Immanuel's Veins, Part 2

In my last blog I took a look at Isaiah 43 and God’s incredible love for Israel in the middle of their ripe disobedience.  Today, we’re going to look at the genealogy of Christ in Matthew 1 as it has spanned throughout Old Testament history.  In this, I hope you begin to see a theme.  I pray you see that no matter how disgusting and murky our past is, how sinful and unfaithful (like Israel) to God we are, God can still use us. 

Let’s begin with a quick look at Matthew 1, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.  Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king.  And Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph,  And Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.  And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ. So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.”

Confused?  Why would I blog about a bunch of names?  How can God possibly speak through a list of names that led to His birth?  What does this genealogy have to do with you?  With me? 

In case you’re lost, Matthew 1 is a family tree of Jesus.  Yeah, that Jesus.  The incarnate son of God, the maker of the entire universe, who sent Jesus to die upon a sinner’s cross for the sin and shame we bear.  This is that Jesus’ family tree.  But what makes it so important? 

Let’s begin.

 

Abraham’s story starts in Genesis 12 when we see God calling him for God’s divine purpose—ultimately to father the nation of Israel.  The first thing we see Abraham do is lie about his wife Sarah being his wife while passing through Egypt.  If the Egyptians knew Sarah was his wife and they wanted her, they’d have to kill Abraham to get to him.  The first thing we see about the father of Israel is that he’s a liar who doesn’t really trust God to protect him.  Genesis 15 is important because it’s when God establishes the Abrahamic Covenant with Abraham.  God promises Abraham to make him into a huge nation—the nation of Israel that Jesus will eventually come from.  Basically, God promises Abraham that out of his descendants will come Jesus, the Messiah, who is promised to end evil (Genesis 3).  We’re told throughout this story that Abraham’s wife Sarah was barren; she couldn’t have children.  Now even though God promised to open up her womb and bring forth an entire nation, Abraham and Sarah both think it’s a pretty swell idea to try to bring forth God’s promised nation with Sarah’s servant, Hagar.  In Genesis 16, then, we read about Abraham doing the nasty with Hagar and bringing forth a child, Ishmael.  Sounds like a pretty good example of morality, right?  He was first an untrusting liar, now he’s sleeping with his wife’s servant to try to jumpstart God’s promise for a child.  Yup, he’s a great guy.  Four chapters later in Genesis 20 we see Abraham lying again about Sarah being his wife.  If there was ever anybody who didn’t trust God’s promises, it was this guy.  God promised to make him into a nation, which didn’t happen yet, so Abraham should trust that God will still bring that about, but we don’t.  Abraham fears man more than he fears God.  Isaac is eventually born (Genesis 21), and through his birth the nation of Israel begins to form.  Through the nation of Israel comes Jesus.  So the first guy in Jesus’ lineage isn’t the morally upright man that we make him out to be.  Even though Abraham is one of the most important characters in the entire Bible, and he does do the world a lot of good, we can see that he has a lot of character flaws that birth sin.  And yet God chose to bring his perfect son into the world to save the world through this man.  Amazing.

Over the next…while, I guess, I’ll be going more in depth about more people in the genealogy of Christ.  Hopefully as these blogs come together you can begin to see that even though a lot of these people are screwed up and ridden with sin, God still chose them and used them to do mighty things just like He chooses us to do mighty things.

Remember this:  You are never too far gone to be used by and for God.  There is always redemption at the foot of the cross.

To be continued...

Immanuel's Veins, Part. 1

One thing that I’ve been recently amazed by is God’s undying goodness to us.  Stop.  Read that last sentence again.  Think about it.  God’s.  Undying.  Goodness.  To.  Us.  Can you just stop and think about how good God is?  When was the last time you thanked God for His sacrifice?  When was the last time you actually meditated on the fact that He covers us in unfathomable love that we can’t even begin to try to understand?  When was the last time you thought about how that love knifes through all of our murky sin and unfaithfulness and how He still loves us the same?  Stop.  Think about it.

Now read on.

