Jesus’ Family Tree

Luke 3:23-38

Jesus’ genealogy shows that He has a right to the throne because He comes through the royal line that goes back to David. And it's very important in verse 31, that we see the name David.  Jesus' lineage comes through the line of David, from Adam down to Abraham down to David down to Jesus.  This is critically important.  And Matthew gives another genealogy in chapter 1 of his gospel. There are two genealogies. That shouldn't shock you too much since there are two parents involved.

Neither of the genealogy lists give all the names.  Not every name is there. When it says in Matthew so-and-so begat, it doesn't always mean father-son...it could be father, grandson, great grandson.  You can skip some generations in there.  We know that by comparing some of the genealogy records of Genesis.  But they don't have to be there. As long as you can track back through you can skip a few folks on the way.

Also, the word "son" you will notice, is in italics. That means it's not in the original. It is added to help us but it could be grandson.  It's the one of so-and-so, then the one born of so-and-so. 

Luke traces Jesus' line back to David through Nathan.  Look at verse 31, "Son of Nathan, son of David."  Now Nathan was David's third son born to Bathsheba.  But the first son born to Bathsheba was whom?  Solomon.  And the genealogy in Matthew goes back through Solomon.  So in Matthew's genealogy you go back through Solomon to David.  In Luke's genealogy you go back through Nathan to David.  So you have two different lines.  You have one being all the people who came out of Solomon...another, all the people who came out of Nathan.

Secondly, Matthew identifies Jesus' grandfather as Jacob, a man named Jacob.  It says Jesus' earthly father was Joseph and his father was Jacob.  But Luke says, at the end of verse 23, that Jesus' grandfather's name is Eli, or Heli.

Everybody has two genealogies like that.  One is maternal and one is paternal.  In Matthew you have the genealogy of Joseph through his father Jacob back to David through Solomon.  In Luke you have the genealogy of Mary through her father, Eli. 

Why is this important? Because anybody who ascended to the throne got the legal right to the throne through his father.  Even if there was an adoption the father still made that son a legal son by adoption.  And Jesus could only receive the right to rule through His father.  Genealogical records were traced through the males.  That's why there are no females listed in Luke's genealogy.  There are no females listed in the entire seventy-seven names because they come through the males.  Even though it's Mary's genealogy, no female is mentioned, not even Mary is mentioned, and I'll explain that in a moment.

So you received the legal right to rule through your father, therefore it was important for Matthew to prove that Jesus came from a line that proceeded from David through Solomon.  Jesus, though He was not the human son of Joseph, received His legal right to the throne from His adopted father, Joseph.  Joseph was considered the true father of Jesus when he was the husband of Mary, even though Jesus was not His son physically.  Because he married Mary whose son Jesus was, he became the legal father of Jesus.  Therefore, from Joseph Jesus receives the legal right to the throne.

It's interesting, just as a footnote:  In that line from Solomon there's a name of a man, Jeconiah.  Jeconiah was cursed and the curse on Jeconiah is in Jeremiah 22:24-30 and it says, "Jeconiah is cursed and no son of his will ever sit on the throne of Israel, ever."  That's interesting because that's Joseph's line.  Isn't that amazing?  No son of his ever did sit on the throne. Jesus was not the son of Joseph.  He did receive the legal right but he was not the natural child.  So the curse was intact.

Now, Luke then gives the genealogy of Mary back through Nathan, Solomon's brother.  This is important because some might argue that adoption doesn’t count, saying the Messiah must be a blue blood. So Luke shows that He has the blood of David in his veins because of His mother.  So either way, He is a descendant of David.  He can be King legally through Joseph.  He can be King naturally through Mary.  The credentials are clear, they are detailed and they are irrefutable.

This is the genealogy of Mary but she's not mentioned.  There aren't any women named in the entire genealogy, not even Mary.  Now a virgin birth is a one-time deal so there's no formula for how you do this. How do you do a genealogy when there was no father? 

But Matthew puts four women in his genealogy.  I'll tell you why he put them in there, as you realize the women he put.  I mean, he picked four of the all-time losers.  He picked Tamar, whose story would make a black mark on a piece of coal.  He picked Rahab who was a professional prostitute.  He picked Ruth, who was a cursed Moabitess. And he picked Bathsheba.  Of all the women that could have been put in the genealogy, he put those four in there.  I think he smiled as he wrote it.  He just scatters a few prostitutes and adulteresses and Gentiles. 

He's doing that to demonstrate that in the midst of the law there is grace. This introduces the law-loving Jews to the reality of divine grace; that prostitutes and adulteresses and cursed outcasts are in the line of the Messiah.

