The Virgin Birth Clarified (Matt. 1:21)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/30/2019 4:45 PM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  The Virgin Birth Clarified

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 1:21

            Message of the verse:  “"She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.’”

            A heads up in this SD, and that it will be very short, but we must learn from it.

            It seems like the angel wants to reinforce the truth of Jesus’ divine conception to Joseph as he says “she will bear a Son.”  One of the things that I probably don’t completely understand about Joseph is that we don’t hear anything about him after Jesus becomes 12 years old.  Joseph was chosen to be Jesus’ earth father but he would only be a foster father to Jesus.  Let us look for a moment at Luke 3:23 for some more insight:  “When He began His ministry, Jesus Himself was about thirty years of age, being, as was supposed, the son of Joseph, the son of Eli.”

            The angel tells Joseph to name the “Son…Jesus, similar as Zacharias was told to name his son John as seen in Luke 1:13.  We really are told the purpose or the significance of John’s name; however that of Jesus was made clear even before He was born.  Jesus is the form of the Hebrew Joshua, Jeshua, or Jehoshau, the basic meaning of which “Jehovah (Yahweh) will save.”  MacArthur adds “All other men who had those names testified by their names to the Lord’s salvation.  But this One who would be born to Mary not only would testify of God’s salvation, but would Himself be that salvation.  By His own work ‘He’ would ‘save His people from their sins.’”

Today’s quote from “Love in Action” is also very short.

Children are a heritage of the Lord

Psalm 127:3

11/30/2019 5:01 PM

The Virgin Birth Confronted (Matt. 1:19-20)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/29/2019 11:11 AM

My Worship Time                                                               Focus:  “The Virgin Birth Confronted”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matt. 1:19-20

            Message of the verses:  “19 And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. 20 But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.”

            We have already talked about the fact that Joseph and Mary were betrothed that actually meant that they were husband and wife, but also as mentioned there was nothing sexual that was going on between them as that would not happen until after they were married, and in the case of Joseph and Mary it did not happen until after the birth of Jesus.

            Now think of the problems that Joseph faced after finding out that Mary was with child.  First there were righteous standards that were spoken of in the Law of God, as Joseph knew that because Mary was pregnant that he was not suppose to marry her.  There were things in the law that could have put her to death for being pregnant before they were married.  Next is that Joseph was a righteous man and so he decided to do this quietly and not put her to shame and that is because he loved her.  John MacArthur writes “There is no evidence that Joseph felt anger, resentment, or bitterness.  He had been shamed (if what he assumed had been true), but his concern was not for his own shame but for Mary’s.  He was ‘not wanting to disgrace her’ by public exposure of her supposed sin.  Because he loved her so deeply he determined simply ‘to put her away secretly.’

            “Apoluo means literally ‘to put…away’ as translated here, but was the common term used for divorce.  Joseph’s plan was to divorce her ‘secretly’ through before long everyone would have guessed it when the marriage never materialized.  But for a while, at least, she would be protected, and she would live.”

            I think that we can see that Joseph was a righteous man because of what he was about to do, and also that he truly was in love with Mary.  He would be rewarded for his righteousness and for his love as he lay down to take a nap as seen in verse twenty.  “20 But while he was turning the matter over in his mind an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife! What she has conceived is conceived through the Holy Spirit” (Philips).   As we look at verse twenty we can see the supernatural character of the whole event, and this reinforces the encouraging words, as well as to verify Jesus’ royal lineage as the angel addressed Joseph as “son of David.”   MacArthur adds “Even though He was not the real son of Joseph, Jesus was his legal son.  His Father, in actuality, was God, who conceived Him by the Holy Spirit.  But His royal right in the Davidic line came from Joseph.”

            Let us look again at the phrase “that which has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit,” as this is a profound statement as in these words is the ultimate testimony to the virgin birth.  What we see here is the testimony of the holy angel from the Lord God Himself.

            MacArthur concludes his commentary on these two verses:  “One critic has waved his fist at God and called Him an unholy liar with these words:  ‘There was nothing peculiar about the birth of Jesus.  He was not God incarnate and no virgin mother bore him.  The church in its ancient zeal fathered a myth and became bound to it as a dogma.’  But the testimony of Scripture stands.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I find it truly offensive to have people say the things that this person said in the above paragraph.  Without the virgin birth of Jesus Christ there is no true gospel, there is only a phony man made gospel which many people today believe.  It all has to do with how big your god is, and my God is very BIG.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  As 2019 is fast concluding I am thankful for the lessons that God has taught me this year so far on humility.

Today’s quotation from “Love in Action” comes from David Jeremiah’s comments on Colossian 3:21.

“Susanna Wesley had nineteen children.  It was her habit to spend a particular time each evening with each child.  Once, when her famous son John struggled with a difficult situation, he wrote to his mother, ‘Oh, Mother, what I’d give for a Thursday evening!’  Most of us do not have unlimited time to give to our children.  But we shouldn’t allow the Enemy to persuade us that if we don’t have a lot of time, we can’t give any time.  We must take the time we have and use it the very best way we can in order to make an impact on the precious ones God has put under our care.”

