DECEMBER 27 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#1-33 SUMMARY-13 The Gospel of Matthew: A Study of the Life, Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ

 DECEMBER 27  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#1-33 SUMMARY-13   The Gospel of Matthew: A Study of the Life, Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ 

LIVING FOR JESUS -Daily Prayer   

JESUS we thank You for Your daily Presence in our lives as we see You revealed by Your Holy Word and Your Holy Spirit. Lord I pray that in my life I will know that You are always there and if I fail to recognize Your Presence then may the Holy Spirit give me understanding that it is my own flesh that is blinding me to Your Presence — and that upon the realization that it is the darkness of the world which prevents my eyes from beholding Your Glory in my life that at the realization that it is me and not You, that I will take up my cross and be crucified with You and know that Your Spirit is Resurrected in us and You will illuminate our darkness with YOUR LIGHT! 

Lord, our daily walk is our “now” and our “daily walk now” is the only “time” we can experience GRACE! Only if we decrease and You are allowed to increase can we behold our Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah! Forgive me of my daily shortcomings and my failure to see You working in my life — even so, come “now” Lord Jesus!     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus was first revealed by the Gospel of Matthew as the Messiah by circumstances beyond His control but were obviously circumstances ORCHESTRATED BY GOD as part of God’s Master Plan. 

Up to the point where Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan river, Jesus was validated as the Messiah by many external witnesses and circumstances such as Jesus being born in Bethlehem of Judea, being born the son of Mary (a virgin) who was betrothed to Joseph whose lineage could be traced back to King David. 

Jesus began His public Ministry after being baptized by John the Baptist who was the forerunner of the Messiah as written by the prophets. Jesus demonstrated by the way He lived, especially His Earthly Ministry from His baptism in the Jordan to His baptism on the cross that His Perfect Life and His Sacrificial Death is the greatest “witness” to the TRUTH OF GOD that JESUS IS THE MESSIAH!!!   Everything that Jesus does, He does at the direction of His Heavenly Father and His Message is “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”. 

The JESUS QUESTIONS themselves reveal His Divinity and witness to Jesus being the Messiah, the Son of the Living God, therefore let us look at one more detail of Matthew’s introduction of Jesus that is also a separate witness to Jesus being the Messiah and what His “Mission” and “Purpose” was in being born in the flesh, at this particular time, in this particular place, to these particular parents. 

Matthew starts his Gospel of Jesus Christ with “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ” (Matthew 1:1) and within this “genealogy of Jesus Christ” is further “witness” to God’s Master Plan of Salvation and Jesus being the Messiah sent to earth, taking on earthly flesh to Administer God’s Plan!!! Jewish tradition, from the very beginning, has always placed great importance on the “lineage” or “family line” and the main reason “lineage” was so important to Israel was because one’s “lineage” determined their “tribal inheritance”! 

Inheritance among God’s people is based upon the fact that at God’s directions, each Jewish tribe or “family” had received a particular portion of the “Promised Land” and for a person to inherit land in a particular area assigned to that tribe, the person had to produce “evidence of birth” that he was from that particular tribe. That “evidence” of birth into a “tribe” came through records of the family genealogy. 

The genealogy of Jesus therefore would determine His Inheritance and a close look at the genealogy of Jesus Christ reveals some very important “signs” or “evidence” of miraculous claims by Jesus as they relate to the “Purpose and Life of the Messiah”!!! This genealogy of Jesus revealed that Jesus through His Lineage was born “the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.” (Matthew 1:1)  

Now is a good time to revisit the “book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ” as listed in Matthew 1:1-17 and ask yourself about your personal lineage and understand the “Importance” of your “Spiritual Lineage” in “inheriting” your “portion of the Promised Land” that has been set aside for you in “the kingdom of heaven”!!! 

This investigation of your personal “Spiritual Inheritance” can be understood by reading what Jesus told Nicodemus in John Chapter 3 verses 1-21 which includes these two Promises by Jesus that address our “Spiritual Inheritance”:  

(Promise #1) “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3) and 

(Promise #2) “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes on Him shall not perish but [inherit] everlasting life.” (John 3:16) 

so by reading the “Promises of God” regarding your “inheritance”, you must ask yourself:

 “Have I received Him and claimed my Godly inheritance and my right to become [a child] of God by believing on the [Name and Person] of Jesus Christ.?” (See John 1:12-13)