Day One
Matthew 1:1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham. Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, Jacob begot Judah and his brothers. Judah begot Perez, and Zarah by Tamar, Perez begot Hezron, and Hezron begot Ram. Ram begot Amminadab, Amminadab begot Nashon, and Nashon begot Salmon. Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David the king. David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah. Solomon begot Reheboam, Reheboam begot Abijah, and Abijah begot Asa. Asa begot Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat Joram, and Joram begot Uzziah. Uzziah begot Jotham, Jotham begot Ahaz, and Ahaz begot Hezekiah. Hezekiah begot Manasseh, Manasseh begot Amon, and Amon begot Josiah. Josiah begot Jeconiah and his brothers about the time they were carried away to Babylon. And after they were brought to Babylon, Jeconiah begot Shealtiel, and Shealtiel begot Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel begot Abiud, Abiud begot Eliakim, and Eliakim begot Azor. Azor begot Zadok, Zadok begot Achim, and Achim begot Eliud. Eliud begot Eleazar, Eleazar begot Matthan, Matthan begot Jacob. And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ.
Reading this passage I am struck with the significance of why the Lord has led me to write a devotional about Jesus from the book of Matthew as opposed to one of the other gospels. The primary purpose of this devotional is for each and every reader to come to a greater understanding of his or her savior, Jesus Christ. Matthew makes it clear in His first sentence that this book is truly about one person, Jesus Christ. Jesus the Son of God is truly the best example that any believer could ever follow, He was God yet man, tempted as we are, flesh as we are, and yet victorious as we can be because of and through Him. When we look at the genealogy of Jesus we may wonder why it really matters who He was descended from, yet to the fulfillment of prophesy and viability of which He is it means everything. If Jesus had not descended from the line of David and back to Abraham it would be impossible for anyone to believe and verify that He was the Messiah. All through the Old Testament there are prophetic utterances which state that the Messiah must come from the line of David (Is 9:1-7 11-15, 2 Samuel 7:12-13 are just two examples) and David from the line of Abraham, both fulfillment's of promises made by God to each of these men. Had Jesus not been traced back through this genealogical line it would have been reason enough not to believe He was who He said He was, after all God cannot lie. Yet since this is true we begin therefore with the factual and provable understanding that Jesus meets the genealogical qualifications to be the Son of God, the Messiah. Growing up I was often mistaken for a person of Hispanic descent, I had the dark skin, the short build, and I could even fake a pretty good accent, however no matter what people thought or how I pretended to be of one race the truth is that because of my heritage I am more American Indian than any other race, and in fact I have no known Hispanic heritage. Therefore I can never be Hispanic, Asian, English, Inuit, or anything other than what I am no matter how hard I may try. Jesus was of the house of David that fact is now history and no one can change it no matter how hard they may try!
Daily Prayer: Father I pray that each one of us would be able to accept our heritage and be proud of who we are, after all You did choose our race, and You cannot make mistakes, in Jesus name I pray, Amen.
"To be joyful in who we are is to be grateful to God for who He made us to be"
Gene Burroughs Servant
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