Leviticus 11.44-45 | An Old Message For A New Year

As a new year approaches, many people are making resolutions and commitments to change things in their life for the better.

There are those who will focus on the external: try to lose weight, work out more. There are those who will try to read their Bible more, be a better Christian, etc.

But we as followers of Christ often forget this old message that is faithful and true.

God is Holy, we are sinners, God became man, Jesus paid our penalty, our response is to receive His forgiveness and live for Him by worshipping Him.

01. God Is Holy

The Bible tells us that God is Holy (Leviticus 11.44-45). Peter quotes this passage in Leviticus in 1Peter 01.16. At the commission of Isaiah the prophet in Isaiah 06.01-13, the Seraphim cried out that the LORD is Holy. John in his vision of Heaven wrote about the four living creatures and how they constantly worship God in Revelation 04.01-11. John tells us “…that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.” (1John 01.05). What John is saying here is that there is nothing impure at all about God, He has a character that is Holy. He is so good that there is “no darkness at all” in Him! Paul tells us that the Law of God is holy in Romans 07.12.

02. The Problem

The problem though is that all of mankind has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Ecclesiastes 07.20; Romans 03.23). All of mankind “…like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way…” (Isaiah 53.06). God is Holy, we are sinners, and therein lies the problem. Because of sin, we can have no fellowship with God, since “in Him there is no darkness at all.” (1John 01.05). Light and darkness cannot mix, so we are cut off from having any type of fellowship with our Creator, the God of this universe. But because of sin there is a price that needs to be paid. The sin problem doesn’t just isolate us from God, but keeps us in debt. Paul tells us “the wages of sin is death” in Romans 06.23.

There is not a sliding scale though for sin. God does not grade on a curve. All sin is the same, you do not receive a worse punishment if you commit a certain sin, or get off lightly if you do a “small” sin. The reason for this is because God is Holy, and all sin is essentially against the Holy God (Psalm 51.04). But “the wages of sin” that Paul mentions in Romans 06.23 is not just physical death, but a death that is spiritual. This is Hell, a place where you are eternally tormented while conscious (Luke 16.23). Hell is described by Jesus as a “furnace of fire” and “in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 13.50). The idea of a real Hell is contradictory to what we are taught in society today, where everyone is a winner, everyone can be president, you can do whatever you want if you just put your mind to it (the false New Age teaching of the power of positive thinking) world that we live in. No one likes to think that we could end up in a place of eternal torment. People often say, “How can a loving God send people to Hell?” The answer is that He doesn’t, each one makes their own choice whether the end up in Hell or not (2Peter 03.09). God’s justice demands that there be a payment of sin.

03. God Became Man

God saw that we were a miserable creature, unable to pay for our sins, so He sent His only Son to be miraculously born of a virgin, thus keeping Him unstained and unspotted from sin (Matthew 01.18-25; Luke 02.01-20).

Philippians 02.05-11 God becoming man, Jesus, lived thirty-three years here on earth, yet He never sinned. Never once did He disobey His parents, never once did He break the Law of God, but instead He came to fulfill the Law (Matthew 05.17). Jesus lived His life in the way that you and I should live, in complete submission to the Father, doing the will of the Father (John 04.34; John 05.30; John 06.38).

