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
6
Friday, September 06, 2024
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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Thursday, September 05, 2024
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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Tuesday, September 03, 2024
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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Monday, September 02, 2024
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.
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.
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.
4
Sunday, September 01, 2024
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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Saturday, August 31, 2024
OUR FATHER WHO GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON Part 2
Mathew chapter 2 verses 1 - 12 picks up the narrative after the birth of Jesus.
Giving us the geographic and chronological context, we learn that Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea and that He was born during the rule of King Herod. We are then introduced to the magi.
The magi were a class of spiritual surveyors who likely arose in the same royal courts that Daniel the prophet had served (centuries earlier) and were students of his writtings. They arrived in Jerusalem inquiring about the divine king of the Jews whom they had spiritually detected and for whom they had traveled to pay homage and worship.
1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
6 “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’”
7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”
9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
The arrival of the Magi caused a firestorm in the political circles of Jerusalem.
The magi had presumed that the Jews would know that their own eternal king had arrived but the ruling classes were clearly caught by surprise triggering a frenzy of consultations with the priests and the legal scholars of the land.
When asked, the religious leaders replied immediately that Bethlehem was the location that the king of Israel was to be born. They knew from the scriptures which town the Messiah would arrive in but they had not been alert enough to detect the time of the Lord's visitation.
King Herod felt politically threatened by the developing events and began to plot a way to snuff out the possible emergence of a rival.
After learning that Bethlehem was the place of birth, Herod discreetly pressed the Magi to give him the exact date that they had detected the Messiah's star so that he could zero in on the most likely candidate.
He asked the Magi to find the one they had come to worship and then to return to him with the details of his identity so that he could go to worship him as well.
The magi then journeyed to Bethlehem and to their elation, the star they had seen and followed led them directly to where the young child Jesus was.
They worshipped Him and gave Him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh;
Gold represented His kingly office
Frankincese represented His priestly office
Myrrh represented His sacrifice of His life
Whereas they had been instructed by Herod to return to Jerusalem to provide him with intelligence on the child, the Magi were warned in a dream not to report to Herod and so they bypassed Jerusalem returning to their homeland.
The story of the Magi gives us a glimpse into the legacy of the prophets who left writtings about the future they had seen and these writtings remained potent through the centuries.
The Jewish diaspora in Babylon had clung to the prophet Daniel's work and on the day of God's visitation, those who traversed the spiritual landscapes were alert and picked up the most significant event to ever occur up to that time.
The great God who made us and everything that exists, touched down on earth as a human child and the salvation of mankind was now in its final and most critical stage.
Amen.
12
Friday, August 30, 2024
OUR FATHER WHO GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON Part 1
Proceeding to Mathew chapter 1 verses 18 - 25, we learn of how Joseph found himself in a conundrum pertaining to the surprise pregnancy of his fiance and how an existential crisis was averted.
18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.
19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:
23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.
25 But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
In this passage following the genealogy, we are immediately plunged into the phychological and social pressure cooker that engulfed Joseph, the fiance of Mary.
Having secured an agreement to be married to Mary, he was confronted with the news that Mary was pregnant.
Joseph, dealing with his own disappointment and sense of betrayal, thought through a plan that would legally un-entangle himself from Mary while at the same time, shielding her from the harshness of social recriminations.
This explosive circumstance was the milieu in which the saviour of the world was gestating.
Here, a man and a woman, about to be married, are suddenly interupted in their plans and pulled into a highly sensitive political and spiritual intrigue.
Because the Messiah's mission of conquering of the kingdom of darkness had long been prophesied, His arrival was being carefully watched for by the agents of darkness in order to prevent the predicted Messiah from establishing a foothold on the earth.
The saviour of the world had to be discreetly smuggled into the human timeline and as such, everyone on the ground had to be on a need-to-know status.
As hazardous as the scandalous situation that embroiled Joseph and Mary was, it successfully threw searchers off the scent and only after the reputations of the participants were sullied, was Joseph let in on the secret.
As Joseph was finalizing his plan to divorce Mary, an angel intruded into his dream and revealed to him the plan of salvation that was foretold in the scriptures by the prophets and explained to him that the fulfilment of these texts was already underway and that he had a part to play.
