5-11-2004
Read I Chronicles 1 - 2
In Today's Reading:
Jesus' lineage through Adam, Noah, Abraham, Israel (Jacob), and Judah
The first nine chapters of I Chronicles may first appear to be an unimportant list of names. But, this ancient genealogy reveals the exact plan and choices of our Creator in selecting the people whom He qualified to serve Him, beginning with Adam, Sheth . . . Enoch . . . Noah. . . . Abraham; Isaac . . . and Israel (I Chronicles 1:1,3-4,28,34; compare Genesis 5:1-32). Here Jacob is called by his God-given name Israel (compare 35:9-12).
This genealogy was exceedingly important after the Israelites' captivity. It showed how God continued to protect the family line of the coming Messiah, whose descent was traced from Adam through Abraham and David. In Luke 3:23-38, we see the genealogy of the last Adam, Jesus Christ (I Corinthians 15:22,45), traced through the very names recorded in Chronicles. Unless a man's name had been included in the genealogy of Levi (I Chronicles 6:1), he could not minister in the Temple.
Our Lord is now drawing to Himself a holy nation, a peculiar (God's own) people (I Peter 2:9). This holy nation is united not by the human genealogical bloodline that dates back to Adam but by the spiritual rebirth into the family of God through the blood of the last Adam, Jesus Christ.
Christ is Lord of our lives and oversees every detail. You can be sure that things that happen to believers are never "accidents"; they are allowed by our Lord, the Master Engineer, to prepare us to be the person He can use to accomplish the purpose for which He created us. As we prayerfully read all His Word, He continually reveals His will to us. Although we do not understand many of the things that God allows a Christian to suffer, His Word makes it clear that He has an eternal purpose for them and our new life in Christ is the beginning of life eternal.
This recorded genealogy is a reminder that soon the final books in heaven will be opened. Jesus promised: He that overcomes, the same shall be clothed in white raiment (clothing); and I will not blot out his name out of the Book of Life, but I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels (Revelation 3:5).
Christ Revealed:
By the first Adam (I Chronicles 1:1). Christ is the last Adam. We have eternal life because the last Adam was made a quickening (life-giving) Spirit (I Corinthians 15:45,47).
Word Studies:
1:6 sons of = descendants of; 1:10 begat = became the father of; 2:21 threescore = sixty.
Pray For:
Staff: Mary Kay Wagner · Government Officials: Rep. Harold Ford, Jr. (TN) and Sen. James Jeffords (VT) · Country: Belize (236,000) on the eastern coast of Central America · Major languages: English and Spanish · Religious freedom · 64% Roman Catholic; 26% Protestant; 2% spiritist/animist; 1% Hindu; 1% Muslim; 1% Baha'i
Prayer Suggestion: Pray for those who have hurt you (Matthew 5:44).
Prayer Suggestion: Pray for those who have hurt you (Matthew 5:44).
Optional Reading: Romans 14
Memory Verse for the Week: John 8:32