Welcome back to the podcast! Today, we are in week two of our Christmas series!
--
The PursueGOD Truth podcast is the “easy button” for making disciples – whether you’re looking for resources to lead a family devotional, a small group at church, or a one-on-one mentoring relationship. Join us for new episodes every Tuesday and Friday.
Find resources to talk about these episodes at pursueGOD.org.
Most of us skim past the first seventeen verses of the New Testament. The long list of names in Matthew’s genealogy feels distant and hard to pronounce, so we move on quickly. But Matthew didn’t include those names by accident. He placed them there to ground the Christmas story in real history. Jesus didn’t drop out of the sky. He entered the world through a real family—full of faith, failure, courage, compromise, and grace.
Matthew organizes Jesus’ family tree into three groups of fourteen generations. First come the patriarchs, from Abraham to David—the rise of a family. Then come the kings, from David to the exile—the ruin of a kingdom. Finally comes the remnant, from the exile to Jesus—the long road toward restoration. Last week we looked at the outsiders in Jesus’ lineage: Tamar, Rahab, and Ruth. This week we turn to the kings.
You might expect the kings to be the highlight reel—strong leaders, noble faith, spiritual consistency. Instead, what we find is a royal mess. To understand it, we’ll look at three kings from the southern kingdom of Judah: a father, a son, and a grandson. Their stories show how faith can be passed down, rejected, reclaimed, and lost again.
King Ahaz: The Shadow of a Bad Legacy
By the time Ahaz became king, Israel was divided. The northern kingdom had fully embraced wickedness. Judah, the southern kingdom—where Jesus’ line continued—was struggling to stay faithful. Ahaz did not help.
2 Kings 16:2–3 (NLT) tells us that Ahaz “did not do what was pleasing in the sight of the Lord… Instead, he followed the example of the kings of Israel, even sacrificing his own son in the fire.”
In the ancient world, people believed that if you wanted the gods to act, you had to give them something valuable. Ahaz was losing a war and terrified of losing his throne. In desperation, he went to the Valley of Ben Hinnom and sacrificed his own son to Molech. That valley later became known as Gehenna—the word Jesus used for hell.
Ahaz’s legacy is devastating. He sacrificed his son on the altar of selfishness. Before we judge him too quickly, we should ask an uncomfortable question: What do we sacrifice our children to today? Career success, personal freedom, reputation, comfort, or misplaced ambition can quietly become modern altars.
King Hezekiah: The Cycle Breaker
After Ahaz died, his son Hezekiah took the throne. He grew up surrounded by idolatry. He had watched his father’s choices destroy lives. Everything about his upbringing suggested he would repeat the cycle.
But 2 Kings 18:5–7 (NLT) says something remarkable: “Hezekiah trusted in the Lord… There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah.”
Hezekiah broke the cycle. He tore down idols—even destroying the bronze serpent Moses had made because people were worshiping it instead of God. He trusted God in crisis. When the Assyrian army surrounded Jerusalem, Hezekiah prayed instead of panicking. God responded by delivering the city overnight.
Hezekiah’s life proves an essential truth: your biology is not your destiny. Grace is stronger than genetics. You can be the one who says, “The trauma stops with me.” Christmas is a powerful time to ask: What patterns am I passing down, and which ones need to end?
King Manasseh: Broken Again
After Hezekiah, his son Manasseh became king. Surely the revival would continue—right? Instead, Manasseh reversed everything.
2 Kings 21:2–3, 6 (NLT) says he rebuilt pagan shrines and “sacrificed his own son in the fire.” He returned to the very sins his grandfather Ahaz had committed.
Manasseh’s story teaches a hard lesson: you cannot inherit a relationship with God. God has no grandchildren. Each generation must choose for itself whom it will serve. Parents can shape environments, but only God can change hearts.
The Choice Is Yours
Ahaz was a wicked father. Hezekiah was a faithful son. Manasseh was a rebellious grandson. It’s messy and inconsistent—and yet Jesus came from this family line.
The Christmas story isn’t about perfect families. It’s about a faithful God who enters our mess and offers every generation a choice. As Joshua declared, “Choose today whom you will serve… But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15 NLT)
Why choose God this Christmas? Because He is better than Molech. He doesn’t demand your son—He offers His own. Jesus died so we could be free, and that freedom can echo through generations.