JANUARY 7, 2023 ~ THEMATIC JOURNEY THROUGH THE BIBLE

JANUARY 7 READING…GENESIS 14-15 & MATTHEW 1

Today’s theme is that God is a promise keeping God. The word “covenant” means promise. God always makes a covenant with His people. We have already seen the covenant God made with Noah and all humanity. In today’s reading we see the covenant that God makes with Abram. Both the covenant with Noah and Abraham are unconditional covenants, meaning they are not dependent upon what humanity does. The covenants given to both Moses and David are examples of conditional covenants…they are dependent upon mankind’s response and behavior. God tells Abram of his coming heir, a son…and He also tells him of the enslavement and ultimate release of his descendants…which will eventually be as numerous as stars in the heavens. When God makes promises…He keeps them.

That brings us to our reading in Matthew chapter 1. What is recorded for us here is the fulfillment of God’s ultimate promise. In the fulfillment of this promise we have the establishment of a new unconditional covenant God makes with a genuine believers in Christ Jesus…eternal life. God chooses to use two common people Joseph and Mary to bring His Son into the world to fulfill God’s promise. Yet the Son would not literally be the “son” of Joseph, but as the angel told Joseph, the Son would be the literal Son of God. The birth of Jesus happened when and where God had His prophets say it would happen. The Son is Immanuel…God with us, and in the new covenant…God who would never leave us.

Please share your thoughts.

TOMORROW’S READING…GENESIS 16-18 & MATTHEW 2