Isaiah 43 is my favorite chapter in the entire Bible.  The beauty of Christ’s love to a prostituted Israel that spit in God’s own face is heartbreaking.  Overwhelming.  In the middle of Israel’s sin, debauchery, and unfaithfulness that gave God every right to completely destroy them we have Isaiah 43. 

“But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.  For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you.  Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life.  Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you.  I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.” Bring out the people who are blind, yet have eyes, who are deaf, yet have ears!  All the nations gather together, and the peoples assemble. Who among them can declare this, and show us the former things? Let them bring their witnesses to prove them right, and let them hear and say, It is true.  “You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me.
I, I am the LORD, and besides me there is no savior.  I declared and saved and proclaimed, when there was no strange god among you; and you are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “and I am God.   Also henceforth I am he; there is none who can deliver from my hand; I work, and who can turn it back?” Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “For your sake I send to Babylon and bring them all down as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, in the ships in which they rejoice.
I am the LORD, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.” Thus says the LORD, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, who brings forth chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick: “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old.
Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.  The wild beasts will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches, for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise. “Yet you did not call upon me, O Jacob; but you have been weary of me, O Israel! You have not brought me your sheep for burnt offerings, or honored me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with offerings, or wearied you with frankincense.
You have not bought me sweet cane with money, or satisfied me with the fat of your sacrifices. But you have burdened me with your sins; you have wearied me with your iniquities.  “I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.  Put me in remembrance; let us argue together; set forth your case, that you may be proved right.  Your first father sinned, and your mediators transgressed against me.  Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary, and deliver Jacob to utter destruction and Israel to reviling.”

If that doesn’t stir the emotions within you, read it again.  Concentrate on God’s message to an unrepentant Israel.  If you read the history of Israel you will see them turn away from God time and time again and lose their faith in Him.  This unfaithfulness begins right after Israel’s exodus in Exodus 14:11 when the Israelites see the Egyptians pursuing them.  Remember, God just brought them miraculously out of captivity in Egypt and they say to Moses (and God), “It would have been better to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”  Throughout the rest of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles Israel turns its back on God time and time again.  They make other idols, they worship other idols, they plunder their enemies when they’re not supposed to, they complain about having no food, they whore themselves out to other nations, they practice witchcraft…I mean, these Israelites used Jesus like a spiritual friend with benefits.  They praised Him when it convenience them, but most of the time was spent spitting in His face and throwing His love away.

Then in the middle of this, in the middle of Isaiah’s ministry to the Israelites God speaks through Isaiah and we get Isaiah 43.  Look at the first verse alone, “But now thus says the Lord, He who created you, O Jacob, He who formed you, O Israel:  “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.”  Wow.  Even through Israel’s unfaithfulness God still loves them like a son.  “I’ll be with you,” He says.  “I will not remember your sins,” He says.  Talk about the love that goes beyond our understanding!

Put it in today’s language.  You’re married to the person of your dreams.  As some of my EBC friends would say, “Perfect for you in every way, in every way…”.  Every little thing that you’ve ever wished to find in someone else is in this person, and more.  So much more.  You are beside yourself with love for this person and you can hardly believe your life to be true.  How did you get so lucky?  This isn’t just your dream person, it’s everyone else’s dream spouse as well.  Your friends can see the mental and spiritual beauty in this person and congratulate you wholeheartedly on your “catch”.  You’re beside yourself with joy and the rapture of human love. 

But here’s the thing, six months into the marriage you find out that this person, your true love has been cheating on you.  Not only once or twice, but consistently.  With multiple partners.  How do you feel?  You gave everything you had to love this person and felt like it was reciprocated, but was it a lie?  Is the relationship fake?  After confronting this person and tearfully making your way through a long process of healing you feel as if everything is going to be okay.  Unfortunately a week later you find out that the cheating has not stopped, but gotten worse.  How do you feel now?

