The Text

Matthew 1:1–6 (CSB)
1 An account of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham:

2 Abraham fathered Isaac, Isaac fathered Jacob, Jacob fathered Judah and his brothers,

3 Judah fathered Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez fathered Hezron, Hezron fathered Aram,

4 Aram fathered Amminadab, Amminadab fathered Nahshon, Nahshon fathered Salmon,

5 Salmon fathered Boaz by Rahab, Boaz fathered Obed by Ruth, Obed fathered Jesse,

6 and Jesse fathered King David. David fathered Solomon by Uriah’s wife,

The Devotion

Here was the game plan of God to rescue his people: send his Son.

But he would not do it out of thin air or out of the clouds, although he is God and he could certainly do that.

He was going to send his Son to be “with us” and in a way through us. This was from the very beginning:

Genesis 3:15 (CSB) I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.

So from this first gospel preaching, we knew that our Messiah would be born into this world. But try to imagine how we would send the Savior?

He would have to be born wealthy, with resources, within a perfect bloodline with people fit to be royalty.

He would be born of royalty (that is a future devotion) but a bloodline not worthy of such prestige.

Look at the list of his family:

  • Literally pimps his wife not once but twice for fear of his own life
  • Son does the same thing
  • Grandson, whose name means “trickster”, steals his brother’s inheritance and runs for the hills
  • Sleeps with a prostitute, who was his son’s widow, impregnating her with twins
  • Prostitute
  • Used to be a child-sacrificing demon worshiper whose descendants were born out of incest
  • a finally, a king who would rape a woman and then when she gets pregnant, turns and murders her husband

The worst of the worst.

But who did Christ come for? The righteous? The wealthy? The healthy? The perfect ones?

No. He came for the sinners, the poor, the sick, and the depraved.

Romans 5:8-9 (CSB) But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. How much more then, since we have now been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from wrath.

We are no longer under the weight of being perfect because we are not and we would be crushed by those expectations. We must obey the law but we have always fallen way way short. Christ came as our Perfection so that, in fulfilling the obedience of the law, we get to obey God.

Until you know and trust Christ, you have no hope of obeying him. You must be born again into his family–so that only then you get to obey and enjoy God forever.

The Resources

Calvin’s Commentaries.
by John Calvin.
Baker. 2009.
Olive Tree

Matthew: An Expositional Commentary(https://a.co/d/iPO4KvF).
by R.C. Sproul.
Ligonier Ministries. October 29, 2019.
Goodreads

ESV Expository Commentary: Matthew–Luke (Volume 8)
Dan Doriani (Author)
Iain M. Duguid, James M. Hamilton Jr., & Jay Sklar (Editors)
Crossway. September 7, 2021.
Goodreads

Matthew: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture (Volume 22) (The New American Commentary)(https://a.co/d/4nRKV6G).
by Craig L. Blomberg.
Holman Reference. May 1992.