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The King Has Come Pt. 9 | Matthew 1:1-17
September 28th, 2025
This week, Pastor Ben continues our examination of Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus, and how the inclusion of the names Hezron and Ram foreshadow the calling of the church, and the wonderful truth that this call continues today.
Thus far in our study, it is clear that Matthew has a deep affection for Jesus Christ. Even as he starts his genealogy, he has a point to make: The genealogical line has been secured from the beginning of time, to bring Jesus Christ the Messiah forward. There's an intentional way in which Matthew names Jesus Christ, just like Paul intentionally uses “Jesus Christ”, or, if he has a different purpose, he will use “Christ Jesus”. When Matthew talks about Jesus Christ, he's talking about Jesus' earthly name. If you remember from Habakkuk, we talked about Yeshua, and how that means “Yahweh saves”. We have the earthly name that was given to Jesus. Yahweh is saving His people, and He's doing this by the Christ, the Messiah, meaning “the anointed one”. What Matthew does is he starts the genealogy, and he brings it down to the person of Jesus Christ, tightly woven in, then he moves in concentric circles on his way out, showing us who He is, namely the son of David, the son of Abraham. From there he talks about Isaac, Jacob, and Judah along with his brothers.
In looking at the Scriptures so far, we see that Matthew, through the names, mentions his brothers from eternity past to the consummation of time and eternity future. He is emphasizing that this Jesus Christ, Yeshua who saves, the Messiah who has come, has been brought forth to us in our salvation. It's our salvation that begins to inform our worship now. We saw how, in Revelation, this salvation will result in worship for all of eternity (Revelation 4). We saw that what God is doing is profound in the lives of believers today.
As we understand the salvation which He has granted to us, we're constantly being encouraged by the Spirit, informing our hearts and our minds so that, as we go into eternity and worship God forever, that manifold wisdom of God will continue to be unfolded before us. It's only by God extending his mercy and grace that we understand the depth of his glory. That is what Paul brings us in Romans 9:23: “… and in order that He might make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory… “. God redeems humanity by breaking into time and space.
C. Salvation Proclaimed (Matthew 1:3-6a)
Last week we saw this breaking in the genealogy when Matthew brings in Perez. We also saw that Perez literally means “breakthrough”, or “breaking through”. Perez unexpectedly broke through. It was his brother Zerah that was expected, marked as the first born with the string around his wrist, but God reordered the natural order and brought Perez through first instead resulting in Perez being listed in the line of the Messiah. That's God's mercy and His grace breaking into time and space, working through Tamar and Judah’s sin to carry forward the line of promise, being Christ, who is the ultimate breaker.
We likewise saw how Micah’s messianic prophecy in Micah 2:13 (“He who opens the breach [the breaker] goes up before them…”) removes this obstacle that's before us (death from sin). We saw how the word for “breaker” is from the same Hebrew root word as Perez's name (parats “to break out”). The obstacle that's before every person is sin and death, and it's the breaker who comes forward and then breaks that curse by securing a new birth, by reordering the natural order that we're all born into this world with. This is salvation.
I. Election
One cannot study salvation (soteriology) without the reality of election. Election is simply defined as God's sovereign choice. We saw before that God’s sovereign choice doesn't exist in the lifeless vacuum. Instead, election flows out of mercy, and that's why it was so important that even in the names that Matthew provided for us, he brings forth the mercy of God, which flows into streams of grace anchored in God's love. We also saw that this leads us back to foreknowledge, which is God's fore-ordaining His love on people who He then elects to receive his mercy, and He does this before the foundation of the world (Acts 2:23, Romans 8:29, Ephesians 1). We examined how the New Testament understanding of foreknowledge (Greek proginosko) is built upon the Old Testament understanding of for knowledge (Hebrew yada), and the nature of this foreknowledge is relational.
We also talked about possible reasons that God might work in this way in salvation, which is 1) to display His glory, 2) to show His initiative in salvation, 3) to give us a surety, 4) to motivate us to holiness and obedience, and ultimately 5) to humble us and inform our worship. God elects us so that He would be praised. We saw that this electing mercy of love, this grace that originates from Trinitarian love in eternity past, breaks forth in time and space, regenerating His lost children and reordering creation.
We ended last week with the question: Why does Christ break through? Why does He regenerate? The answer is that He regenerates so that we can respond to the call of the gospel.
