The beauty of His descent.
Matthew 1.1-16 (5/24/04)
The lineage of Christ - His descent to earth through generations of human ancestors - reveals the grace and sovereign power of God, and glimmers with the beauty of the Lord.
Christ's beauty is bound up in His covenantal and royal pedigree (v. 1); in the preservation of His line of descent through deep trials (v. 2) and shameful sin (vv. 3, 6); in the incorporation of Gentiles (v. 5); in heroic forebears (vv. 2, 6, 9, 10); and in its preservation through times of calamity and obscurity (vv. 11-15).
The continuity of Christ's descent runs through all these generations like a subtle but pervasive and continuous musical motifs, as in a suite or an oratorio composed by Bach. He descends like the purest molecule of pristine mountain water on its journey over stones, falls, and rapids to the cup of a thirsty man. The beauty of Christ shines and shimmers down through the generations, like a diamond being cut to progressive stages of radiance and brilliance.
God would have us be assured of His sovereign power and enthralled by the mystery of His eternal plan to redeem us. He persuades us by such beauty and might to love Him more and more.
We do well to meditate on this beauty, this evidence of God's workmanship, goodness, and purpose preserved through so many generations, enriched and kept until deposited in Joseph and his virgin wife, Mary. Meditate and wonder on the wisdom of God, Who orchestrated such beauty in the descent of Jesus from Abraham through David to a manger in Bethlehem.