Gleanealogy: Gleanings (3)

Pray Psalm 135.13, 14.
Your name, O LORD, endures forever,
Your fame, O LORD, throughout all generations.
For the Lord will judge His people,
And He will have compassion on His servants.

Sing with joy and thanksgiving Psalm 135.13, 14, 1.
(St. Gertrude: Onward, Christian Soldiers)
Evermore Your Name, O Savior, shall endure!
Your renown throughout all ages is secure.
For You have compassion, vindicating all
those who serve Your Name and on Your saving mercy call.
Refrain, v. 1
Praise the Name of Jesus, you who serve His Word!
Raise your voice and praise our good and glorious Lord!

Read Matthew 11.25-30.

Prepare.
1. What does Jesus promise? Who may expect to obtain that promise?

2. How is it that Jesus is able to deliver on that promise?

Meditate.
The first great toledoth of Scripture ends in Noah. His father, Lamech, named Him Rest, expressing the hope that the people of God might be comforted in the midst of their troubles (Genesis 5.28, 29). In a very real sense, every genealogy of Scripture points the faithful people of God to rest, or more specifically, to the restoration God’s grace brings to them.

The genealogy of nations in Genesis 11 ends in Abram, to whom are given the precious and very great promises of God’s covenant.

The census of those people of God going down to Egypt indicates relief from famine and rest in the protection of God’s grace through Joseph. Jacob’s prophesies concerning his sons (Gen. 49) points toward the coming of Shiloh and the restoration of all things in His Kingdom.

The genealogies of Numbers list (first) those who were restored from captivity in Egypt, and (second) those who would gain the promised rest of God in the land of Canaan.

Rest is the theme of the various allotments of land in the book of Joshua, which conclude with that great declaration of rest in Joshua 21.43-45: “So the LORD gave to Israel all the land of which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they took possession of it and dwelt in it. The LORD gave them rest all around, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers. And not a man of all their enemies stood against them; the LORD delivered all their enemies into their hand. Not a word failed of any good thing which the LORD had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass.”

Those returning from Babylon took up the work of restoring the temple and the city of Jerusalem, as well as many of the villages, towns, and cities of the land. But they did not restore the kingdom. That would only occur with the coming of Jesus, Who has reconciled all things to the Father and is now, by His Spirit, bringing His Kingdom to the world through His faithful people.

Even the genealogies of the nations can remind us, since most of us are not Jewish, that God has had us in mind from the beginning, and that He calls us to make all the nations disciples.

And the genealogy/census of Revelation 7.1-10, the great record of the Lamb’s Book of Life, includes the names of all those who have been restored to God through the redeeming, reconciling, and renewing work of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The genealogies of Scripture, as we read them, call us to remember and rejoice in the rest and restoration God has provided for us, and for all who claim His promises through our Lord Jesus Christ. As you read the names of those great saints, imagine them singing in glory to the Lord, and carrying your prayers, like sweet incense, before the Lord (Rev. 4, 5); thank the Lord for each one, and for the grace shown to each one of that great cloud of witnesses. And rejoice with them in the rest and restoration which is ours through Jesus.

Reflect.
1. How can this perspective of rest and restoration help us to appreciate and benefit from the genealogies of Scripture?

2. How does this perspective suggest that we should read these genealogies?

3. Write a prayer of thanksgiving to use when you come across a genealogy in your reading. Keep it in your Bible to remind you that these genealogies point us to the rest and restoration which is ours in Jesus.

Jesus called everyone, not only the people of Israel. As the Maker and Lord of all, he spoke to the weary Jews who did not have the strength to bear the yoke of the law. He spoke to idolaters heavy laden and oppressed by the devil and weighed down by the multitude of their sins. Cyril of Alexandria (375-444),Fragment 149

Thank You, Lord, for granting me rest in Jesus. Today, help me to be more fully restored in all my ways as I…

Pray Psalm 135.1-12.
Thank the Lord for the rest and restoration He has provided for His people, over and over again, and for the restoration He is working in the world through the Gospel.

Sing Psalm 135.1-12.
Psalm 135.1-12 (St. Gertrude: Onward, Christian Soldiers)
Praise the Savior, praise Him, for His Name is good;
Sing, for it is pleasant, to our glorious God!
All whom He has chosen and redeemed by grace,
praise His Name together, praise Him in this holy place!
Refrain v. 1
Praise the Name of Jesus, you who serve His Word!
Raise your voice and praise our good and glorious Lord!

Great and sovereign, Jesus rules o'er all above,
doing as He pleases, sovereign in His love.
Clouds and seas obey Him, lightning, too, and rain;
He the winds brings forth in pow'r and sends them back again.
Refrain

Egypt's firstborn fell to God's redeeming pow'r.
Kings and nations crumbled in redemption's hour.
He the land of promise to His people gave;.
Thus His Kingdom Jesus gives to all He's pleased to save.
Refrain

T. M. Moore

The genealogies of Scripture reveal the heart of God in His covenant relationship with His people. To learn more about God’s covenant, order our book, I Will Be Your God, by clicking here. You can learn to sing all the psalms to familiar hymn tunes by ordering a copy of The Ailbe Psalter (click here).

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing adapted from The Ailbe Psalter. All quotations from Church Fathers from Ancient Christian Commentary Series, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006). All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (available by clicking here).