JANUARY 12 THE JESUS QUESTIONS Introduction-12:
Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33
(Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17)
LIVING FOR JESUS Daily Prayer
JESUS, You are Unchanging for ever and Forever, for You are the Alpha
and the Omega. Lord as I face another day in the world I praise You for
the great and mighty work that You accomplish daily in our lives through the
Holy Spirit and the extra blessing of the Holy Spirit Teaching us how to
worship You with our work which is a good witness to Your Great Love.
I pray that others will see us living our lives through You Lord Jesus Christ
and our daily walk with You will witness to the Abundant Life that comes
only from following You. Also we pray the Holy Spirit helps us to learn
that following You is the most important thing in each individual’s life —
not what the owners of the business or our earthly bosses think about
our “worship at work” but of major importance is what
God Most High thinks of our worship!
Jesus, You know our hearts and Lord Jesus help us die daily to our
worldly self and let Your Love show though in a mighty WAY!!!
AMEN
THE JESUS QUESTIONS
Jesus was established in the first chapter of Matthew as the rightful
Heir to the Throne of David by His genealogy through King David
as spoken by God Himself to Nathan the prophet about David:
“I will set up [David’s] seed…I will establish his kingdom…
I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever…I will be his Father,
and [H]e shall be My son…My mercy shall not depart from him…
and [David’s] throne and kingdom will be established forever!” (2 Samuel 7: 12-16)
The title “Son of David” to the Jews meant more than human genealogy,
it is a MESSIANIC title —
therefore when Israel referred to Jesus as the Son of David, they were making reference
to the long-awaited Deliverer,
the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies. (Matthew 1:1-17)
Next, after establishing the “genealogy of Jesus Christ”, Matthew
documents the prophesied “virgin birth” of Jesus (Matthew 1:18-25)
thus fulfilling the prophecy:
“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 then moves directly into the conflict that developed
with the then earthly king of Israel, King Herod:
“Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of
Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem,
saying, ‘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)
The fact that “wise men” from the East came seeking the “King of the Jews”
and declaring that they had “seen His star in the East” is significant in
the “universality” of the Jewish Prophecy that the the King of the Jews
would be born in Bethlehem of Judea for the prophet Micah had written:
“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 of old, from everlasting.”
(Micah 5:2)
Matthew has now demonstrated 3 major prophecies that have been fulfilled
by Jesus in just the first chapter and part of the second that put the odds
of any one person fulfilling these 3 major prophecies at an astronomical
number and almost certainly by mathematical odds that
Jesus by fulfilling these 3 Prophecies:
(Prophecy #1) His genealogy through David,
(Prophecy #2) His “Virgin Birth”, and
(Prophecy #3) that the “Virgin Birth” occurred in the town of “Bethlehem”
would be sufficient to declare Jesus the Heir to the throne of David
and by Jesus fulfilling just these three prophecies that He
would have to be declared the “King of the Jews”!!!
It is obvious why this news from the wise men declared in the presence
of Herod and all the chief priests and scribes in the city of Jerusalem
would cause Herod to be “troubled”. What makes the odds of Jesus being
the “King of the Jews” grow exponentially is the fact that even this “trouble”
that King Herod felt was itself also in prophecy as Matthew records that
when the wise men departed [from Herod] after
“they [had seen] the young Child with Mary His mother” (Matthew 2:11)
that “an angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream, saying,
‘Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt,
and stay there until I bring you word for Herod will seek
the young Child to destroy Him.’
[Joseph] did as the angel had commanded that yet another prophecy might
be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet [Hosea], saying,
“Out of Egypt I called My Son.” (Hosea 11:1)
When Herod
“saw that he was deceived by the wise men…[Herod] sent forth
and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem
and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to
the time which [Herod] had determined from the wise men. Then
was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet saying:
‘A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, weeping, and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted, because
they are no more.” (Matthew 2:16-17 and Jeremiah 31:15)
Matthew now in only two chapters, has Jesus fulfilling prophecies
by Isaiah, Micah, Hosea, and Jeremiah! The miracle part of the prophecies
is that in order for these prophecies to be fulfilled that the circumstances
demanded that (1) “wise men from the East” and (2) the current “king of Judea” be complicit
in the fulfilling of prophecy!
To me it is significant that God was accomplishing His Plan and literally using Jesus
as a Child to cause a Universal Response to His arrival and that speaks
plainly to the TRUTH OF GOD that there will be required of every one,
in all nations and every generation and every tongue, a Universal Response
when Jesus comes again!
God’s complete Plan has been written down in His Holy Bible
for us to read and comply with —
all we have to do is accept the obvious ———
Jesus is the Only Begotten Son of God!!!
