Forever Home in the Eternal Family of God

Daily Encouragement for the Family of God by Kenton Cheek

30 September 2024

Reading From Luke 1, John 1:1-14

^“ When Herod was king of Judea, there was a Jewish priest named Zechariah. He was a member of the priestly order of Abijah, and his wife, Elizabeth, was also from the priestly line of Aaron. Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous in God’s eyes, careful to obey all of the Lord’s commandments and regulations.”

“In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!”

“The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God. What’s more, your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she has conceived a son and is now in her sixth month. For the word of God will never fail.”

–Luke 1:5-6, 26-28, 35-37

     The genealogy of Jesus is documented in Matthew 1 with 42 generations and in Luke 3 with 77 generations listed.  Every human being has over 2 trillion ancestors in a family tree with 40 generations.  This means that Mary and Joseph had many branches in their lineages and here in the beginning of the Gospel According to Luke, we discover that Mary is a relative of Elizabeth.  Jesus and John the Baptist were cousins.  John’s parents Zechariah and Elizabeth were Levitical descendants of Aaron the Priest.

     The Messiah was conceived by the Holy Spirit.  I do not take this to mean that the Holy Spirit was the biological father and Mary was the biological mother.  I believe that Jesus in human embryo form, was miraculously formed in the womb of Mary and that in order to fulfill prophecies concerning His advent, His earthly parents were descendants of Nathan the Prophet, Aaron the Priest, and King David.  This made Jesus, according to His earthly family, Prophet, Priest and King. 

     Deeper and stronger than any familial connection, Jesus is our All-Powerful Prophet, Great High Priest, and King of Kings because of His divine nature.  As Prophet, He brings the plan of salvation from the Father to us and is the fulfillment of hundreds of messianic prophecies.  Jesus is God’s Word come true in the flesh.  He was more than the greatest truth-teller who ever lived, He is Himself the Way, the Truth and the Life. 

No one comes to the Father except through Him.  This also makes Him our Great High Priest.  He is the ultimate mediator between the Father and humanity.  What a wonderful Advocate we have, who not only knows us and our needs better than we know ourselves, but who also knows everything and can perfectly mete out justice and mercy.

As if this were not enough, He is God the Son, the Creator, Sustainer and Ruler of the Universe, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. He alone is sovereign. By His blood, applied by the Holy Spirit to our lives, we are grafted into the Vine and made part of His Family. In Jesus, we truly belong.

“Father God, thank You for the priceless and matchless gift of Your Son Jesus.  No one is greater than He is and yet He dwells within us by God the Holy Spirit.  We have the fullness of the Deity living inside of us, connecting us with Him and with one another with an eternal bond that can never be broken.  What a marvelous miracle to be part of the eternal family of Almighty God.  We praise Your holy Name!  Amen.”

Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.

And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
    and gave him the name that is above every name

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father.

 –Philippians 2:1-11

Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.  Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.

–Ephesians 3:20-21