Now, as we come today to the Gospel of Matthew, I'd like to bridge the gap first between the Old Testament and the New Testament, because in order to appreciate and have a right understanding of the New Testament, it's almost essential to know something about this period of approximately 400 years. You see, after Malachi had spoken, heaven went silent. Station G-O-D went off the air, and there was no broadcasting for 400 years until one day the angel of the Lord broke in upon the time of prayer when there was a priest by the name of Zacharias standing at the altar in Jerusalem.
He gave the announcement of the birth of John the Baptist, who's to be the forerunner of the Lord Jesus. And we all see how... important John the Baptist is in this gospel that's before us, which is Matthew, of course.
We find that a great deal, though, took place in this interval of 400 years, though it's silent as far as the Scripture is concerned. Yet it was during this period that, in one sense, it's the most thrilling and exciting period in the history of these people who have undergone a great deal. But during this period, it was indeed terrific and tragic in many ways. Now, world history had made tremendous strides in the interval between the Old and New Testament, and the internal condition of Judah and the tribes experienced a radical transformation. A new culture, different institutions, and unfamiliar organizations arose in this period, which appear in the New Testament.
The Old Testament closed with the Medo-Persian Empire being the dominant power. Egypt was still a power to be reckoned with in world politics. And during the interval between the Testaments, both faded from the scene as outstanding nations. World power shifted from the east to the west, from the orient to the occident, from Asia to Europe, and from Medo-Persia to Greece.
When the New Testament opens, a new power, Rome, is the world ruler. And a consideration, I think, of some of these important dates ought to give us a bird's-eye view of this great transition period. Now, I do not want to bore you, but these are things that we need to know and need to have before us. For instance, if you go back to 480 B.C., Xerxes the Persian.
was victorious against the Greeks at Thermopylae, but he was defeated at the Battle of Salamis. At least a storm defeated him, and this was the last bid of the East for world dominion. And in 333 B.C., out of the West, there came that goat that Daniel records in the 8th chapter, Alexander the Great, the goat with the great horn.
And he led the United Greek forces to... victory over the Persians at Isis. Then in 332, Alexander the Great visited Jerusalem.
He was shown the prophecy of Daniel, which spoke of him, and he spared Jerusalem, which was probably one of the few cities that he ever spared. And then in 323 B.C., Alexander died way over in Persia, apparently intended to move the seat of his empire there. And the world empire, both east and west, was divided among its four generals.
Now, Judea was the next to Egypt by Ptolemy's Soter in 320 B.C. Seleucus, who founded the kingdom of the Seleucidae, which is Syria, he attempted to take Judea over. And that became the battleground between Syria and Egypt.
And this little country became a buffer state. It was very much like the old-fashioned rub board that many of you remember your mother used in a number two tub, and up and down and up and down she'd rub the clothes. Well, that's the way that these two nations went up and down the little land of Judea.
Antiochus the Great, he took Jerusalem in 203 B.C., and Judea passed under the influence of Syria. And then it was in 170 B.C. that... Antiochus, or Antiochus, however you pronounce this, Epimenes, he took Jerusalem and defiled the temple. And he'd been mentioned by Daniel as the little horn in the temple.
Daniel 8, 9. He's been called the Nero of Jewish history. And then in 166 B.C., Mattathias, the priest of Judea, he raised a revolt against Syria. And this is the beginning of the Maccabean period.
I do not think that the nation Israel have ever suffered more than during this era, and never were they more heroic than during this interval. And Judas Maccabeus, and that means the hammer, he was the leader who organized the revolt. And then in 63 B.C., Pompey the Roman took Jerusalem, and this people passed under the rulership of this new world power, where they were at the time of the birth of the Lord Jesus, and all the way through the New Testament period. 40 B.C., the Roman Senate appointed Herod to be king of Judea. And never has there been a family and a man that's been more wicked than this.
You can talk about the Mafia all you want to, or the Cosa Nova, or whatever it is, but this family would exceed them all. 37 B.C., Herod took Jerusalem, and he slew Antigonus, the last of the Maccabean king-priests. And then in 31 B.C., Caesar Augustus became emperor of Rome. And 19 B.C.
was the rebuilding of the Herodian temple. Never was completed. It was going on quite a while when our Lord was born. And then in 4 B.C., the Lord Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Now, that more or less dates that period for us.
But during that time, there arose among these people certain parties that you find mentioned in the New Testament. Never even heard of them in the Old Testament. Let me mention several of them. The Pharisees. They were the dominant party.
They arose to defend the Jewish way of life against all foreign influences. They were strict legalists. They believed in the Old Testament.
And they were nationalists in politics. They wanted to restore the kingdom to the line of David. So that what you have... is a religio-political party. They were what we call fundamental in the faith, theologically.
They were way to the right as far as politics is concerned. And then you have the Sadducees. They were made up of the wealthy and the socially minded who wanted to get rid of tradition.
By the way, does that remind you of the present hour? Isn't it interesting that the rich families of this country are all liberal? Strange, isn't it? The crumbs still fall from the rich man's table, by the way, and they are willing to give the crumbs, but they don't give their wealth, that is for sure. The Sadducees, they were liberal in their theology, they rejected the supernatural, they were opposed to the Pharisees, and the Sadducees were closely akin to the Greek Epicureans, that is.