04. He Paid Our Debt

Because He was perfect, righteous, and lived a life of no sin, He became the perfect substitute for our sins. Many of the Jews wanted Him dead because He preached a different message then they taught. The Jews were now under Roman rule, and around 12ad we know from Josephus (The Jewish War 02.08.01) and history that the Romans took away capital punishment from the Jews. In the mind of the Jews, this took away the foundation of their government, which is to be able to put to death those who deserved it. All this was done in fulfillment of Jacob’s prophecy on his deathbed in Genesis 49.10. Unbeknownst to the Jews, when their right to offer capital punishment was taken away by the Romans, their Messiah was about 16 years old! The Jews needed the Romans to put Jesus to death, and because Pontius Pilate wanted to appease the Jewish people, he went along with their ruse, even though he knew that Jesus was innocent and not deserving of death (Matthew 27.18; Matthew 27.23-24). God was still in control, for He had foretold that the Messiah was to suffer greatly (Isaiah 53.01-12) for the sins of this world. Jesus voluntarily laid down His life (John 10.14-18), allowing the sins of the world to be placed on Him and suffering the consequences of that. Paul tells us “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2Corinthians 05.21).  But the account doesn’t end there! For on the third day, the tomb was empty (Matthew 28.01-10; Mark 16.01-08; Luke 24.01-12; John 20.01-18; 1Corinthians 01.01-05)! Because the tomb is empty, you and I are now able to confidently approach God (Hebrews 04.16) and have a personal relationship with the God who created all things! Isaiah tells us that the Messiah was to bear the sin of many and justify many in Isaiah 53.11-12. The free gift of God is eternal life (Romans 06.23), available to all men (John 03.16). God treated Jesus as if He were us, and He know treats us as if we were Jesus!

05. Our Response

Our response is to accept and acknowledge Jesus as Lord (Romans 10.09-13). Knowing and be reminded of what He has done for us ought to be the motivation for you and I to spend time studying His Word, worshipping Him, praying to Him, telling others all about Him, and living our lives completely devoted to Him.

Ephesians 01.18-02.22

Many ideas of this message came from: An Open Letter to You in 2014: The Same Old Message for a Brand New Year

 http://thecripplegate.com/an-open-letter-to-you-in-2014-the-same-old-message-for-a-brand-new-year/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheCripplegate+%28The+Cripplegate%29

Isaiah 09.06-07 | God's Gift

Isaiah 09.06-07

The Book of Isaiah is often compared to the Bible…

-The Bible has 66 books; Isaiah has 66 chapters

-The Old Testament has 39 books; the first section of Isaiah has 39 chapters

-The New Testament has 27 books; the second section of Isaiah has 27 chapters

-The Old Testament covers the history and sin of Israel; as does Isaiah 01.01-39.08.

-The New Testament describes the person and ministry of Jesus the Messiah; as does Isaiah 40.01-66.26.

-The New Testament begins with the ministry of John the Baptist; the second section of Isaiah (Isaiah 40.01-66.26) begins by predicting this ministry.

-The New Testament ends by referring to the new heavens and the new earth (Revelation 21.01-03); Isaiah ends his book by describing the very same things (Isaiah 66.22).

A copy of this book was found among the famous Dead Sea scrolls in 1947 in cave 1 at Qumran. It was made up of 17 sheets, and each sheet was 24 feet long by 10 inches. It was copied in the Second Century and was amazingly similar to what we have today.

Isaiah himself prophesied during the reigns of five kings of Judah, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah and Manasseh (Isaiah 01.01). Isaiah was married and had two sons (Isaiah 07.03; Isaiah 08.03), and according to Jewish tradition it is believed that his father, Amoz, was the brother of King Amaziah of Judah, which if the Jewish tradition is true, it would mean that Isaiah was a descendant of David. Isaiah is quoted more times in the New Testament than any other Old Testament prophet. Isaiah bridges Moses and the Messiah, for he proclaimed and preached repentance to the lost, to the godless he preached the coming wrath of the LORD, and to the small group of believers he preached the comforting message of the coming Messiah.

In Isaiah 06.01-13 we see the vision of Isaiah and his commission to go and proclaim the message from the LORD even when the people would not listen. In Isaiah 07.01-02 we see that King Ahaz was in great danger, for Rezin, the King of Syria and Pekah the king of Israel (the Northern Kingdom) were united together to come against Jerusalem (2Kings 15.37; Isaiah 07.01-02). In Isaiah 07.03-09 God sent Isaiah to King Ahaz to encourage him and let him know that God would not allow the Syrian-Israel alliance to succeed and that Jerusalem will be preserved. God said that the confirmation of His Word that He would not allow the alliance of Syria and Israel to succeed was going to be by a sign that God would give to Ahaz, but Ahaz refused to ask for one in Isaiah 07.10-13.

