1. Faithful in Barrenness (Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel)
2. Faithful in Brokenness (Judah and Tamar)
3. Faithful in Betrayal (Joseph)
4. Faithful in Bondage (Israel in Egypt)
5. Faithful in Bitterness (Naomi & Ruth)

In recent days, we have been working our way through the gospel of John. It has been very good for us as we have listened week after week to John giving us the hope that true life comes through faith in him. As we have put it, "Believe, so that you may Live." There is no greater message than this. This is called, “the gospel.” That is, “The good news,” the message that Jesus has come into the world, died upon the cross in our place for our sins, so that when we believe in him, God takes our faith and receives it as righteousness, the very righteousness of Jesus himself. There is no greater message in the world. It has been good for us to meditate upon this week after week for all of the months we have been doing so. It has been good for us.

However, it’s also good for us to look up from time to time. Our head has been down in the gospel of John. We are going to look up during this Christmas season. We will be taking a break from the gospel of John, to step back a bit and look at the big picture of Christmas.

Christmas didn’t begin when Jesus was born. It actually began long beforehand with the promises of God. In fact, I would argue that Christmas began some 2,000 years before Jesus was born, with a promise that God made to Abraham.

God called Abraham from his house with these words:

Genesis 12:1-3
Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

God’s promise to Abraham was three-fold. First of all, God promised to show him the land (that he would later give to him). Second, God promised to make a great nation from Abraham. That is, his children would multiply so greatly, that they would become a nation. Third, God promised world-wide blessing through Abraham. He said, “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Christmas was the beginning of the realization of that promise. Jesus came to earth to bring blessing to all the families of the earth. He came to die on the cross for our sins, that anyone, in the entire world who believes in him will know the blessing that Jesus brings: eternal life in his name! This promise was made some 2,000 years before Jesus came to earth.

Now, the fulfillment of this third promise couldn’t take place apart from God’s fulfillment of the first two promises: (1) that God would give a land to Abraham’s descendants; and (2) that God would form a great nation out of Abraham’s descendants. Or, to say it a different way, in order for God’s promise to Abraham to be fulfilled in Jesus, God needed to be faithful to Abraham and to the generations that would follow him.

So, this Christmas season, I want for us to trace this theme of God’s faithfulness to all generations. This is the label that I’m attaching to our Christmas series this Advent season: “Faithful to all Generations.” I get this phrase from the last verse of Psalm 100, which we looked at last week. Psalm 100:5 says this: "For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations." If God failed to be faithful to even one generation between Abraham and Jesus, Christmas could not have taken place. The faithfulness of God to every generation was of utmost importance for Christmas to take place at all!

We see this in the very first verse of Matthew’s Gospel. So, turn we me, if you will, to Matthew, chapter 1. The entire chapter of Matthew 1 is devoted to telling the Christmas story. The Christmas story starts with the genealogy of Jesus. It starts by listing out all of the generations from Abraham to Jesus. This is described in verse 17,

Matthew 1:17
So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.

For Christmas ever to occur, God had to be faithful to every single one of these generations. For the next four weeks, I want for us to consider the faithfulness of God to all generations. First, we will look at God’s faithfulness to Abraham (and the generations that followed him). Then, we will look at God’s faithfulness to David (and the generations that followed him). Then, we will look at God’s faithfulness to those who were exiled to Babylon (and the generations that followed them). Finally, on the Sunday before Christmas, we will look at God’s faithfulness to us, in giving us Jesus, the Messiah.

So, this morning, we will look at God’s Faithfulness to Abraham. My message this morning is entitled, “Faithful to Abraham.” We will look at God’s faithfulness to the generations between Abraham and David, contained in Matthew 1:1-6a. So, let’s read the opening verses of Matthew.

Matthew 1:1
The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Right from the start, Matthew tells us where he is going. He is tracing the genealogy of Jesus through the line of David, all the way back to Abraham, where we are beginning today: “Faithful to Abraham.” Let’s read the genealogy:

Matthew 1:2-6a
Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king.

