Day 5: Hope's Arrival
Theme For The Series: In this 21 day Advent devotional we are focusing on anticipation and the Incarnation, Christ’s presence In the world, the return of the King.
Intro Prayer: “Jesus, please help me in this time to be fully present to You and to myself that I may commune with You for the sake of your glory and the world around me.”
Silence: In this time, try and become silent before the Lord both internally and externally for 5 minutes. If your mind wanders, gently bring it back to stillness.
Praise: Bless the Lord by declaring these truths about Him!
“Jesus, You are the Vine and I am the branches. The Father is the viticulturist who cares for me and prunes me and helps me to be fruitful. You make the invisible God visible. You were victorious on the cross. You give your people vision and you are with us in the valleys of life. You view all of our days before you. Not one escapes your attention.”
Devotional: In Matthew 1, we begin to read about the arrival of our Hope. Matthew starts in an unusual place: a genealogy- the family tree of Jesus.
At first glance, this genealogy might seem like details to skip over, like some sort of random Bible trivia. But if you stop and look at the names and the lives of the different people mentioned, you will see that Jesus's family tree is filled with dysfunction, scandal and so many people who are surprising to find there.
You have Jacob, a known deceiver. You have Judah who slept with his daughter-in-law Tamar as a prostitute. Tamar, who posed as a prostitute to get revenge of Judah. You have Rahab, another prostitute and this one from a foreign people. You have King David who was an adulterer and murderer. You have Solomon, David's son, who's wickedness ended up fracturing the nation he was supposed to lead. Manasseh was another wicked king, whose legacy was for leading his people astray.
Jesus came into the world through a broken, dysfunctional family. You probably have some brokenness and dysfunction in your family tree as well. Jesus came to make broken people and broken families whole. He entered into the world through a family filled with scandal to make the point that no one is too far from His grace and saving power.
As you meditate on today’s Scriptures, let them do a deep work as you reflect on healing that Jesus came to give us.
Scripture: Read today’s text slowly. Feed your spirit on the words. Your goal in this time is to commune with Jesus through His Word. Take note as you sense His Presence.
Matthew 1.1 This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:
2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, 4 Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife, 7 Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa, 8 Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram, Jehoram the father of Uzziah, 9 Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10 Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah, 11 and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.
12 After the exile to Babylon: Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13 Zerubbabel the father of Abihud, Abihud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, 14 Azor the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, Akim the father of Elihud, 15 Elihud the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, 16 and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah.
Worship: Worship forms the truths of Scripture deep within our lives. This week we will be worshipping to the song O Come O Come Emmanuel sung by Lauren Daigle. It is a classic song reminding us that Hope is coming. (If you are reading this via email, here is the link to the video.)
Listen: Take time to listen to the Holy Spirit. Write down anything you sense the Lord speaking.
Obedience: What from today is the Lord calling you to put in practice? Could be to pray for someone, to call someone, to serve someone etc.