The Boring Parts - Pt 4

Then my God put it into my heart to assemble the nobles and the officials and the people to be enrolled by genealogy. And I found the book of the genealogy of those who came up at the first, and I found written in it: These were the people of the province who came up out of the captivity of those exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried into exile. They returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his town. They came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, Baanah. (Nehemiah 7:5-7 ESV).

We love to count. Next year in 2018, we will conduct another census in the United States. This is not much different from what Nehemiah did when the walls of Jerusalem were finished. And, while this data was important to him and to the citizens of that time, just as our census is important for various reasons to us today, why should they be included in the Scripture? Can’t we just skip over all of that? That’s certainly my temptation. However, we would miss an important truth if we did. This list should reorient our hearts toward the coming of Jesus when we will hear a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God” (Revelation 21:3). When Nehemiah was trying to figure out who among the returned exiles should take up residence behind the rebuilt walls of Jerusalem, he pulled out the book in which the names of those who returned to Judah when the opportunity was first given by Cyrus’s decree to come home were listed. The list of names in the book Nehemiah read that included all those whose hearts God stirred up to leave Babylon for Jerusalem should make our hearts glad to know that God likes to keep lists of those whose hearts he has stirred up with a longing for his city, those who will inhabit the New Jerusalem. And these were not merely the privileged or positioned people of his day. The genealogy of Jesus helps us with that truth. Later In Revelation 21:27 John tells us, “Only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life” will populate the New Jerusalem. We will not be bored when that list of names is read! We’ll be on pins and needles listening for our names. The genealogy of Jesus shows us that Jesus welcomes flagrant but forgiven sinners into his family. The genealogy of Jesus shows us that Jesus welcomes flagrant but forgiven sinners into his family. This gives outsiders and outlaws like you and me hope. He is not ashamed to call us brothers and sisters. There really can’t be any boredom when I read these passages as I recall they are a foundation for my ultimate hope of eternal life!