December 11 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Matthew 1:1–11

Devotional

It is a great wonder of grace, that at the beginning of the genealogy recorded in the gospel of Matthew we read that this is the book of the generations of Jesus Christ. What a great humiliation it was for Christ to leave heaven and become man! In addition to that He was a Man who was not ashamed to call His own His brethren. He was willing to belong to such a genealogy. He acknowledged that He was a member of such a corrupt family.

Christ was equal to God in all things but became equal to man. He took the guilt of His people upon Himself. He was not ashamed to acknowledge Adam as His father and Eve as His mother. He was considered to be low and base. It was said of Him: “This Man is a friend of publicans and sinners.” For this reason He was not welcome; there was no room for Him.

His name is mentioned at the beginning and the end of Matthew 1. He is the beginning and the end of the genealogy. He encompasses all of fallen mankind to make right with God what they have corrupted. He could have done this no other way than through the way of suffering. He had to suffer, die, and descend into hell for the sins of such ancestors as David and Rahab.

As Christmas approaches and we meditate at the manger on His deep humiliation, He will not ask for our compassion. Do not weep for Him like the women wept by the cross, but weep for yourselves and for your children. On Christmas Day may you experience and confess before God, against whom you have sinned, “This is my fall and my curse.”

In Bethlehem a deliverer is born for all generations that have lost and forfeited everything. No decency and no conservative lifestyle will save you. The poison of the serpent is in your blood, but He came to seek and to save that which was lost. Read this genealogy often, child of God; it makes and keeps you humble, and then Christ can minister to you. Then you will be able to stand and to live before God through this Surety who so greatly humbled Himself.

 

From The Everlasting Word by Frans Bakker, compiled and translated by Gerald R. Procee. Reformation Heritage Books and Free Reformed Publications, 2007. Used by permission. For further information, click here.