God’s Hope for Your Heart from Matthew 1
GOD ALWAYS KEEPS HIS PROMISES
The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. (Matthew 1:1)
For thousands of years, God’s people had waited for His promises to come true.
He had told Abraham, “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:3) Yet, they had been through so many ups and downs, triumphs and trials, and here they were under Roman occupation with no hope for deliverance in sight.
But God always keeps His promises.
David, the greatest king of Israel, had been promised a kingdom that would last forever when God spoke this through the prophet Nathan: “I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and he shall be to me a son…and your house and your kingdom shall be established forever.” (2 Samuel 7:12b-13, 16)
David’s son Solomon seemed like a good candidate for this promise. After all, he did, indeed, “build a house” for the Lord, the temple of Jerusalem. But Solomon died, his sons were evil, and Israel’s kingdom eventually fell apart. Even the temple, that great house Solomon built for God’s name, was destroyed.
But God always keeps His promises.
Now, enter Jesus. Matthew records the family history of this Savior, this Messiah, and the first thing he mentions is that Jesus is “the son of David, the son of Abraham.”
Matthew knows the truth: that Jesus is the promised heir of David. This was the message of the angel Gabriel to the virgin Mary, “The Lord God will give to [Jesus] the throne of his father David… and of His kingdom there will be no end.” (Luke 1:32b-33)
Matthew knows the truth: that Jesus is the promised offspring of Abraham. This was the message the Holy Spirit spoke through Jesus’ relative Zechariah, that the Lord “has visited and redeemed His people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David…to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath that He swore to our father Abraham…” (Luke 1:68b-69, 72-73)
Jesus came because God always keeps His promises.
If you’re still waiting on God’s promises in your life, may you take strength and find hope in this truth: if you are in Christ, God’s greatest fulfillment is already yours, and the rest will come in just the right time…
Because God always keeps His promises.
-Pastor Phillip
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