The First And Second Man (1)

by J Miller | Category: Voices From The Past - Extracted From Jottings | Aug 1980

Both the Old and New Testaments begin with a Book of Genesis. In Genesis 2:4 we read: "These are the generations of the heaven and the earth when they were created". Again, in chapter 5:1 we read: "This is the book of the generations of Adam". We also read of the generations of Noah, and then, when God called and separated Abram, the genealogy especially followed is that through Isaac and Jacob. The Gospel according to Matthew begins: "The book of the generation (genesis) of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the son of Abraham". Genesis deals with the generations of the earth and its inhabitants, but Matthew gives the generation of Him who made the world, Immanuel. It is not His generation as God that is given - He "whose goings forth are... from everlasting" - such a generation is not revealed to men. It is His generation as Man, one born of a woman. This is not an endless or needless genealogy; it is a pedigree to prove a title, and make out a claim. As King, He is the Son of Abraham and David; those to whom God especially made promise regarding Messiah. Those who are to be blessed with Abraham's blessing are to be subject to the rule of David's Son. Unless Christ be proved to be Abraham's Son and David's Son, His claim to Messiahship cannot be admitted.

It is alleged that since the dispersion of Israel no Jew can now legally claim to be a son of David, proving such by his genealogy, so that the kingship of Israel must be lodged in the hands of our blessed Lord or be lost for ever. He is not merely a Son of David, but the Son, upon whose shoulders rests the government. God has fulfilled His royal promise to David, and, like so many of His ways, He fulfilled it when it laboured under the greatest improbabilities. It seems almost beyond question that Matthew's genealogy is that of Joseph, whereas that of Luke is Mary's line. The Saviour must be the Son of a woman (Gen. 3:15) but the King must reckon His claim to kingship by the male line. Christ was born in wedlock, and though conceived miraculously, the Son that God gave miraculously to Joseph by his wife, Mary, has an unchallengeable right to the throne. Furthermore, He was King by divine appointment; He is King by the grace of God. The kingdom of Messiah is not derived from David, but rather, David's kingdom was established through Messiah, who is the Root as well as the Offspring of David.

J Miller | Aug 1980
Voices From The Past - Extracted From Jottings