OUR FATHER WHO MADE US

From Psalm 100;

Be still and know  the Lord is God

And it is He who made us

We believed and became His people

Everyone in all generations

Worship gladly before Him

Praising Him joyfully

For the Lord is good 

and His love endures

Psalm 100

1 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.

2     Worship the Lord with gladness;

    come before him with joyful songs.

3 Know that the Lord is God.

    It is he who made us, and we are his;

    we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving

    and his courts with praise;

    give thanks to him and praise his name.

5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;

    his faithfulness continues through all generations.

OUR FATHER WHOSE SON BROUGHT THE MESSAGE OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN

After moving to Capernaum, the Lord Jesus, being close to Sea of Galilee, came across some of the people of the community who made a living fishing and He called them to follow Him, expressly telling them that He was going to turn them into fishers of men.

Mathew chapter 4 verses 18 - 22 describes how Simon (later named Peter), Andrew, James and John were called out of the fishing industry and reassigned to the netting of men for the kingdom of God.

18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 20 At once they left their nets and followed him.

21 Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

Amen

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 OUR FATHER WHO SENT HIS SON TO PREACH THE NEWS OF THE KINGDOM

Mathew chapter 4 verse 12 - 17 says this;

12 When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he withdrew to Galilee. 13 Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali— 14 to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah:

15 “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,

    the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan,

    Galilee of the Gentiles—

16 the people living in darkness

    have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.”

17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

A political chill swept across the land when John the Baptist was arrested and imprisoned. 

John, in calling everyone to return to righteousness, told king Herod that it was wrong to marry his brother's ex-wife Herodias and because of this, Herodias took offence and instigated his arrest and imprisonment.

In the tense climate, Jesus moved further north to Capernaum near the Sea of Galilee where the town's larger population could help him be less traceable by the agents of the political powers.

In taking this step, the prophet Isaiah's writings in Chapter 9 verses 1 - 2 were fulfilled because the people in this area around the Sea of Galilee that corresponded to the lands of the tribes of Zebulun and the Naphtali did indeed see a great light.

The Lord Jesus criss-crossed the whole area proclaiming that the time had come for everyone to repent because the kingdom of heaven was at hand.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER TESTS THOSE WHO SERVE HIM TO ESTABLISH BENCHMARKS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

After being baptized, we enter the book of Mathew chapter 4 verses 1 - 11 where the Lord Jesus was taken by the Spirit of God into the wilderness. This was the arena for the  various temptations that were to be the hurdles over which He would have to cross before the onset of His public ministry.

To prepare for the tactics the devil would use to try to induce Him to do what was wrong, Jesus fasted for forty days and forty nights at which point he became hungry. This spiritual exercise weakens the power of the body so that it does not harbour notions of self-sufficiency.

At the end of the protracted fasting period, the first temptation brought to Him was designed to use hunger to prompt Jesus to take action that would allieviate His hunger while at the same time demonstrating the validity of His credentials as the Son of God which had been recently publically announced by the Jordan river by the Father.

1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Jesus' response was derived exclusively from the scriptures ( Deutronomy 8 verse 3 ) which negated the idea that the promptings of the flesh or the desire to demonstrate our rank and stature were the basis for human beings to take any action. Jesus established that our actions should be prompted only by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. 

The next temptation also tested Jesus on the point of His credentials. This time, Jesus was to demonstrate that He was indeed the son of God by throwing Himself off the top of the temple in Jerusalem because the scriptures promised that the Son of God would be protected by angels if such a thing were to happen.

5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,

    and they will lift you up in their hands,

    so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

Again, Jesus used scripture (Deutronomy 6 verse 16) to counter the temptation. Whereas it was true that He would be saved by angels if He were to fall but to deliberately put Himself in danger to prove that He was the Son of God would classify as a test of God which is forbidden.

The next temptation was an offer rather than an invitation to illegitimately prove credentials as the previous two temptations were.

The offer was a trade where the devil would give Jesus all the kingdoms of the world with all their splendor in exchange for Jesus bowing to worship him.

In other words, Jesus would be granted the post of Prime Minister in the Devil's empire answering only to the devil in much that same way that Joseph was the Prime Minister of Egypt answering only to Pharaoh.

8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”

Jesus rejected the offer using Deutronomy 6 verse 13 which establishes that the only legitimate worship is the worship of God and that all the service of a person's life should be exclusively rendered to God.

