Gen 3:15 – "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel."
All history would revolve around Jesus – to bring hope to us
This guiding promise in Matt 1
Who rules my tomorrow?
Overview:
A God of Sovereign Power
A God of Sovereign Grace
A God with a Sovereign Plan (that cannot be changed)
A God of Sovereign Power
To manifest His glory through the Lord Jesus Christ
Personal example – the little details
Matt 1 tells us God is the God of detail, who works out His promises
v2 – God makes a promise to Abraham
The purpose summed up from v2 and cumulating in v16
That Jesus Christ would be born
God’s promises are our certainties
He rules all of history according to these promises – Gen 3:15
He keeps His promises through good and bad – rouges and heroes
Example of Rehoboam, Abijah, Asa – v7
Example of Jehoshaphat, Uzziah – v8
His promises are divinely unbreakable
v9-13 – not the split kings who thought they ‘all that’
Swept away in the dust of history
There is an unseen hand who rules everything
God is always at work
v3 – Tamar (difficult times)
God can use difficult times – they do not stop His purposes
v5 – Rahab (a prostitute)
God brought her into His purposes
v5 – Ruth (a Moabitess)
He can order even the small details of our lives for His Mighty purposes
We can can confidence in tomorrow because God is trustworthy
God can also take our past and turn it into something beautiful – for His purpose
A God of Sovereign Grace
God rules not by the ‘performance’ of people but by grace
Personal example of family tree
We have skeletons in our family tree/cupboards
God has no skeletons in His cupboards
v3 – God ‘restores’ Tamar
v5 – God saves Rahab
v5 – God saves Ruth
v5 – God blesses Bathsheba [Urriah’s wife]
God pours grace into people’s lives
We are to be a Church and people built upon grace
God brings people from the ‘wrong pedigree’ into His family
God can work in our hearts
A God with a Sovereign Plan
Summed up in one Person – the Lord Jesus Christ
The point of the genealogy/history (v16) is Jesus Christ
To bring all things to the glory of God the Father
Christ’s birth – a high point in history
Christ’s return – a culmination of history
Who rules my tomorrow? – examples
Matt 1 – the same one who has ruled everyday from the beginning – the Sovereign Lord