As humans we would be inclined to throw in the towel right away and get out of the relationship.  Who wants to live with a broken heart anyway?  This is the way it was for the Israelites.  Israel is the cheating spouse and God is the brokenhearted victim.  But unlike humans, God doesn’t give up.  He chooses to look past the cheating, past the unfaithfulness, and past the broken relationship and remain with the spouse.  No matter how many times Israel cheats on God, God is faithful to Israel and he doesn’t give up.  No, He doesn’t give up.  He doesn’t give up on Israel, and He doesn’t give up on us.

Are you beginning to get a picture of how loving and forgiving and merciful and graceful God is?  Good.  Read Isaiah 43 another time.  And another.  Begin to get that picture of love that God had for Israel and has for us.  Equate yourself with Israel.  Recognize how unfaithful to God you are and picture Isaiah 43 being written to you.  Let it hit home just how much God loves you.

To be continued…

Set Apart

School started a few weeks ago, and I’m sure that everyone is wondering how my life is by now.  In a word:  Fantastic.  I can’t stress how much I love living in Simi Valley; there’s just so much life here and so much to do.  Don’t believe me?  How about you look up Milton, PA, on Google Maps then compare it to Simi Valley, CA.  Trust me, there’s lot’s to do here.  The people here are killer.  I’ve met mostly solid dudes and ladies while I’ve been out here and began making some good friendships.  It always takes me a while to lose that initial shyness that usually accompanies meeting a lot of new people all at once, but I’m working on it.  Classes are also going very well.  It’s a hefty work load—I’m not going to lie—but it’s so worth it.  All the reading we’re doing is so packed full of Scripture and great Truths.  It’s only been a few weeks and I feel like my head is going to explode with all that I’m trying to take in and understand.  If you’re reading this and you’re also the type that likes to pray for people, send praises and thanks up to God for all that He is doing in my life.  I’ve truly been blessed in multiple, huge ways.  God is so, so good.  As far as actual requests go, pray for a job.  I’m struggling mentally without a job, and I realize that sounds weird to say but it’s true.  I’ve had a steady job since high school, and even on days where I was lazy I would still be productive when I went in to work.  Since I have no job now, I’m struggling to feel productive and am feeling very lazy and, frankly, like a loser.  Prayer would be appreciated in this area.

That’s my school update, but here’s what I really wanted to write about.  I forsook my One-Year Bible the other day and am not going to pick it back up any time soon.  I have been feeling very dry lately, spiritually speaking, as far as my personal devotions go because I have been reading the One-Year Bible just for the sake of reading it and not getting into any serious studies.  With that said, I decided to start a serious in-depth study of the book of Romans, and within the few days that I’ve been setting aside time for it, I’ve only gone through the first verse!  I feel like God is pouring out so much desired Truth into my life through the first verse alone.

Romans 1:1 says, “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.”  That’s it.  Nothing more.  What stood out to me in this verse was the phrase “set apart”.  I was reading the Barnhouse Romans commentary along with this verse and it stressed the importance of being set apart for something instead of just being set apart.  As Christians there are a lot of sinful things that we need to vacuum out of our lives.  In essence, there’s s small “don’t list” that we have to follow—things that delve into the sinful realm.  A lot of times, though, we focus on getting those things out of our lives and not necessarily replacing them with anything.  We focus on not lying, not looking at pornography, not lusting, stealing, murdering, and getting drunk, but we focus on those things to the point that we forget to fill ourselves with something better.  If we focus on not sinning and not focus on filling ourselves with good, we’ll end up empty.  We may have “righteous” acts of faith and service, but what are those even without Christ?

The challenge is this:  Focus more on Christ than the sin.  Focus on putting good in to change the bad inside.  Personally, I need to be focusing more on getting to know Christ better and studying his Word and Truth rather than not sinning.  The more I know Christ and fully understand His detest of sin and become better acquainted with His heart, then that will affect how I treat the sin in my life.  If I hate sin as Christ hates sin, then the grip that sin has on my life will be loosened.

Today, instead of focusing on the mountain to be faced, focus on the man who already conquered that mountain—Jesus.