I. Introduction
Our names are very important to us, aren’t they? We don’t like it when someone makes fun of them. Remember when you were in school? No matter whether it was your given name or your family name, some kid could just destroy it. One common ploy would be to take your name and then come up with another word, any word, in order to make some sort of inane rhyme out of it. If that didn’t work the name-caller would figure out another way to trash it. Sometimes it got downright nasty. You’ve all been there, haven’t you?

The meaning of our first names is often very interesting, but our family names can be even more so. They can tell us something of our forebears, those who came before us. Surnames originally came from a variety of different sources.

One of the most common was your father’s name. If his name was John, you were John-son. If your father’s name was Peter, you were Peterson. Another source of surnames was the place from where your family came, Hill, Woods, Field, or Brooks. Your last name might come from the time you were born, such as May or Winters. Your family name may well have come from an ancestor’s occupation, Carpenter, Barber, Fisher, or Cooper (one who makes barrels). It was also common for family names to be reflective of an ancestor’s physical traits such as “Small” or “Armstrong.”

A family tree can be a fascinating thing to try to construct. Some years ago our daughter Stacey and I got involved in researching some of our family’s history. We learned that the earliest record of our name is from 1332. It’s found on the tax rolls in Warwickshire, England, where it was spelled “Tymmes.” It probably came from the name “Timothy.”

By 1655 it was spelled “Timms,” and was associated with Banbury, a city about eighty miles northwest of London. Banbury records from that year reveal the following:
“Sarah Timms, a Quaker of Banbury lay in prison six months (because) she exhorted the priest to fear the Lord.”

In 1759, just seventeen years before the Declaration of Independence, the first Timms came to America. Let me quote the record. “John Timms, age unknown, arrived in America – arrived alone.” (Source is “English Convicts in Colonial America” – Volume II)

Some of you have traced your families back a long way. (Hopefully most of your ances-tors weren’t in jail.) I know that a few of you can look back and even make a connection to the Pilgrims, who were among the first Europeans to settle in North America. Many of you can go back to the Civil War. But even that is hardly one hundred and fifty years. Our family trees are rooted somewhere, but few of us know exactly where that might be.

This morning we’re going to look at Jesus’ family tree. It is unique.
There is no other like it. Jesus’ family tree goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. Then, as Luke 3:38 will tell us, it goes back even further.
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II. Text
We sometimes wonder why God put some of what He did in the Bible. At first glance some things seem to have no real purpose, and are at best, tedious reading. When we come to such passages, we often skip them and move on. But why do we do that? If the Holy Spirit saw fit to record them, aren’t they of value for God’s people?
2 Timothy 3:16
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, (and) for training in righteousness…

“…inspired by God” literally means “God-breathed.” Just as God breathed life into Adam, and he became alive, so too God breathed life into His written Word and it became alive. Isn’t that what the writer of Hebrews says?
Hebrews 4:12
12 For the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Therefore, even the smallest, or what might appear to be the least significant part of God’s Word, has power to touch us, to grow us up in Him, and to reveal God’s perfect and eternal truth. Here are just three examples.
• Is Numbers 1 – where Moses took a census of God’s chosen nation, tribe by tribe, numbering all the men of Israel over twenty years of age – any less the Word of God than Romans 8 or Psalm 23?
• Is Nehemiah 7 – where Nehemiah registered all the people when the walls of Jeru-salem were rebuilt – any less the Word of God than John 3 or Hebrews 11?
• Is 1 Chronicles 1-9 – where Ezra carefully listed all the generations from Adam to David – any less the Word of God than Genesis 1 or Revelation 22?

