Promises - Pt. 1

 

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations. (Matthew 1:1, 7 ESV).

 

Genealogy is always fun. I must confess I have done the DNA test myself, though Mary has. The results were both interesting and expected. As expected she was predominantly “White Angle-Saxon” with a slight percentage of Native American. The Native American designation was not as high a percentage as we expected, though that is in part a result of a smaller base of information from which to draw the results. Her maternal grandmother was Cherokee. Family heritage is more than interesting; it is impactful and educational.

 

That includes Biblical genealogy. Our reading today lists the fourteen generations of Jesus through Joseph’s lineage. Luke’s genealogy goes through Mary’s lineage. Both Joseph and Mary intersect at David. As we continue this series of devotionals you’ll see the importance of that unfold more each day. Today, you should understand the word "genealogy" in our English Bible comes from the Greek word genesis, which means "origin, beginning, coming into being." Here Matthew introduces a new beginning in revelation history, the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. In addition, as he links fourteen genera­tions in three groupings, Matthew shows his Jewish audience that Jesus is a descendant of some of the most important people in their history. The connection to King David is ­especially important because God promised that a descendant of David would sit on the throne of Israel forever (2 Samuel 7). Through this genealogy Mat­thew is showing that the long-promised Messiah, the greatest deliverer of God's people, has come to fulfill all of God's promises.

 

That brings me to a very important question: “Do you sometimes wonder if God keeps his promises?” This genealogy shows that he does, and in the power of Jesus the Messiah we can live and serve today with confidence. Perhaps the bigger question is not merely whether God keeps His promises, but what are the promises He has made to us. Since there are nearly 7,500 promises God has made to humankind, we will not look at all of them in the coming days. I do hope to single out some of those that directly affect our personal lives and future. In a day when it seems more and more difficult to trust leadership, we must not lose sight of God’s trustworthiness to keep His promises.