The devil left the arena to plan for another day but in the meantime, the angels of God came to attend to Jesus.

11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO SENT A HERALD TO POINT TO THE MESSIAH PART 2

Having introduced John the Baptist and his mission, Mathew, in chapter 3 verses 13 - 17, then describes the momentous convergence of John and the Lord Jesus at the river Jordan.

13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.

16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

John, going about his work baptizing those who responded to his preaching and repented of their sins, suddenly realised that one of the people standing in line to be baptized was the One whose imminent arrival he had been proclaiming.

John immediately felt too inadequate to administer the rite of baptism upon so great a person whom he had already declared as one whose sandals he was unworthy to carry and tried to pursuade the Lord Jesus to baptize him rather than the other way around.

Jesus, in a gentle rebuttal to John's objection, told him that the baptism was nessessary to "fulfill all righteousness" and asked him to set aside the internal conflict he was feeling and baptize him anyway.

John was ultimately pursuaded and he baptized Jesus.

The reality of Jesus' words that the baptism was necessary was, at least in part, made clear when Jesus emerged from the water because that moment was chosen by God to be when the official public pronouncement of the credentials of Jesus was made.

On the banks of the Jordan river, the eternal Holy Spirit, descending like a dove, alighted on Jesus and the heavenly  Father declared audibly that Jesus was His beloved Son and that He was well pleased with Him. 

The Father and the Holy Spirit registered their presence alongside the Son of God to mark this event  as one of the few mentioned in all of scripture where all three members of the Trinity are geograpically together.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO SENT A HERALD TO POINT TO THE MESSIAH PART 1

Mathew chapter 3 verses 1 - 12 tells of ministry of John the Baptist starting with the prophetic reference to him in Isaiah 40 verse 3;

1 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” 3 This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:

“A voice of one calling in the wilderness

‘Prepare the way for the Lord,

    make straight paths for him.’”

4 John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. 5 People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. 6 Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 10 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

11 “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

John, living an austere life in the wilderness wearing camel hair clothing with a diet of locusts and honey, was a compelling voice crying out in the wilderness that drew people from the relative comfort of the cities and towns where they lived out to the inhospitable desert to listen to him. And his voice stirred them to repentance and they confessed their sins and he baptized them in the Jordan river.

To be drawn, to confess sins and to be baptized were the first steps that were required to be inaugurated into the new life that God was sending to the world and so the ministry of John was the dress rehearsal in preparation for the long awaited arrival of the Messiah.

Among the people who came out to hear him were the members of the religious establishment of the time and John, calling them a brood of vipers, warned them that their repentance needed to actually bear the fruit of repentance if they were to be saved. Their main problem was that their corruption was so great that the arrival of the Messiah could not been entrusted into their hands to officiate and thus had to be routed through unofficial channels such as John himself.

He warned them that their claim to having Abraham as their ancestor was not going to exclude them from the judgement to come. Actual righteousness that stemmed from actual repentance was the ingredient that was needed to be spared from the coming wrath and not a pedigree of birth.

John, comparing himself with the one whom he was  heralding, said that the coming Messiah was of such great stature that there was no one worthy to even carry His sandals. John described the ministry of the coming Messiah as one of a blazing unquenchable fire. 

Whereas he (John) baptized with water for repentance, the Annointed One who was to come would baptize people in the Holy Spirit of God and fire and He would be a winnower who would separate the sinners and the righteous and would bring great judgement upon those who had not repented.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON Part 4

Having laid low in Egypt with his family for a period of time, Joseph got a notification that it was now safe to return to the land Israel because the threat that had sent them into Egypt had now passed. 

Mathew chapter 2 verses 19 - 23 tells us of the instruction from the angel to return to the land of Israel and where the family ended up.

19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”

21 So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.

Whereas the context of Jesus' birth was Bethlehem and Judea, the angel's instruction was to return to the more general area designated as Israel.

Judea is the province that includes Jerusalem, Bethlehem and the territory down to the border with Egypt.

Israel however, contains Judea but also covers all the way north to the areas around the sea of Galilee and it was to this wider geographical territory that Joseph was to return to.

Upon re-entering Israel, Joseph learned that Herod's son Archelaus had taken over the throne and he reasoned that it was possible that the Herodic dynasty had an ongoing vendetta against the promised king of Israel. This concern was confirmed in a dream and he was guided to take his family far away from the political hotspots and to go northwards to Galilee where he settled in a small town named Nazareth.

