Family Tree

Do you ever look up your ancestors and find out who is making up your family tree?
Many of us may be very proud to find out who our relatives are. You may, very well, be related to some very famous and important people.
I think I am related to Dean Smith some how. Can't prove it but we just seem close for some reason.

Jesus had a very peculiar family tree. You would think the Son of God would be related to the religious elite of history. Nothing could be further from the truth. Let's take a look at 4 women listed in his genealogy.

These are taken from John MacArthur's great book "God With Us"

1. Tamar

"Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar,"
The first outcast was Tamar, the Canaanite daughter-in-law of Judah. She gained notoriety in Genesis 38 by resorting to deception, prostitution, and incest when she couldn't get a child any other way. Tamar disguised herself as a prostitute and tricked Judah into having sexual relations with her. From that illicit union were born twin sons, Perez and Zerah, and thus Tamar and her son Perez joined Judah in the Messianic line. Despite prostitution and incest, God's grace fell on all three of those undeserving persons, including a desperate and deceptive Gentile harlot.

2. Rahab

"Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab"
The second outcast was also a woman and a Gentile, but she made prostitution her livelihood. Rahab was no paragon of virtue, but she put her faith in the God of Israel and demonstrated it by protecting the two men Joshua sent to spy out her city. God spared her life and the lives of her family when Jericho was besieged and destroyed (Josh. 2:1-21; 6:22-25), and, brought her into the Messianic line. She became the wife of Salmon and the mother of the godly Boaz--David's great-grandfather.

3. Ruth

"Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth"
Ruth, the wife of Boaz, was the third outcast. Though she was a Moabitess and former pagan, having no right to marry an Israelite, God's grace brought Ruth into the family of Israel, and through Boaz, into the royal line. She became the grandmother of Israel's great King David.

4. Bathsheba

"And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah,"
The fourth outcast was Bathsheba. She entered the Messianic line through adultery with David. The son of their sinful union died in infancy, but the next son born to them was Solomon (2 Sam. 11:1-27; 12:14, 24), successor to David's throne and continuer of the Messianic line. Once again, by God's grace Bathsheba became the wife of David, the mother of Solomon, and an ancestor of the Messiah.

I hope you can see how the genealogy of Jesus Christ is immeasurably more than a list of ancient names; it is even more than a list of Jesus' human forebears. It is a beautiful testimony to God's grace and to the ministry of His Son, Jesus Christ. He is truly the friend of sinners who came to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance (Matt. 9:13).