HOW THE FAMILY TREE OF JESUS LED TO THE "CHRISTMAS TREE"

There is a huge industry today for anyone who wishes to discover our family roots. For years, Ancestry.com was the most popular outfit for tracing one's family tree. Several have gone all the way back in their ancestry roots to Revolutionary Times. I have friends who can trace family roots way back to the famous Emperor Charlemagne.  Another friend's family fought in North Carolina during the War of Independence. I have held a rifle belonging to Private Cox who crossed the Delaware with General George Washington and the Continental Army and my wife's family can be traced back to their Protestant roots in Ireland. They had to flee to the USA for religious freedom, landing in the Carolinas.

These days, a company called 23AndMe.com has become the predominant one for tracing ancestral roots using DNA. Anyone who has used this, including myself, submits a sample of DNA, answers a lot of deeply personal questions, then submits the DNA sample in a secure container where it is analyzed in California and next thing you know, a huge report is emailed to you with stunning facts. That DNA sample we submit tells a person not just about his/her health traits and things to look out for, but you are then matched up with 2nd, 3rd, 4th and/or 5th cousins from all over the world. One thing you will immediately notice is there is no pure race out there and it proves one thing - we all came from the descendants of Noah who survived the Great Flood. They descended from Adam and Eve. We all share the DNA of our original parents!

So it is obvious that genealogy is a very useful exercise for us, scientifically and otherwise. So was it for the Messiah, Jesus Christ. The first Gospel ever written was the Book of Mark in 45 AD, just over 12 years after the Resurrection of Jesus. It was dictated to Mark by the Apostle Peter. However the former Jewish Tax Collector Matthew recorded the Family Tree of Jesus Christ, not long after Mark, so that the early Jewish believers would have proof of the Lineage of Christ, not just from Adam and Eve, but from the House of King David. This is significant, since the Prophets spoke directly from God about the coming Messiah Who will come from the House of David. Matthew, under inspiration from God Himself, wrote down the Lord's "family tree", for the early believers could follow and see how the prophetic and historic merged into one fluid narrative of fact. This was accomplished perfectly in the Gospel of Matthew.


The portion of Scripture which has the Genealogy of Jesus contains some very important things for us to note. It is not just be Faith we believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and the "Son of David". How can this be when Jesus was conceived in Mary by the Holy Spirit? Well, there is the answer - both Mary (and Joseph) were descendants of King David! So Matthew showed the line from Adam and Eve to Mary. The ancient Jews were excellent at keeping historic records so these were readily available to him, until the Temple and Jerusalem were completely destroyed by the Roman General Titus in 70 AD. These pertinent records survived!

Therefore, below, we have the relevant part of Matthew Chapter 1 which traces the lineage of King David down to Mary, "by whom Jesus was born"!

In essence, the Family Tree of Jesus the Messiah is what we observe at Christmas time with the Christmas Tree, among other things! The Christmas Tree, as part of the birth of Christ observance, did not come on to the scene until the late 16th Century AD in Germany, but it is a great illustration of how we got here!  It gives us a point of reference to celebrate the King and point those who are yet to believe, to the Messiah, by sharing the knowledge of His earthly Family Tree! What a privilege it is to do so! Joy to the World, the Lord has come....and is coming again! Hallelujah!

Matthew 1: 
5 Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse. 6 Jesse was the father of David the king. David was the father of Solomon by Bathsheba who had been the wife of Uriah. 7 Solomon was the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asa. 8 Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah. 9 Uzziah was the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah. 10 Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, and Amon the father of Josiah. 11 Josiah became the father of Jeconiah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon. 

12 After the deportation to Babylon: Jeconiah became the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel. 13 Zerubbabel was the father of Abihud, Abihud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor. 14 Azor was the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud. 15 Eliud was the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob. 16 Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.

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