God’s Hope for Your Heart from Luke 3

JESUS IS YOUR PERFECTION

Jesus, when He began His ministry, was about thirty years of age, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son of Heli, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph… the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalaleel, the son of Cainan, the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.  (Luke 3:23-24, 37-38)

Do you ever read the genealogies in Scripture and just think, “Boooooring”?

It’s true, there are lots of hard to pronounce names, and much of their significance is lost on us.  However, in all Scripture, if you’re willing to dig a little there’s always a treasure to be found.

Take a look at the number of names listed, for example.  In the Bible, numbers often have a symbolic as well as a literal significance.  Numbers aren’t just for counting things, they mean something.

For instance, the number seven is called “the number of God” or the number of perfection.  This is probably one reason why in Matthew 18, Peter asks Jesus if he should forgive His brother “up to seven times.”  Jesus says, however, that if Peter really wants to walk in the perfect forgiveness of God, he should forgive not seven times, but seventy times seven, or in some manuscripts and translations, seventy-seven times.

Now, in the genealogy of Luke 3 we see a list of names of the generations that came from the beginning, and if you count them, you discover something significant.

Jesus Christ is the 77th generation.

Even in something as seemingly dry as a genealogy, we see that Jesus wasn’t just a “Good man” like so many in His day and ours have thought He was.  He was–and is–the “God-man” who alone was perfect and complete so He could be an acceptable sacrifice for our sins.

And now He offers that perfect completeness to you.

If you’re in Christ, when God the Father looks at you, He doesn’t see the failures and flaws of your natural self.  He doesn’t regard your record of sin and shame.  No, when God looks at you, He sees the perfect righteousness of His Son, every time!

So, regardless of how you feel about your performance, may you find hope in this truth: Jesus is your perfection.

-Pastor Phillip

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