Matt 1:1 The Generation of Jesus CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO

When Matthew opened his gospel, he introduced Jesus as the son of David and  the son of Abraham. God made covenants with both Abraham and David that will ultimately be fulfilled in Jesus Christ. That’s why Mathew shows Jesus’ line through these two very important characters in the Old Testament.

As the son of David, we find that Jesus is in the line of the kings of Israel.  Therefore, he is a king with a kingdom and is the heir to the throne of David.  God’s promise to David’s “seed” in 2 Sam. 7:12-17, was not only to Solomon but also included Jesus because the throne and the kingdom were established forever.  Notice the cross-references:

• King – Matt. 2:2; Matt. 27:37
• Throne – Lk. 1:32
• Kingdom – Lk. 23:42; Rev. 11:15, this is an earthly
  kingdom

As the son of Abraham, Jesus was the heir to the covenant of circumcision which promised a “seed,” a land grant, and eternal life, which would be obtained by faith. Jesus was included in this covenant when he was born and when he was circumcised on the 8th day after his birth (Gen. 17:10; Lk. 2:21). Notice the cross-references:

• Seed – Gal. 3:16-17; Gen. 17:8
• Jew – Jn. 4:22; Matt. 15:24; Gen. 14:13
• Land grant – Gen. 17:7-8; Jesus was in Galilee, Samaria, Judea and
  Decapolis
• Eternal life – Matt. 22:31-32
• Faith – Rom. 4:11-13; Gen. 15:6

All of these promises have to do with a literal seed, a literal earthly kingdom and a literal earthly land grant that will be enjoyed by literal Jews living on earth for ever. That’s why the world can’t stand Jews and why the world wants nothing to do with Jesus Christ.  In examining the generation of Jesus, we find that there is no mention of the people dying in Matt. 1.
However, in the book of the generation of Adam (Gen. 5) we find that every man mentioned (with the exception of Enoch) died. That’s because, “in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive,” (1 Cor. 15:22).