A List of Names

Daily Reading: Matthew 1

 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. (Matthew 1.1)

Devotional Thought: A list of names?  What inspiration can I hope to find in a directory?  Yet, that is just what the Lord inspired Matthew to write.  The very first words of the very first book of the New Testament is a list of names.  Can I just start with verse 18?

Don't do it!  You will miss evidence of how Jesus fulfilled Old Testament prophesies regarding the Messiah:  He would be born of a woman, from descendants of Abraham, through the tribe of Judah, and of the line of King David. 

Matthew was written to a Jewish audience to, in part, establish the bona fides of Jesus Christ, the Messiah.  But it was also written to help the modern reader know who Jesus is and what he came to do.  So, after the long list of names in the first seventeen verses, we find two more names:

·       "She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins" (v. 21).  Jesus is the New Testament translation of the Old Testament name Joshua, and both mean, "The Lord is salvation."  Jesus has come as our Savior!

·       The next name is exciting, too: "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel (which means God with us)" (v. 23).  He's not a "once and done" Savior.  He is our ever-present, faithful friend!

"God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2.9-11).

Prayer: I lift up the name of Jesus!  And in his name, I rejoice.  Amen.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 86.11-17

11 Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name.

12 I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever.

13 For great is your steadfast love toward me; you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.

14 O God, insolent men have risen up against me; a band of ruthless men seeks my life, and they do not set you before them.

15 But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

16 Turn to me and be gracious to me; give your strength to your servant, and save the son of your maidservant.

17 Show me a sign of your favor, that those who hate me may see and be put to shame because you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me.