It’s a good time to review how we came to have Christ, a Son given to us from God, and to celebrate His Christmas. It’s a good time for connecting the New Covenant DNA dots, to not only realize the reason for the season, but the covenant promise of God fulfilled in the season.

About six thousand years ago, God appeared to a childless old man named Abraham, a direct descendant of Adam, Seth and Noah. God offered to make a covenant with him, based upon the promise to not only give him a son through his elderly, barren wife, but also, incredibly, to make him into a great nation, so that ultimately that all nations will be blessed through your offspring. (Genesis 22:18).

Full disclosure: Abraham and his old lady, Sarah, laughed at God.

But God kept his promise.

When Abraham’s son is born God instructs him to name him Isaac, which means he laughs. In case you didn’t know, God has a sense of humor.

Isaac becomes the father of Jacob. Jacob fathers twelve sons who become the head of twelve tribes that actually do become a nation, known by God’s name for Jacob: Israel.

One of those tribes is Judah, the tribe from which King David comes. God also makes a covenant with David which includes the promise (found in Psalm 89) to establish in David’s line a permanent kingship, to rule over God’s people.

God’s promises to both Abraham and David are ultimately fulfilled in Jesus, who is born into David’s line of ancestry. How do we know? Luke 3:23-38 traces Jesus’ lineage backwards from Joseph, Mary’s husband and the father who raised Jesus. It traces Jesus’ earthly lineage all the way back to Adam, and David is in that line! The very first line of the book of Matthew says,

The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

God brilliantly deposited His seed into the line of King David, which makes Jesus the rightful heir and fulfillment of God’s covenant promise of an everlasting king for His people.

Back to Abraham

Both Matthew’s DNA line and the genealogy of Luke Chapter Three include Abraham, to prove that through Jesus, God has honored His covenant promise to Abraham that “in you all families of the earth will be blessed.”

Genealogies in the Bible — known to bored readers as “the begats” — have a purpose: to show the lineage through which God’s covenant promises are fulfilled. They trace the DNA of the human Son of God through both God and man! When the Spirit inspired the New Testament writers, He gave ample clues to connect all that ancient history between God and Abraham, with YOU:

• Galatians 3:6-7 says those who put their faith in Christ are considered the true descendants of Abraham, whose faith in God activated the fulfillment of God’s promise.
• In Galatians 3:14-16 Paul calls Christ “the seed of Abraham.”
• Hebrews 2:13-16 says Jesus came to help descendants of Abraham.

The Apostle Paul concludes in Galatians 3:29, “If you belong to Christ, you are Abraham’s seed and heirs of all the covenant promises made to him by God.”

God’s promise permeates the Scriptures, and IS the Gospel!

Paul is pointing to God’s promise repeated four times in the Old Testament to the Patriarchs. The New Testament (New Covenant) writers refer to those promises in Acts 3:25, Romans 4:13, Galatians 3:8, 29 and Ephesians 2:12. In Galatians, the God-Abraham covenant promise is referred to as a preliminary preaching of the gospel to Abraham.

We celebrate Christmas to memorialize the moment in history when the Father, Son and Spirit revealed their plan — which the Bible says was formed between them as a covenant commitment before the foundation of the world — for Jesus to enter the human race. God chose Joseph, a descendant of David, to act as the legal father of Jesus. He chose Mary, also a descendant of David (according to Luke 1:32) to receive the Holy Spirit’s seed and grow this son in her womb.

Mary’s song of praise even connects the dots.

Shortly after the angel Gabriel breaks the news to Mary, she bursts into a song of praise known as The Magnificat, recorded in Luke:

My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me — holy is his name.
His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.
He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors. (Luke 1:46-55 NIV)

Thus, even young Mary connected the dots between God’s covenant promise to Abraham and the child she would bear!

Christian, God gave you a son, His Son, to be your brother. To bring you into God’s family and God’s nation of faith. This Jesus spilled out all His human blood to cover the judgment of your sin, and died. The Holy Spirit resurrected Him, and the Father promises to resurrect all who join their hearts to His Son. And this son, our Jesus, is appointed the King of the whole earth, and of God’s Kingdom. God’s nation. Your nation, Believer.

Your salvation and God’s Kingdom are covenant promises, sworn to and fulfilled by God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This Holy Trinity covenant is also known as the eternal covenant, because it was made before time existed, and has no end.

This is the reason for the season we call Christmas. For Christians, it is about Christ. Because no matter who began what tradition when, God settles the debate by being previous to all: Dear Creation of Mine, I will give you a Son, my Son. He will be born as one of you. He will save you from the sin that separates us, so we can be one family, forever.

Mic drop.