Consider this: There were all kinds of people who wanted to discredit Jesus, right?  The Pharisees, the Sadducees, the high priests, everybody; they would do anything to discredit Jesus as their Messiah.  They wanted to find any possible way that they could eliminate Him from His messianic claim.  You can be certain of one thing.  It didn't take long after Jesus made that claim before they were scrambling around to find the scroll that had the genealogy of Jesus.  And they would have only had to go just a short walk south from Jerusalem to the town of Bethlehem where the tax records were kept and the lineages were kept and they could have gone in there and got a hold of those records and they could have determined rather readily whether in fact Joseph and Mary's ancestry was Davidic. That would have been one of the first things they would have done because that's all it would take to discredit the Messiah. All the miracles aside, all the teaching aside, all the claims aside, “sorry, folks, He doesn't come from the line of David.  He is an imposter.”  That's all it would have taken.

You will never find anyone making the claim that Jesus didn't come from David. 

On Palm Sunday the multitudes cried out, 'Hosanna to the Son of David.'  Never a question.

Verse 23          He began His ministry about the age of thirty.  Why the age of thirty?  Well that was a recognized age when people would acknowledge someone in a position of authority.  For example, when Ezekiel the prophet, according to Ezekiel 1:1, entered into his prophetic ministry, it says he was thirty years of age.  When Joseph entered into his prime ministership, his rulership of Egypt, according to Genesis 41, it says that Joseph was thirty years of age.  And when David ascended to the throne of Israel, according to 2 Samuel 5:4, it says he was thirty years of age.  And according to Numbers chapter 4, when somebody entered into priestly service, they needed to be thirty years of age.  So it was a common age in the mind of a Jew for a prophet, for a priest, for a ruler and for a king, namely the King David.  Jesus waited until an age when I think there would be an acceptance of his maturity.  Certainly He would have been capable at the age of eighteen to engage Himself in the way He did in His ministry, but He waited until an appropriate age which the people would acknowledge as an appropriate age, the age of thirty.  And He began His ministry. What patience in doing things right.

Verse 23 uses the word “supposed” - the son of Joseph.  Which is another way of saying He is not the son of Joseph, which is another way of saying He is the son of Mary.  He actually is truly only the son humanly of Mary.  Supposedly the son of Joseph, this again is an affirmation of His virgin conception and His virgin birth.

We know about Gabriel’s announcement that she would conceive as a virgin.  But most people didn't know that.  I mean, most people supposed that Jesus was the son of Joseph.  They knew Mary and Joseph were husband and wife, and there were other children in the family. And they assumed He was just a son of Joseph like the other children in the family. 

Now how is Luke going to put Mary's genealogy in here without just including Mary's name?  Well he does it in a wonderful way here.  He does it in such a way to emphasize Mary without mentioning Mary by saying "supposed" in regards to Joseph. It's a back-handed reference to Mary. 

So, Mary's line goes back through all the essential components, all the way back to David, through David back to Abraham, through Abraham back to Adam and even back to God.  Why all of this?  It's credentials. 

Start at the end, verse 38.  Adam is … [note italics ‘the son’] of God. Adam was a son of God by creation.  And when Adam was created he fully bore the image of God.  He bore the image of God unmarred, unspoiled, unpolluted, uncorrupted until he fell into sin. And when Adam sinned, the original image of God was shattered, it was broken and no one has ever entered into the world a true son of God like Adam was, except Jesus.  Every one of Adam's descendants has been stained with the sin of Adam and the likeness of God has been corrupted.  But Jesus came into the world fully pleasing God. As God said in verse 22, "This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased."  He as man was what Adam once was, sinless, perfect man bearing absolutely perfectly the image of God.  He was the true Son of God, the truest Son of God that had ever come into the world since Adam.  And more than the true Son of God humanly, He is the true Son of God divinely!

But He is not only Son of God, He's Son of Adam.  He is like us, tempted, troubled, suffering, persecuted, hated, reviled and killed.  He is a son of Adam come all the way down to the pit, but unlike Adam, He didn't descend into disobedience.  He is fully man in every sense, yet firmly anchored in heaven as the Son of God.  He is also fully anchored to earth as Son of Man; God as to His deity, man as to His humanity.  He is Son of God, son of Adam, deity and humanity.

Then He is son of Abraham as to His nationality.  That is He is the promised seed.  When God made a promise to Abraham it was to a seed, Galatians 3:16 says, and He is the promised seed who will bring all Abrahamic blessing.  And He is also Son of David as to royalty, the promised King who would usher in the glory of all the Davidic promise.

Son of God, son of Adam, son of Abraham, Son of David; He is deity, He is humanity, He is nationality [that is to say He is the One who brings to pass all of Abrahamic promise.],  and He is royalty who will bring in the glorious kingdom promised to David.