Originally posted: 4/12/2020
Ancestry: family or ancestral (something pertaining to ancestors) descent; lineage; honorable or distinguished descent; the inception or origin of a phenomenon, object, idea, or style.
So, let’s just get this right out in the open. This lengthy list of names, penned in the first two chapters of 1 Chronicles, doesn’t exactly tend to inspire our quiet time. But, some background on the laborious work of Chronicles may fuel our inspiration.
1 and 2 Chronicles, originally one work in the Hebrew text, was written after the nation was restored from their Babylonian captivity.
From NIV Study Bible (Introduction to Chronicles, Purposes and Themes):
Just as the author of Kings had organized and interpreted the data of Israel’s history to address the needs of the exiled community, so the author of 1 and 2 Chronicles wrote for the restored community. The burning issue was the question of continuity with the past: is God still interested in us? Are his covenants still in force? Now that we have no Davidic king and are subject to Persia, do God’s promises to David still have meaning for us? After the great judgment (the dethroning of the house of David, the destruction of the nation, of Jerusalem and of the temple, and the exile to Babylon), what is our relationship to Israel of old?
In our own day, we have seen a rise in the interest in family trees, genealogies, and ancestries. Psychologists attribute the peak in this preoccupation with the need for finding self-relevance and assurance that our life somehow plays an integral part in the big picture of our planet.
And in a sense, God provided a kind of psychological comfort, His Assurance to His people coming out of captivity through their Ancestry: all the way back to His beginning with Adam, to Abraham the father of their faith, and arriving at David, the one whose line would bring the fulfillment of His promise through the Messiah.
The answer to their burning question was delivered with His Assurance through their very Ancestry: Yes God was very much still interested. They had been an integral part of His plan since the beginning of time.
Consider His Assurance through Our Ancestry
In the same way, we too have been granted His Assurance through Our Ancestry. Our Ancestry is in the Honorable and Distinguished Christ, chronicled through His promises from the beginning of human history. He has provided His Assurance through His fulfilled promises: in the garden; throughout the history of the nation Israel; through the birth, death and resurrection of our Savior; through the inception of His church; and through His promise to come again and establish His rule over His new heaven and earth.
- His Assurance through Our Ancestry: His Pledge to Send His Deliverer.
- “And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel,” (Genesis 3:15).
- “And I will put enmity
- His Assurance through Our Ancestry: His Pledge to Establish His Eternal King.
- “When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever,” (2 Samuel 7:12-13).
- His Assurance through Our Ancestry: His Pledge through the Line of His Son.
- “He will cry to Me, ‘You are my Father,
My God, and the rock of my salvation.’
27 I also shall make him My firstborn,
The highest of the kings of the earth.
28 My lovingkindness I will keep for him forever,
And My covenant shall be confirmed to him.
29 So I will establish his descendants forever
And his throne as the days of heaven,” (Psalm 89:26-29).
- “He will cry to Me, ‘You are my Father,
- His Assurance through Our Ancestry: His Pledge from the Beginning.
- In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, (John 1:1).
- His Assurance through Our Ancestry: His Pledge of Salvation and Hope Fulfilled.
- “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” 57 So the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” 58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am,” (John 8:56-58).
- His Assurance through Our Ancestry: His Pledge to Conform Us through Faith.
- For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; (Romans 8:29).
- His Assurance through Our Ancestry: His Pledge as Eternal Creator.
- He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 18 He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything, (Colossians 1:15-18).
- His Assurance through Our Ancestry: His Pledge as Judge and Mediator.
- But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, 23 to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant… (Hebrews 12:22-24).
- His Assurance through Our Ancestry: His Pledge to Release Us from our Sins.
- …Grace to you and peace, from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood, (Revelation 1:4-5).
How do we respond to His Assurance through Our Ancestry?
Today, after reading a list of names, with many being completely unfamiliar, it was tempting to close my Bible without even trying to hear or see Him. But I’m so grateful for the nudging of His Holy Spirit and the tools we are able to access. Just a little extra reading about the purpose of 1 and 2 Chronicles, encouraged me to keep seeking Him, even when it takes extra effort.
I admit, sometimes I just want a feel-good experience. Emotionally, I often need that. I have a feeling I’m not the only one.
But He is so faithful, as He led me to consider another list of Names. Names I have heard before; Names worthy of hours of contemplation; Names that result in emotional praise and gratitude; Names that evoke thanksgiving.
When we are born again, we are born into the family of God and now share in His amazing, although undeserved, Ancestry!
Our Ancestry is in Christ and He has provided His Assurance through His fulfilled promises: in the garden; throughout the history of the nation Israel; through the birth, death and resurrection of our Savior; through the inception of His church; through the sanctifying power of His Holy Spirit; and through His promise to come again and establish His rule over His new heaven and earth.
I invite you to join me today, to consider again the previous verses along with the verses that follow below; that we would contemplate with gratitude and awe His promises declaring just a few of the Glorious Names revealing Our Ancestry in Jesus Christ.
Let us wholeheartedly offer Him our praise, gratitude and thanksgiving; for in the Name of Jesus we have His Assurance through Our Ancestry.
- His Assurance through Our Ancestry in Jesus: The Deliverer (Genesis 3:15).
- “The Deliverer will come from Zion,
He will remove ungodliness from Jacob.”
27 “This is My covenant with them,
When I take away their sins,” (Romans 11:26-27).
- “The Deliverer will come from Zion,
- His Assurance through Our Ancestry in Jesus: The Eternal King of Kings (2 Samuel 7:12-13).
- These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful, (Revelation 17:14).
- His Assurance through Our Ancestry in Jesus: The Beloved Son of God (Psalm 89:26-29).
- …and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased, (Matthew 3:17).
- His Assurance through Our Ancestry in Jesus: The Beginning and the End (John 1:1).
- “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end,” (Revelation 22:13).
- His Assurance through Our Ancestry in Jesus: Our Salvation and Hope Fulfilled (John 8:56-58).
- Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the commandment of God our Savior, and of Christ Jesus, who is our hope, (1 Timothy 1:1).
- His Assurance through Our Ancestry in Jesus: The One Who Conforms Us as The Author and Perfecter of Faith (Romans 8:29).
- fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God, (Hebrews 12:2).
- His Assurance through Our Ancestry in Jesus: The Eternal Creator (Colossians 1:15-18).
- He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being, (John 1:2-3).
- His Assurance through Our Ancestry in Jesus: The Judge and Mediator (Hebrews 12:22-24).
- And He ordered us to preach to the people, and solemnly to testify that this is the One who has been appointed by God as Judge of the living and the dead. 43 Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins, (Acts 10:42-43).
- For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, (1 Timothy 2:5).
- His Assurance through Our Ancestry in Jesus: The One Who Releases Us From Our Sins and Sets Us Free (Revelation 1:4-5).
- “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed,” (John 8:36).
Lord Jesus,
We are beyond privileged and can hardly believe that we have been invited to share in Your Royal Ancestry. We thank You today as we meditate on just a few of Your Names, so worthy of honor and praise.
Today, Lord Jesus, we thank You, that because You are The Deliverer, The Eternal King of Kings, The Beloved Son of God, The Beginning and the End, Our Savior and Hope, The Author and Perfecter of Faith, The Eternal Creator, The Judge and Mediator, and The One Who Releases Us From Our Sins and Sets Us Free, we never have cause to doubt our future in You.
How grateful we are for Your Assurance through Our Ancestry in You, Jesus Christ, Our Lord. Amen!