The King Has Come Pt. 11 | Matthew 1:1-17

October 19th, 2025

As we continue our walk through the genealogy of Jesus Christ, we are reminded this is not just a list of names on a page of Scripture: every name in this list tells a certain story, a certain way in which God interacts with humanity and a way God is bringing about His redemptive purposes in Christ Jesus.  The genealogy shows us from where Christ came.  We are reminded that, “from (God) every family in heaven and on earth is named,” (Ephesians 3:15).  God knows these families and He interacts with them in specific ways.

As we have looked at these names, we have been able to see how they cosmically and intimately shadow the Gospel, how we experience the Gospel as we are called by God and turn to Him in repentance and faith.  In Matthew 1:3-6a, we are looking at the line of people God uses to proclaim who Christ has been determined to be throughout human history.  We see that as God’s mercy begins at His throne and flows into grace then into the redemption of those whom He calls, we see in real time how that interacts with us, how calling interacts with regeneration, what the experience is like, what happens and why we need regeneration in order to respond to the call of God.  

Again, in these names, we see shadows of the salvation we have been given.  As we moved from Hezron to Amminadab, we moved from God’s calling to repentance.  As calling and regeneration can be viewed as a unit, we now look at faith and repentance as a unit.  Remember that repentance is turning from sin, albeit a bit more complicated than that, and a changing of the mind by God, not human effort.  Repentance is a Spirit-born response to God’s call.

The doctrine of repentance has four components: illumination, affection, volition and continuation.  These components can be broken into two phases, as we begin to experience salvation in real time.  Phase one is the awakening, the illumination, and then, the affection; phase two is the turning.  Today, we will see that this turning is coupled with faith.  We have seen that the way God first awakens the heart is by revealing that we are sinners in need of salvation.  Without seeing this need, we have no awareness of the need for salvation.  Also, we have to understand who God is and that our sin separates us from Him.  Then, God grants us His love and affection for Him, allowing us to see a beauty in His character we have never seen.  All of this is God’s awakening of the heart.  In Amminadab, whose name means “my people are willing”, we saw a portrait of the soul awakened by grace, seeing glimpses of this awakening, the root of Amminadab’s name, in Song of Solomon 6:12-13, as the Shulammite woman was swept up into God’s call.  The repentant sinner is surprised by grace, swept up into a sudden awareness of their sin and captivated by God’s astonishing love.

In the next phase of turning, we moved to Nahshon, the prince of Judah, always the leader, always first, always in front, always acting, first in leading, first in offering, first in marching.  His life seems to embody initiative.  According to the Jewish Midrash, it was Nahson who took the first step as the people walked across the parted Red Sea.  Repentance is an awakening that turns, coupled closely with faith, twin responses to the Gospel, both occurring almost at the same time.  “Testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21).  Theologian John Murray says, “Repentance is the twin of faith.  Saving faith is permeated with repentance, and repentance is permeated with faith.”   

Salmon and Rahab = Faith

Today, we find ourselves in the experience of saving faith seen in the shadows of Salmon and Rahab, and as we approach them, we will watch the shadows of faith unfold in two phases: conviction and consent.  “Faith hath two acts: first, the assent of the mind unto divine revelation; secondly, the consent of the will and the affections, whereby the soul receiveth Christ and resteth upon Him for salvation” (John Owen).  In conviction, we have an understanding of what is true.  

Scripture does not reveal much of Salmon or of his character.  He is exclusively known as Rahab’s husband.  Lexical resources suggest the name, “Salmon”, emanates from the root, “salma”, meaning “garment” or “robe”.  In Scripture, the first use of “garment” is found in Genesis 3:21, “Then Yahweh God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and He clothed them.” Here, God used the garment to cover sin.  In 1 Samuel 18:4, “...Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, with his armor, even his sword and his bow and his belt.” In this identification, Jonathan recognized that David was God’s anointed and offered him his robe, signifying that the succession of the throne belonged to David.   Also, we find robes were used to symbolize imputed righteousness given to a person who repents and turns to God. “He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness” (Isaiah 61:10).  In Zechariah 3:3-5, we find robes symbolize cleansing and restoration.

Moving forward into the New Testament, we find that “robe” carries the symbolic weight of suffering, as we see in the robe of Christ.  During the crucifixion, the soldiers cast lots for Christ’s seamless robe (John 19:23-24), fulfilling the prophecy of Psalm 22:18.  The sacrificial nature of Christ’s mission was on display, the robe being a symbol of His suffering and the redemptive work accomplished through His death.  Quite clearly, robes in Scripture carry heavy symbolic weight: righteousness and purity, adoption and restoration, authority and kingship, Divine favor and anointing, sacrifice and suffering, eternal favor/new identity.  Combining the root name of Salmon and the biblical symbolism of robes, it becomes quite fitting to see Salmon as a shadow of (phase one of our) faith as we are saved by Jesus Christ.

