Faithful to the Remnant
Matthew 1:12-17
1. Faithful in Defeat (Collapse of Judah) - 2 Kings 25
2. Faithful in Destruction (Jerusalem and the Temple) - Lamentations 3
3. Faithful in Deportation (Daniel) - Daniel
4. Faithful in Displacement (Plans to Prosper) - Jeremiah 29
5. Faithful in Duration (Seventy years) - Jeremiah 29:10
6. Faithful in Difficulty (Rebuilding Jerusalem) - Ezra-Nehemiah
7. Faithful in Desecration (Judas Maccabeus) - Hanukkah
8. Faithful in Delay (400 years of silence) - Galatians 4:4-5
This Christmas season, we have been focusing our attention upon the faithfulness of God. A few weeks ago, I preached on Psalm 100, which finished (in verse 5) with these words:
Psalm 100:5
For the LORD is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.
We have been thinking about the last phrase in this verse: "His faithfulness [endures] to all generations." We have been looking at God's faithfulness to all generations through the lens of Matthew's Genealogy of Jesus, as recorded in Matthew, chapter 1.
Christmas didn't begin when Jesus was born. Christmas really began some 2,000 years before Jesus was born with the promise that God made with Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3, to give him a land, to make of him a great nation with many descendants, to be a blessing to every family on the earth.
Two weeks ago, we spent our time here on Sunday morning thinking about this. God was faithful to fulfill this promise. The genealogy of Matthew is simply a demonstration of God's faithfulness in this. Here were some of the ways that God showed his faithfulness during this time.
1. Faithful in Barrenness (Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel)
God had promised to build a great nation of him, but some of the women in the line were barren. But God overcame the barrenness.
2. Faithful in Brokenness (Judah and Tamar)
The story of Judah and Tamar is the story of a broken mess. But God was faithful even in the brokenness of Abraham's family.
3. Faithful in Betrayal (Joseph)
Joseph's brothers betrayed him and sold him into slavery. But what they meant for evil, God meant for good, to save the offspring of Abraham from famine.
4. Faithful in Bondage (Israel in Egypt)
Even as slaves in Egypt, God was faithful to his people, multiplying them greatly, according to his promise to Abraham.
5. Faithful in Bitterness (Naomi & Ruth)
Naomi lived a very difficult life, with her husband and two children dying in Moab. Yet, through Ruth, the LORD blessed her.
Through it all, the LORD multiplied the descendants of Abraham to number in the millions, bringing them into the land, and making of them a great nation.
Last week, we looked at David. We looked at the promise that God made to him.
2 Samuel 7:16
Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.
With David, we saw that God was faithful to David in fulfilling this promise in the following ways:
1. Faithful in Disgrace (David's sin with Bathsheba)
David committed adultery with Bathsheba. He essentially committed murder with Uriah, her husband, in attempts to cover it all up. It all led to David's disgrace. But sin can't nullify the faithfulness of God.
2. Faithful in Division (Rehoboam's folly)
Even when the nation of Israel was split in two, Israel in the north, Judah in the south, God was faithful to keep the Davidic line alive through the one dynasty in Judah.
3. Faithful in Defection (Athaliah)
Even when Athaliah tried to kill all of the royal family, the LORD protected the line of David by having baby Joash hidden from Athaliah. Seven years later, Joash became king, preserving David's dynasty according to the promise of 2 Samuel 7.
4. Faithful in Deportation (Jehoiachin)
One would expect that a conquered kingdom would lose all of the royal members. But Jehoiachin was preserved alive in a Babylonian prison, where he could have children and preserve the line of David.
Now, when the deportation took place, the people of Judah were few in number. They were often called, the "Remnant" in the Bible. But God had promised through Jeremiah to return this remnant from Babylon.
Jeremiah 23:3
I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply.
This term comes into the title of my message this morning, "Faithful to the Remnant." The remnant are the people we see in the last section of Matthew's genealogy, in verses 12-17. Let's read Matthew 1:12-17.
Matthew 1:12-17
And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.
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.
