New Found Grace

HNY! God is speaking! Can you interpret what He is saying to you? Be still, and simply know He is God and He is communicating and caring for you!

Looking forward to great blessings in 2021

#12. THE GENEALOGY OF JESUS (MATTHEW 1:1-17; LUKE 3:23-38) The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham (Matt. 1:1). This i...s how the New Testament opens. The story of Jesus is intricately connected to Israel’s story. It continues what God began when He chose Abram out of Ur. Mary and Joseph were not randomly chosen. They were both direct descendants of David and Abraham. Their child has a legal right to be king and reign forever! (2 Sam. 7:12-16) There are two genealogies for Jesus. Matthew’s highlights God’s covenantal faithfulness to Israel and records Christ’s line through Joseph and David’s son Solomon (Matt. 1:6). Luke’s highlights God’s universal redemption and records Jesus’ lineage all the way back to Adam through Mary. Mary’s line went through David’s son Nathan (Luke 3:31). Two direct lines to David. A double stamp of approval! The Risen and Reigning Christ appears in Revelation declaring, I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star (Rev. 22:16). Matthew’s genealogy is divided into three sets of 14 (Matt. 1:17). 14 is the gematrial value of David (). That means the numerical values of the Hebrew letters add up to 14. David is also the fourteenth son in the genealogy. He is central to the entire structure of Christ’s genealogy for Christ’s birth is the fulfillment of God’s covenant to David that he would have a son who would reign forever (something that regularly comes up in the infancy narratives of both Matthew and Luke). The three sets of 14 equals 42 generations in all. 42 is the gematrial value of Jubilee (). Jubilee is the biblical super sabbath. It happens after seven seven-year cycles on the fiftieth year. This ‘super year’ did not just include physical rest, but economic rest and peace were also returned to the people (Leviticus 25). It was cause for great jubilation. At the end of His first sermon Jesus declared that He came to set at liberty those who are oppressed and proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord (Luke 4:18-19). The advent of Jesus means the beginning of Jubilee! It means a super abundance of rest, restoration, and renewed inheritance has arrived! According to Chronicles, Cyrus was the 50th generation from Adam. He set the Babylonian captives free to go back to their land, and funded their new building project. Jesus is the Greater Cyrus. He might not be the 50th from Adam, but He follows the ‘gematrial jubilee’ in the 42nd position from Abraham and brings about the greatest Jubilee the world has ever known as the Seed of Abraham. This Greater Cyrus rescues us from bondage to sin and calls us to go into all the world and be vessels building His church (Matt. 28:18-20) Like Cyrus, He abundantly supplies us from His own resources (John 15:1-5). Lastly, Matthew’s genealogy is unique in that it includes four womenTamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba. One thing this points to is Gentile inclusion. Tamar and Rahab were Canaanites. Ruth was a Moabite. Bathsheba was married to a Hittite. Jesus has Gentile blood coursing through His veins. And He has come to incorporate the Gentiles into the chosen family just like these four women had already been incorporated. Because of Christmas (and Easter), everyone can be part of Jesus’ family tree! The Greater David rules the whole world! He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:11-13).

There is Joy for us today and Always!

Believe and receive!! The joy is amazing.