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We read for our first text a portion of scripture that is misunderstood by most people. We read a part of the genealogy of Jesus Christ found in the Gospel of Matthew. There are two genealogies of Jesus found in scripture, this one and one in the Gospel of Luke. Most people skip this part of the Bible thinking that the "begats" are a non-important part, but actually these passages are extremely important for several reasons. And let me begin this message by throwing a couple of reasons at you:

1. They prove Christ's right to the Messiahship.

Herod had all of the genealogies of the Jews destroyed shortly after these books were written, which means that Jesus is the last person who claimed to be the Messiah of whom we can check their records and see if they came from the tribe of Judah and the seed of Abraham.

2. They prove that God keeps His promises.

God promised Eve that one of her descendants would bear a seed that would crush the serpent's head. God promised Abraham that it would be through Isaac that the Messiah would come and bless the whole earth. God swore to David that the Messiah would come through his royal lineage. And although Eve, Abraham, and David were dead and gone, God still kept His promises! When God promises something, He will keep it and the genealogies are strict proof of that.

3. They give us people that serve as examples that God can use.

There are Gentiles and Jews in this list. Kings and Paupers. Prophets and false prophets. Sinners and saints. There are people who made good choices and bad choices, but all fell into the plan of God and the will of God and thus were used by God. Simply put, that such a myriad of people would be included in the genealogy of Jesus Christ, gives us hope that God is no respecter of person and that Jesus is God to all, not just to a select few.

The genealogy of Matthew is unique in that it only goes back to Abraham. It, then, is the spiritual history of Jesus Christ. It traces the promises of God to men back to the one who received the original promise, Abraham, and then through the one the promise was reaffirmed within, King David. That is why the chapter begins with saying "this is a record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. It is the point of Matthew to show that spiritual route of the promises of God through the generations.

But what I would like to draw your attention to in this message is that Matthew is unique for another reason: it is the only genealogy of Jesus Christ that mentions women. And only four women at that. Let me quickly read the text to you again in the New American Standard Update which clarifies and corrects the spelling and pronunciation of the names and notice how that the women stand out:

The great women such as Sarah, the wife of Abraham, or Rebecca or the beautiful Rachael are not mentioned. Neither is, say, the mother of King David who surely must have been an important part of history. Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba. The four women that are mentioned at first are not remarkable and then they become all the more remarkable because they are mentioned at all! And yet, it's obvious that God wanted us to take special attention to these women and to learn of them, for it was them that He was sure to include in such a prestigious place. They are special, because I believe, if the actions or stories of any four women should ever move you and effect your life, then it should be these four. For the remainder of this message, let me show you why:

Tamar

Tamar is misunderstood because her actions seem horrible to us by today's standard, but they were actually quite brave for her time.

The story of Tamar (Genesis 38):

To understand the story, you must understand the Biblical levirate marriage law.

Tamar was married to Judah's eldest son, Er but the Bible says:

When Er died, according to law, Judah gave Tamar her brother-in-law to be her husband, but when Onan displeased the Lord, God killed him too. That left the third son Shelah, who was not old enough to wed yet so Judah told Tamar to remain a widow in her father's house until Shelah became of age. Because Judah thought that there was some wicked power with Tamar, he delayed the rightful son that was owed to Tamar.

So Tamar took matters into her own hands . . .

Judah sent a friend to collect his personal things and pay the debt and the friend could find no record of a harlot.

About three months later, Judah received word that his daughter-in-law Tamar was pregnant by whoredom. But when Tamar came, she came with Judah's own personal items and Judah said "she has been more righteous than I." She was pardoned, and she gave births to twins, one of which, Perez would become an ancestor of David and of Christ.

You must understand that Tamar was not a promiscuous woman. And as strange as it sounds, what she did was courageous and valiant because she had been denied a promise of God. The Bible makes it clear that she was a righteous woman and not a prostitute, willing to wait on God's promises. The scripture makes it clear that Judah had no more relationships with her in the future and that she remained pure. She was acting to right the wrong that had been done against her -- no matter how weird it seems.

Why is this story in the Bible? Certainly not to condone harlotry, because immediately after this story in Genesis we have the actions of Joseph turning away from such behavior in Potiphar's house. Judah was wrong in his actions, but it could be that God wanted a contrast and an example of how to act and how not to act recorded side by side in His Word. Certainly we should follow the example of Joseph and not of Judah.

But why is this woman mentioned in the spiritual genealogy of Jesus Christ!? I think it's there because a powerful lesson is hidden in the story. The lesson only comes to light when you realize that "Judah" means "praise." When you realize that, the story of Tamar ought to move you because she was a woman that was patiently awaiting the promises of God but when they were delayed, she went to Judah -- to praise -- to get them! Praise caused the delay of God's promises to cease.

