Importance of Genealogy
“The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” (Matthew 1:1)
Thanksgiving is inevitably filled with the recollecting of family stories and sagas. The children often do not listen, unaware of the deep regret that will overcome them later. As often as we remind them of the importance of our family history, wow many of us simply breeze through the genealogies of the Bible? Names we cannot pronounce, stories that we do not know – why read these unbearable accounts? And yet what treasure, what comfort alludes our eyes when we fail to appreciate these most ordinary words. What comfort is to be treasured in this genealogy? The Son of God was “promised beforehand through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures,” who was “descended from David according to the flesh.” God the Son begat from all eternity was born the son of David, the son of Abraham in time.
Jesus Christ came as the son of David. David was promised that a son of his own lions would always sit upon the throne of Israel, yet his sons sinned. The shepherds of Israel did not see the lost sought, nor the wayward found, nor the wounded healed, nor the strong judged. They fattened themselves upon the backs of God’s people and brought God’s just punishment. Would God forsake His covenant with David? Would He cast off His faithfulness forever? As the crown was defiled with the dust, the Son of God would clothe His glory with dust, forsaking castle for crib and mansion for manger that the throne may be restored from dishonor to glory. As King, Jesus Christ rules in the hearts of His people, subduing their sin and defending them against Satan. The Spirit is the scepter of His might whereby He exercises His kingly reign over the heavens and the earth in a kingdom far greater than David or Solomon ever fathomed.
Jesus came also as the son of Abraham. Abraham was made these grand promises and to his offspring that “in his offspring all the nations of the earth would be blessed.” (Gal. 22:18) Abraham labored in a foreign land, far from home, surrounded by those who looked upon him with the same malicious eye as some look on foreigners today. How would this old man be a blessing to the nations? And yet who was this offspring? Jesus Christ! (Gal. 3:16) Abraham looked forward to His birth and His day, and he rejoiced (John 8:56). Abraham knew that as God Himself provided the sacrifice, so too would God Himself provide the Son.
When we celebrate Christmas, we celebrate the fulfillment of all of God’s promises, our “yes” and “amens” terminate in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He is the hope of every heart, the joy of all the world. You may not be able to pronounce every name in this genealogy with the utmost confidence, but you can be confident that our eternal God has entered time and space to keep His promises and will keep His promises!
