Tuesday, December 1
Read Matthew 1:1-6
Ok, let’s just get this genealogy stuff behind us, and get on with the real Christmas story. Not so fast!! This is the Christmas story, for had Jesus not been in the lineage of Abraham and David, His birth, His life, His ministry, His message, His death – even His resurrection would not have been sufficient for our salvation. In other words, the “story” would have been just that – a “story”! Maybe this chart of the first 13 generations will help.
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As you trace the lineage from Abraham to Jesus, notice the “Messianic Line” runs from Abraham, through his wife Sarah to Isaac, through his wife Rebekah to Jacob, and then it gets very interesting. While God allowed Jacob to have four wives, it was through Leah that Judah was born, who fathered Perez, Herzon, Ram, Amminadab, Nashon, Salmon, Boaz, Obed and then Jesse, the father of David, the 13 generation from Abraham. Tomorrow we will look at the generations from David to Jesus.
The genealogy of Jesus illustrates God’s sovereignty in protecting the “bloodline of the seed” through the many generations, but it also demonstrates God’s mercy. If you notice there are four women listed in this genealogy.
- Tamar – Vs 3 – a seducer and adulteress whom God saved from death.
- Rahab – Vs 5 – a Gentile, rejected by the Jews, and a prostitute, but was saved from judgment because of her expressed faith in the God of Israel.
- Ruth – Vs 5 – a woman from a nation that was hated by the Jews, but who still “chose” to be associated with God and His people.
- Bathsheba – Vs 6 – who committed adultery with David but sought and received God’s forgiveness.
The fact that these four women are in the recorded genealogy of Jesus proves, “no pit of sin is so deep that God’s love is not deeper still”. God will extend His mercy and His grace upon anyone who will receive it. Like the rest of us, these four women sinned, and sinned greatly, but they were also forgiven, and forgiven eternally. We will hear their testimonies in heaven soon.