The Second Person of Christmas is David

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord. Luke 2:11

This is a record of the family line of Jesus Christ. He is the son of David.  Matthew 1:1


We all know who David was.  He was a conqueror, a king, a man after God's own heart.  He was a songwriter, a shepherd, a best friend.  He was an adulterer, a murderer, a fallen hero.  He was the best.  He was the worst.

You know, God loves order.  Look at the end of chapter 1 of Matthew:  "So there were 14 generations from Abraham to David. There were 14 from David until the Jewish people were forced to go away to Babylon. And there were 14 from that time to the Christ."   God has ordained the days - not just the days, but the generations - of man from beginning to end.

But why was it important to God that Jesus come from the lineage of David?

You know, I used to think that God was chaotic.  In some ways, I still do.  By that, I mean that God is always moving, always swirling, always working.  Yet, when God looks at the world, at the cosmos, at His creation, He doesn't see chaos.  He sees order - His perfect plan.

His perfect plan was that Jesus and David be the same blood.  For Jesus to claim the throne as King of the Jews, He needed to come from a royal line.  Mary and Joseph both were direct descendants of David; through Mary, who shared the blood of David with Jesus, He was a rightful heir.  Through Joseph, who was not Jesus' blood, He had a legal inheritance as the son of David.

But again, why David?  Why this king?  Why this time?

Is David a hero or a villain of his own life story?  The best answer is, both.  He is a perfect king from which Jesus' blood lines should be drawn, because, in spite of his sin and shortcomings, he kept coming back to God.

When confronted with his sin, he didn't deny.  He accepted.  He repented.  He renewed.  He led God's people through times of war and peace, prosperity and adversity.  He always led with a knowledge and sense that they were God's chosen people.  He never turned his back, or the back of his nation, away from God, even when he did sin.

Without David, there would be no Christ.  In the end, if you ask me why, my answer must be - I don't know.  I don't know why God ordained it this way.  I just know that He did.

David is important to the Christmas story, because his life is another reminder that God had this plan all along.  When David was born, when he killed Goliath, when he ran from Saul, when he took the throne as King of Israel, when he saw Bathsheba for the first time, when he had her husband killed, when he lost his son, when he . . . when he did everything . . . he was part of God's plan all along.

The good and the bad.  The beautiful and the ugly.  The sin and the righteousness.

All part of God's plan.  To bring to the world redemption of sin - the Messiah . . . from the House of David.