“Faith” defined can be found in Hebrews 11:1, which reads, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see”.  Faith includes both conviction, then trust that leads to rest.  In the conviction, we have both knowledge, which is an understanding of the facts, and an intellectual agreement that those facts are true.  We need to remember that we are talking about the process of turning towards God.  As we turn, we are given this understanding about Him.  Simultaneously, we have an understanding about us.  Both aspects of this understanding are revealed through the words of Job (Job 9).  In summary, Job quite clearly communicates that we are nothing like God and the key differentiator is His righteousness.  Job states that no man can ever be right with God when you truly understand His righteousness.

How can one ever be in a right relationship with Him?  “But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe….” (Romans 3:21-22a).  In Job and in Romans, faith is rooted in revelation, truth proclaimed and illumined by the Spirit.  The truth?  God is righteous (and this is true knowledge!).  “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth, for in these things I delight,’ declares the LORD” (Jeremiah 9:23-24).   The truth and glory of God, manifested in Jesus Christ, stood before Pilate and he was ignorant and blind to truth (John 18:38).  The righteousness of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Here lies the first shocking reality that we grasp of God as we are being saved, but only because God “flips the switch” and allows light to shine into the darkness of our souls as He calls us out, allowing us to begin to see the reality of His righteousness.  Further, we must see that the revealing of His righteousness to us is a gracious, loving act, informing the faith that He is granting as a gift (Ephesians 2:4-9).  Faith cannot rest in what it does not know!  “The first act of faith is the ascent of the mind” (John Owens).  Saving faith begins when the Spirit enlightens the mind to perceive that God is righteous.  When we intellectually understand, we then begin to grasp the beauty of God beholding His righteousness.  While we are being converted by faith, God’s righteousness is coming into focus, into view.  Terror is being mixed with hope!  Then, in the process of salvation, the heart comes into play.  The heart believes that what is being illuminated by the Spirit, what is being brought into focus, is absolutely true.  God is true.  His love is true.  His righteousness is true.  Your sinfulness is true.  Your rebellion against God is true.  “He who has received His testimony has set his seal to this, that God is true” (John 3:33).  “(Abraham) did not waiver in unbelief but grew strong in faith…being fully convinced that God was able to do what He had promised” (Romans 4:20-21).  John MacArthur said, “The believer not only understands the truth but is persuaded that it is reality”.  What is this truth?  God in Christ provides the righteousness that He requires.  We are persuaded that God is good in that He saves through Christ.  This is the call of the Gospel!   

Returning to Romans 3:21-22a, in referring to the righteousness of God, Paul speaks not necessarily as an attribute of God, but more so as the righteousness that is provided by God, a righteousness that comes from Him and satisfies His wrath.  Note that this righteousness is revealed apart from the law, which reveals His wrath.  Through faith in Christ, we have the means of receiving the righteousness of God and not his wrath.  Faith is God granting a person the ability to confess, to agree that this is true.  At the moment of inward persuasion, faith allows the realization that God’s verdict is right.  “Let God be true and every man a liar” (Romans 3:4).

Returning to Salmon, and the meaning of his name (“robes”), and the cosmic beauty of salvation, and how that salvation is expressed in time and space, as we hear the Gospel and turn to Him, we see in Salmon this conviction in the garment of righteousness.  (Remember Isaiah 61:10, the Old Testament anchor of righteousnes…the robe is given, not earned, worn as divine.)  The repentant believer says, “God is righteous, I cannot stand before Him in my own righteousness, there is covering, it must come from Him.”  Salmon becomes the typological anchor that faith begins by believing in the robe God has, in the truth of that robe and that the believer understands that robe before stepping into it.

Here, we transition to Rahab.  As we turn and see God holding the robe of righteousness, with a heart made new, the believer is moved to obedience, faith being its first act, moving under this robe as God places it on us. In the robe we receive, trust and abide.  We are able to obey because God aligns the will to walk in obedience (Romans 1:5).  God’s granted gift of faith produces the trust that faith requires.  Salmon points to the belief seen in the robe, the knowledge, the agreement, and then Rahab shows us what faith does: it trusts in God as He places the robe on us.