So, let's begin here with "the deportation to Babylon," which is mentioned in verse 12. That's talking about an historical event that took place when Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, conquered Jerusalem and carried off many Jews and brought them into exile to Babylon. This term, "the deportation" is indicative of the defeat of Judah, the southern kingdom. This is our first point this morning:
1. Faithful in Defeat (Collapse of Judah) - 2 Kings 25
This story is told in 2 Kings 25. By the way, this morning will be a bit different sort of message than I normally preach. I usually like to camp in one passage with very little turning to other passage of Scripture. However, this morning, we will be doing lots of turning to other passages of Scripture watching the story of God's faithfulness to his remnant unfold.
Let's start reading in verse 1. This is all bad news.
2 Kings 24:20b-25:7
And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
And in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem and laid siege to it. And they built siegeworks all around it. So the city was besieged till the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land. Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, by the king's garden, and the Chaldeans were around the city. And they went in the direction of the Arabah. But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered from him. Then they captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and they passed sentence on him. They slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in chains and took him to Babylon.
These last few verses are a demonstration of the savagery of the Babylonians, that they would kill the king's sons before his eyes, and then put out his eyes, so that the murder of his sons was the last thing he ever saw. Then, they took him as a prisoner to Babylon. This signaled the defeat of Judah, the southern kingdom. Israel, the northern kingdom had been destroyed by Assyria about 150 years before this. Assyria didn't carry the Jews away to captivity. Assyria destroyed Israel and moved in! Assyrians came to take over the land.
Babylon had a different strategy. Babylon destroyed Jerusalem, leaving it in ruins, exiling many of the people to Babylon.
2 Kings 25:8-12
In the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month—that was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon—Nebuzaradan, the captain of the bodyguard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. And he burned the house of the LORD and the king's house and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down. And all the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down the walls around Jerusalem. And the rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon, together with the rest of the multitude, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried into exile. But the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and plowmen.
This was the defeat of Judah. Many were "carried into exile" (2 Kings 25:11). Only the poorest of the land were kept to maintain the land.
But the mere existence of the genealogy in Matthew is a demonstration of the faithfulness of God to keep the people of Judah alive. How different this is than the 10 tribes that formed the northern kingdom of Israel. We have no genealogical record of the tribes. They effectively disappear from Scripture. Because, as I said before, Assyria came into Israel and took over. They forced the people to assimilate into Assyrian culture. As a result, much of the culture was lost in the northern kingdom. But Judah was preserved in their culture, even though they were exiled. This is God's faithfulness in defeat.
But we also see that God was
2. Faithful in Destruction (Jerusalem and the Temple) - Lamentations 3
We see this in the book of Lamentations. This isn't noted in the genealogy, but it is all a part of the deportation. The book of Lamentations is just that. It is a "lament" of the destruction of Jerusalem that took place at the hands of the Babylonians. It's a sorrowful book that describes the destruction of Judah. Look at the first verse.
Lamentation 1:1
How lonely sits the city
that was full of people!
How like a widow has she become,
she who was great among the nations!
She who was a princess among the provinces
has become a slave.
Jerusalem had been a thriving metropolis, but at this point, was a ghost town. Nowhere in the book of Lamentations is the word "Remnant" used, because there aren't even enough people in Jerusalem to be called a "Remnant." All have been exiled to Babylon.
Lamentations 1:2-3
She weeps bitterly in the night,
with tears on her cheeks;
among all her lovers
she has none to comfort her;
all her friends have dealt treacherously with her;
they have become her enemies.
Judah has gone into exile because of affliction
and hard servitude;
she dwells now among the nations,
but finds no resting place;
her pursuers have all overtaken her
in the midst of her distress.
There is hardly anybody in Jerusalem, because they have gone into exile, into "hard servitude" in Babylon. We don't have time this morning to consider all of the ways in which Lamentations describes the city, but it's in ruins (Lamentations 2:6) and it lies desolate (Lamentations 5:18).
Jeremiah is the one who wrote Lamentations. He describes his own plight in chapter 3. Let's begin reading in verse 16.
Lamentations 3:16-18
He has made my teeth grind on gravel,
and made me cower in ashes;
my soul is bereft of peace;
I have forgotten what happiness is;
so I say, "My endurance has perished;
so has my hope from the LORD."
