Why All Those Begats?
So now Jesus and the ones he makes holy have the same Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters. Hebrews 2:11 NLT
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When I was a youth reading my Bible all the way through for the first time and came to the begats, such as in Matthew 1, I found them very boring. To be honest, I skipped them. I did not find them to be part of the “plot.” Later I found they were very much a part of the plot. Jesus inherited a family full of all kinds of sinners, but He came to make us holy. For example Rahab, who was a prostitute, was one of Jesus’ ancestors.
All the inhabitants of the city [Jericho], with every living thing that it contained, “both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass,” were put to the sword. Only faithful Rahab, with her household, was spared, in fulfillment of the promise of the spies. The city itself was burned.–PP 491 (1890).
See Matthew 1:1-16 for genealogy of Jesus, whose ancestor was Rahab. -Ellen White, Daughter’s of God, Page 36.
He became a part of the human race to rescue us from this world of sin.
For he [Jesus] has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins. Colossians 1:13-14 NLT
By reading all of Romans 5 we see that we were all in Adam when Adam sinned because we all came from Adam’s family.
In Romans 1:3 we read that “The Good News is about his Son. In his earthly life he was born into King David’s family line.” Romans 1:3 NLT
Now the KJV drives it home even closer, saying Jesus was of the “seed” of David, seed being “sperm.” Everything in Adam’s sperm to David’s sperm was passed down to Jesus. Now, the lineage in Matthew 1 is Joseph’s lineage not Mary’s. The point is still the same. Mary and Joseph were both from the tribe of Judah and of the lineage of David so their heredity was very similar. While Jesus was physically fathered not by Joseph but by the Holy Spirit, Mary herself was just as much a product of Adam and David’s sperm as Joseph was.
So what is the point of all of this? While Romans 1:3 tells us Jesus shared the heredity of David, and is a part of David’s family, Jesus has also transformed that family into an obedient nation!
Through Christ, God has given us the privilege and authority as apostles to tell Gentiles everywhere what God has done for them, so that they will believe and obey him, bringing glory to his name. Romans 1:5 NLT
It would have been an almost infinite humiliation for the Son of God to take man’s nature, even when Adam stood in his innocence in Eden. But Jesus accepted humanity when the race had been weakened by four thousand years of sin. Like every child of Adam He accepted the results of the working of the great law of heredity. What these results were is shown in the history of His earthly ancestors. He came with such a heredity to share our sorrows and temptations, and to give us the example of a sinless life. –Ellen White, Desire of Ages, Page 49.
You may be saying by now, “Wait a minute William. Yes Jesus was born of Mary but He was also born of the Holy Spirit which gave Him a huge advantage.” Yes you are right, and Jesus tells us in John 3, that He wants us to have the same advantage! He wants us to be born of the Holy Spirit too, so we will have power over our human nature! Jesus, in His humanity showed us the only way to triumph over sin – to be born again by the Holy Spirit.
So the ‘begots’ are a major part of the plot. Jesus became a part of a family of sinners and rescued that family from the penalty and the power of every kind of sin. He become “one” with us and experienced every type of temptation that attacks us.
God sent “His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” Romans 8:3-4 NKJV
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Eph. 2:4-6 ESV
Christ become “one” with us in a human body weighed down by a heritage of sin so that we might be “one” with Him, seated with Him “in the heavenly places.”
What wonderful exchange! And all it takes is for us to surrender our hearts and to allow Him to be Lord of our lives.
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This is brilliant, William. A powerful perspective to employ when talking with someone about Jesus of Nazareth's human nature. He gave up everything (Phil. 2:5-8) so He would have the authority to offer us the same deal He had! How can we say anything but, "Yes!"
William you have explained much of the Bible and done it very well. One quick question regarding a reference verse in Eph 2:4-6.
It says we are dead in our trespasses. But we are made alive. How do you explain \"alive\"? Really not symbolic. I am sure there are a wealth of verses to use but some do not get to the heart of what that verse means.
I think the complete revelation of Jeffery Carl has the answer that I ask William. Eph2:4-6 It has to fit pretty well I think.
Thank you William. I'm always overwhelmed by the thought that The One Who created all heavens and earth would come down to my level just to rescue me. I have never seen heaven oh but when I read the bible and it tells me of its glory (even my imagination can never reach the real sight) I'm humbled that Christ would leave all that and come down here and face all that humiliation just to save me!
How horrible and ungrateful it must be when I ignore His voice and give in to my own selfish desires.The story of Jesus is the greatest ever told. God himself manifested in fresh to reconcile us back to Him and to show Us what God can do and what we should do in tune with Him. Christ put all His strength in God the Father that's why He defeated sin! What an example! All my strength in Christ and then sin has nothing on me; what a joy is to walk with the Lord Jesus Christ. He is Love!
Jesus made the Father His Strength, and we make Jesus our Strength. Yes, this is a part of what we must do. We must also make Jesus our Righteousness. Jesus was not only the descendant of some very sinful people. He was also the divine Son of God. As such (and as a Man, the Second Adam), He was inherently righteous, whereas we are inherently sinful.
In other words, yes, Jesus is our Example, but He must also be our personal Saviour from sin.
Like you, William, I had the same attitude to the "Begots" as a youth, especially when trying to "follow the bible year" as we used to call it then. I just could not get through all those "begots" so, usually, I skipped over them quickly to the part where Jesus came in. If some of our leaders had taken the time to teach and explain the relevance of the listings to us children, we probably would have had a better understanding and appreciation of the relevance of this information in the whole outworking of the plan of salvation, ordained from the foundation of the world.
I hope our young people now, are better off for the fact that this is currently the subject of our study. It really amazes me that God so long ago, before we can reckon time periods, set in place the perfect plan, details and all, to save us and all others sinners, from Adam and Eve to today; and the plan still works, both for those who lived before the Messiah and all who would be born after His sojourn on earth.
We have every reason to be secure in our faith, when we see how everything that was foretold in the scriptures about Christ's first advent, was verily fulfilled to the 'T', as they say. The genealogy of Jesus was no exception. It happened just the way God said it would-He came from the seed of David.
Our reassurance, therefore, is that what God has said about the future WILL come to pass and Jesus will come again as He promised before ascending in the presence of His disciples.