Grace Bible Church
Pastor-Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Friday
December 22, 2017
That tree in the garden, led to mankind to needing a Savior. God had to get them out of the Garden. Eating from the tree of life in their fallen state would have meant they were would forever remain in that fallen state.
That led to another tree, of course, the tree where our Lord was crucified.
On that tree hung the lamb that took away the sin of the world and HE was pierced through for our sins.
ISA 7:14, Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call Him Immanuel. (God with us).
Because of these genealogical records, Jesus was able to demonstrate exactly who HE was. Jesus wasn’t the only One who could trace His ancestry.
But HE was the only One whose ancestry proved HIS right to inherit the throne of David.
Luke is the genealogy of Mary, and Matthew is the genealogy of Joseph. Both were descendants of King David.
The fact that the Christmas story starts with a genealogy shows us that it’s a real story that happened in a real place at a real time.
Yet living in this godless place was a godly girl named Mary, a descendant of King David.
MAT 1:21, “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins”.
Matthew stops at Abraham because Matthew is writing primarily to Jews and he wants to satisfy the legal issue with them. Judaism begins with Abraham.
The genealogy in Matthew goes back through Solomon to David.
Luke’s genealogy goes back through Nathan to David.
Both are sons of David, and both are royal lines because both come out of David.
In Matthew you have the genealogy of Joseph through his father Jacob back to David through Solomon.
In Luke you have the genealogy of Mary through her father, Eli.
This was so important that the HS made sure both MAT and LUK recorded these genealogies.
Even if there was an adoption the father still made that son a legal son by adoption. And Jesus could only receive the right to rule through His father.
One received the legal right to rule through the father, therefore it was important for Matthew to prove that Jesus came from a line that proceeded from David through Solomon.
Because he married Mary whose son Jesus was, he became the legal father of Jesus. Therefore, from Joseph Jesus receives the legal right to the throne.
Amazingly, No son of his ever did sit on the throne. Jesus was not the son of Joseph. He did receive the legal right, but he was not the natural child. So the curse was intact.
In the case of the Messiah, it’s got to be the blood of David, He’s got to have the real stuff.
So either way, He is a descendant of David. He can be King legally through Joseph. He can be King naturally through Mary. The credentials are clear, they are detailed and they are irrefutable.
It seems like he put in those in to demonstrate that in the midst of the law there is what? There is grace. And he’s giving them a case for grace, is what he’s doing. This introduces the law-loving Jews to the reality of divine grace; that these outcasts are in the line of the Messiah.
The Pharisees, the Sadducees, the high priests, many others, they would do anything to discredit Jesus as the Jewish Messiah.
All the miracles, all the teaching, all the claims, sorry, folks, He doesn’t come from the line of David. He is an imposter. That’s all it would have taken.
Luke proves that Jesus had the biological right to be king over Israel, through his mother, by way of King David’s son Nathan…Matthew proved HIS legal right.
Records written by humans can be destroyed; records written by God (in His Word) cannot. Being in Scripture, this record is preserved for all time.
Mary, did you know that your baby boy would one day walk on water?
Mary, did you know that your baby boy would save our sons and daughters?
Did you know that your baby boy has come to make you new?
This child that you’ve delivered, will soon deliver you.
Mary, did you know that your baby boy will give sight to a blind man?
Mary, did you know that your baby boy will calm the storm with his hand?
Did you know that your baby boy has walked where angels trod?
When you kiss your little baby, you kiss the face of God.
Mary, did you know that your baby boy is Lord of all creation?
Mary, did you know that your baby boy would one day rule the nations?
Did you know that your baby boy is Heaven’s perfect Lamb?
That sleeping child you’re holding is the great I am.
MIC 4:8, “As for you, tower of the flock, Hill of the daughter of Zion, To you it will come-- Even the former dominion will come, The kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.”
When the lamb was born, they would then inspect them and either certify them for use as sacrifices in the temple or designate them to be released for common use.
Tower of the Flock is Migdal Eder in the Hebrew. These towers were known as the “Tower of the Flock” and there was probably several of them located around the area of Bethlehem.
Daniel was in charge of the Chaldeans, a group of highly trained intellectuals and astronomers for more than 60 years (some of the ungodly Chaldeans dabbled in the occult – astrology, divination and magic).
Daniel died in Babylon, a eunuch with no heir to whom he could leave his wealth, but there’s little doubt that he would have made careful plans for the distribution of his vast treasure.
Following Daniel’s instructions exactly, a select group of Chaldean Wise Men watched the skies for more than 500 years.
They awaited the Great Sign in the Heavens.