These are the tasks that Joseph was given to do;
Believe that Mary did not violate her vows
Take Mary to his home as his wife
Give the name of Jesus to the arriving son
In vulnerability, Joseph and Mary were thrust into the epicenter of God's plan for the redemtion of mankind and with supernatural guidance, they navigated the storm to complete the roles they had been chosen for.
Amen.
4
Thursday, August 29, 2024
OUR FATHER WHO GAVE US HIS ONLY SON AS A REDEEMER AND FULFILLED HIS PROMISE TO ABRAHAM AND TO DAVID Part 3
Proceeding to Mathew chapter 1 verses 12 - 17, we see the last 14 generations from the Babylonian exile up to the appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ during the Roman occupation of the land of Israel;
12 After the exile to Babylon: Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,
13 Zerubbabel the father of Abihud, Abihud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor,
14 Azor the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, Akim the father of Elihud,
15 Elihud the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob,
16 and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband (father?) of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah.
17 Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah.
Seeing that Jeconiah is included in the previous segment, we count starting from Shealtiel and we end up with 13 generations.
Mathew, however, in verse 17, says that there are 14 generations between the exile and the arrival of Jesus the Messiah.
This question has perplexed scholars but I believe that the miscount is caused by a mis-translation of verse 16 that changed "Joseph, the father of Mary" to "Joseph, the husband of Mary".
It is very commonly known that Joseph was Mary's husband and it is likely that a scribe believed he was correcting an error in the geneological text by changing Joseph's relation to Mary from 'father' to 'husband'.
These are the reasons I believe this;
Mathew, within the very text he was referencing, is not likely to have miscounted the generations from the exile to the Messiah. His list would have contained 14 generations and an external event would have altered it to 13.
There are some Aramaic texts that list Joseph as Mary's father rather than her husband.
Joseph, a common name, is one that could easily be had by both a woman's father and her husband.
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Wednesday, August 28, 2024
OUR FATHER WHO GAVE US HIS ONLY SON AS A REDEEMER AND FULFILLED HIS PROMISE TO ABRAHAM AND TO DAVID Part 2
Continuing with the genealogy of Jesus, we now look at Mathew chapter 1 verses 6.5 - 11 which lists the next 14 generations after king David;
6.5 David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,
7 Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa,
8 Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram, Jehoram the father of Uzziah,
9 Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,
10 Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah,
11 and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.
In the period of the kingdom of Israel from the time of David until Jeconiah was exiled to Babylon, 14 generations had passed.
The political and social upheavals and tumult during that time culminated in the capture of Jerusalem by the Babylonians and a large number of the people of Israel were taken to Babylon.
The exile, though potentially an existential threat to Israel, did not result in the dissolution of the children of Israel.
The fabric of the Israelite society remained intact complete with the observance (where possible) of the laws of Moses and the emergence of prophetic voices like that of prophet Ezekiel.
In the Babylonian milieu, the continuation of the tracing of the Israelite family trees continued through to the return from Babylon which we shall look at next.
Amen.
4
Tuesday, August 27, 2024
OUR FATHER WHO GAVE US HIS ONLY SON AS A REDEEMER AND FULFILLED HIS PROMISE TO ABRAHAM AND TO DAVID Part 1
Starting a survey of the new testament, we look at the book of Mathew chapter 1 verse 1 - 6 which presents the first third of the genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ.
1 This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:
2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
3 Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram,
4 Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon,
5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse,
6 and Jesse the father of King David.
This passage begins with an introduction to the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah as the son of David and the son of Abraham.
David, as king of Israel, was promised by God that his throne would be inherited by an eternal descendant who, from that throne, would rule over the whole of creation.
Isaiah chapter 9 verses 6 - 7
6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.
This prophecy recorded by the prophet Isaiah, confirms that the Son who was going to be given for our redemption would reign on king David's throne forever.
Abraham, having demonstrated that he was obedient to God to the point of sacrificing his son, was given a promise by God that through him, all the families of the earth would be blessed.
