Corona Devo 3019

Who was your great-granddaddy?  How about your great-great-granddad? 

Mine was a hardworking man who started a coal delivery company in Bedford, Ohio in 1892.  Horse and cart would deliver coal to people's homes and businesses, so that they could keep their lives running and advance them.

Coal turned into concrete.  (Not literally!)  But over time and industrial evolution, our family (five generations later) now delivers concrete to people's homes and businesses, so that they can keep their lives running and advance them.

My family started somewhere, and I have to climb back up our family tree to reveal my lineage and where I came from, because there is an order and purpose to it.

The Gospel of Matthew begins with the family tree of Jesus, because before we get to the birth of the Messiah on Christmas, God wants us to climb back up the family tree of Jesus to witness His earthly lineage because there is a (holy) order and purpose to it.  

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 Messiah.  ~Matthew 1:17

The people, the fathers, the mothers, the children, and the faith of those forty-two (14 x 3) generations matter.  There is an order and purpose to each person in the line leading up to Jesus, and each of us that have come to know the Father through Jesus are now in that holy family line too. 

The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. (17) Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ...  ~Romans 8:16-17

Let's read the geneology of Jesus with purpose, knowing that there is purpose and order to each member mentioned, and there is purpose and order to us and our role in the spiritual famly tree too.

This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah 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 Abihud, 
Abihud the father of Eliakim, 
Eliakim the father of Azor, 
(14) Azor the father of Zadok, 
Zadok the father of Akim, 
Akim the father of Elihud, 
(15) Elihud 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, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah. 
(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 Messiah.  ~Matthew 1:1-17 

~~~

Who was our great-granddaddy? 

We can (now) tell who Jesus's grandad, great-grandad, and great-great grandad were (and then some!).  The (holy) family litany and lineage is all here in Matthew Chapter 1, and there is an order and purpose to each person.

And then came Jesus...who had the ultimate order and purpose to His life: to save us from ours.

The role and purpose of Jesus Christ had been laid out from the foundations of time: Jesus has always existed to help people to keep their lives running and advance them...for God's glory.

Do we know anything about our great grandaddy?

Even if the details of our earthly family-tree are a bit fuzzy, the chronicle of our heredity in Christ is crystal-clear, no matter how many generations come and go.  

We are His forever.    

Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ to further the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness— (2) in the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time, (3) and which now at his appointed season he has brought to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior...  ~Titus 1:1-3

Each of our family's started somewhere, and it's neat to climb back up our family tree to reveal our earthly lineage and where we came from, because there is an order and purpose to it.

But the Bible maps out our faith-family-tree very clearly, and our spiritual-siblings are woven throughout the pages of the Old and New Testament.  This family of faith is all-inclusive and just waiting for us to join, if we haven't.  

The open door is Jesus.

I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.  ~John 10:9

Enter through the door of Jesus.  He will keep our lives running and advance them.

Blessings, 

sarah 

https://sarahsundy04.blogspot.com