Good morning! Welcome to day 1 of our 365 day journey through the New Testament, in which I will post Monday to Friday. I am really looking forward to digging through the scriptures at a slower pace and seeing what God will reveal and teach to me. I will use the S.O.A.P. devotions method alot of the time, but may stray from that time to time.
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(S) The Genealogy of Jesus the Messiah
1 This is the genealogy[a] of Jesus the Messiah[b] the son of David, the son of Abraham:
2 Abraham was the father of Isaac,
Isaac the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
3 Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar,
Perez the father of Hezron,
Hezron the father of Ram,
4 Ram the father of Amminadab,
Amminadab the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon,
5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,
Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,
Obed the father of Jesse,
6 and Jesse the father of King David.
David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,
7 Solomon the father of Rehoboam,
Rehoboam the father of Abijah,
Abijah the father of Asa,
8 Asa the father of Jehoshaphat,
Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram,
Jehoram the father of Uzziah,
9 Uzziah the father of Jotham,
Jotham the father of Ahaz,
Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,
10 Hezekiah the father of Manasseh,
Manasseh the father of Amon,
Amon the father of Josiah,
11 and Josiah the father of Jeconiah[c] and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.
12 After the exile to Babylon:
Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel,
Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,
13 Zerubbabel the father of Abihud,
Abihud the father of Eliakim,
Eliakim the father of Azor,
14 Azor the father of Zadok,
Zadok the father of Akim,
Akim the father of Elihud,
15 Elihud the father of Eleazar,
Eleazar the father of Matthan,
Matthan the father of Jacob,
16 and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah.
17 Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah.
Joseph Accepts Jesus as His Son
18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about[d]: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet[e] did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,[f] because he will save his people from their sins.”
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
(O) Observation
How many times have I skipped over the first part of this chapter with the genealogy, as it seems not very important or uninteresting? But the fact of the matter is, each and every word in the bible is from the mouth of God, and therefore important. The first thing to note is that there is 3 sets of names, each with 14 generations listed. I’d be lying if i said i knew exactly the significance of this, and i’m sure there is one. The fact is, there is a lot of theory and speculation on this. I just think it’s an interesting fact.
What i like about the genealogy is that you see a lot of the people we read about in the Old Testament are actually part of the lineage of Jesus. This really ties the two sections of the bible together for me, and it interestingly shows the highs and lows of all these imperfect people God used to eventually bring forth the Savior.
Which brings us to the second half of the chapter, the beginning of the story of the birth of Jesus. There is so much to be in awe about in these few verses, but for me the incredible thing about what we learn here is the righteousness of both Mary and Joseph. We can only assume by these verses only, that she was someone who found incredible favor by God by her faithfulness to Him. The thing that amazes me is we often hear that we don’t know much about Joseph. And while it’s true there isn’t a lot written about him, what it does say speaks volumes. Joseph was clearly a very righteous man, first he didn’t want to publicly disgrace Mary when he discovered she was pregnant, although it was well within his right under the law to do so. Second, he believed and listened to what the angel told him and took Mary as his wife. And stayed a virgin himself until after the baby was born. He was clearly a man after God’s own heart and full of integrity. It is no doubt God chose him as well to be the earthly father of Jesus.
(A) Application
For me, a couple things come to mind today. First, read every word of the scripture. All Scripture is God-breathed, as it tells us in the book of Timothy, so therefore we need to know it and consider it important.
Second, the example of Joseph really stands out to me. He heard a message from the angel, some instruction. And what was his response? He simply did it. He did not beg for clarity or strength or more faith to carry out this instruction, he just did it. He was obedient. When God asks us so clearly to do something, we don’t need more faith, we just need to do. I personally can really learn from this.
(P) Prayer
Lord, i thank you for your Word, each and every word written in it. Help me each day to have understanding of your lessons. And help me Lord to be obedient when you ask me to do things. Help me to clearly hear your voice when I am confused. And we thank you for the birth of our Savior, and what His purpose was on this earth. God, we love and adore you! In Jesus name, Amen.
G.A.L.F. Discipleship 