Subject 13 : The Gospel According to MATTHEW
[Chapter 1-1] The Genealogy of Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:1-6)
(Matthew 1:1-6)
“The
book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of
Abraham: Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah
and his brothers. Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez begot
Hezron, and Hezron begot Ram. Ram begot Amminadab, Amminadab begot
Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmon. Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz
begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David the king.
David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah.”
To
become a part of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, we need to believe in
His Salvation. In other words, believing in His salvation is the only
way we become part of His genealogy.
Our
Father God did not send angels to save us, he sent none other than His
only son. It was Jesus Christ that our Father God sent to save us from
our sins. He made a covenant that anyone who believes in Jesus, who is
the Son of God and our Savior, would be forgiven of all of his sins once
and for all. In such a context, Matthew 1:1 says, “The book of the
genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.” Here,
“the genealogy of Jesus Christ” implies the spiritual world of how we
can become God’s Children through the faith of knowing and believing in
Jesus Christ, being delivered from the power of darkness.
This
passage describes what is required of a sinner to be saved from his
sins and become a child of God. In other words, to become a child of
God, one needs to have the same faith that Abraham had. What kind of
faith is required to enter the Kingdom of God? We need to believe in
God’s Word absolutely as Abraham did. What about Abraham’s faith pleased
God? He believed God’s Word in its entirety and hoped for what was
impossible by human logic. He believed in God’s covenant just as He
said, which was beyond human imagination. That was the full extent of
his faith. Even though Abraham’s wife was past childbearing age and
therefore it was impossible for her to conceive a child, Abraham
believed in God’s covenant with him that his offspring would be as many
as the stars in the sky. Therefore God accounted it to him for
righteousness and was pleased with him. This is how Abraham became the
father of the righteous by faith.
You
and I today look up to Abraham as the father of all believers because
he believed exactly what God said. In the same way, we need to have the
kind of faith that Abraham had to enter the Kingdom of Jesus. This is
the only way for a sinner to receive the remission of sin and become a
righteous person. We come to enter the Kingdom of God, and receive His
salvation, by accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior.
How
do we believe in Jesus as our Savior to become a part of the genealogy
of Jesus Christ? In other words, how do we believe in His salvation for
sinners? We need to believe in the Gospel of the water and the Spirit as
it is given to us.
Our
Father God sent his Son, Jesus, to this world as the Savior of the
world to take away all the sins of the world. Therefore, we must admit
that Jesus took all of the sins of sinners by the method of being
baptized by John the Baptist at the Jordan River. And the true faith is
believing that He was crucified for our sins, bled and died on the
Cross, rose again from the dead, and saved the believers in Him wholly.
“But Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Permit it to be so now, for thus
it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he allowed Him.
When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water;
and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God
descending like a dove and alighting upon Him” (Matthew 3:15-16).
This
passage is the truth of how Jesus took on the sins of the world by His
baptism. Our Father God sent our Lord Jesus to the sinners and had Him
take on all of our sins as He was baptized by John the Baptist to
cleanse our hearts as white as snow and to open the door to the Kingdom
of God. We can become the righteous by accepting His Word in our hearts
and become the members of His family. Anyone who believes in the work
that Jesus did can change from a sinner to a sinless person. The way to
become a family with God is to believe in the gospel of the water and
the Spirit.
For
a sinner to become a child of God, he needs to have the faith that
believes that Jesus is the Savior of the sinners. In the scripture, “the
son of David” means that Jesus is the descendant of Judah. In the Old
Testament, God made a covenant that He will make kings from the tribe of
Judah, a son of Jacob (Genesis 49:10). David is a man from the tribe of
Judah of whom the Old Testament spoke. And Jesus was born from the
tribe of Judah as the King. As Abraham did, we become a part of royal
family by believing God’s Word. We become children of God spiritually.
And anyone who has become a part of the genealogy of Jesus Christ by
faith has already become a child of God. Abraham bore Isaac, Isaac bore
Jacob, Jacob bore Judah and his brothers, and they kept on bearing their
descendants. People who believe in God’s Word continue to bear God’s
children.
All
who became a part of the genealogy of Jesus by faith were those who had
received God’s mercy, and were not those who had anything to brag about
themselves. They were humble and weak, but believed in God’s Word.
Therefore, they became one family with the real King.
As
we become a part of His genealogy by faith, we need to know this—that
in the genealogy of Jesus Christ, there was a prostitute named Rahab as
well as a woman named Ruth from the Moabites, of the Gentiles. Then, how
could a prostitute have become a part of the genealogy of Jesus? It is
by Rahab’s faith in God that she came into the Kingdom of God. God tells
us that the only way for a sinner to become a child of God is believing
in His Word. This means that true faith is not living a good life by
doing good work, but believing in God’s Word. How could a prostitute
have lived according to God’s Will? However, God even forgave all the
sins of someone like a prostitute, who committed many sins, by the
Lord’s salvation. Even a prostitute could become a child of God by
having faith in the truth of God’s salvation. This means that every
sinner in this world can become a child of God.
The
Bible tells us about the faith that believes in Him and His Word. In
Matthew 1, the Bible talks about the faith of Tamar again. Who is Tamar?