So because of the refusal by Ahaz, Isaiah responded under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit with: “…Listen now, O house of David! Is it too slight a thing for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God as well? “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel. “He will eat curds and honey at the time He knows enough to refuse evil and choose good.” (Isaiah 07.13-15).

Isaiah under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit tells us that the Godly sign to the house of David is going to be a virgin giving birth to God who is coming in human flesh, thus fulfilling Genesis 03.15. Isaiah then tells us five things about this coming Immanuel (Isaiah 07.13-15) who was to be born of a virgin in Isaiah 09.06-07.

01. He Was To Be Born A Child (Isaiah 09.06a)

Isaiah 09.06a “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us…”

This Immanuel will be born into the nation of Israel (“to us”), which was literally fulfilled in the First Coming of Jesus. We just studied Luke 02.01-52 and Luke 03.01-38 and saw that Jesus was indeed born a Jew.

In the original Hebrew, Isaiah 09.06 is written in the Passive Perfect tense, which means that it is a completed action; it is as good as done! The King James Version and New King James Version both properly translate this as “…a child is born…”

Not only was He born as a Jew, but also He took on human flesh to become a man (John 01.14). Jesus brought up His humanity to Nicodemus in John 03.16. Have you ever noticed that when Jesus spoke these words to Nicodemus, it was before Jesus went to the cross and that He was speaking as if it has already happened? The word for “gave” in John 03.16 is written in the Aorist tense, Active voice, Indicative mood in the original Greek. This describes action that the subject has done already.

Paul mentions the gift of God in the death of His Son to all mankind in Romans 06.23. The rest of the descriptions about the coming Immanuel all will be completely fulfilled in the Second Coming of Jesus (Revelation 19.11-22.21).

02. He Will Rule Over All (Isaiah 09.06b)

Isaiah 09.06b “…And the government will rest on His shoulders…”

This phrase pictures a robe being placed on a king. Micah and Jeremiah both proclaimed that the Messiah will rule over the children of Israel (Micah 05.02; Jeremiah 23.05-06). Zechariah said that the Messiah will rule over the world after the Second Coming of Jesus (Zechariah 14.09). When Jesus begins His millennial reign (Revelation 20.01-06), He will be known as the ruler of all and worshiped as the One true God.

At the time that Isaiah prophesied this, this message would have brought much comfort to the remnant of believers, for the leaders of Judah were incompetent, and hearing that they will be governed by the Messiah one day will be a great comfort to many, including us with our current incompetent government!

03. His Character (Isaiah 09.06c)

Isaiah 09.06c “…And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”

Isaiah now mentions five characteristics of the virgin born Immanuel (Isaiah 07.14).

01. “Wonderful” in Hebrew (H6382 alp pele’) means something marvelous, a miracle, distinguished. The word “Wonderful” is a noun in Hebrew and not a verb, and therefore a real name. When the Angel of the LORD came to Manoah and his wife announcing the coming birth of Samson, Manoah asked for His name and was told that it was “wonderful” in Judges 13.18.

02. “Counselor” in Hebrew (H3289. Uey ya‘ats) means to take advice, to advise, give counsel and guide. What this shows us is that the Messiah would never need an advisory board, for He knows all things! During His earthly ministry, He never sought the counsel or advice from men (John 02.24-25; Romans 11.34). If Jesus needed a counselor during His earthly ministry, then He could not have been the Messiah! God has no counselor, for He is the Counselor! When Jesus returns to rule and reign on Earth, Isaiah tells us in Isaiah 02.03 that the people will be eager to hear the Messiah teach of the ways of God.

03. “Mighty God” in Hebrew (H410. la ’el H1368. rwbg gibbowr) is El Gibbor. Isaiah was stating here that the coming Immanuel of Isaiah 07.14 truly is God, our Mighty God!

