Luke 3:23-38 :

Jesus himself, when he began to teach, was about thirty years old, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son of Heli, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph, the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Esli, the son of Naggai, the son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Semein, the son of Joseph, the son of Judah, the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri, the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmodam, the son of Er, the son of Jose, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonan, the son of Eliakim, the son of Melea, the son of Menan, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David, the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salmon, the son of Nahshon, the son of Amminadab, the son of Aram, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor, the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, 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 Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

As you can see here, there couldn’t have been billions of years of human history. This is a list of names that actually fits on a blog and it goes all the way from Adam to Jesus. Although reading a list like this is difficult to do, there are many treasures buried in it. One of them is the length of time between Adam and Jesus which challenges old-earth theories.

Jesus was in the line of David through Joseph and because of this He was also in the line of Boaz who was the husband of Ruth. Remember, Ruth was a Moabite Gentile. Even so, the story of Ruth is a story of one of Jesus’ ancestors.

It is interesting to note that there is a different genealogy in Matthew. This is the line Mary. We see here that Mary was in David’s line but Joseph’s line in Matthew included a special statement about Boaz’ mother who was Rehab. You will remember her from the Old Testament story of the walls of Jericho. She was the prostitute who believed God and allowed the spies to work from her home. Her house was on the wall and it was the only part left standing when the walls fell.

Jesus had some sinners in his family tree who were saved by their faith in God. This is a reminder of what God has done for each of us. It also tells us Jesus knew what it was like to live around people who were aware of His family’s past sins.