rebellion until finally the holy seed goes into the Babylonian captivity. Again, from a human perspective, all is lost. Ichabod hung over Israel because the glory of the Lord had departed from her. And now the third series of generations, the period we want to examine this afternoon, actually only contains 13 generations. And I want to remind you, as I said initially, I think in the first sermon, is that the names in the old King James are very different from what we read in the New King James, which I worked with. So if you can't recognize the names, find them in your Bible. They are all there. They're the same people, but their names are written and spelled and pronounced very differently. But anyway, the third series now contains 13 generations. It actually makes up 13 generations. And to make up the 14th generation, Jeconiah is counted twice. If you read your Bible, the second set of generation ends with Jeconiah, and the third set of generations begins again with him. And the most reasonable explanation given for this is that Jeconiah undergoes a conversion while in captivity, and the sharp contrast between Jeconiah before and Jeconiah after the deportation is given as justification for Matthew's counting him twice. That may not be a totally satisfactory answer, but biblical scholars are not agreed concerning this apparent discrepancy. And it is now this third set of generations that we want to consider this afternoon. And where we need to begin is by understanding that, humanly speaking, there was no hope. Although God had brought forth seed from the dead, as it were, from Abraham and Sarah, Israel was now in Babylonian captivity. Not God, but Cyrus of Babylon was on the throne. And while in captivity, Babylon had been conquered by Persia. and King Cyrus of Persia now sat on the throne. And God seemed to have abandoned his people, and pagans ruled over the royal family. Through her own disobedience, Israel had fallen into such a state that the future seemed hopeless for them, but God's purpose in bringing about such hopelessness was in order that he might demonstrate that that which was impossible with man was possible with God. The people of God would have lost all hope had it not been for God's promise. There was the promise of Isaiah 11 and Isaiah 7 and Isaiah 53 and the small remnant of God's people, a small remnant of God's people clung to that promise of God and so must we. And now our text of this afternoon speaks of these things, and I want to administer God's word to you, using as my theme, a root in dry ground. A root in dry ground. We will see here that what was impossible with man is possible with God. In verse 12 of our text, we read, the Jeconiah begat Shealtiel, and Shealtiel begat Zerubbabel. And what we need to know is that that period of time covered the Babylonian captivity and the subsequent deliverance of Israel. Jeconiah was only a young lad, a mere boy when he was carried away into Babylon. Jeconiah was only a young man, but even though he was very young, he was already extremely wicked. And as we read of him, however, it would seem that he was regenerated while imprisoned in Babylon. Indeed, it's not explicitly given us that, at least not in so many words, but we do read in 2 Kings that the king of Babylon took Jeconiah out of prison and gave him an exalted position. And we know, of course, that God moved the king's heart to do so in order to preserve the generation of the holy seed, because after all, if Jeconiah would have died childless in prison, just as with Hezekiah, then the holy line of David would have stopped. But God had determined that the Christ was to come from the line of David, and so to preserve the lineage, Hezekiah needed to be given time to have a son. And now here, Jeconiah had to leave prison. He had to take a wife, and he had to have a son in order to preserve that lineage. And he did. God saw to that in a marvelous way, and we read something about that in our text. He married, he took a wife, and he had a son with her, naming him Shelteel. And congregation in those days, when parents named a child, the name had meaning. They didn't just pick a name of a favorite uncle or some other family member. No, the names they chose, they chose for their significant meaning. And so Jeconiah had a son and called him Shelteel, meaning asked of God. Would Jeconiah, if he still lived in unbelief as he had prior to the captivity, would he have called his son asked of God? Hardly. And so that it must have been during his imprisonment or shortly thereafter that Jeconiah was regenerated and turned to the Lord. And then and then he desired a son in order that that holy seed might continue. And God heard. God answered and he called him Sheltiel. I have asked him of the Lord. Had Jeconiah languished in prison and died, the line of David would have come to an end. But God being faithful to his promise, first of all grants new life to Jeconiah himself, and then he gives him a son, Shelteel, who would stand in the line of the holy seed. And now as we follow the list of names in our text, we read that Sheltiel also had a son, and he named him Zerubbabel. And again, his name had meaning. Zerubbabel means born or begotten, if you will, in Babel. But that time of captivity was almost at an end. The 70 years as foretold by Jeremiah was fulfilled and chronologically, although it was still 550 years before the coming of the Christ, God was at work. God was making preparations. As far as God's people were concerned, humanly speaking, the situation was hopeless there in Babylon. But with God, all things are possible. And bit by bit, piece by piece, step by step, God was making preparations for the coming of the kingdom. 