It’s Friday…Greater Than We Imagined

It’s Christmas. God came in the flesh. Which means Jesus had a lineage. The Gospel of Matthew reveals it. His genealogy seems rather long and boring. And even though the lineage of Jesus is extremely special, it still isn’t the highlight of what we read in Scripture. Yes, we know He is traceable to Abraham, but that should matter only to the first-century Jew, not the 21^st century follower of His, right?

But a closer look says it all. In Jesus’ genealogy is Rahab, a woman of questionable morals who helped the Hebrew spies as they entered the Promised Land. And a genealogy later, the Moabite Ruth appears. Then, in two generations, an adulterous king with a murderous bent shows up. What are a Canaanite prostitute, a Moabite outsider, and a law-breaking king doing in Jesus’ genealogy? Pointing to the hope we have in Him, that’s what.

“Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David.” (Mathew 26:26)

Think about it: Jesus – the incarnate God, the invisible Creator appearing in the flesh – is a descendent of sinners. If Jesus could come from the seed of a prostitute, a foreigner, and an adulterer, He’s just The One to represent sinners to God. The Holy Son of God came in the form of fallen flesh, a descendant of sinful humanity in need of salvation. That kind of God-man could represent us well. In Him we can hope.

We forget, with all of Jesus’ holiness and perfection, the fallenness of the world He entered. He didn’t take on garden-of-Eden-flesh; He took on that flesh that was forced out of the garden to till the stubborn soil. He took on the flesh that killed prophets and seduced God’s people, of circumcised rebels, of the foreigners and the outcasts. He took on the flesh of all of us.

That’s why Christmas is so astounding. God just didn’t become man, He became man in the form of those who had fallen – miserably. Only that kind of Savior can give us hope. His descent to save us is greater than we thought. And our salvation is Greater Than We Imagined.

Have a great weekend. Make it better by worshiping The Lord with those who know how great their salvation is and who don’t take it for granted, ever.

All For Jesus – Nothing More, Nothing Less, Nothing Else.

“He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, The King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see, to Him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.” (1 Timothy 6:15b-16)