Date: Jan 5 2009
Matt 1:1-2:1
MATTHEW
The Genealogy of Jesus Christ
1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, 4 and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5 and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of David the king.
And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, 7 and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, 8 and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, 9 and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10 and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, 11 and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.
12 And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13 and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, 14 and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, 15 and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, 16 and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.
17 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.
The Birth of Jesus Christ
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
23 "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,and they shall call his name Immanuel"
(which means, God with us). 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.
MATTHEW
The Genealogy of Jesus Christ
1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, 4 and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5 and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of David the king.
And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, 7 and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, 8 and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, 9 and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10 and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, 11 and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.
12 And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13 and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, 14 and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, 15 and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, 16 and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.
17 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.
The Birth of Jesus Christ
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
23 "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,and they shall call his name Immanuel"
(which means, God with us). 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.
New Testament Thoughts:
Matthew 1:1-1:17 “Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way”.: The story of Jesus birth does not start as a fairy tale may, “Once upon a time.” Instead, Jesus birth and life are set in history. The Story of Jesus life is not meant to be a fable that describes our origins or an allegory giving us life lessons. Matthew’s purpose is to record history. This introduction sets Jesus life amidst recorded history, unlike Greek mythology which makes no attempt to set its gods in true history. This text also demonstrates the fulfillment of the promises to Abraham, Judah and the most specific promise to David that his lineage would sit on the throne forever. After the first destruction Jerusalem and Babylonian exile when David’s family seemed to have lost the throne, Jesus appears in David’s line, declares himself to be the king of the Jews, dies with the words “King of the Jews” over head and is raised to sit upon the throne of God and rule forever.
Matthew 1:18-25: “before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit” .Why is the Virgin Birth necessary? After Adam and Eve disobeyed god by eating the fruit that God forbid, Sin entered the world. “Original Sin” is the doctrine that the seed of sin is passed on at conception so that no man or woman naturally born is without sin. You don’t have to watch an infant or young child to see that they need no instruction on disobedience. The bible as well as experience testifies to the sinfulness of humanity even from the womb. Can you imagine the danger of an adult sized man with the mind of an infant? Remember “Of Mice and Men” ? Babies are entirely self-seeking and care nothing for their mother’s sleeping patterns, alone time or emotional stability. As long as they get their milk on time all’s okay but if anything is not to their liking they cry and scream until they get their way. Not a big deal for a 6 month old but it becomes more difficulty when they become 1 and 2 years old. I’m not saying there is anything wrong with babies, in fact we are all simply victims of the fall, victims of Adam’s disobedience. My only point is that babies are in no way innocent simply because they don’t have the physical capacity to murder or steal. Saint Augustine in his “confessions” said it this way: “Or is this behavior allowable in terms of a baby’s age—to demand with tears what would harm it; to throw a tantrum when not obeyed by servants and adults, by his own parents, by any bystander (however wise) not knuckling under to his whim; flailing away to hurt (if he could) those who dare disobey his own self-harming ukase? The harmlessness of babies is in their body’s effect, not their minds intent” You don’t have to watch a 2 year old long to see the root of corruption, do you? Later in Matthew it is made clear that sin is much deeper than action, it is about the heart and desires. Because of the above discussion, I strongly disagree with the premise that all babies that die go to heaven based on their innocence. The famed “age of accountability” is just as difficult to support biblically. In addition I disagree with those who feel that God calls everyone, “levels the playing field” and waits for those who are smart enough to “accept Jesus” for salvation (this is called Arminianism). If this is the case what hope do dying babies have????? No, the only hope is that God loves and calls these infants to knowledge of himself. A great example of this is John the Baptist, in the beginning of Luke’s gospel he describes John as being “filled with the sprit from the womb.