The Epicureans believed to eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you die. They were the opposite of Stoics, and we have, I think, maybe a wrong idea of them. They were attempting to attain, really, the good life, and the way to overcome this body of ours was to give it unbridled rain, and a great many people think that's the answer today.
They tried it then, didn't work. The third group I'd mention are the scribes. They were a group of professional expounders of the law which stemmed from the days of Ezra.
They became hair splitters. They were more concerned with the letter of the law than with the spirit of the law. When old Herod called in the scribes, asked them where Jesus was born, they knew the letter of the law. They knew it was in Bethlehem.
But you would have thought they had hitchhiked a ride on the back of the camels and gone down to Bethlehem to see him. But they weren't interested. It was the letter of the law. May I say, I don't think anyone who listens to this program would say that I am opposed to studying the Word of God.
But friend, there is a danger of just wanting the information and the knowledge and not translating it into shoe leather and letting it become part of our life. Now, Bible knowledge, and it's limited as we saw in our... guidelines to the study of Scripture, you can only learn certain basic facts.
The Spirit of God has to be the teacher. But you can learn these facts and know all about them. the Antichrist and the beasts, and you can know about a great many things about predestination and free will and election. You can know those things theologically without actually these things getting possession of your heart. Now, the scribes come in that category, and personally, I feel like sometime today that the most hard-hearted people I meet are cold-blooded fundamentalists that apparently would be willing to rip you apart just in order to maintain some little point.
The important thing is to know the Word of God. That's a laudable attainment. The thing is not to have it for our own benefit, but to pass on to others and to translate it into shoe leather. Now, the fourth group are the Herodians, and they were strictly a party.
in the days of the Lord Jesus as political opportunists. In other words, they sought to maintain the Herods on the throne. They wanted their party in power, and that's the reason they went after Herod, since he was in power.
Now, there was, during this period, a time of great literary activity. The Old Testament was translated into Greek and Alexandria and Egypt during this period, 285 to 247 B.C. And it was made by six members from each of the twelve tribes, and that's where it got the name of Septuagint.
And this was used. Paul used it, and our Lord apparently quoted from it. The Apocrypha of the Old Testament was written in this era.
There are fourteen books. They bear no marks of inspiration. I've listed them in my briefing the Bible. And there are two books. They feel like...
should belong to the Old Testament. When I say they, I mean there are many good men feel like they should. That's the book of Enoch and the Psalter of Solomon.
But again, these are two books that there'd be some real question about. Now, there is a period, therefore, that's marked by the silence of God, and God was preparing the world for the coming of Christ. Now, the four Gospels are directed to the four major groups in the world of that day. The Gospel of Matthew, it was written to the nation Israel. It was written in Hebrew first, and it was written primarily then for the religious man.
The Gospel of Mark, we're going to see, was directed to the Roman. He was the man of action. He believed that government, law and order, was the way you could control the world.
And a great many feel that that's the way it should be done today. Well, there must be law and order. But the Romans soon learned you couldn't rule the world like that.
And the world needed to hear about one who also believed in law and order, but he also believed in the forgiveness of sins and the grace and the mercy of God. And that was none other than the Gospel of Mark written about our Lord. presenting him to the Romans. The Gospel of Luke was written to the Greek, to the thinking man.
And we'll see that when we get to it. And the Gospel of John written actually for believers directly, but indirectly for the Orient, where there was the mysterious millions of the Orient, all crying out in that day for a deliverance, and are still crying out for the world today needs a deliverer. The religious man needs Christ and not religion.
The man of power, as the Roman was, he needs a Savior who has power to save him. And the thinking man needs one who can meet all of his mental and spiritual needs, and certainly that great orient with the wretched man. He needs to know about a Savior, not only save him, but build him up. and bring him to a place where he can live for God. That gives you a bird's eye view of the Gospels, and I felt like it was worthwhile to take all this time for that.
Now, I would like to get our foot in the door of the Gospel of Matthew. As we said, the Gospel of Matthew, written by, actually, a publican, and he was one that the Lord Jesus had put his hand upon in a very definite way. He was his... follower, his apostle.
This man wrote, apparently in Hebrew, Papias says that, Eusebius confirms it, and other of the apostolic fathers, they all agree that it was written originally by Matthew in Hebrew for the nation Israel, a religious people. And I don't have time to give the background of that, but God had prepared them. This whole nation for the coming of Christ into the world, and he came of that. Salvation is of the Jews, the Lord Jesus said.
And it was a great German historian said that God prepared the Savior to come out of Israel, salvation to come from them, and he prepared the heathen for salvation, because they certainly needed it. The world needs it. Now, you will find that this is a book that is remarkable. The reason I consider it such a key book, it swings back in the Old Testament, gathers up more Old Testament prophecies, which you would expect it to do, than any other book.
And it moves farther into the New Testament than any other gospel moves. For instance, no other gospel writer, that is, Mark, Luke, or John, Mention the church by name, but Matthew does. He's the one who gives the word of our Lord on this rock, I will build my church. And we find that even Renan, the French skeptic, he said of this gospel, that it's the most important book in Christendom, the most important that's ever been written. That's a remarkable statement coming from him.
