February 16, 2016: Adam

Luke 3:21-38

He was the…son of Adam (vv. 23, 38)…

Simeon and Anna cherished the promises made to Israel far back in the past. But as Luke begins to describe the adult life of Jesus, he goes even further back. Matthew’s Gospel traces Jesus’ genealogy back to Abraham, the ancestor of the Hebrew nation; Luke’s traces it right back to Adam, the ancestor of the whole human race. (John’s goes even further, back to the eternity in which the divine Son was with the Father: “Before the world was created, the Word already existed.”)

Even though you probably just skimmed this list of names, your eye may have caught some of them. David, Jacob, and Abraham are all real historical people. Jesus comes on the scene as an equally real person, and one who belongs, like them, in the history of Israel. But more than that, Luke wants us to see him as a member not just of the Hebrew race but of the human race. He was born as a person, in order to save humankind.

Out of the Jewish background (that is Matthew’s emphasis) grows something intended for all nations (that is Luke’s emphasis). None of us can say, “This is not for me.” As Luke’s friend Paul puts it, all who are in Adam die, but all who are in Christ will be made alive (1 Corinthians 15:22).

Today’s devotional was written by Michael Wilcock, a retired pastor in the Church of England. This Lenten series comes from Words of Hope, whose mission is to build the church in the hard places through media. To learn more about the organization or subscribe to Words of Hope’s daily devotions, visit www.woh.org.