God KNOWS us ‘INTIMATELY’ by our NAMES!
April 22
Bible Reading: 1 Chronicles Chapters 1-3
God KNOWS us ‘INTIMATELY’ by our NAMES!
"Adam, Seth, Enosh" (1 Chronicles
1:1). "Have we not all one Father?
Has not one God created us?" (Malachi 2:10)
The book of Chronicles
was written after the exile as an “inspirational
history”, as the author has tried to inspire the Israelites with their
extraordinary spiritual heritage. It was originally written as one large book
and occupies the last position in the Hebrew Bible. In this book, the history
of the southern kingdom (Judah) is presented in such a way as to help restore
its religious and national heritage by showing its unbroken connection with the
patriarchal beginnings. While the books of Samuel
and Kings emphasize the historical
part of the Jewish story, the books of Chronicles
emphasize the spiritual part of the
story written from a priestly perspective.
The
genealogies and narrative of 1 Chronicles span the period from Adam to the end
of the life of David. The origin of the Jewish nation is here traced from the
first man (Adam) that God had created. God has created of one blood all nations
of men; they are all descended from one Adam. The first nine chapters of 1
Chronicles contain genealogies that were very important to the Jews in seeking
to maintain their tribal distinctions. The genealogies demonstrate the place of
the line of David, from whom the Messiah would come, among the families of
mankind (1:1–3:24).
God had
pledged to Abraham that He would make him the father of a great nation, one
through which He would bless the whole earth (Gen. 12:1–3). God had also
promised that a king would rule over this special nation (Gen. 17:6). It was
revealed to Jacob that the king would descend specifically from Jacob’s son
Judah (Gen. 49:10). The line of Judah can be traced through his son Perez to
King David (Ruth 4:18–22). God had
faithfully fulfilled His promise!
The book of Chronicles
reminds us that God takes our heritage
seriously and it tells us the story of God’s
work and purposes from generation to generation. The names recorded in the
genealogy belonged to real people who
once lived on this earth. Now most of them are forgotten and their names buried
in an ancient list. One day our names will also only exist in a record file
somewhere. History may forget us, but God
in heaven will never forget us!
Today, let
us remember that God knows us intimately
by our names. Just like the names of the Jewish people were recorded in the
genealogies in 1 Chronicles because they were born of earth as the children of
Abraham, our names are recorded in
the Lamb’s “Book of Life” in heaven
when we are born again through faith in Jesus Christ (Luke 10:20; Phil. 4:3). God
has called us by name, and He will never forget
us as we are continually in His sight
always!
