His Promises Are True

“In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.”
Luke 2:1-4

For most people their lineage isn’t that important. Most of us don’t know who our ancestors are past our great-grandparents and some do not even know that far up the line. For the messiah, it most certainly mattered.

Everyone knew the promise made to David, that a descendant of his would reign forever, so it everyone expected the Messiah to be born as a descendant of Israel’s great king. Luke confirms this for us, as does Matthew by giving us a listing of their family tree.

Now, you may be asking, why is this important. Why is it important that Jesus came from David? There are several reasons, but I think the most important is that it shows that God keeps his promises.

All throughout the Old Testament, God is busy making promises. While some of them are fulfilled in the lives of those to whom He promised something, others are not fulfilled for many years. The promise to David wasn’t fulfilled for a few hundred years, but it shows us that God is faithful.

David had to look forward with faith and trust God to bring about his promises. Nothing that David did could help this come about. David would be long dead by the time his promises were fulfilled. The only thing David could do was believe.

Whenever God makes us a promise our job is to simply believe. It’s to put our trust in Him. To have faith. This is sometimes one of the most difficult things to do. I think of the parents who have a wayward child, God is saying “have faith.” To those who have lost a loved one, God is saying, “Trust in me.” No matter what you are going through, faith is the thing that you need to hold onto. Always believe, always trust, God is good.

The Apostle Peter encourages us that God is not slack when it comes to his promises. He doesn’t do things on our time, but He will always be faithful to His word. If He makes a promise, you can trust that He will bring it to completion.

The hard part is always in this in-between time. We wait. We watch. We are looking for God to move, but think about how many generations come and go between David and Joseph. All of those generations were thinking the same thing, maybe God will keep his promises in our generation. Maybe we shall see the coming of the Lord.

We are in that same position, awaiting the second coming of our savior. We look to the east, wondering perhaps today will be the day that God will roll back the sky and call us home to be with Him forever. We know that He is faithful. We know that He is true. We just don’t know His timing and His timing is perfect.

No matter what you are looking for or waiting on this season, just remember that God is faithful. He will do what He promised. He will bring it to pass. Keep the faith. Don’t give up. He is good and He is faithful.

Prayer - Father, you know its difficult to be in the waiting. We are looking to you to keep your promises. Lord, we remind you of the promises you have made and we ask for you to bring them about in your timing. We trust you. Thank you Lord for being faithful, even when we are not. In Jesus name, amen.