Day 258: The Kingdom Is Here (2026)

Fr. Mike Schmitz (0:04)

Hi, my name is Fr. Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to The Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using The Great Adventure Bible Timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation. Discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today, it is day one of our Messianic Checkpoint, which means it's day 258 of the entire Bible in a Year. We're reading today Matthew 1-4. Just what a gift. And keep this in mind, you may have up to this point, the first chapter of Matthew begins with the genealogy. And you might have always heard the genealogy and gone through it and thought, well, this is just, these are a bunch of names. I have no idea who these people are, what their stories are. It says Babylonian exile, what's that? Well, you know that now, which is pretty phenomenal. So keep your ears attuned to that. I'm also reading Proverbs 18, 17-20. As always, the Bible translation I'm reading from is the Revised Standard Version, 2nd Catholic Edition. I'm using The Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible in a Year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com/bible in a Year. You can also subscribe to this podcast by clicking on subscribe and receiving daily episodes and updates. You'd also know that today is the Messianic Fulfillment Day. Also, you probably checked out or maybe you already listened to the intro to Messianic Fulfillment or the intro to Matthew with Jeff Cavins that we recorded, which was just, man, Jeff's awesome. And yes, there's so much, there's so much in the Gospel, so much in the entire Bible. But if you haven't listened to that, I invite you to check that out because it might give a little bit of a context. You don't have to listen to it today if you didn't do it yet. It'll give some context though for the next few days as we journey through Matthew 1 through 28 But today, it's day 258 and we're journeying through Matthew 1, 2, 3 and 4, Proverbs 18 verses 17 through 20

The Gospel according to Matthew, Chapter 1, The Genealogy of Jesus Christ. The Book of the Genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, and Ram the father of Amenadab, and Amenadab the father of Nashon, and Nashon the father of Solomon, and Solomon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David, the king. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asa, and Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the deportation to Babylon. And after the deportation to Babylon, Jeconiah was the father of Shaltiel, and Shaltiel the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel the father of Abiyud, and Abiyud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, and Eliud the father of Eliezer, and Eliezer the father of Matan, and Matan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.

So, all the generations from Abraham to David were 14 generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon 14 generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ 14 generations.

The Birth of Jesus Christ. Now, the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph before they came together, she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit, and her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to send her away quietly. But as he considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.