The answer is obvious. Scripture is Scripture! And “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable…” This morning’s text brings us to the end of Luke 3. It’s one of those passages we might be tempted to ignore or skip over quickly. After all, Luke 4 gets into some pretty “meaty stuff.” Jesus will confront Satan, and there is rich truth in what we will learn from that. But today’s passage comes first. Among other things it will prove that Jesus is the only One who could confront and finally defeat Satan.
*Luke 3:23-38 (Please stand with me in honor of reading God’s Word.)
23 And when He began His ministry, Jesus Himself was about thirty years of age, being supposedly the son of Joseph, the son of Eli,
24 the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph,
25 the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Hesli, the son of Naggai,
26 the son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Semien, the son of Josech, the son of Joda,
27 the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri,
28 the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmadam, the son of Er,
29 the son of Joshua, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi,
30 the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonam, the son of Eliakim,
31 the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David,
32 the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salmon, the son of Nahshon,
33 the son of Amminadab, the son of Admin, the son of Ram, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah,
34 the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor,
35 the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Heber, the son of Shelah,
36 the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech,
37 the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalaleel, the son of Cainan,
38 the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

This is one of the two genealogies of Jesus in the gospels. Matthew opens his gospel with the other one (Matthew 1:1-17). In a few minutes we’ll see there are some significant differences between the two. The unbeliever, the skeptic, and the cynic jump on such things. “Aha,” they say, “Mistakes, contradictions!” But of course, that’s not the case.

The first thing we need to acknowledge is that Matthew and Luke are writing to two dif-ferent audiences. Matthew is writing to Jews with a specific purpose in mind. He intends to show them that Jesus of Nazareth is in fact, their long-awaited Messiah. So he begins with Abraham, the father of the nation of Israel. He then moves forward in time to show that Jesus is directly descended from “Father Abraham.”

Luke, on the other hand, writes primarily to a Gentile audience. His emphasis is on Jesus’ connection to the entire human race as the “Son of Man.” He begins with Jesus and moves back in time the same way we would if we were building our own family tree.
That’s the most obvious difference between the two genealogies. Matthew begins with Abraham and comes forward, while Luke begins with Jesus and goes back to Abraham. But then Luke keeps on going – all the way back to creation and Adam, the first man.

There are other differences as well. Luke goes back through Mary, while Matthew comes ahead through Joseph. This raises another question. Someone will say, “Wait a minute, I understand why Mary’s genealogy is important. She was Jesus’ mother. Her blood flowed in His veins. But why is Joseph’s genealogy necessary? Jesus wasn’t Joseph’s descendant. In fact, Jesus had no direct physical relationship to Joseph at all.”

This question can be answered when you understand Jewish law. From Abraham to David both genealogies are identical. Only after King David do they diverge.
*Matthew 1:6 (moving forward in time to Joseph)
6 …and to Jesse was born David the king. And to David was born Solomon…

*Luke 3:31b-32a (moving backward in time from Mary)
31 …the son of Nathan, the son of David,
32 the son of Jesse…

You can see the convergence. It is here in King David that both Joseph and Mary are found to be his descendants. Now we know that Joseph was not Jesus’ biological father. Luke acknowledges that right at the beginning of the passage.
*Luke 3:23
23 And when He began His ministry, Jesus Himself was about thirty years of age, being supposedly the son of Joseph…

But, and here’s the key, Joseph adopted Jesus as his own son. Therefore, under Jewish law Jesus became Joseph’s legal heir. That gave Jesus the legal right to Israel’s throne as Joseph’s son, the Son of David. Furthermore, Jewish law regarding genealogies allowed a male child to be listed under either his biological or adoptive father. So in every legal sense of the term, Jesus was the son of Joseph, and had the rights of any firstborn son.

Putting it all together we see that Jesus was descended from David through the king’s son Nathan, who was one of Mary’s ancestors. And Jesus was descended from David through the king’s son Solomon, who was one of Joseph’s ancestors. Those two truths confirm that Jesus Christ entered human history as the natural son of Nathan, the legal son of Solomon, and the rightful heir to the throne of David. The genealogies prove it.

Since Matthew and Luke were addressing two different audiences, there are some other differences in these genealogies that are worth mentioning. Luke’s contains seventy-seven names while Matthew’s contains only forty-two. The most obvious reason for the disparity is that Luke goes all the way back to Adam, whereas Matthew begins with Abraham. But there is more to it than that.

Matthew skips more generations than Luke does, but neither of the lists is exhaustive.
Matthew’s doesn’t represent every father-son relationship the way you and I would do it. You and I would count each generation. We would use terms like father and son, grand-father and grandson, great-grandfather and great-grandson, etc. We don’t think of being a son to our great-grandfather. Neither do we think of our great-grandfather as our father. But Matthew used the word “father” like you and I would use the word “ancestor.” We see evidence of that throughout the NT whenever Jesus is called the “Son of David.”