I trust that there are some names in that list that you recognize. You are probably able to tell a little bit about some of these people. You may recognize Isaac, whom Abraham was ready to sacrifice upon the altar, until the LORD intervened (Genesis 22). You may recognize Jacob, who wrestled with God and became the father of 12 sons, who became the tribes of Israel. You may recognize Judah, one of the 12 sons of Jacob. You may even be able to remember a bit about the story of Tamar.

But my guess is that you know little about Perez, or Hezron or Ram or Amminadab or Nahshon , because the Bible tells us so little about these people. The Bible tell us about the circumstances surrounding the birth of Perez, but that’s about it. The Bible tells us a little bit about Nahshon, that he was Aaron’s brother-in-law^[1] and that he was one of the tribal leaders of Judah during the Exodus. Jewish tradition says that he was the first one to walk into the water of the Red Sea, which then parted and allowed all of Israel to pass through. In Jewish tradition, then, Nahshon is lifted up as a man of courage and faith. But this is all traditional and skeptical.

So, although we know so little about some of those in the genealogy, we know enough about the others to see the faithfulness of God through all of these generations. So, let us consider (my first point this morning):

1. Faithful in Barrenness (Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel)

Remember, when God made his promise to Abraham, he promised that of him he would make a great nation. At one point, the LORD took Abraham outside and told him to “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them” (Genesis 15:5). Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

That is, the descendants of Abraham would be so many, that they could not be counted! However, his wife, Sarah, was barren. That’s what we read in Genesis 11:30, "Now, Sarai was barren; she had no child."

Barrenness, by the way, is a hard thing. The book of Proverbs describes the ever-longing of a barren womb.

Proverbs 30:15-16
Three things are never satisfied;
  four never say, “Enough”:
Sheol, the barren womb,
  the land never satisfied with water,
  and the fire that never says, “Enough.”

The barren womb longs for a child, and is never satisfied in not having one. So here is Sarah, the wife of the man who will be the father of a multitude of people! Yet, she is barren.

Furthermore, as the story progresses, Sarah and Abraham are getting older and older and older. The story is a great story that we don’t have time to tell this morning. But a child is born to them when Sarah is 90 and Abraham is 100. His name was Isaac, the miracle baby. His birth demonstrates the faithfulness of God to Abraham, to build a great nation from him, even through the barrenness of his wife.

But Sarah wasn’t the only one who was barren in this genealogy. The wife of Isaac was also barren. Rebecca couldn’t conceive. Isaac knew of the promise to Abraham. Isaac knew that it would be through him that the LORD would multiply his offspring (Genesis 22:17). Yet, Rebecca was barren.

We read in Genesis 25:21, "Isaac prayed to the LORD for his wife [Rebecca], because she was barren." And the LORD answered his prayer. Rebecca was pregnant with twins! She gave birth to Jacob and Esau, and Jacob is in our genealogy in Matthew, chapter 1. The birth of those children demonstrates the faithfulness of God to Abraham, to build a great nation from him, even through the barrenness of Sarah and Rebecca.

Realize this: if either of these women did not bear children, then the promises of God would have been null and void. But God was faithful to his promises. God was faithful to Abraham. It was not until the third generation when things really began to explode in Abraham’s family. Jacob had 12 sons. These sons, then, became the 12 tribes of Israel, which eventually numbered in the millions!

But even in Jacob’s family there was barrenness. Jacob’s wife, Rachel was also barren! Genesis 29:31 declares it so, "Rachel was barren." We get a sense of how difficult it is to be barren in Genesis 30:1, "When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I shall die!” Such is the pain of a barren womb.

Yet again, God was faithful to Abraham and his promises, by giving Rachel two children, Joseph and Benjamin. Overall, God gave Jacob 12 sons (through his four wives). But it wasn’t as if all was well with Jacob and his family. There was brokenness is his family. Yet, God was faithful in their family brokenness. This is my second point.

2. Faithful in Brokenness (Judah and Tamar)

The story of their broken family is told in Genesis, chapter 38. It tells the story of the sin of Judah. Judah was one of the 12 children of Jacob. The genealogy that Matthew gives us in his first chapter goes through Judah.

