June 2025

See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them....   -- Revelation 21:3

The book of Revelation offered a vision of the completion of God’s intention that had been working itself out since the beginning of creation. In contrast to those who would suggest that God will carry off the faithful to heaven and leave the evil earth behind, Revelation saw an earthly fulfillment of God’s purposes. The home of God was among mortals and not vice versa. It began in Genesis with God overcoming chaos, symbolized by the waters, and ends with a time when chaos will be ended --  “and the sea was no more.”

The promise of God from the beginning was for all peoples, and, though for a time, God chose a special people, it was always for the purpose that “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3b). Despite periods of intense nationalism, the Hebrew prophets continued to proclaim a vision of universalism as God’s intent. While Israel wrote the history of God’s vision, they were not seen as the only people whom God claimed. “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my heritage” (Isaiah 19:25; see also Isaiah 56:7; Amos 9:12). John made clear that Christians also must not lose sight of God’s love for all peoples and all nations. The prophecy of Isaiah 65:17, “For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind,” is echoed in Revelation as a reminder that God has been in charge all along and will complete the divine intention by bringing history to a fulfillment.

The seemingly chaotic path that we have traveled was necessary for God to preserve our dignity and freedom, but it was never beyond God’s ultimate control. In Genesis 1:7 some of the waters that symbolized chaos were deliberately left to be part of creation but were prevented from overwhelming creation. “So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome.” Such chaos, though it was necessary for our development, did result in pain, suffering, and death. Finally, however, God “will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.” Our hope lies, not in the avoidance of pain and suffering, but in our trust in God who has ordered this creation for us. This hope is not for us alone but for all of creation, which from the beginning God pronounced “very good” (Genesis 1:31).

Our Hope, Jesus Christ. Pastor Doug

May 2025

GENERATIONS OF FAITH

Matthew 1:1-17

1 This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham: 2  Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3  Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, 4  Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5  Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, 6  and Jesse the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife, 7  Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa, 8  Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram, Jehoram the father of Uzziah, 9  Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10  Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah, 11  and Josiah the father of Jeconiah [c]  and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon. 12  After the exile to Babylon: Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13  Zerubbabel the father of Abihud, Abihud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, 14  Azor the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, Akim the father of Elihud, 15  Elihud the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, 16  and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah.

17  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 Messiah.

I don’t know about you, but I always used to skip over the first seventeen verses of Matthew. “Why read this stuff?” I often reasoned. “I can’t pronounce half the names, and they don’t make sense anyway. Matthew must have been overly involved with detail when he decided to put this in his gospel.”

If one looks more closely, this is hardly the case. These verses are alive with the faith of the people of God over many generations.

We remember Abraham, “the Father of Nations,” and the wondrous promises God made to him. We see that God’s promise to Abraham is coming true in Jesus, The Messiah.

We remember David, the great and glorious King. We read how the promise of God traced from Abraham, through David, unto Jesus.

WE are startled to find the names of four women in this list. (Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba – wife of Uriah). Startled because men dominated official genealogies in that day. Startled because the worth of children was often traced to the worth of the faither. Startled because of these four women, three who were clearly Gentiles, or outsiders of the Jewish faith. Startled because Tamar was a victim of neglect, Rahab was a prostitute, Ruth was a risk-taker, and Bathsheba was a victim of sexual abuse.

The Messiah, Jesus Christ, came from the depths of our human condition. This genealogy reminds us how God works so wonderfully in and through all sorts of people to bring about God’s purpose. In these seventeen verses we see that Matthew was not just some ordinary zealous “number cruncher.” He wanted us to know who this Messiah was and from whence he had come.

He had come from the less-than-perfect, but faithful generation s of people who called upon the name of the One, true God.

PRAYER THOUGHT: Give thanks to God for those of your ancestors who brought the faith to the next generation. Ask God for the strength and wisdom to do the same for the generations that will follow after you.

God is counting on us!

Pastor Doug