Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Tuesday May 21 2013


Today's scripture focus: Luke 3:23-28

Today's Bible In a Year Passage: 2 Samuel 11-12, Psalm 101, Acts 12


The Genealogy of Jesus Christ
23 Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years of age, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son of Heli, 24 the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph, 25 the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Esli, the son of Naggai, 26 the son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Semein, the son of Josech, the son of Joda, 27 the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel,[a] the son of Neri, 28 the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmadam, the son of Er,

MacArthur's sermon


Ok.  I admit, at first I was a little bummed that I got such "lame" verses for my week.  Cause dude. Lineage.  AmIrite?
My husband says he appreciates the lineage sections more now that he's begun to have a deeper understanding of the Word and it's purpose.  I, am lame.  I do not.  I skip Numbers.

Luckily for me, and you, I looked up MacArthur's sermon, because I figured, if I'm gonna plow through these verses, at least he could help me out.

Naturally, he is spot on, and takes it to a whole level I hadn't thought of, because I'm lazy, and think genealogy is boring.

It's all about credentials.  Especially to the Jews who took/take genealogy very seriously.  Scripture said that the Messiah would come from the house of David.  These verses are speaking directly to that.  These "boring" genealogy verses are showing Jesus' human lineage, and thus, his human royal blood.

From MacArthur:


Now the ancestry of Jesus is important, as I said, because it proves that He is not merely a self-appointed Messiah, like Hugh Schonfield in The Passover Plot and all their ilk would want us to believe. He is not a misguided reformer. He is not a self-appointed Savior. He is not a would-be, want-to-be Savior of the nation Israel from their terrible stress under their Roman occupation. He is not a man caught up in a popular acclaim. He is not a sort of magician who drew crowds after Himself and developed a Messiah illusion or a Messiah complex. The genealogy goes back to David and then it goes back to Abraham and then it goes back to Adam and then it goes back to God finally. This is the culmination of all redemptive history in this person Jesus. It starts with God through Adam, through Abraham, through David and right down to Jesus Himself. He is not just a good teacher, He is not just a great man, He is not an isolated prophet, He is not an isolated preacher, this is the culmination of all the history of humanity from God, from Adam, through Abraham, through David down to Jesus. He is the culmination of human history as well as Israel's history. He is the fulfillment of God's redemptive purpose. He is the culmination of all who ever lived. He is the hope of all humanity and all humanity is inseparably and eternally connected to Him. The fate of everyone who ever lives is linked to Jesus.
I won't lie...I still find the genealogy fairly boring.  But at least now, I recognize it for what it is.  Painstaking establishment of lineage.  It's vital.  It leaves no room for doubt and argument against Jesus' royal lineage.  He fulfills every scripture written about Him.  

1 comment:

Tammy said...

I actually love it when it's my turn to post and I get one of the "boring" ones - because I just know that's where I'm going to learn something new. ALL scripture is God-breathed and useful, and that is never proven more true than in cases like this!

I really appreciated some of Mark Driscoll's points about this passage in his sermon as well.

He pointed out the differences between the 4 gospels. Mark doesn't have a genealogy because he's writing to the Romans and they didn't really care about your pedigree.

John's gospel is written to the Greeks and he deals with Greek philosophy and specifically expands on the fact that Jesus was the Word of God.

Matthew's gospel is written to the Jews and they were concerned with both the Davidic line and the Abrahamic line, as well as Jesus' legal right through inheritance in His earthly father's line.

Luke's gospel is written primarily to Gentiles, and his genealogy is to demonstrate how Jesus is both man and God with the genealogy going all the way back to Adam, and in fact, God. Also, to show that Jesus had, not only the legal right to the throne through Joseph, but also the blood line to the throne through His only human parent, Mary.

Driscoll also points out that the genealogy moves through David, Abraham, Noah and Adam which reveals some neat things.

The Davidic covenant was God's promise that there would be a King from David's line that would reign forever - fulfilled partially at Jesus' coming to earth, and to be fulfilled fully at His Second Coming.

The Abrahamic covenant was God's promise that the Messiah would come from Abraham's seed and would bless the world - again fulfilled in Jesus.

Then the Noahic covenant. One point Driscoll makes I just love....
And “Noah walked with God” by the grace of God. So the grace comes first. Because, see, the story is often told: Everybody was bad except for Noah, so God loved him. No, everybody was bad, God loved Noah and changed him, and kept working on him. So Noah, we read in Peter, was a preacher of righteousness for perhaps a hundred years or more. No one repented. Noah and his sons built a huge ark. It was the mode by which they were to be saved. It was a type of Christ; Jesus is our ark.
Everybody was bad, including Noah, including every single person who has ever lived. But God loved Noah, God chose Noah, God redeemed Noah. Awesome.

And Luke goes back to Adam - the original son of God. He was perfect originally. But he fell at the first temptation. Jesus is the better Adam. Jesus was born perfect, without a sin nature like the rest of us due to His virgin conception and the fact that He is God. Jesus is the true Son of God. Fully God. Fully man.

Driscoll had one more point that I loved. Yes, genealogies are sometimes just a boring list of names. But there's going to be a list of names that won't be boring at all. The list of names written in the Lamb's Book of Life that will be read - your name and the names of your loved ones that have trusted Christ as their Saviour, those who have been adopted into the family line of God through the grace of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. I can't wait for that list of names to be read!