From Abraham To Jesus!
Full Message: 38min
Main Passage: Matthew 1:1-17
“Jesus’ identity is rooted in the fulfillment of the promise that through Abraham God would bless all the nations, in the promise made to David of an eternal kingdom, and in the promise made to God’s people that one day they would return from their long exile, back to the land that was promised. As Christians, grafted into the family of God, Jesus’ genealogy is also ours, for we trace our heritage back to Abraham, our forefather in the faith. In this historical line, we discover our truest identity in Christ, the One through whom God has kept all His promises.” – The Gospel Project
Theological Theme:
The Son of God, Jesus the Christ, will fulfill God-Father, Son and Spirit’s ancient promises to His people.
Christ Connection:
In the genealogy at the beginning of Matthew’s Gospel, we see how God’s plan of redemption is traced from Abraham to David and now to the birth of Jesus—the One who fulfills God’s promises to Abraham and David. Through His life, death, and resurrection, Jesus incorporates us into Abraham’s family of faith.
Missional Application:
God the Father, through the Holy Spirit, calls us to proclaim Jesus as the central figure of history and the only One in whom salvation is found.
“Have you ever struggled with the question “Who am I?” It is one of those basic questions that need asking again and again if we are to grow and mature as the world changes around us and as the world inside us changes. It is the question of identity….. To answer any identity question, it is always best to go back to the beginning. “In the beginning…” Jesus is the fulfillment of a promise first spoken to Abraham, who was not just some hero of the faith—and Jesus is his direct descendant!
Jesus’ connection to the promises of God are a flesh and blood link to His genetic ancestors. Their DNA flows in Jesus’ veins. This is not “a roll call of great men”; these are members of Jesus’ family! Invariably He bore some distant resemblance—the shape of His face or perhaps the inflection of His voice. These ancestors were the unique recipients of unique promises from God. Jesus will be the One through whom each and every promise will be perfectly and completely fulfilled.” – The Gospel Project
“Now is the moment, Matthew is saying, for [salvation] to happen. The child who comes at the end of this line is God’s anointed, the long-awaited Messiah, to fulfill all the layers and levels of the prophecies of old.” –N. T. Wright
“Jesus is the perfect and trustworthy One who will lead us home, who will rescue us from the exile that was the result of our stubborn disbelief and sin. Through the ancestral promises made to Abraham and David, Jesus, their direct descendant, will perfectly and completely accomplish what God intended from the beginning: “I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people” (Lev. 26:12). In Jesus we find the fulfillment of the promise first made to Abraham to bless the nations….
Some rabbis have said that you have not really walked alongside someone until you realize that their story is also your story. When we come to the life situation of the first readers of Matthew’s Gospel, the truth of that statement comes to life…..In the years to come, those of us who follow Jesus of Nazareth will inevitably experience separation and exclusion, perhaps even exile. It is already the experience of our brothers and sisters all over the world. The promises made to Matthew’s first readers almost two thousand years ago are just as alive and relevant to us today as they were to the frightened followers of Jesus in the first centuries of the church.” – The Gospel Project
Photo Compliments http://www.marturia.net
Trinity and Humanity 
Leave a Reply