04. “Eternal Father” in Hebrew (H1. ba ’ab H5703. de ‘ad) is Avi-ad. This trips many people up because they wonder, “How can the Messiah, the Son of God be the “Eternal Father”? The Messiah is the Second Person of the Trinity, so in His essence He is God. Thus all the attributes of God are His, which include being eternal. The title “Eternal Father” is a figure of speech that is used to describe the Messiah’s relationship to time and not His relationship to the other Members of the Trinity. The Messiah is everlasting, just as God the Father is called the “Ancient of Days” in Daniel 07.09. This also is a figure of speech for Him being the Creator of all things (Psalm 33.06; Isaiah 43.07; Acts 17.25; Romans 11.36; John 01.03; Colossians 01.16; Hebrews 01.02; Revelation 04.11). “Created” in Colossians 01.16 means to manufacture, fabricate

05. “Prince of Peace” in Hebrew (H8269. rs sar H7965. Mwlv shalowm) is Sar Shalom. At the time of this prophecy, the nation of Israel has fallen into such great apostasy, and the only way that the righteous could have peace was through death. The anger of the LORD was against the nation, but it will not last forever because of His grace. When they repented He forgave them, but He had to be harsh with them because of their greed and sin. So when they repent, He forgives them, heals them, guides them and comforts them (Mashiach haMenacham=Messiah the Comforter), much the same that He does for us today. The Messiah is the One who will bring about true and everlasting peace when He returns (Revelation 19.11-22.21). Those that are forgiven by Him enjoy peace (Isaiah 26.03; Isaiah 26.12; Isaiah 57.15-19).

04. He Will Rule Forever (Isaiah 09.07a)

Isaiah 09.07a “There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore…”

When the Messiah returns and sits on the throne of David, He will have an eternal rule of peace, justice and of righteousness (Jeremiah 23.05; Daniel 02.44; Daniel 07.14; Daniel 07.27; Micah 04.07; Luke 01.32-33; 1Corinthians 15.24-28; Revelation 11.15; Revelation 19.16).

05. His Zeal Accomplishes (Isaiah 09.07b)

Isaiah 09.07b “…The zeal of YHWH of hosts will accomplish this.”

The coming of the millennial kingdom of Christ depends on God, not on Israel, and not on the church today. All the fulfillment of prophecies will be done by the power of God, not by man! Today we have many who believe in replacement theology, believing that the church has replaced Israel. There are also those who are of Dominion Theology or Kingdom Now, believing that it is the job of us CHRISTians to help bring the Kingdom of God down to earth. God does not need our help for if He needed help He wouldn’t be God! It is important to remember that His name is “Immanuel” (Isaiah 07.14), because if He had not been Immanuel (God with us), He could not have been Jesus the Saviour!

Luke 03.23-38 | The Genealogy of Jesus

Luke 03.23-38

The beginning of the ministry of Jesus was when He was baptized (Luke 03.21-22; Acts 01.21-22) and He was thirty years old. His baptism was His first public act of His ministry. Luke 03.23 “thirty years of age” is the age at which the priests began serving (Numbers 04.03; Numbers 04.35; Numbers 04.39; Numbers 04.43; Numbers 04.47). The age of thirty is that age that a man from a Jewish point of view was not too young to be in a position of spiritual authority, yet not too old for a vigorous ministry. Dr. Luke seems to be the only Gospel writer that tells us how old Jesus was when He began His public ministry.

What we will study today in The Genealogy of Jesus…01. The Two Genealogies of Jesus; 02. Descendant of David and Abraham; and 03. The Jeconiah Problem.

01. The Two Genealogies of Jesus

Of all the genealogies found throughout Scripture, the most important is the genealogy of Jesus. A genealogy may not seem like much, but it establishes Jesus’ credentials as a member of the human race. There are two genealogies of Jesus in the Bible. The first one is found in Matthew 01.01-17 and the second one is found here in our text of Luke 03.23-38. It was well known at this time that if you were a Jew you could trace your lineage all the way to Abraham. For example, Josephus traced his own genealogy from “the public records” (Autobiography, paragraph 1). So if there were any errors in the genealogy of Matthew (Matthew 01.01-16) or Luke (Luke 03.23-38), the critics could have easily pointed out the errors and refuted what they wrote.

