The Genealogies of Jesus Christ, the Son of Abraham, the Son of David, the Son of God

It is often that people ask about the two genealogies which are found in Matthew 1 and Luke 3. There are different interpretations of this. Some say that Matthew is Joseph’s line and Luke recorded Mary’s line. The other interpretation is the one that I tend to agree with the most. The purpose of St. Matthew’s genealogy was to show that Jesus was the promised King and Redeemer of the church.

The Son of Man Is Given Dominion

Daniel 7:13, 14:

13“I saw in the night visions,

and behold, with the clouds of heaven
there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
and was presented before him.
14 And to him was given dominion
and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
that shall not be destroyed.

Matthew 28:18

18And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Some would teach that the passage in Daniel is speaking about the second coming of Jesus Christ. That couldn’t be further from the truth. It is an instance of bad interpretation. When studied the son of man is with a cloud of heaven going to the Ancient of Days who is God the Father. Jesus Christ, the Son of Man is being received into the presence of the Father. It is a Old Covenant teaching on the Ascension of Christ. In the above passage from St. Matthew Jesus officially declares the truth that He has been given a kingdom. He encourages the Apostles that all power and authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him. Then comes the great commission which is the prescribed way to perpetuate Christ’s mission when He was on earth. As stated in the above passage of Scripture in Daniel, this kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. It is a kingdom that knows no concept of time and space. It is a kingdom that is not threatened or concerned of being destroyed. Jesus Christ ushered in the Kingdom of God.

Isaiah 9:1-7

1 But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.
2 The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
on them has light shined.
3 You have multiplied the nation;
you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
as with joy at the harvest,
as they are glad when they divide the spoil.
4 For the yoke of his burden,
and the staff for his shoulder,
the rod of his oppressor,
you have broken as on the day of Midian.
5 For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult
and every garment rolled in blood
will be burned as fuel for the fire.
6 for to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

This passage of Scripture also explains that not only will His kingdom have no end but that He would be on the throne of David. He is not able to do this unless He was in the legal line of the Davidic kings. This is the point of St. Matthew’s record of Christ’s genealogy. The genealogy begins with Abraham showing that He was of the seed of Abraham, a Jew. This is when God made a covenant with Abraham to begin His work in building a Jewish nation. In other words, the sign of the covenant was to be applied to every covenant child from Abraham down to all of his posterity which is the nations, the church. Jesus wasn’t just a legal Jew but a legal king of the Jews. In His genealogy, from David on, it proceeds to list the kings of Judah from David to Solomon to Rehoboam, a king of Judah. All of the kings listed in the genealogy are kings of Judah not Israel. Judah was the southern kingdom and Israel was the northern kingdom. It is called the Divided Kingdom of Israel. All of the names from the Babylonian captivity on were legal descendants of these kings ending with the Son of God the King of Kings, the Sovereign of the Church. So I believe that the genealogy listed in Matthew was the legal line of the Messiah. In St. Luke’s gospel the genealogy listed goes back to Adam. This emphasizes the family line of Christ not His legal royal line. Praise the Lord!

St. Matthew= Christ’s royal line, not His family line. This would also explain the differences in some of the names.

St. Luke= Christ’s family line.

Which ever interpretation is correct the point of the genealogies are the same, to show that Jesus is the promised Christ. Amen and Amen.

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