The Perfect Lamb of God | Luke 3:21-38
Read Luke 3:21-38
As we start a new series and go back into the gospel of Luke; we are reminded this morning that as Christians, we are saved from our sin, we are saved from death.
“Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
--Romans 8:1-5
This is the good news of Christ. We need to be reminded of this this morning and the world needs to hear about the gospel of Jesus Christ.
As Luke writes the beginning of his gospel, we must understand what the context is of Luke 3:21-38 and realize the intent of why Luke is writing what he is writing. His audience is a gentile audience, a non-Jewish audience. This is why the lineage of Jesus found in Luke 3:21-38 is different than the lineage found in Matthew 1:1-17. Matthew’s gospel is written to the Jewish people/ Jewish Christians and the main purpose of his gospel is to establish Jesus as the Highest Rabbi / the Rabbi with the ultimate authority. Luke’s genealogy goes through Nathan and Matthew’s goes through Solomon,
Matthew’s lineage highlights the Jewish royalty and kings resulting of the fulfillment in the promised heir of David. Luke highlights the complete, blood-relative lineage of Jesus going all the way back to Adam who was born by God. This highlights both His earthly and spiritual ancestry. Matthew only goes back to Abraham.
—these are not contradictions rather these two lineages show a COMPLETE lineage of both royal lineage from King David and bloodline lineage going all the way back to Adam.
Luke is establishing a broader understanding of Jesus, yes Jesus is the king of kings, but He is also human, coming from a lineage of humanity and He is also God; the seed of Eve who will bruise the serpent in Genesis 3:15.
The beginning of Luke’s Gospel:
-the foretelling of John the Baptist’s birth, Jesus’ birth foretold, Mary worshiping her baby as the Magnificat, John the Baptists birth, Jesus’ virgin birth, Jesus presented at the temple, Jesus teaching the Rabbis in the temple at 12 years old. (Luke 1-2).
The context of Jesus’ lineage also highlights Luke’s intent; He is telling His audience of the nature of the Jewish prophecy of the Messiah, the savior of the world. In Luke 3 he begins by highlighting John’s ministry of preparation for the messiah through water baptism.
“John answered and said to them all; ‘As for me, I baptize you with water; but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the thong of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
--Luke 3:16
Luke is doing all this for one specific reason. He is showing His audience that Jesus isn’t just some man rather Jesus is the perfect Lamb of God, the one who will save the world from their sin and ultimately from their eternal death in hell.
- Jesus is the fulfillment of Messianic Prophecy in the OT. He is the Perfect Lamb of God.
“Now when all the people were baptized, Jesus was also baptized, and while He was praying, heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, ‘You are my beloved Son, in You I am well pleased.”
--Luke 3:21-22
Luke then continues to explain his lineage all the way back to Adam.
“The son of Serug, the song of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Heber, the son of Shelah, the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalaleel, the son of Cainan, the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.”
--Luke 3:35-38
Luke begins his lineage with Joseph and ends his lineage with Seth, Adam who is the son of God (literally birthed by God Gen. 2:7) Luke is making a bold statement here—Jesus is the fulfillment of Genesis 3:15. Luke is concerned about showing the maternal lineage rather than Matthew who shows the paternal—this is the case because Luke is concerned about showing the humanity of Christ, the true seed who was promised through Eve and Matthew is concerned that the Jewish audience will care more about the law—the legal nature of Jesus’ lineage.
“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.’” – Genesis 3:15
This true account of Jesus’ family true also proves that Jesus is real, that Jesus is true, some historians even proved Jesus’ lineage through public records.
“The fact that Luke could give Jesus’ genealogical history was not unusual. Josephus traced his own genealogy from “the public records” (Autobiography, paragraph 1). It was also well known that the famous Rabbi Hillel could prove his descent from King David with reference from the public registers.”