17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies,
18 and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”
Thus, the Lord Jesus was a fulfilment of the promises to these two people and this first third of the genealogy shows the descendancy of 14 generations from Abraham down to king David.
This portion of the geneology includes three women two of whom came into Israel from foreign people.
Amen.
4
Monday, August 26, 2024
OUR FATHER WHOSE UNDERSTANDING IS BEYOND GRASP
The book of Isaiah chapter 40 verse 13 says this;
NIV : Who can fathom the Spirit of the Lord, or instruct the Lord as his counselor?
NKJV : Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, Or as His counselor has taught Him?
Continuing from our look at chapter 40 verse 12 which identified four zones of the earth that had to be carefully engineered to create a stable platform to serve as a habitation for all the life on earth.
In this context, as we continue to verse 13, we see the conundrum of trying to comprehend the nature and scope of the Being who created the earth's zones in their complexity. How vast and unsearchable would such a Being have to be?
On the other hand, if the creator did not Himself eternally possess all the understanding and prowess needed to created the realm able to sustain biological life, where is the being who would have this capability so as to inform the Creator of the earth on how to do so?
This question is answered in verse 28 where the Lord is declared to be eternal and the singular creator of the earth. He is eternally rejuvinated and His personally-held understanding is beyond grasp.
Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable.
Amen.
114
Sunday, August 25, 2024
OUR FATHER WHO KNOWS US IN EVERY DETAIL
Psalm 10 verse 11 says this;
He says to himself, “God will never notice; he covers his face and never sees.”
This verse speaks of the strong delusion that envelopes us when we are un-regenerated.
We persuade ourselves that our thoughts, words and actions escape the notice the Lord and that He concerns himself with other things and pays no attention to us.
In reality however, nothing escapes the Lord's attention.
The scriptures say that every hair on our heads is numbered and also, in the psalm, that the Lord thinks many thoughts about us.
Every detail about us is known from before were were formed in our mother's womb.
Amen.
7
Saturday, August 24, 2024
OUR FATHER WHOM WE SHOULD PRAISE WITH A PURE HEART
The book of James chapter 3 verses 9 -10 says this;
With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness.
Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.
The apostle James addresses the nature of speech among the people of God.
He juxtaposes the use of the tongue to praise the Lord and Father and then, with the same tongue, to curse human beings who were created to be like our Lord and Father.
It would be like praising a person when facing them and then turning to that person's reflection in a mirror and cursing the reflection.
James notes the paradoxic capabilities of the tongue that gives it the ability to cross boundaries of propriety and even contradict reality itself.
The cousel given by the Apostle Paul on this subject is in the letter to the Collosians in chapter 4 verse 6 which says;
Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
In speaking with people, the probability of spreading injury and chaos if we speak with an unbridled tongue is ever present.
If our conversations are full of grace (which means that we are sincerely well-meaning towards those we speak to and that we are generous in how we interprete their words to us) and if we season our discussions with salt to steer our conversations towards righteousness, we can be assured that our answers will be profitable and we can avoid the pitfalls of carelessly spoken words.
Amen.
4
Friday, August 23, 2024
OUR FATHER WHOSE FACE SHINES UPON US
From Psalm 80;
Hear us, O Shepherd of Israel
You who lead Your people as a flock
You who sits enthroned between the cherubim
Shine forth Shine forth (× 2 )(× 1)
God Almighty, heal and restore us
Humbly have we prayed
Make Your face shine upon us
That we may be saved (× 1) (× 3)
Psalm 80
Hear us, Shepherd of Israel,
you who lead Joseph like a flock.
You who sit enthroned between the cherubim,
shine forth
2 before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh.
Awaken your might;
come and save us.
3 Restore us, O God;
make your face shine on us,
that we may be saved.
4 How long, Lord God Almighty,
will your anger smolder
against the prayers of your people?
5 You have fed them with the bread of tears;
you have made them drink tears by the bowlful.
6 You have made us an object of derision[b] to our neighbors,
and our enemies mock us.
7 Restore us, God Almighty;
make your face shine on us,
that we may be saved.
8 You transplanted a vine from Egypt;
you drove out the nations and planted it.
9 You cleared the ground for it,
and it took root and filled the land.