II. Calling
We see the call of God embodied in the next two names in Matthew’s genealogy, Hezron and Ram.
a.) God’s Call Secures a People for Himself
When we look at scriptural references to Hezron, there are some simple things that are mentioned about Hezron. In Genesis 46:12 “The sons of Judah: Er and Onan and Shelah and Perez and Zerah (but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan). And the sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul.” This is where we find him anchored into the book of Genesis. He is next mentioned in Numbers 26:21: ”And the sons of Perez were: of Hezron, the family of the Hezronites; of Hamul, the family of the Hamulites.” Here are the people group that have come out from him. When we look at the name Hezron, it comes from the Hebrew root “hatzar”, which means “to close in” or “to bring into community”. It conveys the idea of gathering in. We don't know much about him specifically. But God has given to us in his name, and even mentioning that he comes from Jacob into Egypt, a glorious picture of the calling of God. If you look at the way in which the Israelites came into Egypt, we can begin to see this form.
It is helpful to see how God “hemmed in” His people in three phases. First and foremost, it was by God's providence through Joseph. If you remember Genesis, Joseph was the second in command in Egypt to the Pharaoh. He predicted through dreams that a seven-year famine was coming after seven years of plenty. Even though his brothers had sold him in the slavery, God had raised him up to a leadership position, and He was doing this strategically and intentionally. Then, just like he predicted and he prophesied, famine came. Jacob sends his brothers into Egypt because they needed food, and they find themselves unknowingly standing before Joseph. Genesis 45:7-8 states, “So God sent me before you to establish for you a remnant in the earth and to keep you alive for a great remnant of survivors. So now, it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has set me as a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt.” We saw the parallel earlier in Acts 2:23, where Peter was talking to the Jewish people, telling them that it wasn't them who crucified Christ, but He was “…delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God.” Likewise, Joseph tells his brothers that they had sold him into slavery, but God had sent him ahead of them, because what they meant for evil, God actually meant for good (Genesis 50:20).
The second phase of God enclosing His people is by speaking directly to Jacob. In Genesis 46:2-4, God speaks: “And God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, “Jacob, Jacob.” And he said, “Here I am.” And He said, “I am God, the God of your father; do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you a great nation there. I Myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I Myself will also bring you up again; and Joseph will close your eyes with his hand.” Why might Jacob be afraid? He's leaving Canaan, and he would think this leaving was violating the covenant that God had with Abraham. God assures him, however, that it is ok to go to Egypt. God's call to Jacob proved to be effectual, drawing his entire household down to Egypt because of His purposes.
The third phase is found in Genesis 46:5-7: Then Jacob arose from Beersheba; and the sons of Israel carried their father Jacob and their little ones and their wives in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him. And they took their livestock and their possessions, which they had accumulated in the land of Canaan, and they came to Egypt, Jacob and all his seed with him: his sons and his grandsons with him, his daughters and his granddaughters, and all his seed he brought with him to Egypt. Genesis 46:5-7. The whole household is mentioned as one group. Israel is going down, including Hezron, because they responded to God's command and providence as God is working in the background. This group of people aren't just random desert migrants coming through looking for food. These are God's called people, entering into Egypt under His command and direction. We have God preparing the way in Genesis 45, then sovereignly initiating His plan in Genesis 46, then bringing the people by name in Genesis 46, mentioning Hezron as one of them. God then “hems them in”, specifically preserving them for the day of salvation by gathering his covenant community together. We know now that this gathering was not for themselves alone, if you remember, but also for their purpose: That through them the world is going to know of the one true God. Because as they live amongst the world hemmed in as a group of people, they're giving testimony to who God is. Yahweh, the only one true saving God.
This three-phased gathering is woven together with elegance through a shepherding motif found throughout Scripture. For example, Psalm 100:3, where the psalmist describes the ones hemmed in as, “…His people, the sheep of His pasture”. You also have Jesus, in John 10:3, calling His sheep by name, and the sheep hear His voice. He “hems” them into his pasture. So, in God's calling He's enclosing His sheep, He's pulling them out of the world, and He's securing them as they live as a single people in a foreign land. The mention of Hezron in the genealogy, then, foreshadows a future calling of the church.
b.) God’s Call Continues
The beauty of Ram being mentioned repeatedly in Scripture is that we don't know anything about Him. We see his name over and over in genealogy after genealogy leading to the Messiah, but he remains a mystery. God continues to secure his line, showing us that God's call continues to remain true and effectual from generation to generation. God's general and effectual call has continued since the beginning of time, both dramatically and even quietly. Ram reminds us that it is God’s call that goes out into the world, gathering His sheep and hemming them safely into His pasture. In fact, our own spiritual lives begin whenever we hear this call of the gospel.
