Remember Matthew is written to the Jews to portray Christ as a king.
Genealogy states that Joseph is a descendant of Abraham and David. (Only four women are noted, one of them being Ruth.) This qualifies Jesus to be the king of Israel.
Mary is told that she will give birth to Jesus, who will save people from their sins. A virgin birth allows for a humanly mother and Heavenly Father.
Joseph's love for Mary is tested (Matthew 1:18). The law at that time would have given Mary the death penalty by violating the marriage covenant. Joseph privately released her from the marriage contract in order to not disgrace her. Of course we need to understand Joseph's character because he plays such an important role in the life of Jesus.
Application:
1. He is the mediator between God and man, because He is God and man.
2. We should make the main point of the gospel, salvation from sin. Fixing our life is a by-product of salvation.
3. We should treat people graciously and honorable like Joseph did Mary.
4. Like Joseph and Mary, we should obey God’s word once we know what it is.
We are reading our chapters Sunday through Thursday so we read tonight. John pointed out that the long piece of genealogy was important in order to prove Isaiah's prophecy that Jesus was born from the line of David. I liked this because it ties together the plan set in place over generations.
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