Now, this converted publican was the choice. of the Spirit of God to give this gospel primarily to these people. Now, this gospel presents the program of God. The kingdom of heaven is an expression which is actually peculiar to this gospel.
It occurs 32 times, and the word kingdom occurs 50 times. And friends, a proper understanding of the phrase kingdom of heaven is essential to any interpretation of this gospel. and of the Bible.
And may I make this statement right now, and I do make it categorically and dogmatically. The kingdom and the church are not the same. They're not synonymous.
And the church is in the kingdom. But after all, there's all the difference in the world. Los Angeles is in California, but Los Angeles is not California. And if you disagree with that, ask people from San Francisco.
And California is not the United States, but it's in the United States. Now, I know the Chamber of Commerce thinks it's the United States, but it's not. It's only one-fiftieth, by the way.
So that the church is in the kingdom, but the kingdom of heaven, simply stated, and we'll see it when we get to it, is the reign of the heavens. over the earth. And now I know the theologians have really clouded the atmosphere, and they certainly have made this a very complicated thing. But poor preachers like I am have to come up with a simple explanation, and that's it.
It's the rain of the heavens over the earth. Now that's the great theme of this gospel here, for the one who is going to establish that kingdom on the earth is the Lord Jesus. That kingdom is all important, and the three major discourses that you have in the Gospel of Matthew all concern the kingdom.
You have the Sermon on the Mount, so-called. That's the law of the kingdom, and I think only a partial list of what will be enforced in that day. Then the mystery parables in Matthew 13 concern the kingdom.
In fact, that's what our Lord said, the kingdom of heaven is like a sower and like... mustard seed and so on and so forth. And then you have the great Olivet discourse, and it looks forward to the establishment of the kingdom here upon this earth.
This is very important to see. I have entitled my book, Moving Through Matthew, and the reason for that is that there's a movement in the gospel of Matthew that if you miss it, you miss the gospel, by the way. That's like missing a turnoff on a freeway. If you miss it, brother, you're in a bad way.
And if you miss the movement that is in this marvelous gospel here, why, you miss something very important. Now, you're going to find that in this gospel, I have a different division than this, but you have the person of the king, the preparation of the king, the propaganda of the king, the program of the king, the passion of the king, and the power of the king. It's all in this gospel. I'll follow, however, a little different division. But in our book on Matthew, I have a division, an outline that really covers every one of the chapters.
Each chapter has a heading, the theme of it. This is a gospel that is very much like the book of Genesis. These are two key books of the Bible, and you need to think your way through these books.
These are two books that we ought to be familiar with. For instance, we are still sending out to those who'd like to have it, our little book on going through Genesis. Now, I have a chapter heading for each chapter. I think it's important to be able to think your way through these. And I, in other days, would tell students, instead of counting sheep at night when you can't sleep, the thing to do is to think your way through Genesis, and then to think your way through the Gospel of Matthew.
Take it up, chapter by chapter. Chapter 1, what is it about? Chapter 2, what's it about? Either Genesis or the Gospel of Matthew. Those that say...
don't count sheep, talk to the shepherd. Well, the finest way to talk to the shepherd is to go through these two books. And that will help you to get acquainted with him, by the way, and come to know him.
And it's more important to have him talk to us than for us to talk to him. I don't know that I've got too much to tell him. And he has a lot to tell me.
So probably we ought to make it like that. And we suggest that you do that. You ought to get the... book on Matthew, moving through Matthew.
There's a movement here. If you miss it, you've just about missed everything. Now, as I come today to this very important beginning that we have in the very first chapter, we have chapter 1, the genealogy and record of the virgin birth of Jesus. The genealogy and virgin birth of Jesus in chapter 1. The genealogy which opens the Gospel of Matthew and the New Testament is in many respects the most important document in the Scriptures.
Now before we get into it, shall we look to God in prayer? Heavenly Father, make rich and real today Thy Word to us, and help us to know the One that is the subject of this book. Help us to see that this is Thy hymn book. It's all about Him.
And the cry of the Old Testament is the cry of Job, that I might find him. And the New Testament gives the answer, as Philip cried out, we have found him. May that be our experience, to find him upon the pages of Scripture. We pray that in Jesus'name. As we get into this gospel here, you'll notice this genealogy.
That opens it. You have here a genealogy from Abraham to David, then a genealogy from Solomon to the Babylonian captivity, genealogy from the Babylonian captivity to Joseph the carpenter, 12 through 17. And I must confess it's rather boring, these genealogies, but I do think they're very important. You remember back in Genesis, I called attention to the fact that book's about the families, about how... Important they are.
Well, here you see it, this genealogy that opens the New Testament. Now, I must confess that to give anyone the New Testament with the Gospel of Matthew here at the beginning and this genealogy staring them in the face, they're not apt to get very far in it. A friend of mine, a chaplain in World War II, told me he gave out literally thousands of New Testaments to servicemen.
He said, I've seen many a man as I'd give them out in the bunkhouse. Or in some other place, take a New Testament, open it up to the beginning, and read probably two minutes, start through that genealogy, and he came to the conclusion it was not for him. Can't blame it. My point is that I think the gospel of Mark, or the gospel of Luke, or even the gospel of John, is more appropriate than giving the gospel of Matthew to the average person.