This is pretty bad when the hope of the prophet has perished. The prophet is usually the one instilling hope of the LORDinto the people. But here, we see him lacking hope.
In verse 19, Jeremiah prays to the LORD to remember him in his distress.
Lamentation 3:19-20
Remember my affliction and my wanderings,
the wormwood and the gall!
My soul continually remembers it
and is bowed down within me.
But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
And now, in verse 21 comes the turn.
Lamentations 3:22-24
The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
"The LORD is my portion," says my soul,
"therefore I will hope in him."
Perhaps you recognize these words. They are commonly memorized. They are the chorus of a song that we will sing at the end of my message this morning: "Great is Thy Faithfulness."
These words come in the most trying of circumstances. Judah has been defeated. They have been carried away into exile. Jerusalem has been destroyed. There is nothing left. And yet, Jeremiah knows of the faithfulness of God in all of it. His steadfast love never ceases. His mercies are new every morning. Great is his faithfulness.
The fact that the genealogy of Matthew continued is God's faithfulness to the remnant in Babylon. God was "Faithful in Destruction." My third point is this:
3. Faithful in Deportation (Daniel) - Daniel
"Deportation" is another word for the exile. We have a Biblical record of some of those exiles in the book of Daniel. So, turn with me to Daniel, chapter 1. Let's start reading at the very first verse.
Daniel 1:1-7
In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the vessels of the house of God. And he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his god. Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king's palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate, and of the wine that he drank. They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time they were to stand before the king. Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah. And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names: Daniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego.
Here you see the strategy of Babylon. They would take the best and the brightest of the Jewish people and indoctrinate them in the language of the Babylonians. As people of influence, they would influence the Jews to take on the Babylonian culture.
Again, we don't have the time this morning to work through all of the book of Daniel, but God protected Daniel and his friends, even when they refused to bow to the Babylonian culture of the day. In chapter 3, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow to the giant statue of Nebuchadnezzar and found themselves in the fiery furnace, where God protected them. In chapter 6, Daniel refused the edict to pray to no one except the king, and he found himself in a den of lions, where God protected him.
To make a long story short, like Joseph, Daniel was lifted up to second in command during his days. God was faithful to his remnant in the deportation. God had told them to prosper in their displacement, which is my fourth point.
4. Faithful in Displacement (Plans to Prosper) - Jeremiah 29
We see this in Jeremiah 29. Let's start reading at the beginning.
Jeremiah 29:1-9
These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders of the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. This was after King Jeconiah and the queen mother, the eunuchs, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metal workers had departed from Jerusalem. The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. It said: "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the LORD."
In other words, in your displacement, live and flourish and prosper! Build houses (verse 5). That is, don't live in temporary tents. Live as settled people! Seek the best of the city. Yes, your heart may be in Jerusalem. But go to Babylon and prosper there.
Perhaps you have heard verse 11:
Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."
These are the sorts of promises that people take for themselves, as if God is going to bless them. But these words were written to the remnant of Judah who were living as exiles in Babylon. God says, "I am going to do well for you! You will have a future and a hope in Babylon!"
They did prosper in Babylon. This is all a testimony to the faithfulness of God to the remnant in Babylon. His blessing was not just physical, but spiritual as well. Look at verse 12.
Jeremiah 29:12-13
Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.
Here's the promise of those in exile, for those who seek the LORD, he will be found by them. The same promise comes to us as well. We can seek the Lord today. If you do, you will find him when you seek him with all your heart.[1]
This is the gospel call that the Bible constantly puts forth. Seek the Lord and you will find him. Call upon the Lord and you will be saved. This is what Joel, the Old Testament prophet said: "Everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved" (Joel 2:32). Peter quoted him on the day of Pentecost: "And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Acts 2:21).
What does it mean to call upon the Lord today? It means to repent and believe in Jesus! Confess your sin and cry out to the Lord. You may not be in exile today in Babylon. But you are a sinner. Only Jesus can save a sinner from his sin. It was his death upon the cross that paid the price. So, call upon the Lord!