70 years of captivity had been fulfilled. Remember with me now that Jeremiah had explained to Israel that they would go into captivity because of their own unfaithfulness, and they were instructed to settle down and to settle in in Babylon. But they were also to remember that God had promised that after 70 years of captivity, God would again deliver them. But how would that happen? There had been no indication that the captivity was coming to an end. There had been no signs, no wonders, and no great awakenings. In fact, most of God's people, they had acclimatized in Babylon. Most of God's people had assimilated. Indeed, God had told them to accept the captivity as chastisement for their unfaithfulness, but most of Judah had so settled in that they had become quite comfortable in Babylon. They no longer longed for Jerusalem. But God was not satisfied with that, and neither was that faithful remnant. The promised land, the promised land, the holy city with its temple and with its temple service and ceremonies, that was their home, and for that home, that home they longed. But how would that return come about? The times for the church at that time was deplorable. But how would that return come about in these deplorable times? For the church, it was only captivity, despair, and darkness, and hopelessness. But God had promised. But how now would it be possible for that deliverance to come about? My dear people of God, we could only say it was a wonderful manifestation of grace, God's great grace, that Israel saw. Follow this with me. You remember the story of Israel. being led out of Egypt by God's almighty arm. You remember that story, don't you? You hear it every Sunday, I am the word your God who has brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. But you remember also how that rescue came about, don't you? Sure you do. God hardened Pharaoh's heart. You remember the story. God sends his word to Pharaoh time and time again through his mouthpiece, Moses. But Pharaoh would not hear, and Pharaoh's heart is hardened until God slaughters him and his son in order to rescue his children and to preserve his own son out of Egypt. And now, principally, that is precisely what happens here. But this time, the word of the Lord comes not to Pharaoh, but it comes to Cyrus. And Cyrus hears. And instead of hardening his heart, as did Pharaoh, Cyrus listens and softens his heart. Cyrus issues a decree that Israel is to return to Palestine, and if we were to ask, How does Cyrus get it into his head and into his heart to issue a decree to let Israel return to Jerusalem to rebuild the ruined temple? We would have to say, first of all, it was all of grace. Cyrus was not under pressure from surrounding nations. Neither was he threatened by the power of Israel, for Israel no longer had any human strength or power. No, Israel was all but decimated. There was only a handful. No, the royal family was rescued from Babylon in the same way as they had been rescued from Egypt by the power of the word of God. You see, the word of God came to Pharaoh's heart and hardened it. But in the case of Cyrus, God's word softened it. We read about that in the first chapter of the book of Ezra, where we read, Now in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, in order that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying, Thus says Cyrus of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth the Lord God of heaven has given me, and he has commanded me to build him a house. He's commanded Cyrus to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is among you of all his people? May his God be with him and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel, which is in Jerusalem. And whoever is left at any place where he dwells, let the men of his place help him with silver and gold, goods and livestock. Besides the free will offerings for the house of God, which will be built in Jerusalem. People, gird up the loins of your mind with me for a moment and think carefully. How could Cyrus possibly know that God had commanded him to build a house for God in Jerusalem? Well, see with me again how this all fits together so beautifully. How did God get the word out to Pharaoh of Egypt? You know the story. How did God get the word out to Pharaoh of Egypt? Well, Moses, of course. Moses spoke the word of God to Pharaoh. God's word confronted Pharaoh and through Moses, God had raised up Moses precisely for this task. Okay, but how did God get the word out to Cyrus? Well, God had raised up another Moses. You know who it was, Daniel. It was Daniel. God in his sovereign majesty and eternal decree had raised up Daniel for that purpose. God in his sovereign majesty had raised up Daniel for that purpose. God saw to it that Daniel was in the king's court at this critical time for the holy generations. And when the 70 years as foretold by Jeremiah had been fulfilled, Daniel, having knowledge of the Word of God, would have stepped up to the king and confronted him with the prophecy of Isaiah that was written long before concerning Cyrus. And this time, rather than hardening the heart, God softens the heart of Cyrus. He makes it receptive. And Cyrus not only lets God's people go, but he writes even a decree of support. What seemed impossible with men has made possible by the mighty word and the hand of God. But, you know, we've been inclined to think now that now finally the way had been paved for the line of the seed to prosper. But no. First of all, only a handful of Israelites returned. Only a very small remnant had any interest left in the things of the kingdom. The vast majority of the Old Testament church had apostatized. They had settled in Babylon. And so only a small band returned to take up the line of the seed again. And even though they had the decree of Cyrus in their hand, the task was made almost impossible for them. What a contrast. What a contrast from the mighty covenant line that had marched out of Egypt Because of her unfaithfulness, Israel had not prospered well in captivity. Here was God's people once again coming out of slavery, but instead of prospering in bondage as it was in Egypt, instead of marching