Matthew (Matthew 01.01-17) traces the genealogy of Jesus starting with Abraham all the way through to Joseph, the supposed father of Jesus.

Matthew 01.01 “1 The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham:”

Contrary to Jewish custom, Matthew’s genealogy includes four women from the Old Testament. Each one of these women were questionable in one way or another. Tamar (Genesis 38.01-30; Matthew 01.03) and Rahab (Joshua 02.01; Matthew 01.05) were both prostitutes, Ruth was a foreigner from Moab (Ruth 01.04; Matthew 01.05) and Bathsheba was an adulterer (2Samuel 11.02-05; Matthew 01.06).

Many of the men in this list were questionable as well. For example: Abraham (Matthew 01.02; Luke 03.34) was an idolater (Joshua 24.02), and he lied about his wife twice (Genesis 12.10-20; Genesis 20.01-17). He also married his wife’s handmaid out of the will of God (Genesis 16.01-16) and had a son named Ishmael through that union. Isaac (Matthew 01.02; Luke 03.34) favored Esau (Genesis 25.27-28) and tried to bless Esau (Genesis 27.01-04) instead of the child (Jacob) chosen by the LORD (Genesis 25.19-26). Jacob (Matthew 01.02; Luke 03.34) lived up to his name as “heel catcher” and was a deceiver (Genesis 27.05-30). Jacob also favored his wife Rachel over Leah (Genesis 29.30) and her son Joseph (Genesis 37.01-17) over his other sons.  Judah (Matthew 01.02-03; Luke 03.33) was one of the brothers who tried to get rid of Joseph (Genesis 37.18-36). Judah also lied to his daughter-in-law Tamar because he thought she was a black widow (Genesis 38.01-11) and kept his youngest son from marrying her. He then was tricked by Tamar (Genesis 38.12-26) and slept with her, and from that she bore twins (Genesis 38.27-30). David (Matthew 01.06; Luke 03.31) was an adulterer (2Samuel 11.02-05). Solomon (Matthew 01.06-07) had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines (1Kings 11.03-08) who turned his heart away from the LORD. We just looked at the most well-known people in the line of Jesus, and it is filled with people who were great sinners.

The theme of the Book of Matthew is that Jesus is the true King of the Jews. So this is why we see the genealogy of Jesus through Joseph, to make that claim. The genealogy in the Book of Luke, by contrast, makes a theological claim, that Jesus is the true Son of God by tracing his genealogy all the way back to God (Luke 03.38).

Adam was the first man, he did not come about by himself, and of course he had no mother or father. God created him, out of the dust of the ground (Genesis 01.26-27; Genesis 02.07). Every other human came from a mother and a father, but Adam. Dr. Luke takes his genealogy from the Second Adam (Luke 03.23; 1Corinthians 15.45 ; 1Corinthians 15.47) to the first Adam (Luke 03.38; 1Corinthians 15.45; 1Corinthians 15.47). If God could create man out of the dust of the ground (Genesis 01.26-27; Genesis 02.07), than its natural to assume that He could have a virgin Jewish girl give birth the Second Adam (Luke 03.23; 1Corinthians 15.45; 1Corinthians 15.47).

02. Descendant of David and Abraham

In both genealogies (Matthew 01.01-17; Luke 03.23-38) we see that Jesus is not only a descendant of Abraham, but of David as well.