Back to Babylon and Jeremiah 29. In verse 14, God promises to restore them back to Jerusalem: "I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile."
This happened exactly according to the timetable that God had predicted. The remnant in Babylon came back into the land, and the genealogy proceeded until the time of Jesus. Now, I skipped on verse in Jeremiah 29. I skipped verse 10. Look at it.
Jeremiah 29:10
For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place.
This is my fifth point:
5. Faithful in Duration (Seventy years) - Jeremiah 29:10
God promised an exile of 70 years in Babylon. When the 70 years were up, he sent them back. He did so by the hand of Cyrus, the ruler of Persia, who had taken over Babylon in those seventy years of exile. His name is mentioned in the book of Ezra. . Listen to what Cyrus decreed.
Ezra 1:1-4
In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing: "Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the LORD, the God of Israel—he is the God who is in Jerusalem. And let each survivor, in whatever place he sojourns, be assisted by the men of his place with silver and gold, with goods and with beasts, besides freewill offerings for the house of God that is in Jerusalem."
Then, in chapter 2, we have an accounting of those who returned to Jerusalem. All told, about 50,000 people returned (Ezra 2:64-65). In returning, they were given the task of rebuilding Jerusalem. In so doing, they faced some tremendous obstacles, but God was faithful to them during this time. Here's our sixth point this morning:
6. Faithful in Difficulty (Rebuilding Jerusalem) - Ezra-Nehemiah
This remnant who returned (the 50,000 people) were led by a man named "Zerubbabel." His name is mentioned in Matthew's Genealogy: "And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel" (Matthew 1:12).
Here we are, at this point in my message, and we have only really gone through one verse in Matthew's genealogy leading up to Jesus. But a lot happened during those days that shows the faithfulness of God.
To review, God was faithful in defeat, in preserving the remnant in Babylon.
God was faithful in destruction. As Jeremiah witnessed,
Lamentations 3:22-23
The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
God was faithful in deportation, giving to the remnant men of faith like Daniel and Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego. God was faithful in displacement, giving them prosperity in Babylon.
God was faithful in duration, telling them in advance that their exile would be for 70 years, then returning them to the land after those years were completed.
Now, considering the difficult job of rebuilding Jerusalem, we see that God was faithful in difficulty.
We see this in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. It's no small task to lead 50,000 people from Babylon to Jerusalem. It's no small task to lead them in the rebuilding process, rebuilding the temple, rebuilding homes in Jerusalem, rebuilding the wall around the city. Not only is it difficult to lead the people, there were local adversaries on the ground who aren't pleased that 50,000 people have moved into the neighborhood.
Yet, through it all, God was faithful to Zerubbabel, who built the temple. He was faithful to Ezra, who taught the law and brought reforms. He was faithful to Nehemiah, who built the wall so that the people could be safe.
One of the key phrases in Ezra and Nehemiah to show the faithfulness of God is this phrase: "the hand of the LORD was upon them." Listen to a few of them.
Concerning Ezra's travel,
Ezra 7:6
Ezra went up from Babylonia. He was a scribe skilled in the Law of Moses that the LORD, the God of Israel, had given, and the king granted him all that he asked, for the hand of the LORD his God was on him.
Ezra 7:9
For on the first day of the first month he began to go up from Babylonia, and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, for the good hand of his God was on him.
In a particular time of difficulty, Ezra wrote,
Ezra 7:28
I took courage, for the hand of the LORD my God was on me, and I gathered leading men from Israel to go up with me.
When good leaders were needed, Ezra told the story,
Ezra 8:18
And by the good hand of our God on us, they brought us a man of discretion, of the sons of Mahli the son of Levi, son of Israel, namely Sherebiah with his sons and kinsmen" (Ezra 8:18).
When traveling with much money over dangerous lands, Ezra said,
Ezra 8:21-23
Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our goods. For I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against the enemy on our way, since we had told the king, “The hand of our God is for good on all who seek him, and the power of his wrath is against all who forsake him.” So we fasted and implored our God for this, and he listened to our entreaty.