10 The mountains were covered with its shade,
the mighty cedars with its branches.
11 Its branches reached as far as the Sea,[c]
its shoots as far as the River.[d]
12 Why have you broken down its walls
so that all who pass by pick its grapes?
13 Boars from the forest ravage it,
and insects from the fields feed on it.
14 Return to us, God Almighty!
Look down from heaven and see!
Watch over this vine,
15 the root your right hand has planted,
the son[e] you have raised up for yourself.
16 Your vine is cut down, it is burned with fire;
at your rebuke your people perish.
17 Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand,
the son of man you have raised up for yourself.
18 Then we will not turn away from you;
revive us, and we will call on your name.
19 Restore us, Lord God Almighty;
make your face shine on us,
that we may be saved.
OUR FATHER'S WAYS ARE SPURNED BY THE WICKED OF HEART.
Psalm 10 verse 4 - 5 says this;
In his pride the wicked man does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.
His ways are always prosperous; your laws are rejected by him; he sneers at all his enemies.
Revisting this passage, we examine the condition of the wicked man
Pride is the instigator of his ways making the man to highly regard himself, every subsequent thought becomes about himself and his own interests.
Any consideration for the role of God in his life is forsaken and his mind is so full of his own affairs that God has no part in his life.
He prospers and his every effort is towards his continued prosperity. The laws of God that would restrain him are ignored and so his path becomes crooked and as he amasses enemies along his way, he mocks them and sees them as nothing.
His victims are helpless before him but when they call to the Lord for relief from their suffering, a day of reckoning is set for him.
Amen.
10
Thursday, August 22, 2024
OUR FATHER WHO MADE ALL THINGS WITH GREAT KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
The book of Isaiah chapter 40 verse 12 says this;
Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?
Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance?
This passage appears in the context of a declaration of the prophet Isaiah who is bringing good news of the salvation that God has provided.
After explaining the vulnerability of men and our need to be saved, the prophet then explains the goodness of God and His loving attention toward those who place themselves in His care.
The great power and the unfathomable understanding possessed by God is then touched on in our passage by illustrating that the vast horizons of our planet were easily measured out by the God of creation.
The engineering of the earth as a stable and inhabitable place required carefully balanced parameters.
In this verse, four components of the earth's ecosystem are mentioned;
The hydrosphere - rivers, lakes, seas, oceans
The atmosphere - gases, ions, clouds
The biosphere - soils, organic overburden
The lithosphere - mountains, mantle
All these components were measured and balanced to make life sustainable on the earth.
The Lord, whose knowledge and understanding were not furnished by any other, fulfilled His own purposes in creation.
Amen.
4
Wednesday, August 21, 2024
OUR FATHER WHO WILL JUDGE WICKEDNESS
Psalm chapter 10 verses 4 - 5 say this;
In his pride the wicked man does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.
His ways are always prosperous; your laws are rejected by him; he sneers at all his enemies.
The prideful stance of men in their wickedness is one that displaces all considerations of God from their minds.
When operating by the standards of the fallen world, the wicked man succeeds and rejects the righteous laws that are contrary to the predatory devices and formulas that have yielded success for him.
Those who speak out against his wicked and corrupt conduct earn his ire and he sneers at them with contempt. He is convinced that he will never have to face accountability for his conduct towards other people and discounts the possibility of a final judgement.
However, as verses 14 - 15 say, the victims of the wicked man's exploitation cry out to God and He sees the wreckage left behind by the actions of the wicked man.
But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted; you consider their grief and take it in hand.
The victims commit themselves to you; you are the helper of the fatherless. Break the arm of the wicked man; call the evildoer to account for his wickedness that would not otherwise be found out.
The psalmist warns that wickedness, even when carried out in secret, is visible to God and is subject to accountability and ultimately, the wicked man is stopped.
Amen.
8
Tuesday, August 20, 2024
OUR FATHER SENDS PROPHETS TO GUIDE IN RIGHTEOUSNESS BUT THE REBELLIOUS RESIST THEM
The book of Isaiah chapter 30 verse 9 - 11 says this;
For these are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to listen to the Lord’s instruction.
