JANUARY 13 THE JESUS QUESTIONS Introduction-13: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33 (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17)

 JANUARY 13  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   Introduction-13: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33  (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17)

LIVING FOR JESUS   Daily Prayer    

JESUS, each sunrise starts a new day in our spiritual journey through life and I pray that You through the Holy Spirit will make my life in each of my new days of walking with the Holy Spirit to be a great witness unto God. Lord, I pray for forgiveness of all my sin, sins known and those that are unknown to me, but known or not, if they grieve the Holy Spirit they dishonor the Father and the Son, so I beg forgiveness for the sake of Holiness. Lord, I desire in my heart to dedicate this temple to the Holy Spirit, to You, and Father God — O Lord Jesus, I am so close to being separated from the world that if it be Thy will, Lord lead me to be totally dependent on You and that I live only to serve You. Take now this prayer as a sacrifice and an offering to You, use my life for the glory of Your Kingdom. Lord I yield to Your will, You are my Lord, my God, my Savior, my Redeemer, and the Prince of Peace.      AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has been shown by Matthew’s Gospel to be in the line of David and is the One in prophecy known as the Messiah, the Son of David! Matthew drew the lineage from the traditional Jewish doctrine of tracing the family line through the father and listing the birth mother of the offspring. It is Jewish tradition because of the teachings of God found written in Deuteronomy 21:15-17 that the first born male that was also the first issue of his mother’s womb would be granted a special portion of the father’s estate, therefore when Matthew, being a well educated Jew and knowing the prophecies of the Messiah contained in the Holy Scriptures, learned that Jesus was the first born from His mother’s womb and that she swore by the Holy Scriptures that the Child was conceived by the Holy Spirit, thereby making God Himself the Father, then Matthew immediately recognized the prophecy of the “virgin birth” found in Isaiah — “Therefore the LORD Himself will give you a sign; Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14) Matthew put the “virgin birth” prophecy along with the fact that the mother of Jesus gave birth to Him in “Bethlehem” which also fulfilled the prophecy by the prophet Micah “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from old, from everlasting”  (Micah 5:2) and Matthew had two prophecies that pointed to Jesus being the “Chosen One” that was written by God’s prophets about God’s Messiah! Granted, there had been a lot of Jewish males in the line of Judah that had been the “first born” of their mother’s womb and had received the special inheritance from their earthly father but Jesus was the first Jewish male that could claim that His Father was God Himself and He had been “born of a virgin” and that His birth occurred in the “City of David, Bethlehem Ephrathah” !!! — and least we forget, the story of the “virgin birth” of Mary began before she had given birth and in those days she could not have known that she was carrying a male child; therefore her claim that she was told by an angel that she would conceive a child in her virgin womb and give birth to the “Son of God” could have been easily disproved if she had given birth to a daughter!?!? So from a “Spiritual Truth” standpoint, the only way that Mary could “know” that she was giving “virgin birth” to a “Son” was that it had been revealed to her by God Himself!!! Since Matthew was well versed on prophecy he could see the significance of Joseph having to return to Bethlehem to pay his taxes and Mary actually giving birth to her first born in the town of Bethlehem and those two facts alone were enough to raise expectations of the Messiah in the Jewish community but when the story that during her pregnancy Mary rightfully claimed (at the risk of being stoned to death) that God had chosen her to be the mother of the “Son of God”  became known to Matthew he connected the two prophecies (1) the “virgin birth” and (2) the location being “Bethlehem” to the simple fact that Jesus was a firstborn male from Mary’s womb ——— Matthew then simply stated the documented facts surrounding the “birth” of Jesus thereby documenting for everyone that knew prophecy that Jesus had fulfilled two Major Prophecies of the Messiah!!! Matthew then writes first in his Gospel of Jesus Christ that Jesus is the “Son of David” (Matthew 1:1) and follows that historic fact with the “virgin birth” prophecy, thereby the combination of these two longstanding and well-known prophecies establish beyond any doubt that Jesus IS the MESSIAH!!!  The first claims made by Matthew in his Gospel of Jesus Christ should be enough “evidence” for all of us to recognize Jesus as the Messiah but God still wants each individual to search the Scriptures so that we too can through “Faith in God” know the “Joy” of discovering God’s “Messiah” for ourselves!!! There is NO “Evidence” without “Faith in God” that is “proof of God” — however “Faith in God” is all the “proof” a “Believer” needs to know God personally and once we “Believe” then worldly “evidence” is simply used to confirm what the “Believer” through “Faith in God” already KNOWS about Him!!! Once you “Believe” you may claim this Truth of God for yourself: “And [you having] believed in [Me] the LORD, [I WILL] account it [unto you] for righteousness.” (Genesis 15:6) The Scofield Study Bible says: “ God must reckon His own righteousness to man’s account through man’s trust [FAITH] in Him — for mankind is without righteousness of his own.” {{Scofield Study Bible notes on Genesis 15:6}}  The “Good News” keeps getting Better and Better!!!