When they arrived with all of their goods, Ezra reported,
Ezra 8:31
Then we departed from the river Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go to Jerusalem. The hand of our God was on us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambushes by the way.
Nehemiah asked for letters to be given him to provide protection in his travels and to provide timber for building materials.
Nehemiah 2:7-8
And I said to the king, "If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors of the province Beyond the River, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah, and a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress of the temple, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall occupy." And the king granted me what I asked, for the good hand of my God was upon me."
When Nehemiah encouraged the people to build the wall, he told them of God's blessing in bringing him to Jerusalem in the first place:
Nehemiah 2:18
And I told them of the hand of my God that had been upon me for good, and also of the words that the king had spoken to me. And they said, 'Let us rise up and build.' So they strengthened their hands for the good work.
God was faithful to the remnant to provide all that they needed in their return to build the temple, the city, and the wall, despite the difficulty and resistance that they faced, because the good hand of the LORD was upon them. Let's keep going.
7. Faithful in Desecration (Judas Maccabeus) - Hanukkah
For this point, I want to tell the story of what happened during the days of the people in Matthew 1:13-15. We literally know nothing about any of these people. We know nothing about Abiud. We know nothing about Eliakim. We know nothing about Azor or Zadok or Achim. We know nothing about Eliud or Eleazar or Matthan. None of them are mentioned in the Old Testament. We don't know exactly when they lived. We don't know exactly when they died. We don't know the names of their wives. We don't know if they had any other sons or daughters.
But we do know of an event that took place during the lives of some of them. We do know of an event that many of them knew about and celebrated. It's the heroic story of Judas Maccabeus, which is celebrated during the days of Hanukkah, which begins today, which Jews all around the world will celebrate. Jesus even celebrated this holiday: "At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon" (John 10:22-23).
Do you know the story? It has to do with a very difficult time in the life of Judah. Antiochus IV Epiphanes (who began his reign in 175 BC) attempted to wipe out Jewish worship by outlawing circumcision and Sabbath observance and by desecrating the temple. In the temple, he erected an altar to Zeus and sacrificed a pig upon it. This was in accordance with Daniel's Prophecy: "Forces from him shall appear and profane the temple and fortress, and shall take away the regular burnt offering. And they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate" (Daniel 11:31).
It was an awful time for the Jews. Their glory and hope was in the temple! In response, a priestly family led by Mattathias and later his son Judas Maccabeus rose in revolt. Though vastly outnumbered, they reclaimed Jerusalem, cleansed the temple, and rededicated it in 164 BC.
Hanukkah means "dedication." Hanukkah celebrates the restoration of worship and the preservation of God's people when they were on the brink of extinction. Hanukkah is primarily a celebration of lights because, as the story goes, when Judas Maccabeus gained control of the temple, the Jews found only one undefiled jar of consecrated oil, enough to keep the menorah lit for a single day. Yet, miraculously, the oil burned for eight days, until new oil could be prepared.
This is why the Jews today celebrate Hanukkah for 8 days, as they remember how God sustained the light of worship in the temple when human resources were not enough. The focus of their worship is the Menorah, a lampstand with nine candles. It all points back to the faithfulness of God, even when Antiochus Epiphanes desecrated the altar.
This story of Hanukkah took place during the days of those in the genealogy of Matthew. Finally, God was
8. Faithful in Delay (400 years of silence) - Galatians 4:4-5
After the events of Judas Maccabeus and the Maccabean revolt, there was a period of about 400 years of prophetic silence. No new Scripture was written. No prophets arose. It was a time of waiting. Yet, God was faithful even in the delay.
Galatians 4:4-5
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
There are a couple of important things to notice in these verses. First, this is very much a Christmas passage. It speaks about God’s timing. He waited for the right moment to comet. Paul says, “when the fullness of time had come.” That phrase reminds us that Jesus came exactly according to God’s timetable. God was not early, and He was not late. He came at precisely the right moment. If you study Daniel chapter 9, you see that God had already revealed a timeline for when these things would take place, and Jesus arrived right on schedule.