c.) The Two Ways God Calls Us
As we understand the call of God and the gospel, we're exposed to the way in which Scripture reveals that God calls us, and He calls us in two distinct ways. There's a general call that goes out, but then there's a specific call that goes out, an effectual call to his people. The general call is just an outward proclamation of the gospel to the mases, testifying to the name of Jesus. This is what we do. We testify to the name of Jesus. We do
it to groups of people, both small and large. We do it in our neighborhoods. We do it in our workplaces. We do it on the playground with our kids. We just talk about the gospel. We give our testimony. We speak of the truth of Scripture. We talk about who Christ was, and who Christ is for us now. We talk about the reality of his life, placing our faith in him, turning to him in repentance. And this call is universal in scope. It's a genuine call, but it's universal in scope. But it's also resistible. The reason that general calls are resistible is because of the sinfulness of man, and that interrupts the gospel message. Romans 3:10-12 states, “as it is written,
‘THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE;
THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS,
THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD;
ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME WORTHLESS;
THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD,
THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.’”
Do you understand the implications of that statement? There's none who seeks for God. All have turned aside again. The math is clear. Humanity as a whole is totally depraved. No one is out in this world seeking for the Lord. Depravity means that because of Adam's fault, every single part of the human nature, the mind, the will, the emotions, the body is all corrupted by sin. It doesn't mean that man is as bad as he could be. It just means that sin affects every aspect of humanity. We're unable to see God. It's foolishness. The Scriptures say it's foolishness to the natural man. That means, then, that we can't see God, nor can we respond to the gospel unless God is doing something first. What it also means practically is man's sinful heart interrupts the general call with unbelief, because it refuses to respond, because we have no reason to respond to the gospel, because it seems foolish to an unregenerate. To him, God's an egotistical tyrant, a moral monster. To the elect, though, those characterizations don't make sense. To the one who has been regenerated, or reordered, the general call does make sense. God is not a moral monster, but in fact one to be worshipped.
We see this resistible, general call throughout scripture. For example, Matthew 22:14, which states: ”For many are called, but few are chosen.” In John 3:16, we have Jesus stating,” For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” The caveat is “…whoever believes...”. Who are the ones that are going to believe? Are they the ones that are depraved and not seeking God? Well, no. The “…whoever believes…” are the ones who God is first regenerating to understand and see the call. And how do we know that to be true? Well, just back up to Nicodemus. “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which has been born of the flesh is flesh, and that which has been born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes and you hear its sound, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who has been born of the Spirit.” (John 3:5-8). So, clearly if you're in the flesh, you're going to respond as the flesh, unless you're of the Spirit, then you're going to respond of the Spirit. How are you going to identify who's born of the Spirit? Verse 15: “So whoever believes in Him will have eternal life”. That's how you know who the Spirit's working in is, it’s the ones who believe. This is why Paul says in Romans 10:14-17, “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? And how will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO PROCLAIM GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS!” However, they did not all heed the good news, for Isaiah says, “LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” We have to give the gospel message. God has ordained this specific process in which people will hear the gospel message, and then the ones in whom He's regenerating their heart will then respond to that gospel call. Our job is to be faithful in giving the call out, and they can't come unless they hear the call. Why? Because there's none that seeks. No, not one. We have to seek them out. We have to give them the gospel. And as we give them the gospel, then they can respond. The report that Isaiah was reporting was of the suffering servant that was coming, It was the Messiah that was coming, the great breaker that was coming to break the curse of sin and death that was coming. Paul then brings this forward to the church of Rome, speaking to the preaching to believe on Jesus Christ, crucified and risen. Then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word proclaimed. These passages help us begin to understand what happens whenever we come to faith in Jesus Christ, that God's general call is still a genuine call. The general, resistible call goes out, then that call becomes effectual in those in whom the spirit of God is already working in their heart. A general call does not respond in saving faith, but an effectual call does. Your effectual call is God's sovereign summons. The effectual call not only invites, but ensures the response that it commands. That's the effectual call of God in the gospel. it differs from the general call and that it can be resisted. This one cannot be resisted. It's the Spirit’s inward work that irresistibly draws the person to Christ.