Returning to Hebrews 11:1, the anatomy of faith, and as we work our way through this “hall of faith” list, we find Rahab.  “By faith, Rahab the harlot did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies” (11:31).  Rahab enacted faith.  In a poetic sense, Rahab’s name (meaning “open” or “spacious” or “roomy”) reflects expansion, broadening the heart, opening space.  God takes an unrepentant person, lost in darkness, and He opens the heart to the Gospel and to walk in obedience to Him.  In Psalm 119:32, we see that God enlarges the heart to walk in obedience, to align our will with His.  Faith gives flight to our obedience to follow after God.

We see this in Rahab’s name and we see it in her life (Joshua 2).  At great personal risk, Rahab hid the Israelite spies who had been sent to scout the land, her actions demonstrating her faith.  God had enlarged her heart to be able to understand Him.  She had both a settled conviction and consent, both phases of faith being exercised.  “I know (intimate knowledge!) that the LORD has given you the land…. For the LORD your God, He is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath” (Joshua 2:9, 11).  Rahab’s faith begins where Salmon’s shadow pointed.  Believing in God’s sovereignty, consenting to the truth of who God is, leads to belief.  Rahab moved from belief to trust (“fiducia”), entrusting her life to God.  When Israel came into the land, Rahab, in obedience, marked her home with the cord of scarlet thread, a cord of hope, that provided her escape from death, as we see echoed in the Passover.  “As the blood upon the doorposts secured the Israelites, so the scarlet line in Rahab’s window preserved her.  In both, faith lays hold of God’s token of mercy” (John Owen).  In this act, faith reaches back to God’s mercy.  The scarlet cord connects God’s mercy with her act of turning to Him by faith.  The cord binds the soul to the promises of God’s mercy of hope, set in eternity past, made visible in time through Rahab’s consent, through her trust in Christ at this moment.  Rahab illustrates the second phase of faith: the consent, the trusting obedience.  She throws out the scarlet cord.

In repentance, the sinner turns from self and sin, the soul being reoriented, awakened.  In faith, the sinner sees God’s righteousness and then turns to Jesus Christ.  Faith is an active trust.  The soul must be awakened by God.  The gift of obedience must be granted.  God alone must open the heart to the truth and reality of the knowledge given.  As we see in Acts 20:21, repentance is the turn from sin and faith is the turn to Christ, resting in His righteousness, distinct but inseparable movements towards God.  This pattern of faith is true for all believers.  In Salmon we see trust in the robe.  In Rahab, we see trust beneath the robe.  Here we can better understand Paul’s words, “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh” (Romans 13:14).  In our sanctification, we abide in the robe of righteousness, which is Christ.

Understanding what faith produces in us, this trust in His righteousness, provided in Jesus Christ, such assurance, hope and peace is granted.  “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God” (Romans 5:1).  Every stain of sin is covered in the life of the believer.  The sins of our past have no precedence in our lives: they are covered by the righteousness of God.  We have a confident expectation of God’s glory, that we will be with Him.  The robe of righteousness assures our standing before Him.  “We rejoice in the hope of glory” (Romans 5:2).  With confidence, we can approach God’s throne in prayer.  We live from a position of grace, not from a position of wrath.  Grace opens the door of covenant blessing from God.  We have restored dignity as God’s children now identified with Him, seeing Christ in us, covered with His robe of adoption.

True worship stems from the fact that we are overwhelmed by God’s grace, understanding what happens in our repentance and in our faith.  We should be overwhelmed by the goodness of God and that light of His goodness should then be allowed to shine before men.  Are you there?  Do these things make sense to you?  Does your life reflect these truths?  If not, perhaps God is now enlarging your heart to cry out to Him.  If He is, act now on the faith God is granting you and step forward in the obedience He grants.  Rest not in your own efforts, but in the righteous work of God in Christ.  “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life” (John 3:36).  One motion of a renewed heart that expresses itself by an outward confession of faith.  Ask God to grant your eyes to see and to receive the robe of righteousness through faith alone in Christ.

In simplicity, God saves us, yet we cannot plummet the depths of His mind, nor can we fully understand His ways, His truths.  By faith, we can understand what God allows us to see and to accept them as right and good.  For that, we thank You, Lord.                                                 

Selah

• Relative to repentance and faith, did the Lord reveal to you any new truth that found its way to your heart?

• Has the Holy Spirit led you to the place where you are truly overwhelmed with the grace and/or love of God towards you?  If you believe you have, does this show up with a true heart of worship for Him?

• Does the goodness of God shine as a beacon of light pouring out of your heart into the darkness that surrounds you?  If not, what is the obstacle that blocks the light? 

• If you do not have true faith in Christ, could it be God is now enlarging your heart to cry out to Him that you might receive it?  Will you now act on the faith He is granting?  Will you now cry out?