Neither gospel writer sees the need to mention every single ancestor. They were con-cerned about constructing a family tree, but weren’t concerned with naming every single branch. For the Jews Matthew wanted to connect Jesus directly to father Abraham. For the Gentiles Luke wanted to connect Jesus directly to Adam.

But both establish beyond any doubt that Jesus was descended from King David. That fact has implications for Bible prophecy. Both of these genealogies establish Jesus’ right to David’s throne and point to His authority to rule the Millennial Kingdom from Jerusa-lem. Jesus IS the Messiah. Jesus IS the Christ.

Having said all of that, let’s look at a few other specific points that sort of “bubble up” out of Luke’s genealogy.
*Luke 3:23
23 And when He began His ministry, Jesus Himself was about thirty years of age, being supposedly the son of Joseph…

People often wonder why we know so little of Jesus’ early years. If it weren’t for Luke, we wouldn’t even have heard of the only thing we know of Jesus’ before He was thirty years old. It was Luke (2:39-52) who told us about Jesus’ appearance in the temple when He was only twelve.

This verse (Luke 3:23) indirectly addresses the issue of where Jesus was and what He was doing all those years. Matthew sheds a little light on the question.
*Matthew 13:53-56
53 And it came about that when Jesus had finished these parables, He departed from there.
54 And coming to His home town He began teaching them in their synagogue, so that they became astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom, and these miraculous powers?
55 “Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?
56 “And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where did this man get these things?”

From this we can surmise that Jesus spent the years in question living a normal life with His family in Nazareth. As the firstborn Jesus would have been trained well by Joseph.
Jesus was a carpenter just like His adoptive father. The word “supposed” or, depending on your translation, the words “so it was thought,” indicate that everyone in town had made the assumption that Jesus was Joseph’s biological son.

Why did Jesus begin His ministry when He did? Or, asked another way, why did He not begin it sooner? Again, a basic understanding of the Bible, Jewish law, and tradition sheds light on the issue. Ezekiel, the Levitical priests, and David all began their respect-tive service at the age of thirty years.
Ezekiel 1:1
1 Now it came about in the thirtieth year…the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God.

1 Chronicles 23:3
3 And the Levites (the priests) were numbered from thirty years old…

2 Samuel 5:4
4 David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years.

We know that Jesus holds three eternal offices. They are Prophet, Priest, and King.
• A prophet is a mediator between God and men. He speaks to the latter in the Name and the authority of the former. He speaks only what he has heard from God. Does that sound like a description of Jesus?

• A priest is an advocate who presents himself to God as our representative. As a mediator he intercedes on behalf of the people and prepares the way by which they may approach God. Then he instructs the people in the way of righteousness and holiness. Finally, as God’s representative the priest must be righteous and holy himself. Does that sound like a description of Jesus?

• A king is the mediator of the executive Power of God among His people. The king is also the one who judges the people. Does that sound like a description of Jesus?

Now hear this carefully.
• As the Son of Man Jesus Christ acted as the Prophet by telling us what He had heard from the Father.

• As the Son of God Jesus Christ now acts as the Priest by bridging the gap between us and God.

• As the Son of David Jesus Christ will act as the King who will rule for all eternity.

Only then will all three offices, Prophet, Priest, and King, be seen simultaneously in their completion and divine fullness.

So I’ll ask the question again. Why did Jesus’ earthly ministry begin at the age of thirty? I read the verses. The Prophet Ezekiel was called at thirty. The Levitical Priests began their service at thirty. King David took the throne of Israel at the age of thirty.
Thus Jesus began His earthly ministry at the age when all around Him would see it and recognize it as the appropriate time.

Of all the names given in Luke’s genealogy some are particularly important to our under-standing of who Jesus really is. We’ve talked about David. We’ve talked about how Matthew’s and Luke’s genealogies differ. But I also mentioned another area where they are identical. That’s the generations from Abraham to David (or David to Abraham, depending upon which direction you’re moving through history).

