Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.” Jesse then had Shammah pass by, but Samuel said, “Nor has the Lord chosen this one.” Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, “The Lord has not chosen these.” So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?”
“There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered. “He is tending the sheep.”
Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.”
So he sent for him and had him brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features.
Then the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; this is the one.”
So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David. Samuel then went to Ramah.

• 1 Samuel 16:8-13

Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar,
Perez the father of Hezron,
Hezron the father of Ram,
Ram the father of Amminadab,
Amminadab the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon,
Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,
Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,
Obed the father of Jesse,
and Jesse the father of King David.
David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,

• Matthew 1:3-6

Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”

• Revelation 5:5

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

• Romans 3:23-24

“The genealogy David and Christ shared was of obvious importance. In Matthew 1:3, see that both David and Christ were descendants of Judah, one of the sons of Jacob. in the prophecy that Jacob spoke over Judah, he said, ‘The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet’ (Gen. 49:10). You see, David was not a random choice. He was one of the most important figures in the genealogy of Christ, ‘the Lion of the tribe of Judah” (Rev. 5:5).
“I never fail to be encouraged by Christ’s heritage. How do you respond to the fact that the only perfect person in Christ’s genealogy is Christ Himself?
“To me, Christ’s flawed family history serves as a continual reminder of the grace of God in my life. In my human desire for perfection, I want to be so good that I need no one and no thing. It may surprise you to know that this desire grows from a biblical base: the tower of Babel. The tower pictures graphically our human drive to take God’s place.
But whenever my perfectionism kicks in, l run back to Scripture—to the only source of perfection: … (Rom. 3:23-24).
“God chose David. On the surface, the choice made no sense. But God doesn’t work on sense; He works on grace. God called you, and God called me. He knew what He was doing.
“In many ways David’s life foreshadowed or pictured details of Christ’s life. God illustrated the unknown about the Messiah through the known about David. David was not divine or perfect, as we will quickly discover, but God has used him to teach us truths about the One who is.”

• Beth Moore, David

Beth Moore hits the nail on the head.  We try to go on our own, and we might even think we are doing an adequate job of it, but we fail.  To follow through with about every major issue today, some human is saying to trust them.  They will see us through to a better future.  But is that not just another example of the tower of Babel?

The only One that is perfect in Christ’s genealogy is Jesus Christ.  We can trust no one else.  I have heard a lot about the women in the Matthew genealogy and how none of them were perfect, but why not look at the men?  Tamar had to trick Judah into making her pregnant so that the honorable thing might be done.  Jacob cheated his father-in-law Laban, but only because Laban cheated him.  But Jacob still cheated, as he cheated his brother out of the blessing.  Even with the birthright, Jacob knew that the birthright for a bowl of porridge or stew was hardly a fair trade.  Abraham and Isaac passed their wives off as being their sisters.  Deceit seems to run supreme in the family line.  And several of the kings in the family line of David worshipped false gods, encouraging others to do the same.

We can only trust Jesus; He is the only perfect one of any of us.  Yet, we ignore Him.  The secular world seems to have giant banners up everywhere, because most people would try anything to fill the void in their lives, anything but…  ABC, anything but Christ (Christianity).

We are approaching our celebration of Christ’s birthday, but will Jesus Christ be remembered on that day?  Even saying “Remember the Reason for the Season” falls short of stating with no equivocation, “Jesus Christ is the reason for the season.”  Jesus is the reason that God has not put an end to this world already.

Let us be true to the Advent Season and work toward our preparation for Christ’s Return.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.