Key Thought

Jesus is God keeping his promises. This will be one of Matthew’s continuing themes -- Matthew writes his Gospel to stress the fulfillment of God's promises to his people. Matthew begins the good news of Jesus by reminding us that Jesus is not only Jewish, but he also has a family line that can be traced back to King David and to Father Abraham. Matthew wants to show his readers that Jesus is the fulfillment of God's promise to send a Messiah who will bless all nations. The Apostle Paul, God’s chosen missionary to the Gentiles, said that all of God's promises find their "yes" in Jesus (2 Cor. 1:18-20). He stresses that faith in Jesus is the key to unlocking the truth of Scripture (2 Tim. 3:15). Let’s use this year to find Jesus as we have never found him before!

Today's Prayer

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Holy and faithful God, thank you for keeping your promises and sending Jesus. Thank you for taking care of your people Israel through their long and often difficult history. Your faithfulness to your Word gives me assurance that you will send Jesus back to bring victory to all of your people, just as you have promised. In the name of Jesus, son of Abraham, son of David, and your Son, I pray. Amen.

1 This is a record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of King David and of Abraham: 2 Abraham was the father of Isaac. Isaac was the father of Jacob. Jacob was the father of Judah and his brothers. 3 Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah (their mother was Tamar). Perez was the father of Hezron. Hezron was the father of Ram. 4 Ram was the father of Amminadab. Amminadab was the father of Nahshon. Nahshon was the father of Salmon. 5 Salmon was the father of Boaz (his mother was Rahab). Boaz was the father of Obed (his mother was Ruth). Obed was the father of Jesse. 6 Jesse was the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon (his mother was Bathsheba, the widow of Uriah). 7 Solomon was the father of Rehoboam. Rehoboam was the father of Abijah. Abijah was the father of Asaph. 8 Asaph was the father of Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat was the father of Jehoram. Jehoram was the father F4 of Uzziah. 9 Uzziah was the father of Jotham. Jotham was the father of Ahaz. Ahaz was the father of Hezekiah. 10 Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh. Manasseh was the father of Amos. Amos was the father of Josiah. 11 Josiah was the father of Jehoiachin F6 and his brothers (born at the time of the exile to Babylon). 12 After the Babylonian exile: Jehoiachin was the father of Shealtiel. Shealtiel was the father of Zerubbabel. 13 Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud. Abiud was the father of Eliakim. Eliakim was the father of Azor. 14 Azor was the father of Zadok. Zadok was the father of Akim. Akim was the father of Eliud. 15 Eliud was the father of Eleazar. Eleazar was the father of Matthan. Matthan was the father of Jacob. 16 Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Mary was the mother of Jesus, who is called the Messiah.
17 All those listed above include fourteen generations from Abraham to King David, and fourteen from David's time to the Babylonian exile, and fourteen from the Babylonian exile to the Messiah.

— 1:1-17 (NLT)

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved. New Living, NLT, and the New Living Translation logo are registered trademarks of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. For permission to quote from the New Living Translation go to www.newlivingtranslation.com