Scripture: Genesis 12:1-3

Key Words: longing, waiting, promise

Big Idea: God made a promise to Abraham many years ago.  Christmas is God’s fulfillment of God’s promises

There’s a song my kids love to sing called “Matthew’s Begats.”  It has a catchy rhythm and they love to sing it – loudly — during the month of December.  This song is full of unusual names like Rehoboam, Zerrubabel, and Jehosophat.  You might wonder why a song like this would be played during the Advent season. Is it a list of reindeer? Is it the naughty and nice list? Nope! These names are on a list, but we aren’t talking about Santa’s list. This list of names can actually be found in Matthew 1.  It is a list of generations of people, starting with Abraham, who we read about in Genesis.

God made a promise to Abraham.  What was that promise?

God promised Abraham that he would be a father, and not just any father.  He would be a father to as many people as there are stars in the sky (Genesis 15:5)! God promised that through Abraham he was going to do something great, something that would bless all the families of the earth.  But Abraham had to wait.  And Abraham’s child, Isaac, had to wait.  And Abraham’s grandchild, Jacob, had to wait. And Abraham’s children’s children’s children had to wait. And so on… all the way until Abraham’s great, great, great, great, great, great, (and then some) grandson, Matthan, had a son named Jacob, who was the father of Joseph, who married a woman named Mary, who was the mother of Jesus!! So the song “Matthew’s Begats” comes from Matthew 1 and is actually a long list of people who were waiting for God’s promise to Abraham to finally be fulfilled.

What does it mean to wait? Do you like to wait? Waiting is actually a big part of Christmas. What are some ways we wait at Christmas?
We wait in lines at the store. We may wait in line to see Santa. We wait for Christmas morning to get here. We don’t just wait, though. We long.  We desire, we really, really want to open that Christmas present.  We know Christmas is coming and we can hardly contain our desire for it to arrive.

As people who love Jesus, we should have that same kind of excitement and longing all year.. God promised Jesus and Jesus came!

What else has God promised?

 He promises to always be with us (Isaiah 41:10)

He promises that nothing can separate us from his love (Romans 8:38-39)

He promises that he will forgive our sins when we confess them (1 John 1:9)

He promises that he works all things together for our good (Romans 8:28)

He promises that he will give us eternal life (John 3:16)

And so much more!

God kept his promise to Abraham, even though people had to wait. God has promised his people many things and, as God’s people, we can be excited as we wait for His promises to be fulfilled. Just like the excitement we feel as we wait and long for Christmas morning.

Check out the video of the song mentioned in this devotion: Matthew’s Begats by Andrew Peterson