Remnant, Not a Family Tree (Advent 1, 2022)

If you look at Jesus’ genealogies recorded in Matthew 1:1-17 and Luke 3:21-38, you’ll notice Matthew looks forward through the lens of Judaism beginning with Abraham. Luke’s record looks backward through the family of man, all the way to Creation.  Both display a remnant which is the theme for our 2022 Advent Devotionals.

Let’s look at Luke 3:38 “the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.”

This by far is the strangest.  Adam’s father is considered God because he was created from the dust of the earth.  Mankind was made in God’s Image beginning with Adam.  But with the fall of man came the need for a Savior.

Whose line would produce the Savior?  Certainly not Cain—the firstborn who had sin crouching at his door. He could not become the remnant.  Genesis 4:25 Adam made love to his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, “God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.”

And here we see the beginnings of a remnant for salvation, not a family tree. 
This is important. 
Only one son of Adam would carry the remnant: Seth.

Genesis 5:3 When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth.

Jesus’ lineage goes all the way back to the Creation of man with God the Father and Seth, the child in Adam’s true image.

Questions for further thought:

Why might Eve, the mother of all living, have associated the third-born Seth with being in place of Abel, her second born who was killed?

In what ways might redemption already be in the picture?

Why does redemption focus on the remnant and not promote the trunk of a family tree?

Wait, you might say, how do I know other sons of Adam didn’t form the remnant too?  Noah.  Stay tuned for Luke 3:36.

Prayer:

Father God, we praise You for the written record that we have of Your faithfulness all the way back to Creation.  We praise You and thank You for preserving this written word for us to read so that we might have encouragement that Your plan of salvation is from old.  We thank You for the faithfulness of our Lord Jesus Christ whose birth we celebrate at Christmas.  We ask, Lord, that You would make us people of faith bearing Your image in clear proclamation of the Gospel.  Thank You for this season of Christmas and for the work that You’ve done to give us hope of salvation in Jesus Christ our Messiah. Amen.

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Advent began Sunday, November 27, 2022 and continues to Saturday, December 24th as we explore the remnant spoken of in Scripture and awaken as the end draws near.

 By signing up on the sidebar of my Home Page you can receive these daily “Awaken, Remnant” devotionals. Or they will be reposted on SeminaryGal’s Facebook page as well.

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Acknowledging inquiries about an entire season’s devotionals for your study group’s planning purposes, Seminary Gal’s prior seasons’ Advent devotionals can be accessed via the archives to the right and are as follows:  

• The multi-faceted Interlude between the promise of a Deliverer and the birth of our Messiah and King was the theme of 2021’s devotional series. It is archived beginning November 28, 2021.
• 2020’s Devotional Series Divine Intervention began on November 29, 2020 and explored God’s activity on behalf of a hurting world and nations in tumult– Intervention for you and for me when our status as sinners required nothing short of a miracle.
• God’s Christmas list explored what might be on God’s Christmas list, learning what He wants from us. It began December 1, 2019.
• Storyteller began December 2, 2018 and entered into the Christmas story through its telling.
• The 2017 series Still Christmas, began December 3, 2017 and was the Advent complement to the Lenten series, Be Still and Know that I AM God.
• The 2016 season devotionals were called “Timeless: The Message of Christmas for All Ages” and explored how the message of Christmas is timeless truth, for all ages of people, and for all ages at all times.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love as we looked into the Word, saw the face of our Lord Jesus, and experienced restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless. The 2016 devotionals began November 27, 2016.
• The 2015 season devotionals were titled Incarnation and involved digging deep–and yes, I mean deep– in this important mystery of Christian theology.  They began November 29, 2015.
• Carol Me, Christmas! remains one of my most popular offerings and tells the Christmas story through our most beloved Christmas hymns and carols.  You can access all of the numbered devotionals from 2014 via the archives.  They began November 30, 2014.
• The 2013 series was Emmanuel: When LOVE Showed Up in Person and examined the Prologue to the Gospel of John.  It began December 1, 2013.
• The 2012 series focused on Expecting the Unexpected…the unexpected, unlikely, and uniquely divine qualities of God’s perfect plan outlined in Luke’s account of the Christmas story.  It began December 1, 2012.