She was the daughter-in-law of Judah, who slept with her father-in-law.
When we look at it morally, how could a woman who had a sexual
relationship with her father-in-law become a part of the sacred
genealogy of Jesus? However, Tamar was approved because of her faith
that believed in the covenant from her father-in-law. She became a part
of the genealogy of Jesus by her faith that believed in the Word that
her father-in-law conveyed.
It
was customary in Israel that when the first son is dead, the second son
is given to the wife of the first son. If the eldest son does not have
offspring when he dies, the father-in-law has the responsibility of
marrying the wife of the first son to his second son. Tamar was married
to a first son of Judah. But the first son was wicked in the sight of
the Lord, and the Lord killed him. So, as the custom of Israel, Judah
gave his second son to Tamar. However, the second son knew that the heir
would not be his so he emitted on the ground, and God put him to death.
The father-in-law had to give this third son to his daughter-in-law.
However, he was too young, so the father-in-law promised that he would
give his third son when the son is grown up. Tamar waited for the third
son. However, the father-in-law did not give her his son, so Tamar
thought of a trick.
There
came a day of sheep shearing in the year. So Tamar took off her widow’s
garment and wrapped herself with a veil and sat in an open place.
Prostitutes in Israel must have had their head and face wrapped and
covered with a veil. When Judah saw her on his way up to the sheep
sheering, he wanted to be with her. So he gave her his signet, cord and
staff as a pledge and slept with her. Judah did not know that this was
his daughter-in-law. A few months later, Tamar’s pregnancy started
showing. It was considered adultery since she was a widow then. In
Israel, an adulterer was to be punished by being stoned or being burned.
Judah planned to burn her to death. But Tamar said at that time “I am
pregnant by this man who this staff and signet belong to.” They were the
pledge that Judah gave to the prostitute. Therefore, Judah acknowledged
them and Tamar would bear sons that continued the family line.
This
shows that God blesses people who believe in His Word of Covenant and
live by it. As such, anyone who becomes a part of the genealogy of Jesus
does so by their faith in God’s Word. As is written in the passage,
“Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar,” Tamar gave birth to twin sons
and continued the genealogy of Jesus by her faith in God’s covenant with
Judah. Here, no Israelites criticized Tamar, saying “you have done
wrong.” Rather they praised Tamar for her faith, saying that it is a
faith of blessing. Likewise, God accepts the faith of those who believes
in God’s Word. Tamar could become part of the genealogy of Jesus
because she believed in God’s covenant. If we believe in God’s Word, we
can become His children as well.
We
do not become righteous by good deeds. Every sinner can become a
righteous person by believing in the gospel of God’s righteousness and
become one family with God. The Bible tells us that it is not our holy
behavior that makes us God’s children. Rather, we become children of God
by our faith in God’s Word of covenant. We become children of God and
enter the World of Jesus by our faith that believes the Words of God. We
become the children of God through our faith in God’s Word. We must
know and believe that we become righteous and sinless by believing in
Jesus.
The
Bible tells us that the faith that believes the Scripture as it is is
the faith that believes in the righteousness of God. To become righteous
as we accept Jesus, we have to believe in the gospel of the water and
the Spirit. The word “Sanctification” is used often in all the religions
in the world. However, Jesus tells us that there is no one who entered
the Kingdom of God after being sanctified on his own. Let’s examine the
Scripture. Abraham presented his wife as his sister out of fear for
their safety. Isaac did the same with his wife. Abraham sold out his
wife and Isaac is also a man who did the same thing. Tamar and Rahab in
the passage were also some of the examples of people who could not have
been included in the genealogy of Jesus if it had not been for their
faith. In Christianity, sanctification means becoming holy gradually.
However, Tamar had a sexual relationship with her father-in-law, Rahab
was a prostitute, and Ruth was a gentile. None of these women had the
status to become part of Jesus’ genealogy in human perspective. However,
the reason they were called righteous and became a part of the
genealogy of Jesus is due to their absolute faith in God’s covenant.
This is the kind of faith that leads us to become children of God. By
God’s Word of righteousness, we came to know the gospel of the water and
the Spirit by the faith that believes Jesus is our Savior. In other
words, the fact that we became sinless people is not even 0.0001% due to
our own good work. We became sinless people by believing in Jesus as
our Savior, who is the Son of God, and the written Word of God, that is,
the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
We
became the children of God by accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior.
God, Our King, tells us that those who are with the Holy Spirit are His
people. He calls people like us who have faith in the gospel of the
water and the Spirit “My children, the born-again.” In the Bible, the
righteous children of God are different from ordinary people who are not
yet saved from their sins. Those who have accepted and believe in the
gospel of the water and the Spirit are different from the rest of the
people who have not received the remission of their sins. We have been
forgiven for all our sins because we believe in Jesus, who is our
Savior, as our Savior in our hearts. We know that we have already
received the remission of all our sins because we believe that the Lord
came to this world and was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan
River and shed His blood by dying on the Cross. Therefore, we became
children of God through the Son of God and by believing that Truth.
Hallelujah! We thank our God who has given us this gospel of the water and the Spirit, the righteousness of God.
No comments:
Post a Comment