The Jesus Generation!

I’m often surprised whenever I read genealogies in the Bible. I used to skip through them, but not anymore. God has spoken to me profoundly many times through these dry lists of names. Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus is one example. And I give credit to a notation in my Bible that opened up something wonderful. This all started with Matthew’s comment in verse 17:

¹⁷ So from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the Babylonian captivity, fourteen generations, and from the Babylonian captivity to Christ, fourteen generations. (Matt.1:17 TPT)

Fourteen generations each, totaling 42 generations, from Abraham to Jesus. So good, so far. But when I looked at the actual list of names the math was a little off:

Abraham to David (Matt.1:2-6): Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Perez, Hezron, Ram, Amminadab, Nashon, Salmon, Boaz, Obed, Jesse, David.

Fourteen generations. Check.

David to Babylonian Captivity (Matt.1:7-11): Solomon, Rehoboam, Abijah, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joram, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manassah, Amos, Josiah, Jeconiah.

Fourteen generations. Check.

Babylonian Captivity to Christ (Matt.1:12-16): Sheatiel, Zerrubbabel, Adiud, Eliakim, Azor, Zadok, Achim, Eliud, Eliezar, Matthan, Jacob, Joseph, Jesus.

Thirteen generations…what?

So my inquiring mind wanted to know why there were only thirteen generations, and where is the missing generation? This is where a notation in my Bible came to the rescue. Here’s what it said:

“This would make forty-two generations from Abraham to Christ. However, when the names are counted, there are only forty-one. There is a missing generation. What could this mean? Jesus gave birth to the forty-second generation when He died on the cross, for out of His side blood and water flowed. Blood and water come forth at birth. The first Adam ‘birthed’ his wife out of his side, and so Jesus gave birth to His bride from His wounded side.”*

That’s awesome, but that’s not all….

“Jesus wants to reproduce Himself in us. His last name isn’t Christ. Christ is a title that explains who He is. He is the “Anointed One.” Christ is also now a corporate body, the body of Christ. We, as the body of Christ, are also anointed ones.” (The Passion Translation New Testament, BroadStreet, 7.)*

Beloved, WE are the fourteenth generation—the Jesus generation! The Last Bride, the Last Generation.

God put the first Adam to sleep and brought forth Eve—the First Bride—from his side. Jesus, the last Adam, brought us forth—the Last Bride—from His side when it was pierced and blood and water came forth!

The First Bride’s birth:

²¹ And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. ²² Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.

²³ And Adam said:

“This is now bone of my bones
And flesh of my flesh;
She shall be called Woman,
Because she was taken out of Man.” (Gen.2:21-23 NKJV)

The Last Bride’s birth:

³³ But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. ³⁴ Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.  (John 19:33-34 NIV)

Why blood and water? Because the blood and water here symbolizes a new birth! Jesus, explaining this unprecedented “new creation” to Nicodemus, said the following:

⁵ Jesus answered, “I speak an eternal truth: Unless you are born of water and the Spirit, you will never enter God’s kingdom. ⁶ For the natural realm only gives birth to things that are natural, but the spiritual realm gives birth to supernatural life! (John 3:5 TPT*)

We know from Scripture that first came the physical, then the spiritual.

⁴⁵ So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.⁴⁶ The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. (2 Cor.15:45 TPT*)

This is why Paul, explaining marriage, was ultimately talking about this great mystery—Christ and the church!

³¹ “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” ³² This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.  (Eph.5:31-32 NKJV*)

This is our true identity. Christ means “Anointed One.” We were born from His wounded side, so now we are the anointed ones in Christ on the earth! “As He is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17).

Since we were all birthed out of Jesus’ side as one people of God, we longer see ourselves according to our former state:

²⁸ And we no longer see each other in our former state—Jew or non-Jew, rich or poor, male or female—because we’re all one through our union with Jesus Christ. (Gal.3:28 TPT*)

Not only that, but we’ve been raised with Him in heavenly places! (Eph.2:6).  We’re Jesus’ beautifully adorned-bride, His Church, His body, the gate between heaven and earth, His Kingdom ambassadors,  partners in His vineyard, because as He is, so are we in this world! We’re the Jesus generation, the anointed ones, co-heirs with Christ, and sons and daughters of our God!

This was the mystery hidden in Jesus’ genealogy. That we would know who we are in Him because of what He has done!

* All emphasis added.