Matthew, the first book of the New Testament and one of the four gospels, shares details about Jesus’ life on earth. The first seventeen verses of the first chapter may appear boring but not really if you look deeper.
Why would the genealogy of Jesus, a list of all His forefathers and mothers, be of interest to us? Because history reveals God!
If you study the families in the line of Jesus, they were imperfect people with dysfunction but still used by God! There was murder, prostitution, drunkenness, betrayal, as well as faith, courage, and perseverance among His ancestors. For instance, Matthew 1:3 mentions Judah who was the father of Perez and Zephrah, whose mother was Tamar. We find the details of their story in Genesis 38 where we read an account involving much chaos and dysfunction.
Jesus was the only perfect man to ever live. But I want to remind you God uses imperfect people all the time to accomplish His perfect plan. If you dig deep and cross reference all the names in the geology of Jesus, reading the Old Testament accounts of their lives, both successes and failures, you see that God and His will prevailed.
You will also see that the 322 direct prophesies about the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus have been fulfilled. Some prophesies go into great detail and these, I remind you, were made years before Jesus’ birth. It can strengthen your faith, but it will also create within you a desire to live your short life very differently.
If you have ears to hear and eyes to see…your faith can grow to be extraordinary. When I hear all the complaining about elected officials and the control that people want to take and abuse they want to spew, I have to dismiss it all and reboot. I serve and believe in a sovereign God who set the world in motion and allows all leaders to be put into office for His kingdom purpose and I don’t have to understand why. I have to trust and pray for them all.
Part of my faith involves trusting what I do not understand. I no longer put God into a box that has to be explained to me. My relationship is so deep that I realize I am very personal to Him, but He is God and I am not. His ways are truly many times higher than I can wrap my mind around.
Most people think that coming to Jesus means giving up…but it is truly a gaining. It is a rest…a comfort…an assurance that I cannot describe; it has to be experienced. No matter what mistakes, mess ups you have in your life, Jesus will wipe them clean when you turn to Him. He does make all things new. When we turn to Him, we have to be intentional about getting to know Him.
If you are brand new at this, get a Bible and read the four gospels. If you are old to this, take the genealogy of Jesus and research the families and history. It is compelling and you clearly see that our mistakes do not thwart God’s plan. On the contrary, He often uses them. How very comforting this is to me.
If you are following along and want more help, please inbox me. I can recommend supplemental reading and sermons by some of the world’s greatest teachers on Scripture. I don’t pretend to know all but I know and seek the One who does, Jesus. If you take a leap of faith and decide to follow Him and seek Him with all your heart, you will be found by Him. He came to seek and to save.
“But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:21-23).
