In Mathew, Jesus is portrayed as our KING
In Mark
as Servant
In Luke
as the Man
In John
as the Son of God
Now, a Servant need not
produce his genealogy; neither can God have one. It is a King who
must have one, and a Man who should have one. Therefore it is that we
have two genealogies, and not more than two. And that is why we have one in
Mathew giving the Royal genealogy of Jesus as King; and one in Luke
giving the Human genealogy of Jesus as Man. Hence, also it is that
Mathew's is a descending genealogy while Luke is an ascending one.
For Kings must trace their descent, and man must trace his
ascent. Mathew's therefore, begins with Abraham, and comes down to Joseph,
the Son of Heli, while Luke's starts from Joseph, and goes upto Adam and God.
As far as David both the lists
agree. In Mathew, after David, we have his son Solomon; while in Luke we
have another son, Solomon's elder brother, Nathan. From this point,
therefore, we have two lines. One Mathew gives the Royal line or
the Legal line through Solomon; the other Luke gives the
Natural line or the Lineal line through Nathan. Both
the lines meet in Joseph, the son of Jacob by birth and the son of Heli by
marriage with Mary, Heli's only daughter. (Ruth by marriage with
Naomi's son was called Maorni's daughter Ruth 1:11-13; PI. read Neh 7:63; Num
36:11,12). Thus the two lines are united and exhausted in JESUS CHRIST.
Now the wonderful fact is that we
have in genealogy of Luke 3, exactly 77 names, with GOD at
the one end, and JESUS at the other.
On the otherhand, in Mathew, it is
so arranged that it contains 42 generations, or Six sevens (6 x 7).
41 names are named in Mat 1. - 41
4 names are omitted -
4 (Ahaziah, Joash, Amasiah, Jehoiakim)
Add 21 names before Abraham -
21 (from Luke 3)
=====
66 names
So that while Jesus is the 77th
name in the line which comes through Nathan, it is the 66th name which comes
through Solomon.
When we remember, that Six is the
human number, and Seven the Divine, we are thus pointed to the fact that
Jesus was both Son of God and Son of Man.