We come now to Mary, the virgin (Matt. 1:16). Being a virgin, she was different from the other four women mentioned in this genealogy. Mary was pure and unique. She conceived of the Holy Spirit, not of man, to bring forth Christ (Luke 1:34-35; Matt. 1:18b, 20b). This account of the four remarried women and the one virgin proves that all the persons recorded in this genealogy were born of sin, except Christ, who was born in holiness.
Matthew uses the phrase, "Who is called Christ" (v. 16). In Luke's genealogy, the title Christ is not mentioned. Luke mentions the name Jesus because Luke proves that the Lord came to be a man, not to be the Anointed One, the King, the Messiah. Matthew, on the contrary, proves that Jesus is the King, the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament. Hence, he added the word, "Who is called Christ."
Abraham, David, and Mary are three pleasant names in the Bible, names sweet to the ears of God (vv. 2, 6, 16). Abraham represents a life by faith, David represents a life under the dealing of the cross, and Mary represents a life of absolute surrender to the Lord. It was through these three kinds of lives that Christ was brought forth into humanity.
The principle is the same today. Consider the matter of preaching the gospel. The purpose of preaching the gospel is to bring Christ into humanity. This requires a great deal of faith, a life under the dealing of the cross, and a life of absolute surrender to the Lord. If we have these kinds of lives, we shall surely bring Christ into humanity.
David is the end of the generations of the fathers and the beginning of the generations of the kings (v. 17). He was the one person used by God as a landmark both to conclude the section of the fathers and to begin the section of the kings.
At the time of degradation, there was no person as a landmark to divide the generations as did Abraham and David. So, the carrying away itself became a landmark, a landmark of shame. At that time, the landmark was not a person; it was the carrying away to Babylon. The Bible is careful to show us that no person prevailed as the landmark for that generation. This was a shame.