“Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began
his ministry. He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph, the son of Heli…”
(Luke 3:23)
The genealogy of Christ Jesus appears in Matthew and Luke
which are quite different from each other. Matthew’s account pictures Christ
Jesus as King and Luke’s account does Him as Man. Four Gospels draw Jesus
Christ four-fold, King, Servant, Man, and God. The Gospels of Mark and John do
not include His genealogy. Matthew traces back to Abraham who was called by God
with a promise that he would be a great nation and his name would be great and
became the father of many nations through the faith in the promise of living
God. God promised him to send the Messiah through his offspring. “The promises
were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say ‘and to seeds,’
meaning many people, but ‘and to your seed,’ meaning one person, who is Christ.”
(Galatians 3:16)
Luke’s account on the genealogy of Christ Jesus traces all
the way back to Adam. The names listed are not complete but selectively chosen
inspired by the Spirit most of whom are unknown and ordinary people. It is part
of the book of life. Regardless of weaknesses and fragility in humans, God
faithfully kept His promise to send the Savior of the world two thousand years
ago. Christ must become a man so that through His death He might deliver His
people. “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their
humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power
of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in
slavery by their fear of death.” (Hebrews 2:14-15)
There are so many who are not listed here but written in the
book of life. For example, God told Prophet Elijah that He reserved for Himself seven
thousand who did not bow down to Baal (Romans 11:4). Apostle John saw a vision
of a great multitude who were saved through the tribulations. “After this I
looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from
every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before
the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their
hands.” (Revelation 7:9) Although we don’t remember all the names of saints God
never forgets the names written in the book of life. That’s an encouraging
truth which God remembers our names.
The genealogy of Jesus shows real hope in humanity. Note
each individual in the list and see who they were. No one was perfect and
flawless at all but filled with constant struggles and failures. Abraham faced
a famine in the land of Canaan and fled to Egypt where he lied to King Pharaoh
that Sarah was his sister. He did it in another occasion to Abimelech King of
Gerar. His nephew Lot left him and lived in Sodom and Gomorrah. He took Hagar
as a concubine in order to bear his successor, accepting the counsel of his
wife, which caused unceasing quarrels and conflicts among families. He received
the promised son after twenty five long years of waiting even when he and his
wife were unable to bear a child. Some say, “Christians are completely fearless,
continually cheerful, constantly in trouble.”
Nevertheless, when he was told to offer his son Isaac as a
burnt offering, he obeyed the Lord God blamelessly. The Scripture says, “Abram
believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” (Genesis 15:7) The
names in the genealogy of Jesus were fragile, weak, struggling, ordinary humans
just like anyone else, yet they lived not by sight but by faith. So, God was
pleased to put their names in the line of the Son Jesus Christ. When the
disciples were sent out to the villages and towns of Israel, they experienced
the power of God working mightily, driving out demons, healing the sick, and
raising the dead. Coming back from the extraordinary journey, they reported all
things happened to the Master. Remember what the Lord Jesus said, “However, do
not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are
written in heaven.” (Luke 10:20)
Christ Jesus came to fulfill the promise to save the world
from the bondage of darkness, futility, confusion. It was the only way for the
fallen race to be saved through the cross of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the way,
the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Him. What a
blessing it is to be written in heaven and remembered by God forever!
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