Anchor Devotional

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The Fulfilled Promise

“Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ.” Matthew 1:17

At the end of Ruth, a genealogy reminds us that the story we’ve read is part of the larger story. Ruth is grafted into the line of Perez—which is also the sin-tainted line of Judah. This is a line that would swallow up unexpected women like Tamar, Rahab, and Ruth—reminding us that God’s love welcomes in all kinds of unlikely people.

It is a line that would take us to King David (Ruth 4:18; Matthew 1:6), a particularly meaningful path because the line of Judah would go from the good king, David, to David’s greater son, Jesus (Matthew 1:17). God’s people in the time of the judges threatened to extinguish the promises and promised line of God. Just as God rose up Seth after Abel (Genesis 4), God would make sure that the line stayed intact until the promised Messiah arrived.

We are reminded not only that our stories are part of the greater story, but that through this story we now enjoy salvation in Christ. And the genealogy doesn’t stop. Jesus is our firstborn brother! We are now grafted in the same line through His blood on the cross.

SCRIPTURE FOCUS
Ruth 4:18-22

INSIGHT
Ask yourself today: How is my story a part of God’s greater story of grace through Jesus Christ?

THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
Deuteronomy 13-14
Psalm 86
Acts 9

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