The chapter begins with Judah taking a wife for himself. Her name was Shua. Together, Judah and Shua had three children. Er and Onan and Shelah. The firstborn, Er, married a woman named Tamar. Er was wicked in God’s sight, and “the LORD put him to death” (Genesis 38:7). According to the custom of the day, Onan, the second born, was to raise up offspring for his brother through Tamar. But he refused, so the LORD put him to death also.

With his first two sons dead, Judah told Tamar, “Remain a widow in your father’s house, till Shelah my son grows up” (Genesis 38:11). Yet, Judah was unfaithful to his promise. When Shelah grew up, he was not given in marriage to Tamar.

In all of this, Tamar was very wronged! Her womb (as well) was desiring a child. In the course of time, an opportunity arose to get a child.

Tamar heard that Judah, her father-in-law was coming to Timnah to shear his sheep (Genesis 38:13). So, “she took off her widow’s garments and covered herself with a veil” and pretended to be a prostitute (Genesis 38:14-15). When Judah saw her, he propositioned her, not knowing that she was his daughter-in-law (Genesis 38:16).

The price of prostitution was a young goat. But Judah didn’t have a young goat, but he had some personal items: a signet and a cord and a staff. These were unique items that were personally his, that could be identified as his. "So he gave them to her and went into her, and she conceived by him" (Genesis 38:18).

So, then, he went away and sent his goat for the price of her prostitution. But Tamar had left, taken off the veil of a prostitute, and put on her widow’s garments. She was nowhere to be found.

Then, three months later, Judah was told, “Tamar your daughter-in-law has been immoral. Moreover, she is pregnant by immorality” (Genesis 38:24). To this news, Judah said, “Bring her out, and let her be burned” (Genesis 38:24). Judah could have benefited from the teaching of Jesus, "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone" (John 8:7).

As she was being brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law, “By the man to whom these belong, I am pregnant.” And she said, “Please identify whose these are, the signet and the cord and the staff” (Genesis 38:25). Judah then confessed, “She is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah” (Genesis 38:26).

It’s an awful story, filled with sin and with family brokenness. There was neglect and bitterness and deception, and deep relational wounds. Yet, God was faithful even in their brokenness. For, in due time, Tamar gave birth to twins: Perez and Zerah. Both of these are mentioned in Matthew’s genealogy. Jesus came through the lineage of Perez.

Matthew 1:3
and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron.

It’s striking to me, that God chose a broken family through whom the Messiah would come. The LORD could have had it another way. He could have chosen only perfectly intact and healthy families through whom the Messiah would come. But he didn't. I believe that this is by design. God brings the Messiah through broken people to save broken people. But such is the faithfulness of God. He is “faithful in brokenness.”

This is the gospel. When God brought his son into the world, he didn’t bring him through a perfect family line, expecting our perfection as well. God brought him through a broken family, which shows that God can redeem us all from our own brokenness. The message of Christmas is that God has come to heal our brokenness.

One of our great Christmas hymns says it this way: 

Did you catch the brokenness in these words? We are weary in our sin, yet Jesus breaks in with new hope of redemption through him! This is Christmas! This is the faithfulness of God to Abraham to be faithful to heal our brokenness. Let's move on.

3. Faithful in Betrayal (Joseph)

Here I’m thinking of the story of Joseph. Do you remember the story? Joseph was the favorite son of Jacob, the son of Rachel, whom he loved. Jacob’s love for Joseph was clear for all to see. He honored him with a “robe of many colors” (Genesis 37:3).

As much as Jacob loved Joseph, his ten brothers hated him. We are told in Genesis 37:4 that his brothers “could not speak peacefully to him.” The brothers thought about killing him. Instead, they settled on selling Joseph as a slave to a traveling band of Ishmaelites for 20 shekels of silver.

That is family betrayal. and Joseph faced incredible hardship as a result. He was wrongly accused by Potiphar’s wife, who claimed that he made sexual advances upon her. As a result, he was thrown into prison, where he spent many years. all as a result of the betrayal of his family. Yet, the LORD was with Joseph. And “whatever he did, the LORD made it succeed” (Genesis 39:23).

