Israel’s greatest distinctive, their most wonderful privilege, which separates them from all others, is that, through them, according to the flesh, Christ came into this world.

And, as we see in today’s text, Christ is a divine Person; the Incarnation! He is God manifest in the flesh! This astounding fact is the foundation upon which Christianity stands. Without this precious reality, all the other facets of the Christian faith crumble to meaningless dust. Christ came and He is the Eternal, the Jehovah of Hosts. Scripture declares this truth from its beginning to its end. He is the virgin-born Ruler who is “from the days of eternity” (Isa. 7:14; Mic. 5:2 jnd). He was the Word before there was ever a beginning, and equality with God was not robbery for Him (Jn. 1:1; Phil. 2:6). He was the “I am” before Abraham ever existed and the Creator, Sustainer, and Upholder of the universe (Col. 1:16–17; Heb. 1:2–3).

This fact of His divinity and humanity is clearly revealed in Matthew’s genealogy (Mt. 1:1–17). There we see listed everyday people, many of whom had difficult and troubled lives. We see even kings of Israel, some of whom had sinned grievously. It is a very human list of people, yet Christ humbled Himself and deigned that they would be His human ancestors. Amazing privilege! Christ recognized this special holy privilege of Israel when speaking to a needy woman of the Samaritans who had broached the subject of her religion: “salvation is of the Jews” was the Lord’s response (Jn. 4:22). Salvation has come to the Gentiles through that nation.