Paul reminds Timothy, the young pastor of the church at Ephesus to “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David, according to my gospel,” (2Timothy 02.08). In telling Timothy to be reminded of Jesus, Paul mentions that Jesus is a “descendant” of David. The Greek word for “descendant” in this passage is (G4690. sperma) sperma and it means offspring, seed, or children. In 1Timothy 01.04, Paul brought up the futility of genealogies and said that genealogies were a source of pride for the Jews and the false teachers. To the Jews, being able to trace their genealogy all the way back to Abraham was a source of pride for them. The faith that Paul was warning Timothy about (1Timothy 01.04) was a legalistic type of faith, not the saving faith that you and I know about (Ephesians 02.08-10).

Throughout the New Testament we see that Jesus is the seed of David (Acts 02.30; Acts 13.22; Romans 01.01-07; Revelation 05.05).

One difference between the two genealogies in Matthew (Matthew 01.01-17) and Luke (Luke 03.23-38) is that Dr. Luke traces the genealogy through David’s son Nathan (Luke 03.31; 2Samuel 05.14; 1Chronicles 03.05; 1Chronicles 14.04; Zechariah 12.12) and Matthew through Solomon (Matthew 01.06-07; 2Samuel 05.14; 1Chronicles 03.05; 1Chronicles 14.04). The Jews were meticulous in copying their genealogies, which were very important to them. They kept the genealogies in the Temple, and having the genealogies proved that they were descendants of Abraham, a large source of pride for them.

03. The Jeconiah Problem

In Matthew 01.11-12, Matthew records for us about a man named Jeconiah (also known as Coniah and Jehoiachin). Jeconiah’s son never occupied the throne of David because he was deported to Babylon along with the rest of the nation (2Kings 24.10-25.30; 2Chronicles 36.11-23; Jeremiah 52.01-34). Why was it important for Matthew (Matthew 01.11-12) to point out that Jeconiah had his son Shealtiel in the Babylonian captivity?

The answer starts with the prophet Jeremiah, who in Jeremiah 13.15-27 warned Jeconiah’s (Coniah) parents about the coming judgment but they and Jeconiah (Coniah) didn’t listen and repent of their evil, wicked ways. Later on Jeremiah prophesies in Jeremiah 22.24-30 that Jeconiah will be recorded as childless because of his sin (2Kings 24.09; 2Chronicles 36.09). Even though Jeconiah had seven sons (1Chronicles 02.17-18), not one of them ruled on the throne of David, because God said that Coniah (Jeconiah) was like a signet ring on God’s right hand, and that God would causally take it off and hand it to the Babylonians (Jeremiah 22.24-30). The signet ring was valuable because it was used to prove authority, to identify possessions and to sign official documents. Not one of Jeconiah’s sons sat on the throne of David because of the prophecy of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 22.24-30). After Nebuchadnezzar deposed Jeconiah, he installed the uncle of Jeconiah, Zedekiah (2Kings 24.17; 2Chronicles 36.10) who became Judah’s last sitting king (2Kings 24.18-25.30; 2Chronicles 36.11-23). The line of ruler ship did not pass through Jeconiah, it ended with Jeconiah because of the curse and captivity (Jeremiah 22.24-30).

In Luke 03.27, Dr. Luke gives us the name of Zerubbabel, the grandson of Jeconiah (also in Matthew 01.12-13). Zerubbabel (also known by his Persian name of Sheshbazzar in Ezra 01.08; Ezra 01.11; Ezra 05.14; Ezra 05.16) led the first group of Jews back to Israel after being in Babylonian captivity for seventy years (2Chronicles 36.15-21; Daniel 01.01-07; Daniel 09.01-19; Jeremiah 25.09-12; Jeremiah 29.10) in the first year of Cyrus, the king of Persia (2Chronicles 36.22-23). A year after returning to Israel, Zerubbabel built an altar and laid the foundation of the Second Temple (Ezra 03.08-13; Ezra 04.01-06.22) on top of the ruins from the First Temple that was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar (2Chronicles 36.11-21), and was the governor for about fifty-eight years (the gap of time between Ezra 06.22 and Ezra 07.01, which was also when the events of the Book of Esther took place). Zerubbabel is mentioned in the Books of Ezra (Ezra 02.02; Ezra 03.02; Ezra 03.08; Ezra 04.02-03; Ezra 05.02), Nehemiah (Nehemiah 07.07; Nehemiah 12.01; Nehemiah 12.47), Haggai (Haggai 01.01; Haggai 01.12; Haggai 01.14; Haggai 02.02; Haggai 02.04; Haggai 02.21; Haggai 02.23;), and Zechariah (Zechariah 04.06-07; Zechariah 04.09-10;). Zerubbabel was not only an important person because of his accomplishments, but also because he was a descendant of David, and more importantly, an ancestor of our Saviour!

