Issue link: http://denverseminary.uberflip.com/i/420759
December 11 Matthew 1:1 The Family of Jesus Richard S. Hess, PhD Earl S. Kalland Professor of Old Testament and Semitic Languages E leven years ago, some of my extended family members got together and researched our family in America, producing a big volume of about 15,000 names of people tracing back to our ancestor's arrival on this continent about three centuries ago. My wife, Jean, has devoted the past five or six years to researching St. Patrick, the Celtic Christian heritage of her family, and its value for our Christian faith. We learn something of our genetic and faith identities through such study. Nevertheless, we often skip over the first verse (and the next 16) of the New Testament. ese family histories hold little interest for us, especially during this season of Advent. It all seems to belong somewhere else, without relevance or value in our modern age. Yet, in this pedigree of the human side of Jesus, we discover His identity as the one who fulfills the prophecies of the Old Testament. is lineage brings us to worship the baby in the manger, both as the Son of God and as the Son of David. As David's Son, this baby was the promised king who would forever rule on the throne in Jerusalem, becoming leader of a kingdom of peace and justice. His life would bring about an end to the terrible oppression that the people of God, the Jews of the first century, suffered (2 Sam. 7:1–16; Ps. 2; Ps. 110; Isa. 2:1–4; Isa. 7:14; Isa. 9:1–7; Isa. 11:1–9). Jesus was also the Son of Abraham. Abraham received God's wonderful promises that through his faith, his descendants would become a great nation with a Promised Land (Gen. 12:1–7). is would fulfill His role as the Son of David. Abraham received an additional promise, in some ways the most important of all: through Abraham, God would bless all the nations of the world. As Son of Abraham, Matthew knew that Jesus would bring the offer of salvation, of eternal life. Family histories can be important for us, but none are so significant as that of Jesus, who came to earth to fulfill the ancient prophecies and to bring salvation to all. 6