Rahab was the exact opposite of Tamar. The Old and New Testament repeatedly inform us that she was a full-time harlot. She also ran an inn, in a house located on the wall of Jericho.

The story of Rahab (Joshua 2) . . .

Rahab bald-faced lied in Joshua 2:4.

Why should the story of Rahab move you? Because she had faith and as such joins Sarah as the only women in the hall of fame of faith in Hebrews chapter 11:

Rahab ought to move you! Why? Because she was a gentile with no past history of promises or relationships with God. She was a woman of ill virtue, and or sin and a liar to boot. She lived in a cursed city, and had only heard distant rumblings of what the God of Israel had done, and yet she was willing to risk it all to step out in faith and believe in that God that He could do the supernatural!!

How much more should we who are children of God, believe in the promises that He has given us? How much more should we believe in the power of a red ribbon!?

Not only was Rahab saved, but she married Salmon who was one of the spies and became a great grandmother of King David and of Jesus Christ! Because she was willing to trust in the promises of God and was willing to let Him change her life!

Briefly rehearse the story of Ruth. She is one of the few women in the Bible that have entire chapters written about them.

Ruth ought to move you, but not just because she made the right choice. We tend to forget why she always managed to make the right choices:

The point of Ruth is that she loved Naomi -- her mother-in-law -- to the point of sacrifice. Naomi had nothing to offer her, and yet Ruth loved her and dedicated her life to loving her. Ruth's relationship with God came from loving Naomi, the unlovable and traveling a dangerous trek with her. Her marriage to Boaz came from working to support Naomi whom she loved. And as such she found herself in a blessed lineage, married to the riches man in all of Bethlehem, but the reason was that she acted out of love.

The Bible says that love cannot fail. And the highest form of love is agape love -- love that demands nothing in return and is not dependent upon what the other person has to offer. Ruth embodied such love. Even in the birth of her blessed child, the book of Ruth expresses what a blessing it was to Naomi, and Naomi joyously took over as grandparent and as nanny to the child. Love had worked the miracle of miracle in Ruth's life, because love never fails!

And so we come to the final woman in the genealogy of Christ.

Briefly retell the story of Bathsheba and David . . .

Let me point out some things that most people don't think about. We tend to view it from King David's side but let's put our perspective from the other side.

First of all Bathsheba had to do what she did with David, or he could have killed her. In those times, unquestionable obedience to the king was mandatory. Most Bible scholar also put Uriah and Bathsheba as only having been married for slightly over a year. And Uriah was a good man of tremendous character as the story shows.

We need to rethink the way that we view this story. Bathsheba was the victim here. She was beautiful to look upon (2 Samuel 11:2), and she was the victim of David's sin of lust and his acting upon it. I want you to realize that as a woman, Bathsheba was used, forced into actions that she did not want to take, had her beloved and good husband murdered before her eyes, and was taken in by a sinful man acting completely against the will of God and as such, she herself had to deal with the pain of the judgment of God against her first-born child.

Why should the story of Bathsheba move you? Because of what she did NOT let happen in her life. What she did NOT do was to spend the rest of her life trying to make David miserable for his sinful actions and trying to "pay him back" for ruining her life. What she did NOT do was to get bitter and taint the kingdom. What she did NOT do was refuse to cooperate in the relationship because things hadn't exactly begun between them as God's Word had said it should.

Indeed, quite the opposite happened. She realized that David had been reprimanded by God and that they had born the brunt and the scars of his bad decision. But she allowed forgiveness to sweep through her life and instead of holding everybody hostage to her past scars, she according to Jewish history became the favorite in the palace. The scriptures say that she became David's favorite wife, even after the years of her childbearing were behind her. In the last mention of Bathsheba in scripture, we find her having the complete and total love and adoration of the King, and of the man of God, Nathan. And as a result, her second son, Solomon, became the heir to the throne of David and the ancestor of Jesus Christ. It is said by the Jews that Solomon wrote the last chapter of Proverbs that talks about a virtuous and ideal, Godly woman after the characteristics that he saw in his mother. If that is so, then it was of Bathsheba that it was written:

That was written about the life of a woman who began the victim and being used horribly by men in sin! Her story ought to move you because all of us have been taken advantage of and had things not quite turn out in life as we wished, but we do not control the past, but only the future! And we do that by our actions today! May the story of Bathsheba move us to forgiveness and peace, and becoming the best that we can be despite whatever circumstances of life come against us! The lesson is clear: if you want Jesus Christ in your future, then you must let bygones be bygones and face the future with faith and courage and doing what is right even when others haven't! May the story of Bathsheba move us!