And that's the reason that we ought to use, I think, a little wisdom in giving it out. But that does not lessen the fact of the importance of this genealogy. Now, this genealogy, the entire New Testament rests upon it, the accuracy of it.
This genealogy establishes the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ is of the line of Abraham, and he's of the line of David. And both are very important. The line of Abraham puts him in the nation.
The line of David puts him on the throne. He is in that line. Now, these genealogists, these people were very important.
You'll find out that back in the book of Ezra, that when they returned from the captivity of the tribe of Levi, in Ezra 2.62, it says, these sought their register among those that were reckoned by genealogy, but they were not found. Therefore, they were as polluted, put from the priesthood. Couldn't be accepted. Now, very frankly, the Lord Jesus Christ had this genealogy that apparently was somewhere in that day for public inspection. I have a notion the temple, because they were actually a theocracy.
Here was a place where the church and the state were really united. Religion and the state were one. And so this genealogy was obviously on display. The very interesting thing is, though he's been challenged down through the years in practically every phase and feature, but this genealogy in those early days was never challenged.
And the reason is obvious. It was on display. All you'd have to do to check it out, and I'm sure many did, they checked it out and found out it was accurate.
Now this... is important, for it puts him in a very unique position. You remember that he said the shepherd, he comes in at the gate.
The thief and the robber, he climbs over the foal some other way. Now, that foal is the nation Israel, and he didn't climb into the foal over a fence in the back. He didn't come in through the alleyway. He came in through the gate.
He was born in the line of David. And in the line of Abraham, that's very important. He is the fulfillment. That's what Matthew is putting before us, is that he's the fulfillment of everything that had been mentioned in the Old Testament.
That must be looked at. Now, these genealogies were public records in the temple, apparently until 70 AD at the time of the destruction of the temple. And the enemy up to that time... I'm sure checked it out and they determined that it was an accurate genealogy.
He had to be challenged in some other way. And of course he was. But this is very important to see. Now, Matthew in this first chapter also, he teaches the virgin birth.
I have never objected to any man saying he does not believe the virgin birth. He has that right. The thing I object to are two things. I don't think a preacher. ought to deny the virgin birth.
If he denies the virgin birth, then he ought to get a job selling insurance and dealing with births in a little different way. And I don't mind the unbeliever saying he does not believe in the virgin birth. But the other thing is, I object to anyone saying, well, the Bible does not teach the virgin birth.
Well, my friend, if you know anything about the birds and the bees, And we have a lot of sex education today, and I suggest that there are a lot of liberals that ought to go back to school and maybe pick up a little of this sex education today and find out that Jesus was virgin born. That's the record that is here. Now, you can reject the record and say you don't believe the record, but you've got no right to say that it doesn't teach you. It reveals apparently either an ignorance of what is stated here, are just absolutely willfully denying what is written.
The Bible, both Matthew and Luke, and Luke is a doctor, and my friend, he goes into detail. He gives you a whole statement relative to obstetrics when you get there. Now, this genealogy is so important in many ways. I find it very interesting, this one, but I do find genealogies a little boring.
I went to a summer conference when I was just a young fella. In fact, it was at that conference that the Lord spoke to my heart. That's the first time that I had ever in my life had any interest, and I was in my teens, about somewhere between 16 and 18. I've never really determined exactly how old I was at that time. But at that conference, the Bible teacher, and believe me, he thrilled my heart. As he taught the Word of God, he asked one morning, how many of you young people have read the Bible through in a year?
And not a hand was put up. And he asked the question again. He said, I'm sure out of this crowd, and I think there must have been...
two to three hundred young people there, he asked it again, and not a hand went up. And he came back the third time, and he said, Now look, how many of you have read the Bible through? Certainly out of a group this size, we'd find some.
And one young man put up his hand rather furtively, hesitatingly, and he said, Well, I read, but I only read that which was interesting. He said, I didn't read the genealogies. Everybody laughed, and the teacher, he laughed too, and he said, well, I don't read them either. And at that very moment, it occurred to me that since the Spirit of God had used so much printer's ink in giving us this, that there must be some importance to it.
And I'd have you note this one now in Matthew, for it's very important. Notice chapter 1, verse 1 now, and we have here the genealogy of the Lord Jesus. And that's on Joseph's side.
Now, we'll have another one when we get over to Luke, and that's on Mary's side. But here, the book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Now, this expression, this phrase here, the book of the generation, is a unique expression.
You wouldn't find it anywhere else in the New Testament. And you start back through the Old Testament, begin at Malachi. and Zechariah and Haggai, and then keep going back and come to the Pentateuch, and you still haven't found it. You take Deuteronomy, Numbers, and Leviticus, and Exodus, and you still haven't found it. You come to the conclusion it may not be in the Bible then, except here in Matthew.
And then you come to the 50th chapter of Genesis, 49, 48, 47, 46, and on down, and you just keep moving and... Finally, you get way down to the very beginning, and you're sure now. In fact, you're just about ready to close the Bible.
