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            Wednesday, December 2

Read Matthew 1:7-17

Today we continue with the genealogy of Jesus from David as we follow the “kingly line”. Perhaps this chart will be helpful.

The genealogy of Jesus demonstrates that God’s grace is not inherited, but rather “given” as He wills. For example, there are good and bad kings in the ancestry of Christ. Just because one king was good, meaning faithful and obedient to God, and honorable in his dealings with God’s people, did not mean the next king would be the same way. The good kings were Solomon, Asa and Jehoshaphat. The wicked kings were Rehoboam, Abijay, Jehoram. You will find their history in 1st and 2nd Kings, and 1st and 2nd Chronicles.

The genealogy of Jesus also demonstrates God’s power to keep His promises, even if He must discipline His own people to accomplish them. Because of their wickedness and disobedience, God allowed His people to be taken captive to Babylon for 70 years. By all measure, the Jews should have forgotten their identity as they acclimated themselves to their captive nations. Not so with Israel. Matthew is showing his readers how God preserved the Jews through every attempt by Satan to stamp out them out, in order to preserve the seed line of the Messiah.

Even as we see the nations rising against Israel today, let us not be disturbed. For just as God preserved the Jews to fulfill His promise to send the Messiah the first time, we can rest assured, Jesus will also keep His promise to His people to come again. The world can be overcome with despair, depression, discouragement and defeat. But the Apostle John said, “Who is he that overcomes the world, but he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” (1 John 5:4-5)