Jesus the fulfillment of every promise

Ok, so I found a chronology of the life of Jesus that I like better than the gospel harmony I was using. Today, I'm looking at Matthew 1:1-17. Boring stuff, hunh? Well, here's a video that will leave you unable to look at those verses the same way ever again...

So here are the verses in the two versions I've been using:

The historical record of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham:

Abraham fathered Isaac,
Isaac fathered Jacob,
Jacob fathered Judah and his brothers,
Judah fathered Perez and Zerah by Tamar,
Perez fathered Hezron,
Hezron fathered Aram,
Aram fathered Amminadab,
Amminadab fathered Nahshon,
Nahshon fathered Salmon,
Salmon fathered Boaz by Rahab,
Boaz fathered Obed by Ruth,
Obed fathered Jesse,
and Jesse fathered King David.
Then David fathered Solomon by Uriah’s wife,
Solomon fathered Rehoboam,
Rehoboam fathered Abijah,
Abijah fathered Asa,
Asa fathered Jehoshaphat,
Jehoshaphat fathered Joram,
Joram fathered Uzziah,
Uzziah fathered Jotham,
Jotham fathered Ahaz,
Ahaz fathered Hezekiah,
Hezekiah fathered Manasseh,
Manasseh fathered Amon,
Amon fathered Josiah,
and Josiah fathered Jechoniah and his brothers
at the time of the exile to Babylon.
Then after the exile to Babylon
Jechoniah fathered Shealtiel,
Shealtiel fathered Zerubbabel,
Zerubbabel fathered Abiud,
Abiud fathered Eliakim,
Eliakim fathered Azor,
Azor fathered Zadok,
Zadok fathered Achim,
Achim fathered Eliud,
Eliud fathered Eleazar,
Eleazar fathered Matthan,
Matthan fathered Jacob,
and Jacob fathered Joseph the husband of Mary,
who gave birth to Jesus who is called the Messiah.
So all the generations from Abraham to David were 14 generations; and from David until the exile to Babylon, 14 generations; and from the exile to Babylon until the Messiah, 14 generations. [HCSB]

The family tree of Jesus Christ, David’s son, Abraham’s son:

Abraham had Isaac,
Isaac had Jacob,
Jacob had Judah and his brothers,
Judah had Perez and Zerah (the mother was Tamar),
Perez had Hezron,
Hezron had Aram,
Aram had Amminadab,
Amminadab had Nahshon,
Nahshon had Salmon,
Salmon had Boaz (his mother was Rahab),
Boaz had Obed (Ruth was the mother),
Obed had Jesse,
Jesse had David,
    and David became king.
David had Solomon (Uriah’s wife was the mother),
Solomon had Rehoboam,
Rehoboam had Abijah,
Abijah had Asa,
Asa had Jehoshaphat,
Jehoshaphat had Joram,
Joram had Uzziah,
Uzziah had Jotham,
Jotham had Ahaz,
Ahaz had Hezekiah,
Hezekiah had Manasseh,
Manasseh had Amon,
Amon had Josiah,
Josiah had Jehoiachin and his brothers,
    and then the people were taken into the Babylonian exile.
When the Babylonian exile ended,

Jeconiah had Shealtiel,
Shealtiel had Zerubbabel,
Zerubbabel had Abiud,
Abiud had Eliakim,
Eliakim had Azor,
Azor had Zadok,
Zadok had Achim,
Achim had Eliud,
Eliud had Eleazar,
Eleazar had Matthan,
Matthan had Jacob,
Jacob had Joseph, Mary’s husband,
    the Mary who gave birth to Jesus,
    the Jesus who was called Christ.
There were fourteen generations from Abraham to David,
    another fourteen from David to the Babylonian exile,
    and yet another fourteen from the Babylonian exile to Christ. [MSG]

I don't have anything new to say about this genealogy. I've heard it pointed out that the stories it contains include all sorts of sin and brokenness, and that it's a reminder that Jesus came for (as John Piper said once) us-type sinners. That He came into our sinful world to identify with sinners so that sinners could identify with Him.

I'm also reminded that the people in this list were the people who had been given promises from God, and that Jesus would ultimately fulfill each of those promises for all time. That these people were given the Law which Paul would say was designed to be a schoolmaster leading the world to Jesus. That these people were given the prophets, the "oracles of God." That the law and the prophets (and the poetry and proverbs) showed people what God was like, but none so clearly as Christ Himself did when He--God very God--took the stage and told His own story in the first person.

I have only recently begun to comprehend the significance of the fact that Christ was born under the law to fulfill the law. Some of His teaching (and how different it SEEMS from the teaching of the apostles in the rest of the NT) only makes sense when we realize that He had not put the Old Covenant away yet. In His teaching, He wasn't yet eradicating it, but illuminating it, putting the final touches on centuries of preparation for the veil to be torn...