MESSAGE BY PASTOR ROB INRIG
FROM BETHANY BAPTIST IN RICHMOND, BC.
I invite you to pray with me, Father God hear our prayer, and we humbly cry to you as it is written in your word, Lucas 11:9:” I tell you Keep asking, and it will given to you, Keep seeking, and you will find, Keep knocking, and it will be open to you)” We are requesting healing for our dear members of our family and also dear friends who are suffering from illnesses in their lives fighting and suffering under a lot of pain, You know them by their names; (Gaby P, Vicky O, Nancy R, Tere G, Liz N, Gloria F, Stevie A, Les N, Miguel A H, Socrates D, Sara's mom H, Sergei B, Margarita G, Fega G. Manuel D, Marlen C. Rosy Ch, Richard H,) Also, some of them are tired of spiritual struggles, losing their faith in you, Strengthening their trust in you with a miracle in their lives, oh! Father God, hear our prayer, and we also pray for all the people around the world, especially the children who are suffering from wars, devastation, hunger, pain, hate and disbelieving in you also, bless the ones who are reading this message and their families. Heal the Land of those Countries at war; you love them so much, oh Father God, hear our prayer, we ask you in the name of Our Lord of Lords and King of Kings, your beloved son Jesus Christ. AMEN!
Thank you, Father God, for your answer to the news
that some from our list names they are doing well,
One of them is already in remission from cancer,
another recovering slowly but well,
another full recovery starting in doing normal life
Thank you Father God, in the name of Jesus our Lord
Praise be your name always and forever AMEN.
As we enter the Christmas season, we are going to take the next 4 weeks and look at events through the eyes of royalty and more specifically, a Kingdom.
In so many ways, worlds of kings and kingdoms are far removed from where we do life. Many associations we have with royalty are terribly flawed. Presentations of pomp and pageantry and yet the reality? – families and lives in disarray. Our discoveries get no better looking back in time, when with some exceptions, as covers are pulled off, we often see the unsavoury. In these, abuses of power and time and again, massive disconnects between those enjoying wealth-entitled lives and the struggling populace, trying to make ends meet.
Still, there is something that draws us to stories of kings and kingdoms that suggest there is better out there – something that in our imaginings was experienced long ago in some far away world. We see that in our childhood stories and in those fairy tale renditions of a better world where all is well. When villains are conquered and happiness is forevermore. The problem is - experience teaches us that these storybook images disappear as soon as the stories end.
Leaving we ‘moderns’ still looking for something more, no different than has been the case since the beginning of time. Wanting for the world to be put right. Wanting for meaning to come – meaning greater than 60 or 70 years of scratching and ‘getting’ but when all is said and done, getting for what? To drive a better car, own a better house, have a better job then end up in a better convalescent center.
More than what Trooper sang, some years ago, Here for a good time not a long time. Really? Is this the best we can do?
But what if that feeling of something more IS what we were meant to feel, actually, designed to feel? That those far off worlds and fantasy like dreams are what we were created for? That in the chaos in which we live, that in our confusion and brokenness there is hope.
Which brings us back to the Kingdom world we will be considering today and in the coming weeks.
This morning looking at announcements of this Kingdom that were given hundreds of years before. This Kingdom that doesn’t make sense without the arrival of a King – a King unlike any other, a King we are told who will never cease to reign, in a kingdom that will never end.
This world coming to us in fantasy like fashion, in a way and in a time when dreams were all but dead and then the birth of a child - God Himself – born of a virgin of all things. An incredible, this can’t be true, fantasy.
Now before, you misunderstand those words just said, consider how the dictionary defines Fantasy - the activity of imagining things, especially things that are impossible or improbable.
By every conceivable measure, God coming into our world as He did is, by any human understanding, both impossible and improbable, so in that sense, this is a fantasy of the highest order. Nothing in this that science can makes sense of or logic can explain. But in what we are told, the assurance that we have reason to hope – yes, for things to come but also in the things for now that all too often overwhelm. That God can do what we see as the impossible.
Because this God, who spoke a world into existence, who ‘holds the mountains in His hands’ isn’t limited by any limitations we or others may place upon Him. Science or logic may tell us things like a virgin birth are impossible. And yet God does the impossible, coming to us in ways we can see Him, wanting us to know His the unfathomable love.
With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at a few things we are given in Matthew 1 and 2 that will bring us face to face with ‘impossibles’ that can only be understood as initiated by God. And if these are true, that God would do these impossibles, that it is also true that God can bring hope into my impossibles - that He knows me by name, that He loves me, that He cares for me, that He forgives me, with me – even when I don’t see or don’t understand.
But before doing that I want to look at some things in Matthew that we skip over to get to the ‘good stuff’ about the Christmas story because frankly these introductory verses don’t interest us and frankly, they seem to tell us nothing. I mean who cares about a bunch of names? But actually they tell us plenty especially about the coming of a King. I’m referring to the first 17 verses in Matthew 1 that lay out the genealogy of Jesus’ birth, here what we are told about Joseph.
