The Pre-Recorded Genealogy of Jesus and the First Christmas

by Phillip Goodman

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For the past several years I have labored to reconstruct my family genealogy—pure history, looking backward in time. Thinking about this endeavor, Christmas reminds me of the miracle of the genealogy and birth records of Jesus Christ—recorded BEFORE the fact. This is pure prophecy, looking forward in time. And that is something only God can do!

To the very first woman was given the prediction that the Messiah would come from the seed of a woman—a prediction of the virgin birth of Christ. (Gen. 3:15) As such He would enter into the human race as a divine-human son of Adam (Eve came from Adam, Gen. 2:21-23), destined to be born of a virgin. God then diverted the line of Jesus through Seth as opposed to Cain. After the Flood the entire human race regenerated in three divisions. Jesus’ genealogy was pre-written through Shem, thus eliminating the two-thirds of mankind that proceeded from Noah’s other two sons, Ham and Japheth. (Gen. 9:18-19, 26)

Out of all of the families of Shem, only one—Abraham—was called to father the nation which would bring forth the Messiah. (Gen. 12:1-3) Abraham’s first two sons were Ishmael and Isaac. Jesus’ birth records, here pre-written 1400 years before His birth, show that God chose Isaac to be a forefather of the Messiah. (Gen. 17:19) Meanwhile, God foresaw in Ishmael the enduring bitterness of the Arabs against the Jews (see page 4). (Gen. 16:11-12)

Twins were born to Isaac, Jacob and Esau. The line of Jesus was pre-recorded through Jacob, whose name became Israel. Jacob (Israel) had twelve sons who fathered the twelve tribes of Israel. Eleven-twelfths of them were eliminated from the genealogy of Jesus when it was prophesied that the Messiah-King would come from Judah. (Gen. 49:10)

Out of Jacob’s son Judah came the tribe of Judah with its thousands of families. Out from among these God chose one—the family of Jesse. (Isa. 11:1-2) David was chosen from Jesse’s seven sons to extend the genealogy of Jesus to the Messianic throne over Jerusalem, Israel, and ultimately the nations. (1 Chr. 17:11-15)

Because of a curse by God upon one of King David’s descendants, Jechoniah, God diverted the royal genealogy of Jesus through another son of David, Nathan. The virgin Mary was in the line of Nathan. Thus, the bloodline of Jesus extended to David. But His claim to the promised Throne of David was preserved without negating the curse because Joseph was not in the bloodline of Jesus, but was rather His stepfather. The virgin birth, then, guaranteed that Jesus was, in one person, the Son of God (John’s genealogy, John 1:1-3), a human descendant of David (Luke’s genealogy, Luke 3:23-38), and also the rightful heir to the Throne of David (Matthew’s genealogy, Mat. 1:1-17).

The genealogical chart of Jesus, then, was prophesied with such divine precision it narrowed the possibilities down to a particular person, born in a particular place, born at a particular time.

The place of the birth of Jesus, and the site of the first Christmas, out of all of the other cities in the world, was foretold to be tiny Bethlehem 700 years before Jesus was born,

"But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity." (Mic. 5:2)

What about the time of Jesus’ ministry on the earth? It is given in the remarkable Prophecy Of The 70 Weeks (see page 2). This prophecy is so precise that it defies all odds of natural explanation. So anticipated was the fulfillment of this prophecy that Scripture records a great expectation among first century Jews that the Messiah was due to arrive. And they were not disappointed on that first Christmas!

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