Still he faced injustice, even after helping the cup bearer and baker by interpreting their dreams, he was forgotten in prison for another two years, until Pharaoh had a dream, which only Joseph could interpret, because God was with him (Genesis 41:16). The interpretation of the dream was of seven years of plenty and then seven years of famine. God was faithful to Joseph, raising him to power in Egypt, second only to Pharaoh, as he oversaw the storage of grain for the upcoming seven years of famine.

If you know the story, Joseph, then, became the means of saving his family from the famine, as he led Egypt in being the worldwide resource for grain. When the famine came to Israel, Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt, looking for grain to survive the famine. Instead, God saved Joseph’s brothers, and Joseph’s family, and Jacob, Joseph’s father. Seventy people in all came to Egypt. (You can read all of their names in Genesis 46:27).

Here’s the point: God was faithful to his promises to Abraham even in betrayal, when Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery. In fact, the betrayal was the very means that God used to show his faithfulness to Israel.

Do you remember the scene when Joseph revealed himself to his brothers? Over and over again, Joseph said that God was the one who sent him to Egypt to save them. Joseph said to his brothers,

Genesis 45:4-11
“I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; do not tarry. You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children's children, and your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. There I will provide for you, for there are yet five years of famine to come, so that you and your household, and all that you have, do not come to poverty’" (emphasis mine).

Do you see it? God used the betrayal, to send Joseph to Egypt, to save the house of Jacob, to be faithful to Abraham and the promises that he made to him! At the end of his life, Joseph summed it up well. "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people today should be kept alive, as they are today" (Genesis 50:20). Note how God meant the evil of the brothers to bring about the deliverance. Thus, the LORD was able to be faithful to the promises he made to Abraham.

The application to us is clear. God will use sin, even the sin of betrayal for our good and for his glory. Now, it’s not always as neat and tidy and clear as the story of Joseph, but our sin will not undermine the faithfulness of God.

This concept here is the core of our salvation. Jesus was put to death because of the sin of others in his day. Judas betrayed him. The disciples denied him and scattered. The Jews delivered him over to the Romans, and put political pressure on Pontius Pilate, who gave the order for his death. The Romans carried out his crucifixion. Yet, that all was in the plan of God, to bring about our salvation!^[2]

If Jesus had not been betrayed, and if Jesus had not died, then, he would never have risen from the dead and brought about our salvation! But indeed all of this has taken place. Thanks be to God!

Let’s move on to my fourth point this morning. God was

4. Faithful in Bondage (Israel in Egypt)

I’m thinking particularly here of the time that Israel spent in Egypt. You probably didn’t think about this when I read the names in Matthew’s genealogy. In fact, I’m almost positive that you weren’t thinking about this. But some of those names that I read, lived all of their days in Egypt.

Consider the following verses:

Matthew 1:3-4
Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon,

In verse 3, we read of Judah and Perez, they both are mentioned in Genesis 46 and those who came to Egypt when Joseph summoned his family to come and live in Egypt. The other names in this genealogy all were in Egypt, brought there because of the betrayal of Joseph’s brothers, but preserved because of the promise that God made to Abraham, that he would be a great multitude, that would form a great nation.

Sure, those days were difficult. They were days of bondage. But in those 400 years of slavery, God was building a nation, as the people of Israel multiplied. The multiplication of the people comes in the opening verses of Exodus.

Exodus 1:1-7
These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each with his household: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. All the descendants of Jacob were seventy persons; Joseph was already in Egypt. Then Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation. But the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them.

This was causing some concern for Pharaoh, who was fearing for his own nation.

Exodus 1:9-10
And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.”

So, Pharoah enslaved them, in an attempt to subdue them. But remember the promise of God to Abraham? "I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed" (Genesis 22:17-18). God was doing this, even when Israel was in bondage to the Egyptians. From our best estimates, there were north of a million Hebrew people living in Egypt, before Moses redeemed them from slavery.

With the mention of those who were living in Egypt during the days of their bondage as slaves in Egypt, we know that God was faithful to Abraham during that time.

The application for us is clear. God is faithful to us, even in our bondage.

