Sinful Kings, Interesting Women, and the Son of David

Jim ButlerMatthew 1:2–17

Matthew's genealogy of Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:2–17) is not a census document but a theological and covenantal argument: the Messiah is the legal heir to David's throne and the fulfillment of the Abrahamic promise that all nations would be blessed through his seed. The sermon examines the genealogy's three structural movements — Abraham to David, David to the exile, exile to Christ — attending closely to the sinful kings of Judah, the five women embedded in the line, and the passive construction 'of whom was born Jesus' that marks the Virgin Birth as the genealogy's climax. God's sovereign faithfulness to the Davidic covenant, not the righteousness of the human instruments, is the thread that binds the entire line and culminates in the one who saves his people from their sins.