Nougat 25

There is a tendency amongst us, at times, to make our faith so exclusive that there’s no scope for others. The attitude isn’t new, it has been around for a while. Yet if we revert to our roots, we will realise that this was not God’s design. The Gospel message assures us that there’s room in God’s house for all of us. What keeps us away is sin. And unfortunately, that is a universal flaw. Let’s reflect on God’s plan for us all as we consider Today’s Holy Nougat

Acts 3:25-26 CEVDCI

[25] You are really the ones God told his prophets to speak to. And you were given the promise God made to your ancestors. He said to Abraham, “All nations on earth will be blessed because of someone from your family.”

[26] God sent his chosen Son to you first, because God wanted to bless you and make each one of you turn away from your sins.

Promised Fulfilled … Gracious God

The Gospel of Matthew begins with the begats. (This phrase isn’t official terminology. But it certainly captures the language of Numbers, which outlines the genealogical records of the House of Israel. In the King James version, the genealogy was presented as ‘and person A begat person B.’ Hence my term, ‘the begats’.) For many of us, it bore little significance, especially since it did not describe our roots.

Yet, with its opening lines, Matthew insists that the genealogy is important. Matthew 1:1 describes itself as: ‘The Book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham’. It then expands on that genealogy for the next 15 verses. Had there been only one begat per verse, it still would be a lot of begats. And, should we miss the point, we’re told that there were 42 generations between Abraham and Y’shua. That’s 42 begats!

Self-Check

Do we normally attend to the begats in the Bible, and do we place much significance on genealogy?

Digging Deeper

Matthew’s opening lines ought to invite further speculation for us as we reflect on God’s Word. For, with those words, Matthew suggests that Y’shua’s family tree would be the main source of reflection in the Gospel. Although it may seem as an aside to our substantive reflection on our Nougat, we note that Matthew speaks of Y’shua’s family (not His genealogy) literally and spiritually in several verses. Most notable is His statement in Matthew 12:49-50, that His disciples – all who learn from Him and obey His Father (God) – are His family.

The significance is not lost on us. With that statement, He eliminated the potential gap that would drive a wedge between each successive generation after Him! The begats stop with God’s only begotten Son!

But Matthew didn’t only mention that the Gospel is about lineage and family trees. The introduction named two people with whom Y’shua was connected: Abraham and David. They were 14 generations apart. And David was 28 generations ahead of Y’shua. Aside from the multiples of 7 or 14, there seems to be little in common between the two, except for being related. And yet there was more in common.

Abraham is considered the first patriarch: we speak of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. There were other obedient and God-honouring men and women before Abraham however, just as there was another king before David. The real deal is presented in our Nougat. Both Abraham and David were promised by God that their descendant would be the source of humanity’s salvation – that’s the blessing.

In perspective, we’re looking at about 2000 years between God’s promise to Abraham and its fulfilment. And, as dearly loved as David was, he was not the fulfilment. Rather, David also received the promise that God’s eternal king would be born through his descendant. That common descendant is Y’shua, Jesus Christ.

Luke was clear. He noted that Y’shua fulfilled God’s promise to the Jewish descendants of Abraham through Jacob (Israel). But, if all the nations are blessed through Y’shua, then Abraham’s other children (those descended through Keturah’s 6 sons and also Ishmael’s descendants) are also heirs to the promise. It even extends to people groups unaffiliated with Abraham. Because with God *all means all*! It’s just a matter of the choice one makes with regard to Y’shua.

John 1:3-4 says it this way, All things came into being through Him (Y’shua), and not even one thing that was created came into being without Him. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. Siblings, when we accept His light, we find true life … and in our obedience – our hunger and thirst for righteousness (see Matthew 5:6) – we become the children of God! We become part of the Matthew 12 genealogy. With our decision, God’s promise includes us.

That’s the bounty of God’s grace!

Point to Ponder

How then do we read the begats now that we discover that it’s about our spiritual family tree? Are we inclined to think that only some people are worthy of God’s gift of grace through Jesus Christ? Let’s not keep this knowledge to ourselves but share it with someone.

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May all we seek be found in Christ