God changes the natural order from rejection to acceptance. And how does He do that? He breaks the curse of depravity, and God reorders so that, instead of the natural inclination to rebel, by regeneration one becomes willing to place his/her faith in Jesus Christ. This is how it works. Paul writes in Philippians 2:13, “For it is God who works in you to will and to act to fulfill his good pleasure”. It is also why Jesus says in John 6:44 that, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him”. And Acts 16:14, “And a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening, whose heart the Lord opened to pay attention to the things spoken by Paul. God opened her eyes to see. It's God working that causes someone to respond. What is interesting is every time you see the word “call” in a New Testament passage, it's talking about this effectual call, this regenerating call. Theologian Herman Bavinck says that this calling is not merely an invitation, but a very means by which God brings the elect into fellowship with Christ. The effectual call is grace in action. It creates what it demands. This is what the call of God is, mercy. And mercy flows into grace, and grace has its effect in time and space as we hear the gospel. The logical flow, then, of the call of God is: Total depravity (Men cannot respond) to general call (Which can be resisted) to effectual call (Which the elect hear because the Spirit is sovereignly working in them so that the word comes in power). This is exactly what Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 1:5, “…because our gospel call came to you not only in Word, but also in the power of the Holy Spirit and with full conviction”. John assures that anyone who desires to be saved will be, when he writes, “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out” (John 6:37).
Louis Berkhof says in his systematic theology section on the order of salvation (ordo salutis) that “In the effectual call, regeneration is already implied, since the call not only invites but also empowers and enables.” He is basically saying that calling and regeneration can't be separated, they happen simultaneously. John Murray, however, comments that the “…effectual calling is not to be identified with regeneration [they should be separated], yet the two are inseparable.” More important than the order is the purpose.
So, what are the purposes of the effectual call? There are four:
To bring God’s elect to Christ in space and time
God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. 1 Corinthians 1:9
To display God’s power and mercy in salvation
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Romans 1:16
But God, being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— Ephesians 2:4-5
To hem in a people for His glory
But you are A CHOSEN FAMILY, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 1 Peter 2:9
To assure believers that their salvation rests not on their initiative but on God’s calling.
Faithful is He who calls you, who also will do it [sanctify entirely and preserve body and soul completely]. 1 Thessalonians 5:24
These truths are important to remember, so that when you go out into the world, you can proclaim the excellencies and power of God knowing that when you stand in front of any person, God can even change the hardest of hearts. It's God who saves, and not you.
The application of reading the names Hezron and Ram, results in worship. In that worship, we realize the following:
First of all, in humility, we didn't come to Christ because we were super smart. It's because God calls you. That's why anyone comes to Christ.
Secondly, He gives us assurance. If He called you, He's going to keep you. How can He not keep somebody that He calls?
Thirdly, He gives us a mission. We preach broadly, the general call. It's not up to us who responds, who doesn't respond, etc. We give God glory when someone comes to Christ. We're faithful just to give this broad call, preaching boldly, and trusting that God is doing a work, not us. We give thanks that He works and not us. We are to be faithful while God produces the fruit. What He calls us to is just faithfulness.
And fourthly, it gives us comfort that even our own hardened hearts were turned, and He can do the same for others, even the hardest of hearts.
Hezron's very name means “hemmed in”, and that's what God does in His calling. He hems in His sheep, closing them into a pasture, and He brings them into community (ekklesia-“the called out ones”…the Church). We worship the one true God who called us out of the world, and we go into that world to proclaim His excellencies, calling them to repentance and faith.
In God securing this line, we're exposed to what He is doing. It is a beautiful picture of love. In John 17, Jesus acknowledges that the Father gave Him the ekklesia. Believers are a gift from the Father to the Son. It's not about our work. Ephesian 5 says that in the consummation of time we're going to be presented, as a bride, back to the Father by Christ. We're caught up into this love of the Trinitarian Godhead. This is the salvation that He brings into the world: We are a gift, and we are loved!
Selah
How often do you associate worship with your salvation? Consider making this part of your current worship mindset in preparation for an eternity of praise to our God.
Many in evangelical circles characterize the doctrines of predestination and election as “unloving”. Do the points made in this message speak to this accusation? How?
If you believe the accusation to be true, then, answer the following: How can it be “unloving” for God to save any, when all deserve death and eternal punishment?
Meditate on the difference between a general call and an effectual call. Only one saves. Meditate and pray about whether or not you have truly answered the only one that saves, and not just the one that doesn’t.
