The North W.S. Young Drive Church of Christ, Killeen, TX

From the Desk of Paul Chapman

The Genealogy Of Christ - Part Four
PJ Chapman

Continuing from the last study, we begin with king Solomon as part of the Seed-line of Christ. Solomon was approximately twenty years old when he ascended to the throne of Israel. He proceeded to reign for forty years (1 Kings 11:42). He did many great things during his reign over Israel. Much of what he accomplished was due to his great wisdom. He had asked God for the wisdom to lead his people, and God granted him his petition (1 Kings 4:29).

Despite Solomon's wisdom and his accomplishments for Israel, he fell from God's pleasure. He had allowed his many wives and concubines to turn his mind from the One true and living God (1 Kings 11:3-4). Even with all his wisdom, Solomon was foolish enough to forsake the God that had allowed he and his country to prosper so greatly. Solomon had no equal in all the world at that time when it came to wisdom and power. Because of his iniquity, however, God stripped him of that power and grandeur (1 Kings 11:14-40).

As mentioned in a previous lesson, David began the preparations for building the temple, but passed that job along to Solomon. The building of the temple in Jerusalem was one of Solomon's greatest accomplishments. It took seven years to complete the temple (1 Kings 6:38), the splendor of which had no comparison. The temple was eventually destroyed by king Nebuchadnezzar when the children of Israel were taken into captivity. Years later, following the decree of Cyrus, Zerubbabel was allowed to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple.

This brings us to our next stop along the genealogy trail. In 609 B.C. the Babylonians defeated the Assyrians in Carchemish. King Nebuchadnezzar wasted no time and took the first deportation of Jews back to Babylon in 606 B.C. This began Judah's seventy years of captivity promised by God. There were two more deportations of the Jews from Judah. The last one was in 586 B.C. After this expulsion the temple was burned and the wall around the city was destroyed.

In 539 B.C., Babylon fell to the Persians. Cyrus, ruler over the Persians, made a decree in 536 B.C., which allowed the Jews to return to their homeland. This fulfilled the promise that the captivity would last only seventy years. There were three separate journeys by the Jews back to Jerusalem. Zerubbabel was the leader of the first return, which took place in 535 B.C. It was his task to rebuild the temple that had been burned down by the Babylonians.

Zerubbabel is mentioned in Christ's genealogy in both Matthew's and Luke's accounts. The temple was destroyed due to the unfaithfulness of the Jewish people, and as God promised, it was eventually restored. Christ referred to His own body as a temple. On the occasion when he cleansed the temple of the moneychangers, He said, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up"(John 2:19). Christ's body was destroyed due to the sins of man, and as promised by God, it was restored.

Our final stop along the genealogical trail of Christ is at Joseph and Mary. God was true to His promise of preserving the Seed-line of Christ and now the time to bring Christ into the world had come. Mary had found favor with God and the angel Gabriel appeared to her. He informed her that she was the "highly favored one," and that she was "blessed among women." Why were these honors bestowed upon Mary? Gabriel continued, "you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus"(Luke 1:31). Mary would be the mother of the Savior of the world.

We notice that in neither Matthew's or Luke's account does it say that Jesus was begotten by Joseph. Joseph was engaged to Mary when she became pregnant, but he had not been with her sexually. He was a just man and didn't want to shame her, so he was going to cancel the engagement secretly. He considered not marrying her, but an angel revealed to him that the child she carried was not of man, but was a divine intervention. As the Scriptures say, Joseph "did not know" Mary until after Jesus, Mary's first child, was born. Jesus was born in Bethlehem as prophesied in Micah 5:2.

Satan tried his best through centuries of natural calamity and wickedness of men to extinguish the Seed that was to bruise his head. To man's blessed favor by the grace of God, the Seed-line of Christ was preserved. A Savior was born into the world to live a perfect life, and to die the perfect sacrifice from man's sin.

Satan thought he finally had Christ right where he wanted Him, on a cross between two thieves. But God was merciful, and gave us hope in the resurrection of Christ from the dead. As a result, those in Christ have "an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven"(1 Peter 1:3-4).

~ PJ Chapman