When Your Past Meets God’s Promise: Finding Yourself in Jesus’ Family Tree: Matthew 1

We just finished singing, “May our faith be louder than the anthem.” That phrase has been ringing in my heart.

Because it’s one thing to sing about faith.
It’s another thing altogether to live it when you can’t see what’s around the bend in the road.

Matthew’s Gospel helps us with that. It’s a teaching Gospel. A discipling Gospel. And Matthew starts his entire book with something most of us skip over: a genealogy.

Why? Because before you listen to what Jesus said and watch what Jesus did, you need to know who He is. And in Matthew 1, God uses this long list of names to show us two huge truths:

• God is for us — He keeps His promises, even through messy people and dark seasons.
• God is with us — in the person of Jesus, the Son of God, who came to save us from our sins.

Let’s walk through this chapter together and see where our story meets His story.

“The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.” 

Matthew opens with a bold statement:
“The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.” (Matthew 1:1)

In one verse, he gives us the big picture:

• “Son of David” — Jesus is the promised King.
• “Son of Abraham” — Jesus is the fulfillment of the covenant to bless all nations.

In other words:
 The coming of the promised Messiah is God’s faithfulness to fulfill the covenants He has made with men.

God didn’t improvise Jesus at the last minute. Jesus was planned. From Abraham, through David, through centuries of ups and downs, failures and faith — God kept His promise.

But here’s what Matthew does that’s unusual: he doesn’t give us a sanitized list of spiritual superstars. He includes broken people, scandalous stories, and even national disaster. That’s good news for people like us.

GOD IS FOR US – EVEN WITH OUR PAST

Can My Past Really Not Disqualify Me from God’s Plan?

There’s a poem by Robert Frost called “The Road Not Taken.” You may know the famous lines:
“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by, 
And that has made all the difference.”

Whatever the deeper interpretation of the poem might be, two simple truths stand out:
You can’t walk both roads. You’re one traveler. A decision is inevitable.

You can’t see everything ahead. You look as far as you can, but eventually the path bends out of sight.

That’s where faith comes in.
Abraham had to walk a road he couldn’t fully see.
David had dreams, but God said, “Not you — your son.”

In the same way, every one of us has two roads before us:
Keep living stuck in our past, our plans, and our control
Or surrender to God’s road — His plan, His purpose in Christ

Matthew’s genealogy is full of people who had that choice. Some responded in faith. Others rejected God’s hand.

Let’s meet a few of them.

Matthew 1:2–6 introduces us to some surprising names:
“Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar…
Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth…
David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah.” (Matthew 1:3, 5–6)

Genealogies in the ancient world rarely mentioned women, let alone women like these. Yet Matthew highlights them.

Tamar – Acting in Desperation
Tamar’s story in Genesis 38 is messy. Widowed and abandoned, she was promised justice that never came. Desperate, she disguised herself as a prostitute to sleep with Judah in order to secure her place in the family line.

Sin? Yes.
Shame? Yes.
Beyond God’s reach? No.
God doesn’t endorse her sin, but He weaves even that brokenness into the line of the Messiah. That’s grace.

Rahab – A Harlot Turned Believer
Rahab was a prostitute in Jericho (Joshua 2; 6). Her profession was sexual immorality. Yet she had heard the stories:

• How God delivered Israel from Egypt
• How He defeated powerful nations on their way to the Promised Land

When the Israelite spies came to her door, she made a choice:
“For the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.” (Joshua 2:11)
By faith, she risked her life, turned from her old life and aligned herself with the God of Israel. Her business, her old identity, her past — all of it had to die. And God gave her a new future — she ends up in the family line of Jesus.

Ruth – Following God When He Hasn’t “Worked” for You
Ruth was a Moabite (Ruth 1–4). A foreigner. Her husband died. She was left in poverty with her Israelite mother-in-law Naomi.
From an earthly standpoint, this “God of Israel” hadn’t done much for her. Yet she said:
“Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.” (Ruth 1:16)

She followed God not because life was going well, but because she had come to believe that He is the true God. That is faith.

All three women were:
Gentiles (outsiders)
Marked by loss, shame, or scandal
Yet welcomed into God’s plan by faith

What does that say to you and me?

God is not afraid of your past. He is not limited by your present. He has a future for you — but it does involve a choice.

Many of us are haunted by the past — not only by what we’ve done, but by what others refuse to let us forget. Sometimes the harshest voice is our own.

Paul gives us this counsel:
“Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
— Philippians 3:13–14, NKJV

Paul isn’t pretending his past never happened. He’s saying: I refuse to be controlled by it. I will not let my yesterdays dictate my tomorrows. I’m pressing forward—but not just into my own new plan. I’m pressing into God’s call in Christ Jesus.