For the Jews – genealogical records were everything. If land were bought or sold, those records were needed to ensure land wasn’t sold to members of another tribe. Priests could only serve if they could prove their genealogy came unbroken from the tribe of Levi. And most important of all, genealogy determined the Messianic line to David’s throne.
In the time of Christ, Jesus wasn’t alone in claiming to be the Messiah. And the quickest and easiest way to eliminate the imposters? – From what tribe? In what birthplace? If not from the line of David, forget it. Do you remember what we’re told in Luke 2, In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world … And everyone went to his own town to register. :1,3 That meant that each man must return to his ancestral hometown—the town from which his family had originally come. But the only way you could be sure about your ancestral hometown was to know your genealogy.
So let’s take a quick look at what Matthew 1 tells us. Matthew’s audience mainly Jews who would have paid great attention to Jesus’ ancestry. He tracing Joseph’s ancestorial line through Joseph that outline Jesus’ LEGAL right to the throne. So a brief look that begins with Abraham when God first made His promise of an everlasting kingdom. This line through the Patriarch’s to David and then shortly after things get somewhat more muddy.
MATTHEW 1:1-16 - LEGAL heir to the THRONE
Abraham - in you all the families of the world will be blessed
Isaac
Jacob
Judah - the sceptre shall not depart from Judah .. until Shiloh the gift from God, the peaceful one come Gen 49:10
_
Jesse
DAVID - your house, kingdom and THRONE will endure forever 2 Sam 7:16
Solomon BEGINNING HERE AND SOON AFTER, EVERYTHING FROM HERE ON WENT SOUTH _
Jeconiah - cursed - none of his offspring will prosper, none will sit on the throne of David or rule anymore in judah Jer. 22:30 NO KING ON ISRAEL’S THRONE AFTER BABYLONIAN EXILE.
_
Joseph _
_
_Jesus
If we were to leave it here, that would leave us with some significant questions given Jeconiah’s curse, None will sit on the throne of David or rule anymore in Judah. Which is where Luke comes in, doing the more unusual by - giving us a look at Mary’s genealogy – the bloodline to the Throne.
LUKE 3:23-38. The BLOOD rights to the THRONE coming through the tribe of Judah, this beginning with the first man:
Adam
Noah
Abraham all the families of the world blessed
Isaac
Jacob
Judah
Jesse
DAVID his house, kingdom and THRONE will endure forever
Nathan *** because Jesus was virgin born, curse not on Him
Eli (Mary’s father)
Mary
Jesus
So this is what we’ve got:
Jesus’ blood line not contaminated by sin, instead as we will later see, He who knew no sin, became sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Cor 5:21
14 generations from Abraham to David 14 from David to Babylon 14 from Babylon to Christ 1:17.
These 14’s possibly reinforcing what’s seen in what’s called the gematria, where Hebrew letters correspond to numbers. In this could it be we see another link of Messiah’s link to David’s throne?
Hebrew (דוד) has a value of 14, ד (dalet) + ו (vav) + ד (dalet), or 4 + 6 + 4 = 14.
This Jesus is the One Matthew reminds us is the SON of DAVID, a Messianic term cried out by blind men, by crowds and by children and is also cried out in this genealogical account – 14 generations passing through King David to God’s ‘Son of David’ – God’s promised Messiah.
But in these 16 verses, one more thing that’s significant but this part pointing more to us so we see how wide open God’s arms of love are. In this genealogy, the less than stellar - there’s Abraham, a man in whom God was pleased but also characterized by great failure – betraying his wife with great lies, not once but twice. Then there’s Jacob whose name means deceiver, a name he repeatedly lived up to - deceiving his brother, his father then his uncle. Or Judah who failed his daughter-in-law and then unknowingly had sexual relations with her thinking she was a prostitute. Or the much acclaimed, David – an adulterer and murderer or Solomon, an idolator and womanizer.
As the list goes on, it moves from bad to worse, some we will pass over but others that are impossible not to notice, like Jehoram who murdered 6 of his brothers so they weren’t around to claim the throne and Manasseh described as the most evil of all the evil, he who sacrificed his son in the fires to other gods.
So in this Messianic line, some terribly bad men and some questionable reputation women. Even including women in a genealogy unusual but done for us because of what we need to know.
And yet note the women? Rahab, a prostitute and Canaanite - enemies of Israel. Then there was Tamar who acted in a prostitute’s role. Or Ruth, who though exemplary in her actions, was a Moabite, her lineage from incest, Lot’s daughters-in-law getting him drunk so they could bear sons, Moab and Ammon whose descendants would become bitter enemies of Israel.