Circumstances in your life may not be ideal right now. There may be troubles in your life that seemingly are holding you in bondage. Perhaps you have some financial struggles in your life. Perhaps there are broken relationships. Perhaps there are health challenges. Perhaps there is some uncertainty about your future. These trials can feel heavy, like chains you can’t break, or storms you can’t escape. Yet, even in these moments, God’s faithfulness doesn’t waver.

Now, he’s not promising you deliverance from these things. Many of those who were enslaved in Egypt were born slaves, and died as slaves in Egypt. Yet, God was working his purposes in every Hebrew slave, being faithful to make them fruitful and multiply. We know that God will be faithful in your life as well, as Psalm 100:5 says, "For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations." Let us embrace that promise for our generation today.

OK, let’s look at my final point, pulled from the life’s circumstances of those in Matthew’s genealogy.

5. Faithful in Bitterness (Naomi & Ruth)

I get this from the story of Ruth. She is mentioned in verse 5,

Matthew 1:5-6a
and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king.

One word that I think of when I think of the story of Ruth is “bitterness.” This is what Naomi faced in her life. She lived in Bethlehem. but there was a famine in that land. So she and her husband (Elimelech) and her two sons (Mahlon and Chilion), went to Moah to find food. What a hardship it must have been! To uproot from your home, to live in a foreign land, not because you wanted to move, but because you really had no other choice, but to move for your survival.

Then tragedy struck. Naomi’s husband died. So, it was Naomi and her two sons. Widowhood is difficult. But in Moab, there was some hope, as Mahlon and Chilion found wives (Orpah and Ruth). Things were looking up as they were being established in Moab. They lived in Moab for about 10 years (Ruth 1:4).

Then tragedy struck again. Naomi’s sons both died as well, leaving three women to fend for themselves. Naomi really had no other choice, but to return home. Orpah remained in Moab, but Ruth joined Naomi to return to Bethlehem with those famous words,

Ruth 1:16-17
“Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.”

When she came back, the “the whole town was stirred” (Ruth 1:19). They said, “Is this Naomi?” (Ruth 1:19). Naomi said,

Ruth 1:20-21
“Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went away full, and the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the LORD has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?”

Naomi means “pleasant.” Mara means “bitter.” Essentially, Naomi was saying, “My life has been bitter.” so don’t call me “Pleasant.” call me “Bitter.” No doubt the life of Ruth was bitter as well. But all of that changed, when Boaz, the owner of the barley fields noticed her, and agreed to redeem her.

God was "Faithful in Bitterness" to Naomi & Ruth to provide for them, even after their days of bitterness. Eventually, Ruth and Boaz had a child, whose name was Obed. This was the grandfather of David.

And at the end of Ruth, we have the same genealogy that we have in Matthew:

Ruth 4:18-22
Now these are the generations of Perez: Perez fathered Hezron, Hezron fathered Ram, Ram fathered Amminadab, Amminadab fathered Nahshon, Nahshon fathered Salmon, Salmon fathered Boaz, Boaz fathered Obed, Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered David.

This takes us to next week, when we will look at God’s faithfulness to David. But this week, we are considering God’s faithfulness to Abraham, to bless him with a multitude of descendants, from which would come great blessing upon all the nations of the earth. This brings us back to the promise to Abraham:

Genesis 12:3
in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

It was not clear to Abraham how exactly this promise would come to pass. Abraham could have understood it that all the world would be blessed through the Jewish people. However, this was fulfilled particularly by seeing the Messiah come from the line of Abraham.

Christmas didn’t begin with the birth of Christ. It began with a promise long ago to Abraham. It is helpful for us this Christmas season to see how God has been faithful through all these generations. The message for us this Christmas season is that God will be faithful to our generation as well. Let's hold on to the faithfulness of God, which we see true in all of the flow of Scripture.

This sermon was delivered to Rock Valley Bible Church on December 1, 2025 by Steve Brandon.
For more information see www.rockvalleybiblechurch.org.

[1] We read in Exodus 6:23 that Aaron married Elisheba, Nahshon’s sister.

[2] This is especially clear when you read the prayer of the early church. They prayed, "for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place" (Acts 4:27-28). They affirmed that the awful circumstances surrounding the death of Jesus were all in the sovereign plan of God to bring about the salvation of his people.