That’s crucial. It’s one thing to say, “I need a new path.” It’s another to say, “I’m surrendering to God’s path.”

Like Rahab and Ruth, this may mean letting your old “business,” your old identity, your old plans die. But it also means stepping into the road that actually leads to life.

Not everyone in Jesus’ family tree embraced God’s plan.
Matthew quietly skips certain kings in the genealogy (see Matthew 1:8, 11). These omitted kings—Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah—were descendants of Athaliah, who tried to wipe out the royal line of Judah (2 Kings 11). It was a satanic attempt to stop the Messiah from coming—a kind of “anti-Messiah” spirit.

Then there’s Jeconiah:
“Josiah begot Jeconiah and his brothers about the time they were carried away to Babylon.”
— Matthew 1:11, NKJV

Jeremiah prophesied about him:
“…For none of his descendants shall prosper,
Sitting on the throne of David,
And ruling anymore in Judah.”
— Jeremiah 22:30, NKJV
Humanly speaking, that curse should have ended the royal line. No descendant of Jeconiah would sit on David’s throne.

And yet—Jesus does sit on David’s throne.
How?

Because Joseph is called “the husband of Mary” (Matthew 1:16), not the father of Jesus. Joseph gives Jesus the legal right to David’s throne, but Jesus’ actual bloodline comes through Mary (as Luke’s genealogy shows) and is untouched by Jeconiah’s curse.

In other words:
No human resistance, no satanic scheme, and no family curse can stop God’s plan.

And if that’s true on the scale of redemptive history, it’s also true personally:
Whatever God has genuinely purposed for your life, no person, no circumstance, and no enemy can ultimately overthrow.

All of this brings us back to those two roads.

1. Your Past Does Not Disqualify You—Unbelief Does
Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, David, Bathsheba, Joseph—none of them were chosen because they had perfect records. Some had horribly messy stories. Others were outsiders. Some committed major sins after being chosen.
The difference wasn’t perfection. It was response.
Some responded with faith, repentance, and willingness.
Others hardened themselves, resisted God’s covenant, and were left out.
The number one thing that will keep you from walking with Jesus is not the size of your sin but the hardness of your heart.

2. You Can Bring Your Past to Jesus and Walk a New Road
Maybe you identify with Rahab—your past is full of shame.
Or with Ruth—you feel like God took things from you and you don’t fully understand why.
Or with Joseph—you feel the weight of your family history and shame.

In Christ, you can say:

• My past is real, but it is not final.
• My sin is great, but His grace is greater.
• My story is messy, but He is the Author and Finisher of my faith (Hebrews 12:2).

Like Paul, you can “forget those things which are behind” and press toward “the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13–14).

3. Interpret Your Season Through Scripture, Not Emotion
If you’re in a “wilderness” or “exile” season, don’t immediately assume God has rejected you. Bring it before Him:
“Lord, is this chastening? Show me where to repent.”
“Is this refining? Strengthen me to endure.”
“Is this warfare? Fight for me and teach my hands for battle.”

Like David prayed:
“Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me, and know my anxieties.”
— Psalm 139:23, NKJV
God has not forsaken you. His mercy has not departed. In Christ, He is both for you and with you.

Maybe today you find yourself at that fork in the road.
One road is familiar—your way, your control, your attempts to manage shame and build your own future. The other is less traveled—surrender to Jesus as Savior and King.
You cannot walk both.
Let’s choose the road of faith.

Prayer:
Lord, thank You that You are faithful to Your promises, even when our lives are messy. Thank You for showing us in Jesus’ genealogy that You are not afraid of our past, and that You invite outsiders, failures, and strugglers into Your plan.

Help us today to forget what lies behind and press toward Your upward call in Christ. Where we need to repent, give us humility. Where we are discouraged, remind us that Your mercy has not departed. Jesus, be our Savior from sin and our Immanuel—God with us.

We surrender our plans, our shame, and our fears to You. Lead us on Your road. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Yes. The genealogy of Jesus is full of people with dark and complicated pasts—Tamar, Rahab, David, Bathsheba. What matters is not a perfect record but a repentant, trusting heart.

If you belong to Christ, God may discipline you, but He does not forsake you. He told David, “My mercy shall not depart” (2 Samuel 7:15). Hebrews 12 says He disciplines those He loves.

Jesus saves us from the penalty of sin (forgiveness), the power of sin (we are no longer slaves), and one day from the presence of sin (in eternity with Him).


It means Jesus is not just a distant Savior. By His Spirit, He is present with you—comforting, guiding, correcting, and empowering you to walk in His ways.

Begin by confessing your sin and need for Him, believing that Jesus died and rose for you, and surrendering to Him as Lord. Then daily choose to trust His Word over your feelings and follow His leading, even when it costs you.

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