And all of a sudden, you come to the fifth chapter of Genesis, and you see this is the book of the generation of Adam. There's the expression again. There are two books, the book of the generation of Adam, the book of the generation of Jesus Christ.
How did you get in the family of Adam? You got in by a birth. Did you perform it? Oh, no, you had nothing to do with it, tell the truth. But that's the way you and I got into the family of Adam.
We got there by a birth. But in Adam all die. Then there's another book, and that's the book of the generation of Jesus Christ. How do you get into that family, into that genealogy?
Well, you get in by a birth, the new birth. The Lord Jesus said, you must be born again. Now, that's the Lamb's book of life.
And you get in there. by trusting Christ. These are the two books. All of us are in the first one, the book of the generation of Adam. I trust all of us today are in the Lamb's book of life.
Now, he says he's the son of David, the son of Abraham. Now, didn't Matthew know that Abraham came before David? Of course he did, because he makes that clear in the rest of the genealogy. But why did he put it this way?
Because he's presenting the Lord Jesus as the Messiah, as the one who is the king, and who is the one to establish the kingdom of heaven on earth, and that comes first. And he must be in the line of David in fulfillment of the prophecies that God made to David. He is the son of David, but also he's the son of Abraham, and it's very important that he be the son of Abraham. in this nation, because God had said to Abraham, I'll make you a blessing to all nations, and in thy seed, and Paul says that seed was one, and that seed was Christ, so he's the son of Abraham.
Now, you go through the genealogy. Let me read a little here. Abraham begat Isaac, Isaac begat Jacob, Jacob begat Judas and his brethren, Judas begat Phares, Zerah of Tamar, and...
Fires begat Ezra, Ezra begat Aram, Aram begat Amenadab, Amenadab. How many of you think that's interesting? Well, I see a few hands that are put up, some way over in Ohio, and some up in the state of Washington, and some down in Texas, and way across the Pacific. There's some hands up.
You find this interesting, do you? Well, then I ought to read a little bit more then. Salmon begat Boaz of Rahab, Boaz begat Obed of Ruth. Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat David the king, and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Uriah. Now, I won't read any more, even for those of you who put your hand up, because the names now get so they're difficult to pronounce, and I'll just bypass them if you don't mind.
But did you note in this section that I read there are four names that stand out in neon lights? That's just the way they do. First of all, they're the names of Gentiles, and Gentiles just didn't seem to get into these genealogies, and yet they did. The genealogy of David certainly has Gentiles in it. And then in that line also, You find these four names are names of women, and women just didn't count in that day.
My, how times have changed. They count today. But we still have a carryover. When a couple gets married, whose name do they take?
They take the man's name. His name's carried on, not the woman's name. Well, why don't they carry on the name of the woman?
Well, out here in Pasadena several years ago, there was a couple got married and they took the woman's name. There are great many thought it would be illegal. It's not illegal.
It's a custom. They take the name of the man. That's the way that we do it. It's the man's genealogy today, you see, that is carried on, and not the woman's genealogy.
And that was true in that day. Now, I've had couples that have come before me that they would have done well to have taken the name of the woman. Some couple comes up, and the fellow's name is a funny name like Schickelgruber or something like that.
And she has a lovely name like Jones or Smith. She has to give up that lovely name in order to take his name. Well, that's the way we do it today. That's custom.
But here are the names of four women, four Gentiles. Tamar is the first one in verse 3. And she got into the genealogy because she was a sinner. You remember her story. I said that was the worst chapter in the Bible. Back in Genesis, we saw that.
And Rahab is the next one, and she's not a very pretty character when we meet her. She became a wonderful person, by the way, when she came to a knowledge of the living and true God. And by faith, a harlot, Rahab perished not when she received the spies in peace.
She got in the genealogy of Christ for the very simple reason that she actually believed. She had faith. You notice the steps here. You come as a sinner.
And then you reach out the hand of faith, and what happens? Well, the next one that's mentioned here is Ruth, and she's a lovely person. You won't find anything wrong with her, but the law now kept her out. You see, the law would have kept these other two out, but there was no law in that day.
But there's a law now. And Ruth was shut out because the law said, A Moabite and Ammonite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord. And the law kept her out, but there was a man by the name of Boaz who came into his field one day, and he saw her, and it was love at first sight the minute he saw her why he fell in love with her.
Somebody said, you don't believe in love at first sight, do you? I said, I sure do. I believe in love at first sight. I proposed to my wife the second date that I had with her. And the only reason that I didn't propose the first date was because I didn't want her to think I was in a hurry.
May I say to you, I believe in love at first sight, but don't misunderstand if you're a young person today. We waited a year before we got married to make sure, and I think that's always wise. But this man, Boaz, loved her, and he extended grace to her. He put his mantle around her and brought her a Gentile into the congregation of Israel. May I say to you, she said, why have I found grace in thy eyes?
And to you and I can ask that question today. We come as sinners, we hold out the hand of faith, and he by his marvelous grace saves us. There's a fourth one here. Her name's not mentioned.
It says to her that had been the wife of Uriah. We know who it is, Bathsheba, but why isn't her name given? Well, it wasn't her sin. It just happened to be David's sin.
