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

 

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 Prayer   

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

Jesus was not only proven to be the Messiah by the evidence of His Birth to

 a virgin who had nothing to gain but death by stoning from the Jewish 

community to which she belonged to by claiming God was the Father 

of her unborn child, Jesus was also linked to the “purpose” of the Messiah

 by several outside forces that He could not have possibly manipulated

 as a young Child and certainly Jesus could not have arranged these events

 while still in His mother’s womb! 

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. Again we 

must note that these are all outside agencies and events that neither 

Jesus nor His followers could possibly arrange. Matthew recorded and made

 a note that when “wise men” stood before Herod that they said to King Herod

 that the child “has been born” which really caught the attention of the 

then seated king of Judea! Matthew documented Herod’s reaction when

 the sitting King of Judea heard the wise men declare that the

 “King of the Jews” had already been born:

“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”  will be just  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.  

(Does this sound familiar to world events unfolding in 2024?)

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

 about his own kingdom in Judea that the sitting King of Judea tried

 to enlist the services of the wise men in finding the already born

 “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 another  “Divine Intervention” on behalf of Jesus

 which came as an “angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream” 

and after the prophetic “Virgin Birth”  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 these 

events 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 and 

“eye witness testimony” that Jesus had already by the young age

 of 2 or 3 years old had 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 thousands of years,

 all these circumstances surrounding the birth of Jesus only adds

 credence to the 

TRUTH 

that 

Jesus IS CHRIST!!!