(Luke 1:15)” John obviously was not sinless (see above) nor did he have the ability to weight Christianities risks and benefits then make an informed decision to “follow Christ”, no he was filled with the spirit before birth. This is the only comfort that we have for grieving parents. I do not know if all babies who die go to heaven but what we know from the gospels that Jesus loves children and we know that he is entirely responsible for each believers faith and salvation. Thus we can reasonably hope that babies, children and the mentally handicapped will be saved through the same supernatural revelation that lead me to faith. But wow that’s another story…So why did Jesus have to born without the original sin of natural conception? God is love….that’s true, but kind of overdone… God is also Just….this is a good thing, no one wants a C for an A’s work. However, God requires an A’s work for salvation sadly none of us can actually make that A’s work (again see above). If we die then we are rightly punished for missing God’s standard. Thus, we cannot save ourselves by our work or even punishment; we can only anticipate justice for not perfectly keeping God’s law. However, Christ was born without the stain of original sin. Better yet, Christ lived his life without sin. In living his life without sin, Christ was the only person in history that met the standard of the law and deserved to ascend to heaven without the punishment required for us law breakers. But the amazing Grace (undeserved gift) of Christ was that he chose to suffer the wrath that we deserve as sinners. In doing so Christ satisfied the requirement that sin (my sin) be punished. After Conquering Sin by his perfect life, and the sting of sin (death) in his resurrection, Christ ascended to reoccupy his throne in heaven. Christ now performs CPR on our dead hearts, cursed by original sin and every day’s sin since our birth. Giving us the ability and desire to believe in his historic (see above) life and accomplishment (knowledge of Christ) and awarding us fellowship with himself forever in heaven.
Psalm: ps 1:5-6
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; 6 for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
Thoughts:
1. The bible talks about God’s judgment and wrath far more frequently than God’s Love. We do not serve a teddy bear in the sky. We serve a just creator and judge that deserves and demands our respect and adoration. Too many theologies are entirely based on God’s love for the world apart from Christ. This leads to the liberal belief in universalism that everyone is saved no matter their faith our belief. We all wish that were possible but this is not what the bible teaches. If you serve or believe in a God that loves the world apart from Christ atoning sacrifice then you are serving a false god. You may as well be serving a golden calf because you are not serving the God of the bible.
2. Sorry not really going with the context here but: We are all inherently (born with) wickedness, only one was inherently righteous (Christ). However by Faith in Christ’s completed work on the Cross we can have an imputed (outside, not our own) righteousness.
Sun Tzu:
The art of war is of vital importance to the State.
Events:
Today I drove to Ft hood and, as has become the norm, listened to podcasts all the way. I have spent a lot of time in the car these last 6 months (26,000 miles) which has been an amazing time on learning and thinking. Once I arrived, I saw patient all morning (nothing exciting at all) but got a chance to talk to the Commander about my upcoming deployment and a pistol match that I shot in yesterday. The Commander typically shoots in these matches and was disappointed to hear that the one I went to was the one he skipped. The match was awesome (I'm the one in the black hat); it’s a sport that I would love to get into when I return. There are 5 stations in the competition and you do 3 runs at each station. When the buzzer sounds you draw and shoot as accurately and quickly as possible. Overall I finished 20/29 but when best runs were calculated I was actually 10/29. I am very happy with that considering it was my first match and I was shooting a standard production gun with standard 15 round magazines instead of a $5,000 beautiful speed gun with 30 round magazines, thanks Front Sight! After talking guns, the commander mentioned that I should hear more about deployment tomorrow. I drove to Temple tonight where I sit now typing this up. I am incredibly thankful to the family that I have lived with up here for the past 6 months. They have fed and housed me and provided great conversation every night. It has made being away from home much more tolerable than if I had been in a miserable little apartment. I consider Gracie and John family and will really miss them when I deploy. They have a wonderfully comfortable 25 acre ranch outside of temple that has become a second home to me. I will also miss the beautiful Texas sunset you can see 180 degrees out here from one horizon to the other. Speaking of Texas, UT played tonight and they won by a touchdown in the last 14 seconds.
