“…and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is
called Christ.” – Matthew 1:16

Have you ever read the first 16 verses of Matthew? When I was growing up, these
verses were the ultimate snooze-fest. “Jechoniah beget Shealtiel, and Shealtiel beget
Zerubbabel” and on and on and on. That is, until I realized a couple of “blow your mind” truths
about the genealogy of Jesus Christ.

TRUTH #1
Jesus’ great, great, great, great, great (insert about 32 more “greats”) Grandpa was Abraham.
God told Abraham that through his bloodline all the nations would be blessed. God had
something really big in mind when He told Abraham this. Why do you think I say that? Because
God was going to give the world His Son through Abraham’s family. This is great, because if
Jesus’ lineage did not match up to Abraham, then Christ’s supremacy could be questioned.

TRUTH #2
God the Father highly esteems the marriage covenant. There’s a whole lot of Scripture that
supports this, but the one I’m referring to is Matthew 1:16 which says, “…and Jacob the father
of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.” Abraham’s
genealogy doesn’t trace to Mary, the one who bore Jesus. Abraham’s genealogy traces to
Joseph – Jesus’ “sort of” Father.

What I’m saying is this, Jesus wasn’t blood related to Joseph. So, shouldn’t that put the
covenant promise passed down through Abraham in question? If you don’t know how important
the marriage covenant is to God, then it could put the covenant promise in question. However,
if you understand that what God says regarding marriage, “The two will become one flesh.”
He really, really, really, really, really (insert about 32 more “reallys”) means it.

So, believe it or not – with a little bit of background information, Matthew 1:1-16 has some
power packed truth behind it! Have a great Christmas this year and give highest praise to The
One who was and is and is to come again!

God bless,
Brice Tabor