Many factors came together in that fullness of time. The Pax Romana was in place. Roads had been built. There was a common language. Jesus could be born, live, die, and rise again, and then the message of the gospel could spread rapidly throughout the Roman world using the infrastructure that already existed. This was the fullness of time. It was God’s time.
Not only did God come at the right time, but He came in the right way. Paul says that God “sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law.” This points us to the Virgin Mary and to the reality that Jesus truly entered into humanity. He was born like we are born. And He was born under the law, submitting Himself fully to God’s commands. Jesus lived under the law perfectly. He never transgressed a single command. He obeyed completely, faithfully, and without sin. He came at the perfect time, and He lived in the perfect way.
Why did He do this? Verse 5 gives us the purpose: “to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” There is a clear purpose clause here. Jesus was under the law and fulfilled it perfectly. We are also under the law, but we do not fulfill it. Instead, we are crushed by it. Through the law comes the knowledge of sin, and through that knowledge we realize how desperately we need a Savior (Romans 3:20).
We need someone to redeem us from our failure under the law. Jesus did what we could not do. He lived in perfect obedience, and then He became our sacrifice on the cross. That cross is really the culmination of God’s faithfulness.
His faithfulness that stretches all the way back to Abraham, when God promised to build a great nation and bless all the families of the earth through him. God remained faithful through the time of David, preserving the royal line. Even when that line was threatened with extinction. God remained to the remnant during the days of the Babylonian exile. Then, God brought His people back into the land so that the Messiah could be born. All of this displays the faithfulness of God, working across centuries to redeem His people from their sins.
So my prayer is that when you look at Matthew’s genealogy, you would see more than names. You would see a testimony to God’s faithfulness. God kept His promises to Abraham. He kept His promises to David. He kept His promises even through the deportation to Babylon.
Let us rejoice in that. Let us believe that all of this has come together for us, so that we might be redeemed through the blood of Christ.
This sermon was delivered to Rock Valley Bible Church on December 14, 2024 by Steve Brandon.
For more information see www.rockvalleybiblechurch.org.
[1] After I preached this message, I met with our small group in your home. We will regularly look at and discuss my message from the morning. A question came to me at this point about why I would caution the applicability to us of Jeremiah 23:11, while at the same time pressing the application of Jeremiah 23:12 into our lives. This was a very insightful question. I'm glad it was asked.
The key to answering this question is, first of all, to understand that the promise of each of these verses were made to the original hearers. They both are directed to the exiles in Babylon and must be interpreted with that in mind. In verse 11, we see the promise of great blessing, "plans for welfare and not for evil," plans for a "future and a hope." Indeed, God had promised to bless them in great ways in Babylon, and this he did. This was for the exiles. The promise of verse 12 is the promise that those seeking the LORD with all of their heart will find him. This was also for the exiles. Surely, for any of those exiles who sought the LORD, they found God.
After this interpretation has been established with the original readers, the next question has to do with interpretation. Can we hold to such a promise? The key here is to look to the rest of the Scripture and as if there are other places where such a promise is made that is a general promise that extends even to us.
Regarding verse 11, it would be difficult to find this as a general promise that extends to all followers of the LORD. Certainly, those who trust in the LORD and follow him find great blessing. But this isn't universally true. There are those who are martyred for their faith. There are those in persecuted lands, where they are inhibited from finding such material success promised here in verse 11. So, it's difficult to embrace verse 11 as a universal promise.
Regarding verse 12, however, we have plenty of Scriptural parallels of such a promise. Seeking the LORD is similar to calling upon him. We have the promise of Joel 2:32, which Peter quotes in his sermon on the day of Pentecost (which I explain in my message). Consider the global application of this verse: "And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Acts 2:21). That's universal and we know that this is true. Anyone and everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. We see this backed up in countless Scripture passages both in the New Testament (see John 3:16, 36; 6:37, 40; 7:37-38; 11:26; Acts 10:43; 13:38-39; Romans 3:22; 10:11, 13; Galatians 3:26; Revelation 22:17) as well as in the Old Testament (Psalm 86:5; 145:18; Isaiah 45:22; 49:6; Joel 2:32).
It is for this reason that verse 12 is applicable to us, whereas we need to take greater care in how to apply verse 11 to us.