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Welcome to Drive Time Devotions, our start of the study of the book of Matthew,
our start of the study of this story of Jesus, this amazing story of the life of
Jesus. The book of Matthew begins by letting us know that this story of the life
of Jesus actually began from the very beginning. God had always been planning
this story.

It begins with a genealogy, a record of what led up to the life of Jesus.
There's a lot of names here. For many people, this sort of reads like a phone
book at the start rather than the Bible.

But actually, when you read it closely, there's a lot of excitement here in what
God is doing. So let me tell you a story, the story of Jesus. It's not my story.

I'm passing it along from a man named Matthew, more about him later. But you
start with a story, this story that started from the very beginning. If for just
a moment you could suspend your suspicions about genealogies and instead have a
sense of the history of what's going on here, let me read for you what happens
in the beginning of Matthew.

Matthew chapter 1 verse 1, a record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of
David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of
Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, Judah the father of Perez and
Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezren, Hezren the father of
Ram, Ram the father of Amenadab, Amenadab the father of Natian, Natian 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, Solomon the father father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of
Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa, Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the
father of Jehoram and Jehoram the father of Uzziah Uzziah the father of Jotham,
Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, Hezekiah the father of
Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon and Amon the father of Josiah.

Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to
Babylon. After the exile to Babylon, Jeconiah was the father of Shieldteel and
Shieldteel the father of and Zerubbabel the father of Ehud and Ehud the father
of Eliakim and Eliakim the father of Azor, Azor, Zadok, Zadok, Achim, Achim,
Eliud, Eliad, Eliezer, just going through these names, Eliezer, Mathan, Mathan,
Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary of whom was born
Jesus, who is called Christ. Thus, there were fourteen generations in all from
Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon and fourteen from
the exile to the Christ.

There's the story, the start of this story, the son of David, the son of Abraham
it begins. That's who Jesus is. We're going to look in a moment at how important
that is.

Fourteen generations from Abraham to David, from David to the exile, from the
exile to Jesus. We're going to look at it in a moment at how important that is
in the story that we're being told. You see, there's a theme to the story of
every gospel, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, there's a theme to the story.

Every gospel has a unique theme and a unique audience. That's why God allowed
four to be written, because he knew that we needed to hear it from every
different perspective. When you read the gospel of Mark, you read about Jesus
the servant, that's the theme.

Jesus is the one who came to serve and to suffer. And if you look closely at the
gospel of Mark, it's written specifically to the Roman mind. Those in the Roman
world who would look and think in that kind of way, they needed to hear about a
suffering servant.

When you read the gospel of Luke, it's about Jesus the son of man, the one who
came to share and to sympathize with us. And this was especially written to the
Greek mind so that they could understand. Jesus came into a world that was
influenced by Greek and by Roman thought, but he also came into a world that was
influenced deeply by Jewish thought.

Now, the gospel of John is Jesus the son of God. It is written to everyone. It's
sort of a unique gospel.

But when you look at Matthew, it's Jesus the sovereign king. It's Jesus the one
who came to reign and to rule. And it's written specifically to the Jewish mind.

If you look at the message of Matthew, this story of the book of Matthew, it is
a story of the -- you might even write this down somewhere. If you're driving,
maybe write it down later. But you might put this somewhere in your mind.

We're going to come back to this several times. It is the story of the
fulfillment of God's promised kingdom. Matthew is the story of the fulfillment
of God's promised kingdom.

Matthew's gospel, more than any other, is a link between the Old Testament and
the New. Makes sense, because it is the link. It is the first book in the New
Testament.

And it's about the fulfillment that Jesus came to bring. We're going to see
later that Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, "I did not come to abolish the
law or the prophets. " That's the Old Testament.

"I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. " And as you look through the book
of Matthew, you find fulfillment again and again and again and again. In chapter
1, 22, 2, 15, 17, 13, 4 -- 2, 15, verse 17, verse 13, chapter 4, verse 14, 8,
17, 12, 17, 13, 35.

I could go on and on. The word fulfillment is used so often. And it's the
fulfillment of God's kingdom, the kingdom of God.

The word kingdom is used 55 times. The idea of the kingdom of God. The kingdom
of heaven is referred to 33 times.

It's all through this book. It's all through the New Testament, this story. What
is God's kingdom?

