JANUARY 15 THE JESUS QUESTIONS Introduction-15: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33 (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17)

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

JANUARY  15  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   Introduction-15: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33  (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17) 

Daily Prayer to JESUS    

Jesus, today is another day of abundant life that You have provided for us and we know that we deserve death and would still be dead in our sins today were it not for Your Mercy and Grace and Your Great Sacrifice on the cross at Calvary to purchase our Redemption from the punishment of our many iniquities — Lord let us “lean not” on our own understanding but let You Guide our steps and Light our path! Jesus we are so undeserving of the Mercies that You Renew each morning because of who You ARE, You shower us with blessings, so Lord Jesus I offer up that which I have and that  simple offering my Lord is my praise and prayers, praise for You and prayers for others, keeping neither for myself for Your Grace is Sufficient for me! Forgive me for all the ways I have failed You, El Shaddai and keep me centered in Your Will!      AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JANUARY  15  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   Introduction-15: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33  (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17) Jesus was not only proven to be the Messiah by the evidence of His Birth to a virgin that had nothing to gain but death by stoning from the Jewish community to which she belonged, Jesus was also linked to the “purpose” of the Messiah by outside forces that He could not have manipulated as a Child. The purpose of the “Messiah” in both Jewish tradition and today’s Christian viewpoint, is one of “Kingship” which became an issue that pointed to Jesus as the “Anointed One” when the then King of Israel, King Herod met with the “wise men from the East” that had traveled to Jerusalem and were asking, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.” (Matthew 2:1-2) This inquiry from credible “wise men” that knew of the “birth” of the “King of the Jews” from prophecies of old and had traveled a great distance because they had seen a “sign” in the heavens, came to Jerusalem for they knew that the event had happened in Judea. Matthew recorded and made a note that when they stood before Herod that the “wise men” said to King Herod that the child “has been born” which caught the attention of the then seated king of Judea! When Herod heard the wise men declare that the “King of the Jews” had already been born Matthew documented Herod’s reaction as follows: “When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when [Herod] had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, [Herod] inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. So they said to him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judea…’” and then the chief priests and scribes quoted the prophet Micah who wrote, “But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are not the least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you shall come a Ruler who will shepherd My people Israel.” (Matthew 2:3-6 and Micah 5:2)  Modern Jews still do not accept that Jesus is the “Messiah” and their main argument is that the “mashiach” is a human and not God and will be a human leader like King David  who will win great battles for Israel and not a “savior” who will save “His people from their sins”. The Judaism concept of “mashiach” is not God Himself becoming flesh but “mashiach” is a human that will become a powerful king and rebuild the temple, re-establish traditional Jewish worship in the re-built temple, and also “mashiach” will establish a government in Jerusalem making it the center of all world government.  Herod however was not concerned about these concepts of the “one born King of the Jews” but Herod was concerned about the “Kingship” of one that had fulfilled prophecy! Herod was concerned enough to try to enlist the services of the wise men in finding the “King of the Jews” but when the wise men were warned by God not to return to Herod, Herod “sent forth soldiers and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under…” (Matthew 2:7-16) This act of Herod reacting to prophecy about “one who has been born King of the Jews” was also prophetic in its execution for the prophet Jeremiah had written beforehand in Jewish Scriptures that there would be “A voice heard in Ramah, lamentation, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”  (Jeremiah 31:15) Matthew also documented “Divine Intervention” on behalf of Jesus came as an “angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream” after the wise men had bestowed gifts on the “young Child Jesus” and the angel said, “Arise take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt” … thus fulfilling the prophecy by Hosea stating, “Out of Egypt I called My Son” (Hosea 11:1) The simple fact that all these events that came about while Jesus was still a “young Child” are events that are historical facts and had they been fabricated after the crucifixion of Jesus, the “conspiracy” and false claims would have been quickly refuted by the Jewish rulers and the chief priests and scribes living at the time of the death of Jesus — but historical documents do not contain any such records that dispute what Matthew wrote about Jesus — the only records that exist support Jesus as having fulfilled the prophecy of the Messiah according to the prophets of old. So Matthew in the first 3 chapters of his Gospel of Jesus Christ has established as historical fact that Jesus had already by the young age of 2 or 3 years old had already fulfilled 4 major “Messianic Prophecies” written hundreds of years earlier by God’s own prophets and these critical prophecies and their fulfillment could not have been “fabricated” without receiving great criticism from the chief priests and scribes and further, if it were the apostles and disciples of Jesus that had “fabricated” the stories after the death of Jesus, their fabrications would have been exposed by the religious authorities and their fabrications would have resulted in their own deaths! If the Gospel of Jesus Christ and His Divine Truth was simply a fabrication by a few radical followers then the fulfilling of prophecy by Jesus would not be documented so well in the New Testament writings — writings that have been Divinely Protected for thousand of years, all of which only adds credence to the TRUTH that Jesus IS CHRIST!!!