Son of God

 

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

SON OF GOD

Matt 1:1-17

1:1 A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ 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 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 Abiud, Abiud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, 14 Azor the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, Akim the father of Eliud, 15 Eliud 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, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. 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 Christ.  

NIV

It has been a while, since we have done a gospel, and Matthew is the only one we have not done twice. Of course, Matthew is very concerned about the genealogy of Jesus as he starts off his account of the life of Jesus with this list. It is interesting that Matthew does not start with Adam, but with Abraham, and also that he says this is the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham. There must be importance in the reference to Jesus being the son of David and the son of Abraham. What is it about David and Abraham that makes them so special to be mentioned first and that Jesus Christ was their son? We know that David was the greatest of all sovereigns, as the king of Israel, as well as a prophet, as so much of his psalms were prophetic pointing to Jesus. Abraham was commended for his faith as it was counted onto him as righteousness. Abraham was the most perfect character in antiquity and was both a priest and prophet. However, all three, king, priest, and prophet have never been in one person until Jesus. So, it is fitting that Matthew starts off with David and Abraham. What is the significance to us? How does this fit into our lives? Because Matthew also makes it a point to show us the exactness of God in bringing about the time of Jesus, with the fourteen generations from Abraham to David and the fourteen generations from David to the exile to Babylon, and the fourteen generations from the exile to Christ, we must conclude that God has always and will forever have everything completely under his authority. Nothing occurred by happenstance and that would have to lead us to consider our lives are not by happenstance either. This does not mean we are robots of God, or that we do not have a will to live in whatever manner we want, just as Adam was giving the freedom to be disobedient, although it cost him dearly, we too have that same freedom and if chose the same course as Adam, we too will see the same result. But we have chosen to accept Jesus, which is the one and only work that God requires, so then in that sense, we have chosen obedience rather than rejecting God’s authority, as Adam did. King David was the only man who God testified was a man after his own heart, and as we already noticed, Abraham appears to be the only man who God counted his believing God as righteousness. However, it is also true that we could be a man after God’s own heart because we accepted His Son Jesus as our Lord and Savior and that also would mean that because we are in Christ, we are seen in the eyes of God as righteous. Therefore, although it might be a little bit of a stretch because we are in Christ, we are also of the lineage of David and Abraham and so we are the son of David, the son of Abraham, the son of Christ, the son of God. We have been told that being a believer in Jesus Christ we have been given the right to be called a child of God, a son of God.