out with 600,000 men plus women and children and livestock and great wealth, this time Israel and Babylon had further apostatized. They had assimilated with the world, and now only a small handful of pious Godly people returned to restore the glory of God in Jerusalem. Despite the decree of Cyrus in their hand, that small remnant under the leadership of Zerubbabel was under constant attack and hindered from rebuilding the temple. In fact, it took a lot of years to even restore any semblance of normalcy in Jerusalem. It took 20 years to rebuild the ruined temple. It was 50 years later that Ezra came to them, and then another 20 years before Jeremiah came to stir them up again, and then finally the wall was built. It was not a prosperous time. It was a hopeless time for those in the line of Christ. And people go out after Ezra, and after Ezra and Nehemiah, we have Malachi yet, and then, and then, and then, 400 years, 400 years of silence. Imagine that if you can. For 400 years, nothing more is heard from God. Imagine that, imagine that, imagine the desperate times for that remnant. That small remnant had come out of bondage in Babylon. They were the faithful ones. They had returned to rebuild the things of God. They were fully convinced that God was on their side, but oh, how difficult life was for them. They struggled for almost a hundred years just to return to some kind of normalcy, and although they had God's promise, although they believed God's promise, it seemed as if God had forgotten them. It would seem that the promise had been forgotten day after day, month after month, year after year, Decade after decade, century after century, the pious, faithful people waited for that root to grow, but nothing, nothing. And it all became so dark. And even their own numbers began to dwindle. Their own small numbers began to dwindle. And then to top it all off, 400 years and not a word from God. No more prophets, no more prophecies, no more encouragements from God, not even a rebuke or a warning from God. Nothing, nothing but silence from heaven for 400 years. Had God forgotten them? Would He remember them no more? Would that line and the throne of David, would that now finally disappear altogether? It appeared to be so. It was impossible for it to continue. Things just seemed to go from bad to worse for the godly seed. In fact, in one sense it would be correct to say that the scepter had departed from Israel. Ichabod was its name, for it seemed that the glory of the Lord had departed from her. In a real sense, Israel never, ever really returned from the captivity. For historically, Israel never became independent again. For 600 years, the throne of David remained empty. After the captivity, the high priests became the governors over Judah. In all of those years, Israel was a plaything among the nations. They were cast from Babylon to Persia. From Persia, they became the bone of contention between Syria and Egypt. After Syria, it was the great Macedonian Greek Empire. And then the power of Rome suppressed them. And then finally, when the time was fulfilled, when the time had fully come for the Christ to be born, Esau was on the throne. You heard that. Herod, you remember, was an Edomite. Herod was a descendant of Esau. Oh, how very very dark, hopeless, and desperate things had become for the church. Then, yet making life even more difficult and hopeless, twice during this time, Satan pulls out all of the stops in order to annihilate the Jews altogether to prevent the coming of the kingdom. One time was during the reign of King Xerxes, when under the plotting of Haman against Mordecai. He seeks to destroy the entire race of the Jewish people. You know that story. And then later, King Antiochus Epiphanes railed against the people of God, seeking to wipe out the Jews. And that time, God raised up the Maccabees to preserve the holy seed. But as far as man was concerned, it was impossible for that root to flourish and come to fruition in Bethlehem. But it becomes even more impossible. Yet the root is preserved, but finally it becomes a root in dry ground. You know what that means. If you have a shoot that is still alive and you plant it in moist, fertile soil, it will take root. It will sprout shoots and it will grow. But if you take that root and plant it in dry sand, it will not grow. It will shrivel up and die. And the meaning of the imagery must be very clear to us by now. When the time had fully come, it appeared to be no longer possible for that shoot of Jesse to appear. We read that in verse 16 of our text, where we were told, and Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born the Christ. People of God, think with me. After the words, Jacob begot Joseph, Matthew adds, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who was called Christ. The holy seed, the line of the holy seed ends not only in a young maiden of all people, but in a virgin girl as well. This was a young girl not married and childless. How could the line of the covenant continue? How could the promise ever be fulfilled now? Well, humanly speaking, it could not. But the Old Testament church, the Old Testament church had a promise of God. They had a promise of God and they clung to that promise, knowing that he who had promised was faithful and he would do it, even though they didn't know how. They knew not how God could, would, or could possibly fulfill that promise. Their history was littered with failure, frustration, and impossibilities. But each time again, when the night seemed to be the darkest, God's light shone through. And they had every confidence that even now, after 400 years of silence, God would still send his promised Messiah, although they knew not how that would ever be possible. Let's pause and sing again from 396, this time using stanzas 4, 5, and 6. 