With the line of ruler ship ending with Jeconiah (Jeremiah 22.24-30) it would seem to contradict what the LORD promised to David in the Davidic Covenant (2Samuel 07.04-16; Psalm 89.30-37). So we have a problem! Jesus couldn’t physically be related to Joseph and occupy the throne of David (2Samuel 07.16; Psalm 89.03-04; Psalm 89.30-37; Isaiah 09.06-07), because the succession to the throne ended with the curse on Jeconiah (Jeremiah 22.24-30) and the nation going into Babylonian captivity (2Kings 24.10-25.30; 2Chronicles 36.11-23; Jeremiah 52.01-34)! If Jesus were a physical descendant of Jeconiah, He would not have been able to occupy David’s throne!

But notice how Matthew ends his genealogy, by not specifically saying that Joseph was the father of Jesus (Matthew 01.16) but instead that he was “the husband of Mary”. Dr. Luke though says that Jesus was the supposed son of Joseph (Luke 03.23). Matthew also says “Jacob was the father of Joseph…” (Matthew 01.16) but Dr. Luke tells us that “…Joseph, the son of Eli,” (Luke 03.23). So there appears to be a contradiction in Scripture.

The phrase “the son of” in Luke 03.23 is not found in the original manuscripts, though it is found all throughout the rest of this section except for in Luke 03.38. There are only two times when “of” “tou” (G3588) is not used in the original Greek in Luke 03.23-38. Here in Luke 03.23 describing the relationship between Joseph and Heli, and also between that of Adam and God in Luke 03.38. In the original Greek Luke 03.23 reads something like this: “And himself was Jesus about years old thirty beginning to be, being as was supposed, son of (G3588 tou) Joseph, Heli”. By Dr. Luke using the Greek word “tou” (G3588), or “of” is most likely because Heli was the father of Mary, thus making him the father-in-law of Joseph. We know that the real father of Joseph was Jacob (Matthew 01.16), but having married the daughter of Heli (Eli), and being probably adopted by Heli, he was called his son, and because of that he was than written in the public genealogies. Mary was not mentioned because the Jews usually never allowed the name of a woman to enter the genealogical tables, but instead they would insert her husband as the son of him who was his father-in-law.

Though the succession to the throne failed with Jeconiah (2Kings 24.09; 2Chronicles 36.09; Jeremiah 13.15-27; Jeremiah 22.24-30; Matthew 01.11-12), the promise to David (2Samuel 07.16; Psalm 89.03-04; Psalm 89.30-37; Isaiah 09.06-07) was revived and consummated in Jesus through the virgin birth.

The two genealogies in Matthew (Matthew 01.16) and Luke (Luke 03.23) reveal to us that Jesus was born of a virgin by not stating specifically that Jesus was the son of Joseph. The two genealogies work together in conjunction to show us that He was the legal heir (through adoption) to the throne of David (Matthew 01.01-16) and the physical heir (through Mary) to the throne of David (Luke 03.23-38), thus fulfilling the prophecy by God that the seed of the woman will indeed crush the head of the serpent (Genesis 03.15), and that He would come from the house and lineage of David (2Samuel 07.04-16; Psalm 89.30-37). Thus fulfilling God’s prophecy that from Abraham’s seed “all the nations of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 22.18; Psalm 132.11-12; Matthew 01.01).