Faith in the Fallouts

This morning I was reading in Matthew, and it has a very fascinating beginning; it starts with a genealogy. Why I say this is fascinating is because it is one of only two books of the Bible to start with a genealogy. Now, typically, I tend to skip the genealogies because I can’t read 98% of the names, but Matthew starts with a particularly interesting lineage, and that is Christ’s.

The lineage in the book of Matthew is split into three paragraphs. The first consists of verses 2-6 (Abraham to King David), the second being verses 7-11 (David to Jeconiah (start of the Babylonian Exile)), and the third being verses 12-16 (end of exile/Jeconiah to Jesus)! Each of these highlights a key period in Israel’s history.

Looking through Jesus’ ancestors, there are, of course, many familiar names. Jesus is the ultimate promise, and obviously, the entire Bible is about Him. Prophets are speaking about Him thousands of years before He was alive. But how amazing it is that we see so many promises being fulfilled in the family of Christ, the biggest stories we read about as kids, and then the ultimate story, the ultimate promise, is the end of this lineage in Matthew chapter 1.

God promises Abraham a great nation in Genesis 12, and how was this promise starting to be fulfilled? When God gave Abraham a son (Isaac) when Abraham was 100 years old! Then God promises Isaac that He will bless him, and what does God do? Exactly that. We see all of these children of God being promised something by God, and it being fulfilled in ways they probably could never even have imagined. From Abraham to Isaac to David to Solomon to Joseph. And from there we see the ultimate prophecy being fulfilled: the birth of Christ.

God has been fulfilling His promises since the very beginning, so what makes us think He is going to fail us? He won’t! Sometimes life doesn’t go the way we expect it to, but that doesn’t mean He isn’t listening to us. He keeps His promises and His love endures forever and ever!!