David was the one that really had to pay for it, and he did pay for it. She got in the genealogy of Christ because God does not throw overboard one of his that sins. And one of his will always come back. A sheep can get out of the fold and become a lost sheep. But we got a shepherd that goes after sheep, and he'll always bring them back into the fold.
And he brought David back. And this is the whole story of salvation right here. But there's a very interesting name that is mentioned here.
You find out that a great many here in the genealogy are left out. They need to be filled in. I find out in verse 8, Ahaziah, Joash is left out. They're not here. And I find out a little farther that there are others that are left out of the genealogy.
That gives me the idea that probably the genealogy way back at the beginning of Genesis before the flood that we are not given. A complete genealogy. I think man has been on this earth, friends, longer than Usher's dating has it.
I had a clipping. Somebody asked a question of one of these persons in a magazine that answers, when was the creation of the earth? And they gave the dating that you have in the Bible that's been put in there by Usher.
Well, may I say to you, it's as faulty as it can be. It doesn't belong there. We haven't any idea the original dating of the earth, and as I've suggested, could have been millions of years. And I think, frankly, that probably today they're getting close to it.
They say now five billions of years. They're getting, I think, close to it because I think it could have been 50 billions of years. Our God had a great deal to do in the past, and he did not need to confine it in just a few thousand years.
But be that as it may, there is a name that is here that is left out, and we're told, verse 10, Ammon begat Josias, and Josias begat Jeconias. Now, actually, Jehoiakim is left out of here, and Jeconias is one that you'll find that's not in the genealogy at all because of the fact that God had made the statement that no one in that line would ever be able to sit on the throne of David. You find in Jeremiah 22, 24, As I live, saith the Lord, though Canaia, now it's Jeconiah, but God took the J-E, which is his name, off of it, the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah. Though he were the signet upon my right hand, yet I would pluck him fence.
And then in Jeremiah 22, 30. He went on to say, Thus saith the Lord, Write ye this man Chalice, a man that shall not prosper in his days. For no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah. And because of the sin of this man, no one in his line.
Now Joseph is in this line, but this is the line that has the title to the throne of David. May I say this is one of the most remarkable things. In the Scripture, that's what Matthew's trying to show us.
Joseph could not be the natural father of Jesus. All he can do is to give him the title, the legal title, to the throne of David. And by being the husband of Mary, who was the one who bore Jesus, he therefore could pass that on to him.
But he has to be in the line of David, and Mary's in that line of David. And you'll find that David had many sons, one of them was named Solomon. Through him, Joseph came, according to this genealogy. According to the one that's in Luke, the third chapter, you'll find it in Luke 3, 31, that Nathan was a son of David.
Through that line, Mary came, and Jesus was born. You both went up to Bethlehem, the house of David, because they both belong to that house to be enrolled for the taxation. Now, friends, we've come to...
the end of the genealogy that is here, and this is a very remarkable genealogy as we've seen in many ways, and it's very interesting also. Now it concludes in verse 16 by saying, And Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who's called Christ. Now you see that immediately breaks the pattern that began As far back as verse 2, where it says, Abraham begat Isaac.
And from then on, it was just a whole lot of begetting, friends. And here, verse 16 started out, and Jacob begat Joseph. All right, then the next should be, and Joseph begat Jesus.
But it doesn't say that. It says, Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus. who's called Christ. Now, obviously, Matthew is making it clear that Joseph is not the father of Jesus.
He's the husband of Mary, but he's not the father of Jesus. That, I think, is crystal clear here. What is the explanation of this?
Well, we're going to have to take time out now, and in the rest of this chapter, Matthew will give the explanation. and show how it fulfills Old Testament prophecy. Now, when we get to Dr. Luke's gospel, Dr. Luke is the doctor, and he's going to give you quite an extended section on obstetrics, the virgin birth of Christ.
Now, both of these Gospels make it clear that Jesus was virgin-born. Again, I want to repeat that you can deny the virgin birth. That's your business.
But you can't deny that the Bible teaches the virgin birth. Therefore, the only Jesus that we have any knowledge of is one that was virgin-born. That's the historical record.
Now, if you want to take the position... He is not virgin-born, then may I say that you'll have to come up with some sort of a document other than just your own puny reasoning, the puny reasoning of man. We need something just a little bit more explicit than that.
May I say to you, it's so easy today to sit in a swivel chair in a library in some theological seminary. and sit down and write a thesis that you don't believe the virgin birth. And you may have a very cogent document, and you may write a very profound tome on the subject. Friends, but I want to say to you that you haven't any documents to back up your denial.
All you have is just a rationalism. Just by a process of rationalization, you have to come up and say, well, it couldn't happen. And may I say... Who are you to say that it couldn't happen when a few years ago man said you couldn't go to the moon? But they've gone there, and they've gone there, by the way, by natural means, using the laws of God.
And here we have this statement in the Word of God that he's virgin-born. Now, this requires an explanation. Now, we have here in verse 17 a statement that will explain something in the genealogies. It says, So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations, and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations. Now, he left out some.
