Matthew’s Connection to Genesis
2024 Weekly Devotional • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Good evening, and welcome! I’m Pastor Res with Liberty Spring Christian Church, and I want to tell you how excited I am for the journey we are about to take together through God’s Word.
If you’ve specifically looked for this video, thank you for taking to heart Sunday’s message about the importance of daily Bible study, in general, and the special significance of reading the Bible corporately.
If this video simply popped up in your feed and you’re still watching, I’m glad you’ve joined us today. And I hope you’ll take part in both the Bible-reading plan and the weekly devotionals I’ll post here based on our readings.
Since this is a Bible reading plan for procrastinators, we started it on Jan. 29, and we’ll complete it at the end of January 2025. You can find a schedule of weekday readings in the comments, below.
I’ll choose something from the week’s readings to talk about each Tuesday, hoping to highlight something that might easily have been missed and to encourage you to dig deeper into God’s word as you study.
Today, I want you to notice the first line of Matthew’s Gospel account. Writing under the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, Matthew introduces Jesus by giving us the genealogy of Joseph, His earthly father.
1 The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham:
Since we’re also reading the first 19 chapters of Genesis this week, you might notice that this line in Matthew sounds a lot like ones we repeatedly read in Genesis. In Gen 6:9, for instance, we read, “These are the records of the generations of Noah.”
The Hebrew word “toledot,” which can be translated as generations, families, or records, is used as a storytelling device in Genesis.
There are 11 toledot statements in Genesis, and they mark out the structure of this book. Each toledot statement summarizes what’s to come in the following section and serves to introduce what became of someone or something.
What takes place in Genesis is a narrowing of focus, from the universe to mankind; to Noah; to Shem, Ham and Japheth; to Shem; to Terah; to Abraham; to Isaac; to Jacob and Israel.
The toledot structure helps to identify this narrowing. Each time the focus narrows, we are pointed to the line from which redemption of mankind will come.
What’s really interesting is how this very Jewish writer, Matthew, picks up the toledot structure of Genesis to launch his Gospel account.
And it’s appropriate, because the redemptive line of Genesis — and indeed of all the Old Testament — points directly at Jesus. From the beginning — from BEFORE the beginning — Jesus has ALWAYS been the only one in whom we can find redemption from our sin and rebellion against God.
He alone fulfills the redemptive promises of God to Eve, to Abraham, to David, to the prophets — and to US, we who are promised eternal life through faith in Him.
Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!