Even though selecting Nazareth was seemingly serendipitous, Matthew indicates that it fulfilled a prophecy that said that Jesus would be called a Nazarene.

There is no scripture that directly says that the Messiah would be called a Nazarene but there are two indirect references that could be considered to have been fulfilled.

1. Isaiah chapter 11 verse 1: A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. This prophecy names the Messiah as the branch and a branch in Hebrew is 'netser' which is closly related to the word Nazareth.                                                          
2. Isaiah chapter 53 verse 3: He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. This prophecy indicates the rejection and indignities that the Messiah would be subjected to where He would be despised and held in low esteem. In a similar way, the town of Nazareth was held low esteem by the people of the day with even Nathaniel, one of the disciples of Jesus, when learning that Jesus was from Nazareth, asked in John chapter 1 verse 46, "Can anthing good come from Nazareth? To be called a Nazarene was to designated as a low value person who can be dismissed.

(Sourced from www.gotquestions.com)

Of the two propositions for what Mathew was referencing, I favor the latter because of the support it recieves from other scripture such as Psalm 22 verse 6 - 7 (But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads.) And the direct denigration of Nazareth in John chapter 1

verse 46.

Having said that, it is possible that the classification of Nazarene is a double-entendre that implicates both the role of 'branch' and the role of the 'rejected one' for the one labled the Nazarene.

Thus we reach the end of Mathew chapter 2 and will next embark on the study of the ministry of John the baptist.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON Part 3

In Mathew chapter 2 verses 13 - 18,  we continue on in the story from where the magi from the east had returned home without informing king Herod of the identity of the child who they had come to worship.

Their evasive maneuver as they left Judah heading east had gained the little family some time but the threat against the young Jesus was still present and an angelic intervention was now needed to get the child away from king Herod's cross-hairs.

13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

Joseph, who only a few months before had been plying his carpentry trade, (correction: Matthew mentions Joseph's vocation in chapter 13 verse 55  “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son?" but the place where he originally practiced carpentry is not Nazareth because Mathew indicates that the family settled in Nazareth after they returned from Egypt and so I have scratched out the phrase in the tiny village of Nazareth, ) was now fully immersed in a high-stakes political and spiritual struggle. 

Already, he had saved the unborn child's life when he heeded an angelic dream that instructed him to abandoned his plan to divorce Mary because, had he cut her loose and left her in the wind, she was likely to have lost her life and the life of her child.

Here again, an angelic dream stirred Joseph in his sleep but this time with an urgent warning to get out of town and escape to Egypt to avoid the death squad that king Herod was going to send into Bethlehem.

16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. 

17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:

18 “A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”

In a shockingly brutal action, king Herod, being unable to identify the specific child who was potentially his replacement, decided to sweep the entire town of Bethlehem and surrounding areas to find all the boys under two years old and kill them so as to eliminate the threat against himself.

This massacre of young boys was so traumatic that it registered in the prophetic scrolls of Jeremiah where it was foretold that a cry would be heard rising out of Ramah and Rachel would weep for her children and be inconsolable because a generation of her children had been wiped out. Ramah is a small town adjacent to Bethlehem when Rachel, the wife of the patriarch Jacob, was buried centuries before.

It was because of the proximity to the deadly event that the prophet Jeremiah associated the event with Rachel.

Meanwhile, having spirited his family out of Bethlehem under the cover of darkness to avoid giving anyone an idea  of the direction they were heading, Joseph and his young family travelled to Egypt where they lived until Herod died and it was safe to return home.

This fulfilled the words of the prophet Hosea in chapter  11 verse 1 which says;

“When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.

This oblique reference to the events in the Messiah's early life was deliberately made extremely obscure and tucked away towards the end of Hosea's scroll.

Whereas the birthplace of the Messiah was easily known from the prophetic scriptures so that the priests and scolars quickly identified Bethlehem to Herod, the escape route had to be less accessible so that no scolar would have been able to pinpoint Egypt as the land to which the Messiah would escape to as a child.

One can imagine that armed with that information, Herod, while having his soldiers killing the boys in Bethlehem,  could have sent a detachment to put a checkpoint on the road to Egypt.

To conceal this exit route in the scriptures, the Messiah as a child is identified by prophet Hosea by the name Israel and only the return from Egypt is actually mentioned in the scriptures.

Amen.

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