And yet in this genealogy, the great news, God taking broken people, disqualified people, unworthy people, ‘I messed up big time’ people from whom He would bring a King, the King of all kings. Because that’s what this Messiah did then and what this Messiah still does today. Not coming to the picture perfect people but coming to those who know they’re not. Coming to rescue, to redeem, to forgive. A Saviour for all who call on Him. No one too far away. Coming to people like you and me, bringing hope and a new beginning wherever we find ourselves.
A Saviour of Whom we are again reminded that, God made Him who knew no sin to become sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God 2 Cor 5:21.
Of this Jesus, there are 330 prophesies in the OT that were given 100’s of years before they would be fulfilled in Jesus. These prophecies weren’t some vague declarations that any number of people could fulfill. They weren’t words put together years after the fact to compose some miraculous story. No, these were the impossibles only God could do.
Consider just the few we see in Matthew 1 and 2, like I. a virgin birth spoken of by Isaiah, 700 years before, Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel Is 7:4. This one of Whom Matthew tells us, He shall save His people from their sins 1:21.
The Virgin Birth forces us to confront what we believe about Jesus Christ because even before His birth, Isaiah has told us, this One is come as God with us - our Saviour. The Virgin Birth forcing us off the fence about Jesus, as Isaiah writes, For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever Is 9:6.
His Kingdom told us by the psalmist, Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations Ps 145:13.
This One not just a Saviour but a King who will rule over an everlasting kingdom which tells us this King will never die, taking us through a life, past a Cross, out of a Tomb, to a Throne.
Matthew 2:1 also telling us, this Jesus would be II. born in Bethlehem of Judaea fulfilling what the prophet Micah had said also 700 years before Jesus, But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting 5:2.
This prophecy of Bethlehem of Judea even another connection to David’s throne. This Bethlehem actually 1 of two Bethlehems in Israel, this one nothing of size, hardly worth of attention but the prophet speaks with detail making certain there was no ambiguity regarding the birthplace of which he spoke. This Bethlehem of Judea having nothing of significance with one exception – this place was David’s ancestral home, yet again not allowing us to miss this.
Notice one more things about this Ruler – His goings forth have been from of old from ancient times, from everlasting. In Hebrew there are 2 terms that express the idea of time – the first, times past, the second, owlam – ‘beyond the vanishing point’ ... a time that cannot be calculated, a time outside of space. And the term used here for this promised One – He existed beyond the vanishing point, as Ps 90:2 also points out, From everlasting to everlasting, before the mountains were born.
Matthew gives us three more prophetic references in chapter 2, the III. third in these 2 chapters :13 the angel’s warning for Mary and Joseph to flee to Egypt due to Herod’s intent to kill the young child. Hosea wrote of their presence in Egypt and return 600 years before, Out of Egypt I called my son Hos 11:1. The IV. fourth in :17 where we are told of great weeping in Ramah. Tears in Ramah had a history - when the Babylonians took Israel captive, Ramah was used as a staging area to separate children from parents, those children then taken as slaves to different areas of Babylon, parents likely never seeing their children again. But this time, the weeping spoken of, A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more. Jer 31:5.
Parents weeping for their infant sons, 2 years and under, whose lives ended, slaughtered under Herod’s orders, to prevent any new king from arising to take his throne.
And the last of the 5 prophesies we’ve looked at, V. in 2:23, Matthew telling us that this Jesus would be from Nazareth, A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit Is 11:1.
And many more prophesies would be said of Jesus. That this One would be despised and rejected. He would suffer and become familiar with pain Is 53:3. He would be mocked with insults hurled against Him Ps 22:6-8.
In all over 300 prophesies written of Jesus, of this Jesus who came to us as a child but in truth who was a King. This One not born to be a king but a King who was born to be a child so we could close. Heaven’s King who for a time set aside His crown, pushed aside His throne, stripped off His glory and put away His rights to become one of us – all done so we could know Him.
So as I close, what we do make of what we’ve just looked at? Well consider this. In his book Science Speaks written many years ago, mathematician and professor, Peter Stoner observed that the odds of just 8 prophesies about Jesus’ birth and death being accidently fulfilled would be 1 in 1017 or 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000 or 1 in one hundred quadrillion. He likened the odds of this happening as the equivalent of covering the state of Texas with a stack of silver dollars, 2’ deep and then marking 1 coin, blindfolding a man and then having that man finding this coin on his first attempt.
And yet this story told us, against all odds, is the story about the arrival of a King – a King unlike any other, a King we are told who will never cease to reign, in a kingdom that will never end.
This world coming to us in fantasy like fashion, yet this fantasy is true, all introduced to us with the birth of a child - born of a virgin. God faithful to His word. Born to bring hope to the messed up, the broken up, the given up.
And the storyline still to be seen? A coming Kingdom
unlike any fantasy we can possibly imagine.
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