This is of critical importance to every Jew because the connection from Abraham to David must be there. Quite simply, if Jesus is not descended from Abraham He cannot be the Messiah. So both genealogies confirm that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah.

But that isn’t Luke’s primary concern. Luke’s primary concern is that the Gentiles under-stand that Jesus is fully human. Therefore Luke goes on back to Adam. Go back with me to the text one more time.
*Luke 3:33-38
33 (Jesus is)…the son of Judah (the Lion of the Tribe of Judah – Revelation. 5:5),
34 the son of Jacob (Israel), the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor,
35 the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Heber, the son of Shelah,
36 the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech,
37 the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalaleel, the son of Cainan,
38 the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

It is not that these additional names would have been unimportant to Jewish readers. It is just that the Jews didn’t need to be convinced that Abraham was their ancestor and that he descended from Adam. Jews accepted those things as unarguable and settled fact.

In that day even the pagan Greeks recognized that there was a God who created the uni-verse and everything in it. They didn’t know who He was, but they knew He existed. The Apostle Paul saw that first hand when he preached in Athens on Mars Hill.
*Acts 17:22-23
22 …Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects.
23 “For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your wor-ship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ What therefore you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you.
24 “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is the Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in a temple made with hands;
25 neither is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all life and breath and all things;
26 and He made from one (Adam), every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times, and the boundaries of their habitation,
27 that they should seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;
28 for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His offspring.’
29 “Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man.
30 “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent,
31 because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteous-ness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”

You’ve just heard the gospel preached by the Apostle Paul. It’s the same gospel that was preached by John the Baptist. Let me paraphrase them. “Repent because there is a judg-ment to come. And now you know to whom you must turn. You must turn to the One whom God has raised from the dead.”

So on Mars Hill, in the Greek city of Athens, the altar “TO AN UNKNOWN GOD” tells us that Luke’s primary audience (the Greeks, the Gentiles) believed in a supreme being.

Luke 3:38 ends with Jesus being descended from a man. Adam came directly from God and Jesus is the son of Adam. So Jesus is someone to whom Luke’s audience can relate.
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III. Conclusion
I hope all of this has shown you why every word of Scripture is so important. Even an apparently insignificant list of names has a divine purpose. Remember 2 Timothy 3:16? “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness…”

We’ve seen that, but what can we take from it?
• First, we can trust the biblical record. To make the assumption that many liberals make, that the Bible is filled with errors and contradictions, is to assume they know more than either Matthew or Luke. Such an assumption is based on human arro-gance and pride. It has no basis in the facts.

• Second, Jesus is the only One who could be the Jewish Messiah. He is the only One who could ever sit on the throne of David in eternity.

• Third, Jesus is the only One qualified to be the Lord and Savior of Jew and Gentile alike.

Do you sometimes feel as though you really aren’t all that important in God’s overall plan? If that’s the case, have you seen this morning how God is sovereign over human history? Have you seen this morning that every single one of Jesus’ ancestors had an eternal purpose for their lives – even the ones that aren’t named? Do you think that God knows who they are?

Do you understand that God will fulfill His purpose for all of creation as well as for each and every one of you and me as well? Do you understand that nothing can stop Him? I quoted this from Isaiah just last Sunday. Let me do so again.
Isaiah 46:8-10
8 “Remember this and be assured; recall it to mind, you transgressors.
9 “Remember the former things long past, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me,
10 declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, ‘My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure.’”

Please believe that every detail about you and your life is important to the God who made you. Your name means something, but it is not unique. Your family tree is interesting, but it is not unique. Even so, everything about you is important to God. I know how important you are to Him because He loved you enough to die for you.

But Jesus’ name is truly unique. It means “The Lord is salvation.” Jesus’ family tree is truly unique as well. It proves Jesus is who He says He is. It proves that He and He alone can save your soul. Come to Him. There’s no one else like Him.

Next week our study of Jesus’ ministry on earth and His journey to the cross will begin. But in the meantime let me leave you with these words.
*Hebrews 1:1-4
1 God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many por-tions and in many ways,
2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.
3 And He is the radiance of His glory and exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made puri-fication of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high;
4 having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they.

~ Pray ~