The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"Son of David, Son of Abraham"
"The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham" (Matthew 1:1).
The Lord Jesus Christ descended through the line of a king and of a believer.
"They anointed David king over Israel. David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years" (II Samuel 5:3-4).
"What saith the Scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness" (Romans 4:3).
This is just as we would expect in our Lord's heritage depicting the relationship between God and Christians. Human beings are, in our natural state, "as sheep gone astray" (Isaiah 53:6). We bear no independent capacity to successfully govern ourselves in a manner that glorifies God, fulfills our heart, and makes possible our eternally beneficial service to others. We must have a king, or rather, we must be rightly related to "the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God" (I Timothy 1:17). However, we do not innately desire someone to rule over us, Satan and sin having deceived us into the delusion that "ye shall be as gods" (Genesis 3:5). We cannot change our own hearts from self rule unto the governance of Christ's Lordship for which we exist. We must have a Savior to trust in order to receive a heart devoted to obeying our primary calling: "He is thy Lord, and worship thou Him" (Psalm 45:11). We therefore trust the King who also serves as Savior to make possible our life of devotion to His rule.
We require a ruler perfectly aware of our plight, and who can institute His governance by changing our heart from unbelief to faith, pride to humility, and death to life. We require "Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham." The King we must serve is also the King we must trust. When we receive the Lord Jesus by faith, He occupies both offices for us, redeeming us from the consequences of sin by grace, and changing our hearts by the entrance of the Holy Spirit into newness of life as sons and daughters enabled to serve God.
"God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you… God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying Abba Father" (Ephesians 4:32; Galatians 4:6).
That which our King requires, He first supplies. Christ's own heart of devotion to the Father dwells within us through Holy Spirit, who "worketh in you both the will and to do of His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13). As we trust Him, we find the power to serve that comes through the King who knelt to wash His disciples' feet, and then hung on a cross to redeem them (and all who believe) from the sin of seeking to rule themselves. We must know the Lord Jesus as our King to serve - the son of David - and as our Savior to trust - the son of Abraham.
Ever and always, Christ serves as our Heavenly Father's abundant supply in all things. "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" (Romans 8:32). We desperately require a king. We no less desperately require a heart willing to submit to a king. Let us look to the son of David for the former, and the son of Abraham for the latter. We will find Him one and the same, the Lord Jesus who serves as our Master, and the Lord Jesus who provides His own heart as the power whereby our own service to God becomes the joy of our lives.
"Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light."
(Matthew 11:28-30)
Weekly Memory Verse
He is thy Lord, and worship thou Him.
(Psalm 45:11)
7217
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