396, 4, 5, and 6. My dear precious people of God, God's people knew not how it would ever be possible for the promise to be fulfilled. Their numbers were so small. Even most of the other members of the church had abandoned them, and they had remained by choice. By choice, they had remained in Babylon. Oh, and indeed, Cyrus had sent them out with a letter of support in their hands, but they were under constant attack. And then twice during this time, Satan pulls out all the stops in order to annihilate the Jews and prevent them from the coming of the kingdom, during the reign of Xerxes and then later with King Antiochus Epiphanes. They railed against them, seeking to annihilate them. Satan railed against them, seeking to annihilate them and to prevent the coming of the Christ. And as far as man concerned, it was hopeless. It was impossible for the root to flourish. It becomes darker and darker and darker for the Old Testament church. And now and now, for 400 years on a silence from heaven, even God appears to have forsaken them. But what they, and we along with them, need to see is that what is impossible with man is possible with God. Oh, the line of the generations of the promise ended in a virgin. So humanly speaking, we would say impossible. But that the line ended with a virgin, that was not an accident. No, God wanted to demonstrate his awesome power and majesty. And in language simple and clear, the truth with reference to the virgin birth of the Savior is introduced here in our text. And Jacob begot Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who was called Christ. Oh, indeed, it is implied rather than as yet fully expressed, but our text does expressly not tell us that Joseph became the father or that he begot Jesus. No, in each case, in this entire genealogy of the three times 14 generations, We read that a father begot a son. He begot, he begot, he begot. But in this case, a child was born of a woman. The marked contrast between the lengthy series of begot, begot, begot, and the abrupt omission of this word here in verse 16 is intentional. Matthew chooses his words carefully, and by saying that Joseph was the husband of Mary and that Mary gave birth to Jesus, the evangelist brings out as strongly as anything could possibly do the fact that in connection with the birth of Mary's firstborn son, there was no male act of beginning that could be ascribed to Joseph, or for that matter, to any other human being anywhere. Joseph is called the husband of Mary. The manner in which he became the husband is given us later in the chapter, but here in our text, it is sufficient to know that Joseph, a carpenter from Nazareth, was indeed Mary's husband, but he had nothing whatever to do with the conception of Jesus. In the physical sense, it was of Mary and not of Joseph that Jesus was born. Joseph was the child's father in the legal sense alone, but that legal sense too was important. Through Joseph, a son of David, the right to David's throne was transferred to Mary's child. The record of ancestry is summarized in the words, so all the generations from Abraham to David were 14 generations. From David to the deportation to Babylon, 14 generations. And from the deportation to Babylon to Christ, 14 generations. And if I may add, all the time, all that time, the faithful remnant looked for the fulfillment of a promise that with man was impossible. People of God, Christ has come. And he's coming again. He comes to each of us, young and old. And the all-encompassing question for us now becomes whether or not the covenant promise of God is as precious to you as it was for the pious remnant of Israel. The question is whether or not that longing for the fulfillment of the promise is real and precious for you. The question is not whether or not you celebrate Christmas, All the world does that. No, the question is not whether you know the Christmas story. No, the question is whether or not you know yourself to have been rescued from that kingdom of darkness by the Christ of Christmas. And therefore, you long for his return. God himself comes to you this very afternoon and he sees your heart. What will he find there? Oh, indeed, he will find your sin. Without sin, you have no need of a savior. Indeed, he will see your sin, but will he also see the blood of Christ? Scripture brings a message of peace on earth, but that message of peace on earth as scripture brings it is much different from that of the Hallmark greeting card company The Bible knows nothing of a general peace on earth. Those who romanticized the story of the baby in Bethlehem and separated from the horrible story of the crucifixion on Golgotha, they cannot celebrate Christmas, for they are still estranged from the Christ of Christmas, the faithful remnant of Judah. They knew that God would preserve his people, even in Egypt, even in Babylon, even in Persia, even while under Roman occupation, they knew that despite the church's unfaithfulness, despite the sin of the church, despite the failure of the church, God would call her out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage unto himself, And that he did when he tore open the heavens over the plains of Ephratah, and he laid his only begotten son in that manger in Bethlehem. And now, people of God, knowing all of these impossible, this impossible history, is it any wonder to you that men and angels then and now still sing, glory to God, glory to God, glory to God in the highest? With men it would have been impossible, but God has rescued also us from the kingdom of darkness. Glory, glory to God, shall we pray. O Father, blessed be the God of Israel, the Lord, who visited his own, who by his gracious providence redemption unto us made known. He promised us that he would save from all who for our ruin wait, and from the hands of them that rave against us with a warring hate, to show the mercy once foretold unto our fathers and uphold his holy covenant with us, that he would still remember in his care the oath which he to Abram swear to benefit his seed from heir to heir. Amen.