A simple personal definition is God's kingdom is the place where God is king. I
can't say I'm a part of God's kingdom unless I'm allowing God to be the king in
my life. There's that personal definition, but there's also a broad historical
definition here.

What God is doing in human history. And that goes back to this genealogy that we
just read. Why does he start with a genealogy?

Because this book, Matthew's story, is a story, the story of Jesus, to those who
thought with a Jewish mind. And to them, the most important question was, where
did Jesus come from? If you're going to tell me he's the promised one, is he in
the line of the promised ones?

And Matthew writes and says, let me tell you the story, absolutely. He is the
son of Abraham. He is the son of David.

Two of the greatest, greatest examples of the promises of God. The promise to
Abraham of a multitude of descendants, like the stars in the sky. The promise to
David of a king who would sit on a throne forever.

Jesus is the fulfillment of those promises. Now let's go back to the 14
generations. You notice he says, the son of Abraham, and there's 14 generations
until David, 14 generations until the exile, and 14 generations now again until
Jesus.

What is this about the 14 generations? Obviously it's important. He actually
makes sure that the genealogy is read in such a way that you see these 14
generations very clearly.

Well, there's a couple of things that are happening here. First, very clearly,
it's showing that Jesus is part of the broad plan of God, the plan of God that's
been working down through the generations, from Abraham to David, through the
exile of God's people to bringing them back. Now Jesus has come.

Now the promised one has come. Now the Messiah has come. There's a truth also
here that you may be able to see in the number itself.

There are three 14s here. Now in Jewish thought, seven was a very important
number. Seventh day is a Sabbath day.

Seventh day is God's day, the day of rest. So he's telling us here that there
are six sevens, six groups of seven, three of 14, if you're a math whiz, you
know that's six groups of seven until Jesus comes. Jesus is the beginning of the
seventh group of sevens.

We're going to learn later as we read through the Gospels that Jesus is the
Sabbath rest of God. He is the one who has come to give us rest from our works
to try to get to God on our own effort, to try to get to God based on the law.
He is the one who has come to give us rest from our own works and to realize
that in him, we only in him can we find salvation.

I'm always a little reticent to bring up too much number stuff in the Bible
because you can take numbers and cause them to mean anything that you want them
to because the Bible doesn't explain exactly why these numbers are here. But
this is one very good possibility. From the very beginning he's telling us that
Jesus is the fulfillment, he's the fulfillment.

There was a promise that was made to Abraham of a people that God would bring to
this earth, a people whom he would love. There was a promise that was made to
David of a kingdom that God would bring to this world, a kingdom that would
outlast this world, last into eternity. And Jesus is the fulfillment of that
promise for those people.

Jesus is the fulfillment of that promise. That's the story for that kingdom. He
is the Messiah.

So as we begin this book together and you begin to look at what's God going to
do in my life as I walk through this book. What God wants to do in your heart,
my heart, is the very message of this book, fulfillment. Fulfillment of God's
kingdom in my life and your life.

It is a book that's about fulfillment. So as you read it personally, I have to
read into it, see in it the personal fulfillment that God wants to bring into my
life. Jesus is the one who fulfills our needs.

We're going to read later. Jesus is the one who fulfills our inner desires.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be
satisfied.

Again and again and again, we're going to see that everything that I desire,
everything that I seek, every need that I have, it is fulfilled in Jesus. It's
fulfilled in him. So as we begin this story together, this journey, walking
through the book of Matthew together, let's take a moment to pray and ask him to
affect our hearts like nobody else can.

Our Father, we pray together that in this look at this wonderful book about the
life of Jesus, that you would touch our hearts. You would do something in our
lives that we could never do on our own. Something above and beyond our human
ability to reason through the words here.

Holy Spirit, take these words and fulfill in us what you want to fulfill in us.
The needs and desires and dreams help us to see in a way we've never seen before
how you are the fulfillment that we need. How you are the fulfillment on this
earth and into all eternity.

Your promise, your kingdom, that's what we truly need. And I pray that my
desire, our desire for that would increase through this study. I pray that my
desire, our desire for following you would increase.

Jesus, we see who you are. Thank you, Jesus, for your love for us. We pray in
your name, amen.

Well, tomorrow we're going to look back at that genealogy and we're going to
notice the four women who are in that genealogy and what we can learn from them.