–Enduring Word Commentary
Jesus had many enemies, many people wanted to discredit Him being the true Messiah. The Sadducees, the Pharisees, the Gnostics (Docetists and Cerinthus’s) and today many people try to discredit Him, many atheists, agnostics, even some churches that call themselves Christians try to minimize the true messianic nature of Christ. Yet, in the scriptures there is not one person who questions Jesus about being a real human, about lineage back through David because His lineage is clear and true.
“In fact, in Matthew 21:9, a famous day, we call it Palm Sunday, Jesus came into the city of Jerusalem and the whole population was there. And you know it was the time of the great feast. They were all gathered there. You remember what happened as He came in. This is what they said, ‘The multitudes. Matthew 21:9 ‘and those following after crying out, 'Hosanna to the Son of David.’ Never a question, never a question; through His father legally, through His mother naturally.” –John MacArthur
The full record of Jesus’ family lineage is found in God’s word proving the truth of Jesus. Jesus was real. Jesus is real. He lived a perfect life as a perfect man and died as the perfect lamb of God, the ultimate atonement for the sins of the world. Jesus resurrected after being dead for three days because Jesus isn’t just a perfect man rather He is a perfect God/ Man, 100% God and 100% man. Jesus is the perfect lamb of God.
- God has grace for His people. Jesus worked and continues to work through imperfect people.
“…even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.”
--I Timothy 1:13-15
God saves sinners! God came to save imperfect people and to make them more like Him. Notice how Paul makes it known that he has changed? Jesus changes lives, Jesus transforms the sinners life into a saint life; a life pleasing to Him—this is called sanctification.
-Most of these men listed in Luke 3:23-38 are unknown but we do know of some of these men and we even know of some of the women involved in Jesus’ lineage.
David: was a polygamist with many wives and he famously cheated on his second wife, Abigail, with a woman named Bathsheba. David had Bathsheba’s husband killed in war and Nathan called him out and to repent of his (2 Sam. 12:1-15).
Jacob: his name means “heel-grabber” or “deceiver” and he definitely lived up to his name. He tricks his brother, Esau, out of his birthright for a bowl of soup (Gen. 27) and marries two women, Rachel and Leah, breaking an OT law found in Lev. 18:18. His name is changed to Israel, reconciled to Esau and they found the 12 tribes of Israel.
Abraham: Slept with Hagar, his handmaiden, as Sarah, his wife, thought she was too old to birth a son which would fulfill God’s promise of a nation through Abraham and Sarah. Hagar gives birth to Ishmael as Abraham disobeys God (Gen.16:1-15). God changes Abram and Sarai’s name to Abraham and Sarah after this happens, they are given a true son, Isaac.
Matthew’s lineage in Matthew 1 includes four women—we notice that the women he included are not the most favorable. He picked two prostitutes (Rahab and Tamar), one adulteress (Bathsheba) and four of them were outcast gentiles not Jews. Ruth was a Moabite and the Moabites were enemies of the Jews.
God has grace for his people; He has grace for humanity and those willing to repent and ask for forgiveness. We see this in Christ’s lineage. Jesus, the only perfect man, came into this world through imperfect men and women. Why would God do this; why would he reveal Himself to humanity in this manner? Because God has established a relationship with humanity once again through the perfect man of Jesus Christ.
- God has established a relationship with us through Jesus Christ. It is through relationship that we come to love and know God.
All of us in this room have a family tree! We have a history, family heritage, family careers and things that have been passed down to us. The God we worshiped this morning, the Jesus we sang to and give glory to has a family tree as well, He has a family history, family heritage—just like the rest of humanity.
When I see Jesus’ lineage I see a man. It is interesting that Luke places Jesus’ lineage after His baptism and before His temptation to prove that Jesus is the perfect lamb of God but Luke also reminds us that Jesus is a human—a perfect human but still a human. Jesus came down as one of us through these—at times, rough family lineage.
This is what God’s heart is; He came down to save us from sin because He loves us. Jesus is reconciling the relationship that was broken by Adam and Eve in the garden, fulfilling the promise God gave in Genesis 3:15 to the serpent—this should give us peace, hope, mercy and love for ourselves and for others knowing that the God we worship has established this relationship with us.
“The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
--John 1:29