Heritage

Re:Verse passage – Luke 2:4-7; 3:23, 31-34, 38 (day four)

This lineage isn’t placed here just for the bookkeeper’s reference. As Danny said last week, Luke doesn’t waste words. This lineage is placed here to show that the birth of Jesus to Mary and Joseph, the very thing we celebrate today, was not haphazard. These events were lovingly planned in God’s omniscience. He didn’t suddenly realize the world needed a savior and begin looking around for the closest faithful couple. Jesus, born to this couple at this time with this heritage, was God’s plan from the beginning. The center point of all of history is located in a real family because he truly is Emmanuel, God with us. The eternal entered the temporal. The omnipresent entered a specific family line at a specific time.

This infant is the fulfillment of all of time, seen in the prophecies of Isaiah 11:1,

“Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse,
And a branch from his roots will bear fruit.”

And in the prophecies of Jeremiah 23:5-6,

“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord,“When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch;
And He will reign as king and act wisely
And do justice and righteousness in the land.
⁶ “In His days Judah will be saved,
And Israel will dwell securely;
And this is His name by which He will be called,
‘The Lord our righteousness.’

When we celebrate the birth of Jesus today, we do so as those who participate in this heritage, grafted in by God’s power. When we celebrate the birth of Jesus, we celebrate that God keeps his promises.

Merry Christmas, church family!