The men and women mentioned in this genealogy trace the birth of the Messiah through the Chosen people from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. These mentioned here never saw the promise of God fulfilled, but Hebrews 11 indicates that they looked forward to it and had faith that God would provide a Savior. Here we see that promise fulfilled through Jesus who is a human being descended from Abraham, Judah and David. And note that of the 5 women mentioned in this genealogy, only one, Mary, was an Israelite by birth. The others were all pagans even Ruth who was a Moabitess, a descendant of Abraham’s nephew Lot. While we know that she and Rahab exercised faith in the Lord, we are not sure about Tamar and Bathsheba. Nevertheless, their presence in the sacred genealogy indicates that Jesus is not only the Savior of the Jews, but of all mankind as well.
But the passage tells us something far greater and much more significant. In the words God spoke to Joseph, we learn that the child conceived in Mary is no mere man. He is God for He was conceived miraculously, without any human interaction, by the power of the Holy Spirit! Many today would deny this, even some who call themselves Christian. They feel comfortable with this because if Jesus is only a man then they can chose to listen to or ignore him as one among many good men, religious teachers or leaders competing for our attention. But if He is God, He must be obeyed. Those who ignore or reject Him fall under His judgment.
One cannot be a Christian and deny the fact that Jesus is both God and man; this is one of the cornerstones of our faith. If Jesus were not really a human being, He could never properly represent us before the Father and take our punishment on Himself. If He was not God, fully divine and without sin, his death would never be acceptable to the Father, for if He would not be sinless nor would his death have the power to atone for the sins of the whole world.
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