DEVOTION
THE GOSPEL
ACCORDING TO LUKE
A LINEAGE TO LIFE
Luke 3:23-38
23 Now Jesus himself was about
thirty years old when he began his ministry. He was the son, so it was thought,
of Joseph, the son of Heli, 24 the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of
Melki, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph, 25 the son of Mattathias the son
of Naggai, the son of Maath, the son of
Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Esli,
the son of Mattathias the son of Semein, the son of Josech, the son of Joda, 27
the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa, the
son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri, 28 the son of Melki, the
son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmadam, the son of Er, 29 the son of
Joshua, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of
Levi, 30 the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of
Jonam, the son of Eliakim, 31 the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of
Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David, 32 the son of Jesse, the son of
Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salmon, the son of Nahshon, 33 the son of
Amminadab, the son of Ram, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of
Judah, 34 the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of
Terah, the son of Nahor, 35 the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of
Eber, the son of Shelah, 36 the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of
Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, 37 the son of Methuselah, the son of
Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalalel, the son of Kenan, 38 the son of
Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.
NIV
That is a lot of men in the lineage
of Joseph, leading all the way back to God, proving through humanity that Jesus
is the Son of God. It is interesting there were some mighty men of God
in this record. We see Enoch who was no more, God just took him. We see Noah, the one man God found righteous
in all the world, and in some sense, because he found favor with God, saved
mankind. There was Abraham, a man who believed God and it was counted onto him
as righteousness and whom God made a covenant with. And of course, Isaac and his
son Jacob, who God changed his name to Israel and was the father of the twelve
tribes of Israel. Then, of course, there is David, who became the greatest king
Israel ever had and upon whose throne Jesus would sit forever. We also see Boaz
the kinsman-redeemer who married Ruth who became David’s great-grandmother.
There were also other great women, Sarah and Rachel who were in the line of Joseph
who was thought to be the father of Jesus. Although there is not much we can
learn for our lives from this lineage, we also know that Mary, the young woman
whom the Holy Spirit conceived Jesus within her, was in the line of David and
in fact have the same names in the line from Abraham to David. Because the Jews
were heavily invested in their lineage, they should have seen who Jesus really
was. If that did not show them, we would think that those who were present at
the river when John baptized Jesus, and saw the Spirit descend upon Jesus and
heard the voice of God declaring Jesus was His Son, whom He loved, and that God
was well pleased with him, would know that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah,
the Son of God, a divine being sent from God to lead the people out of their bondage
of sin. That is the one sure thing in this life of ours, that through our faith
in Jesus, we have been led out of our bondage and are now a people who are able
to worship God freely and are included in the promise of resurrection into
everlasting life for we are in the lineage to life.
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