We saw that last time. Why did he leave it out? In order that he might give us fourteen in each one of these and make a real...
connection, of course, because you go back and pick up the story in the Old Testament, you'll find out that so-and-so did beget so-and-so, but he did it by begetting a son who beget another son who's his grandson, and then the great-grandson is mentioned. Now, I believe that that happened way back at the beginning of Genesis, and that mankind has been on this earth lots longer than we even contemplate today. But I don't care to enter into that, as you noticed. I didn't even get involved in that when we were in Genesis, because I don't think we can arrive at any satisfactory solution, and I don't think that you can arrive at one that's unanimous, even among those that are conservative in the faith. We have now this very remarkable statement.
By the way, Jeremiah had a tremendous statement along this line. He... suggests this. In Jeremiah 31, 22, he says, How long wilt thou go about, O thou backsliding daughter?
For the Lord hath created a new thing. Now, he calls Israel a backsliding daughter. Now, he says, God's created something new in the earth. What is it? A woman shall encompass a man.
That's not the way it's done, friends. That's not natural birth. It's supernatural birth.
And this is the new thing God has done. This is the record of it that we have here. Now, Matthew's going to take time out to explain what he meant when he said that Joseph was not the father of Jesus.
Will you listen to him? Verse 18. Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise, when as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with God. child of the Holy Ghost.
Now, we have here the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise. This is the way that it happened. When his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, that is engaged to him, before they came together, they had no relationship.
She was found with child, and listen to Matthew, of the Holy Ghost. Now, Dr. Luke will go into some detail in that connection. Joseph was not the father, and that actually she was not being unfaithful to him at all, and that Jesus is not illegitimate. But this is something new.
A woman shall encompass a man. Verse 19, Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put away privily. Now, the Mosaic law was very specific at this point. It said when a woman was guilty of being unfaithful that she was to be stoned to death. That would be the extreme remedy.
Joseph is a remarkable man. I wish I had time to talk about him. You see, we've mentioned a great deal about Mary, that God chose her and how remarkable she was.
And all that is true, by the way. Just because you're Protestant, don't let yourself be deterred from giving Mary a great deal of credit. She was a remarkable person. Remember, she's the one. that God chose to be the mother of our Lord, and God makes no mistakes in this connection.
He picked the right one, by the way. Now, this man Joseph is a remarkable man. God made no mistake in choosing him. How many men, hot-headed, would immediately have had her stoned to death, or have wanted in some way to have got justification by making her a public example, by exposing her? But that was not...
the kind of man Joseph was. He was a gentle person. He was in love with her, and he didn't want to hurt her in any way, but he felt like she had been unfaithful.
Now, notice, but while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not. to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. Now, in order to keep this man from putting her away, in order to prevent really a very tragic situation to happen, the angel appeared here to Joseph and made clear to him what was taking place. And he says now to him, verse 21, And she shall bring forth a son.
son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. The name Jesus means Savior, and he's given that name because he shall save his people from their sin. Notice what Matthew, who is writing now for the nation Israel, what he says, Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophets, saying, in other words, if Matthew's going to appeal to the nation Israel, then this one who's come must be the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. And it's estimated, apparently somebody's counted it, that there are over 300 prophecies concerning the first coming of Christ that were literally fulfilled.
I do not know how many of them are in Matthew, but I know that Matthew quotes more from the Old Testament than the other three Gospels put together. Everything that he records, it seems he's recorded it, and he's not attempting to give a life of Christ, but showing that this is a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy concerning him. Now it was to be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet, saying, Now here is the prophecy.
Behold a virgin. shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us."Now, I want you to look at that for just a moment, because that is very important. Now, this may sound like a Christmas message. Maybe we should have given it at Christmastime, but it just didn't fit into our program. Now, the liberal has, of course, denied the virgin birth. He's denied that the Bible teaches the virgin birth. And I very candidly, I know I'm rather suspicious, but I believe that the New Revised Standard Version was gotten out in order to try to maintain some of the thesis of the liberal. I'm sure of that, because one of the things they've denied is the virgin birth. And where in the world is Matthew quoting from? Well, he's quoting from the seventh chapter. of the book of Isaiah, and at verse 14, and it says, Therefore the Lord himself... shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel. Now, the very interesting thing is that in the Revised Standard Version, he says, Behold, a young woman shall conceive and bear a son. And friends, that's no sign at all, because If that's a sign, then right here in Los Angeles, one's taking place about every minute. A young woman, but not a virgin, bearing a son. They translated it that way, and they've attempted to tone down that word. Now, I'd like to have you look at something with me today that I think is very important. The word in the Hebrew is Alma. And... they have gone to Gesenius, who, by the way, was an outstanding scholar, and he has a very exhaustive Hebrew lexicon, and I can testify that it's also exhausting to look at it. Now, he admitted, Gesenius, that the common translation of the word is virgin, but he said that it could be changed to young woman. And the reason he said that was because he rejected the miraculous. And for one to be born of a virgin, that had to be a miracle. Therefore, his use of the term young woman. Now, this new translation, and others have followed it, have attempted to say that Alma means young woman and not virgin. Well, I have a