They say to the seers, “See no more visions!” and to the prophets, “Give us no more visions of what is right!
Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions.
Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel!”
To preserve righteousness, the Lord sends seers and prophets to alert the people of the hazards of their conducts and to guide them in the way they should go but the people, comfortable in their ways, suppress the voice of the prophets by instructing them not to speak up.
They demand that they only hear encouraging and happy things even if they are false.
This condition that the prophet Isaiah documents is mirrored in the Apostle Paul's second letter to Timothy in chapter 4 verses 3 - 4,
For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
The unrighteousness in the human heart comes with a tendency to reject even the counsel that is sent to bring knowledge to us that would save us.
Built into our sinful nature is an inclination that causes our race to reject the very truth that would be beneficial in favor of the deception that comforts but leaves us in harms way.
False teachers are accumulated in large numbers to drown out the voices of the people who are sent to bring righteous reproof.
The ones who insist on proclaiming the truth are marginalized and silenced.
This is an important tactic that the kingdom of darkness uses to keep the Lord's people drifting away from the righteous path that would make them strong against the kingdom of darkness.
4
Monday, August 19, 2024
OUR FATHER WHO SENT HIS SON TO REDEEM US
From Psalm 40;
It is written of Me in the scroll
And I desire to do Your will, My God
You have put a new song on My soul
A hymn of praise in which I will declare Forever
There is none like You (x2)
Psalm 40
1 I waited patiently for the Lord;
he turned to me and heard my cry.
2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.
3 He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear the Lord
and put their trust in him.
4 Blessed is the one
who trusts in the Lord,
who does not look to the proud,
to those who turn aside to false gods.
5 Many, Lord my God,
are the wonders you have done,
the things you planned for us.
None can compare with you;
were I to speak and tell of your deeds,
they would be too many to declare.
6 Sacrifice and offering you did not desire"
but my ears you have opened"
burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require.
7 Then I said, "Here I am, I have come"
it is written about me in the scroll."
8 I desire to do your will, my God;
your law is within my heart."
9 I proclaim your saving acts in the great assembly;
I do not seal my lips, Lord,
as you know.
10 I do not hide your righteousness in my heart;
I speak of your faithfulness and your saving help.
I do not conceal your love and your faithfulness
from the great assembly.
11 Do not withhold your mercy from me, Lord;
may your love and faithfulness always protect me.
12 For troubles without number surround me;
my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see.
They are more than the hairs of my head,
and my heart fails within me.
13 Be pleased to save me, Lord;
come quickly, Lord, to help me.
14 May all who want to take my life
be put to shame and confusion;
may all who desire my ruin
be turned back in disgrace.
15 May those who say to me, "Aha! Aha!"
be appalled at their own shame.
16 But may all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who long for your saving help always say,
"The Lord is great!"
17 But as for me, I am poor and needy;
may the Lord think of me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
you are my God, do not delay.
4
4
OUR FATHER WHO FREES HIS PEOPLE FROM BONDAGE
The book of Isaiah chapter 19 verse 4 says this;
I will hand the Egyptians over to the power of a cruel master, and a fierce king will rule over them,” declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty.
This verse reveals a tactic that the Lord used against the Egyptians who had cruelly oppressed God's people.
To establish context, the children of Israel had cried out to God about their misery as slaves in Egypt.
In response, the Lord undertook to free them from the hands of the Egyptians and He sent Moses back to Egypt to speak to the Pharaoh of Egypt.
In the ensuing struggle, plagues of varied calamities were brought upon the Egyptians to put pressure on the Egyptian power heirarchy to compell the release of the enslaved captives.
In our passage, we see a parrallel narative but overlaid on a later context that could be understood to be our current millieu.
As the oppressor attempts to encapsulate the people of God into various forms of political and social bondage, one of the Lord's responses will be to provide for the placement of a harsh and cruel leader over the ranks of those serving the opressor.
This will have the effect of causing the oppressors to lose heart as the cruelty they dispensed on other people is dispensed on them.
The faltering morale will cause the regime to descend into a chaotic blend of confusion and material disfunctionality until the edifice of political/martial power collapses and the people of God are freed from their oppression and captivity.