little evidence to offer myself. Let's look at this incident. This was the time when Ahaz was on the throne, and he was one of those that was Far from God, and I list him as a bad king, and that's exactly what he was. And God sent Isaiah to bear a message to him. He wouldn't listen. And verse 10 of this seventh chapter says, Moreover, the Lord spake again unto Ahaz, saying, Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God, ask it either in the depth or in the height above. And Ahaz said, I'll not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord. And may I say that's... pious hypocrisy for him to say what he did. God asked Isaiah to meet him on the way, and Isaiah did. God had a message for him that he would give him the victory. This man couldn't believe God. And in order to confirm his faith, Isaiah said, God wants you to ask for a sign. And he, in a very pious way, oh, do we have these super pious folk? He said, oh, I wouldn't ask of the Lord a sign. Isaiah said, then God's going to give you one whether you like it or not, but not to you, to the whole house of David. This is the sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, shall call his name Emmanuel. Now, obviously, if it's just be a young woman, that'll be no sign they has of the house of David or anybody else. But I tell you, a virgin conceived and bore a son, that, my friend, is a sign, and that's exactly what it means. But somebody... goes on and says, well, wait just a minute, maybe it can mean young woman. Well, if you want to translate it like that, and by the way, it appears several times in the Old Testament, Alma, every time it means virgin. Rebecca, for instance, was the sister of Laban, and she was given to Isaac. There's a description given of her that she was a virgin, and she'd not known a man. That evidently is a virgin. I was talking to a virgin. find Hebrew Christian in the East, and he was also a good Hebrew scholar, by the way. I asked him about that, and he said, well, look at it like this. He said, suppose that you went to visit a friend of yours, and he had three daughters, and two of them were married, and one was single, you did not know, and you say to him, are these three daughters yours? He'd say, yes, and he'd introduce them. He'd say, now, these two. are my married daughters, and this young lady is my daughter also. Now, when he said young lady, and I'm quoting my Hebrew friend, he said, do you think he meant prostitute? He said, if you had said that she was anything but a virgin, when he said young lady, he probably would have knocked your block off. May I say to you, I'd hate to be some of these that are denying the virgin birth and will have to come into the presence. of the Son of God someday, and they've called him everything. I'm afraid some folk are going to be wanting to take back what they've said about him. You may disagree, but it's clear the scripture means virgin. You say, how do you know that? I know that because of one great fact. And that is that the Septuagint translation was made of the Old Testament. And the Septuagint was made by 72 Hebrew scholars, six, I guess it was, from each tribe down in Alexandria in Egypt. They translated the Old Testament into Greek. And when they got to this word, do you think that they called her young woman? No, those 72 understood that it meant virgin. and they translated it into the Greek Parthenos. And that's what it is here in the Gospel of Matthew, where it's translated virgin. And my friend, Parthenos doesn't mean young woman. It means virgin. Athena was the virgin goddess of Athens. In fact, that was called the Parthenon, because Parthenon means virgin. And so here it's quite clear what the word of God means. It's not quite clear what the liberal means, because, my friend, you can't come to but one conclusion, and I do mean to be dogmatic about that. Now, here is the thing about this that is so wonderful. I read this again. Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted means God with us. Now, here is a problem. Would you tell me where Jesus was ever called Emmanuel? Well, up here it says that he was to be called Jesus. And he was called Jesus. Christ, by the way, is merely a title. And this is his name, Jesus. He shall save his people from their sins. But here it says he shall be called Emmanuel. That is his name. will be a manual which being interpreted is God with us. I think this is one of the most wonderful things that you have in the entire Word of God, friends. There's nothing quite as wonderful as this. Will you look at this? A manual means God with us. He can't be a manual God with us unless he's virgin born. That's the only way. And listen, unless... he is Emmanuel, he can't be Jesus. And the reason they could call him Jesus, Savior, is because he's God with us. May I say this is without doubt one of the most wonderful things that you have in the entire Word of God, how this one came down to this earth. We see Jesus, who's made a little lower than the angels because of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor. that he, by the grace of God, should taste death for every man. And he had to be a sacrifice that was acceptable. I couldn't die for the sins of the world. Couldn't even die for my own. But he can. And how can Jesus be a Savior? Because he's Emmanuel, God with us. And how did he get with us? Virgin born. May I say this is one of the most wonderful passages that we have in the Word of God. Now, will you notice these next two verses? Then Joseph, being raised from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife, and knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son, and he called his name Jesus. Not Emmanuel. He was never called that. But you see, you can't call him Jesus unless he is Emmanuel, God with us. He has to be Emmanuel, God with us, or he can't be the Savior of the world. That's how important the virgin birth is. Somebody said to me, can you be a Christian and deny the virgin birth? Will you hear me very carefully? I believe that it's possible to accept Christ as your Savior without knowing anything much about Him. You may not even know that this record is in the Bible. But after you become a child of God, may I say this, you will not deny the virgin birth of the Lord Jesus. You may not have to know it to be saved, but as a child of God, you can't deny the virgin birth. Do I sound dogmatic, friends? Well, I hope I do. I intend to be, because I consider this all input. Because I want a Savior who's able to reach down and save Vernon McGee. And I am of the opinion if he's just another man like I am, he's not going to be able to help me very much. But if he is, Emmanuel, God with us, then virgin born, then my Savior. Is he your Savior today? He is. took upon himself our humanity in this way, that he might taste death. That is, that he might bear your penalty, that he might die a redemptive death for us on the cross.