11/29/2019 11:46 AM

PT-2 "The Virgin Birth" (Matthew 1:18)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/28/2019 10:37 AM

My Worship Time                                                                         Focus:  PT-2 “The Virgin Birth”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 1:18

            Message of the verses:  “18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows. When His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit.”

            In today’s SD we will begin to talk about Joseph and we know less about Joseph than we know about Mary.  His father’s name was Jacob, and we also know that Joseph was a carpenter which probably meant that he also worked with stones, like a mason.  The word this is “tekton” which means a construction worker.

            Many believe that Joseph and Mary were very young as it was not uncommon for couples to get married in their teen years.  I have heard that some people believe that Joseph was a few years older than Mary and already had his business going, but not sure if that is true.

            We have written about the Jewish marriage ceremony in other SD’s including when we went through the book of Revelation as the Jewish ceremony is a picture of Jesus Christ and His bride.  Once the engagement had taken place it was as good as the couple being married but with the sexual union, and this is where we find Joseph and Mary, as they were what we would call engaged.  We are told that Joseph and Mary had not come together, which means that they were both virgins, never had a sexual relationship.  I have heard a sermon that all of God’s covenants have blood in them, and this includes the marriage covenant.

            You can look at different OT passages to show the importance of sexual purity, and if this was not kept there were some harsh consequences, including death.  I want to quote from John MacArthur’s commentary about the conception of the Holy Spirit.

            “Obviously Jesus’ conception by the Holy Spirit is a great mystery.  Even had He wanted to do so, how could God have explained to us, in terms we could comprehend, how such a blending of the divine and human could have been accomplished?  We could no more fathom such a thing than we can fathom God’s creating the universe from nothing.  His being one God in three Persons, or His giving an entirely new spiritual nature to those who trust in His Son.  Understanding of such things will have to await heaven, when we see our Lord ‘face to face’ and ‘know fully just as [we] have been fully known’ (1 Cor. 13:12).  We accept it by faith.”

            MacArthur quotes Jeremiah 31:22 “"How long will you go here and there, O faithless daughter? For the LORD has created a new thing in the earth-A woman will encompass a man.’”  He states that many rabbis stated that the birth of the Messiah is to have no earthly father, and the birth would be most unusual.  We also read many times during the Christmas season Isaiah 7:14 “"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.”  The word “virgin” in the Hebrew can mean a young madden, but once it was translated into the Greek it means a woman who has never had a sexual relationship.  I have also mentioned Genesis 3:15 which is the first prophecy of the Messiah and it tells us that the Messiah would be “the seed of the woman” which is never seen in Scripture again.    We will look at one more “Christmas verse” and that is from Galatian 4:4 “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law.”  In this verse we see no human father.  In closing I want to say that Jesus Christ conception was through the Holy Spirit and that His mother Mary was indeed a virgin.  If this were not the case then there would be no reason for me to every write a Spiritual Diary, and I have written more than 20 years worth if you read one a day.  The virgin birth is the key to the gospel.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL WHO READ THIS.

Our quotation from “Love in Action comes from TLB, Colossians 3:21.

Don’t scold your children so much that they become

discouraged and quit trying.

11/28/2019 11:06 AM

PT-1 "The Virgin Birth" (Matthew 1:18)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/27/2019 1:03 PM

My Worship Time                                                                         Focus:  PT-1 “The Virgin Birth”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 1:18

            Message of the verses:  “18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit.”

            This is the one verse that tells us of the virgin birth of Jesus Christ; it is given in the divinely inspired gospel of Matthew.  This is not man-made up but as stated divinely inspired by the Holy Spirit of God who has inspired every word found in the Word of God.  Why on earth would a mortal man make up a story like this?  MacArthur writes “Matthew continues to give additional information related to the virgin birth, but the fact of it is given in one sentence—the first sentence of verse 18 being merely introduction.  Seventeen verses are given to listing Jesus’ human genealogy, but one part of one verse to His diving genealogy.  In His divinity He ‘descended’ from God by a miraculous and never-repeated act of the Holy Spirit; yet the Holy Spirit does nothing more than authoritatively state the fact.  A human fabrication would call for much more convincing material.”

            When we look at verse eighteen we see the word “birth” and when we look at verse one we read “1 The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.”  Both birth and genealogy are the same Greek word:  “1) source, origin

1a) a book of one’s lineage, i.e. in which his ancestry or progeny are enumerated

2) Used of birth, nativity

3) Of that which follows origin, viz. existence, life

3a) the wheel of life (Jas 3:6), other explain it, the wheel of human origin which as soon as men are born begins to run, i.e. its course of life.”

            When it comes to Biblical information about Mary we do not have a lot of information.  She is likely a native of Nazareth and probably came from a very poor family. From Matthew 27:56, Mark 15:40 and John 19:25 we can learn that she had a sister named Salome who was the mother of James and John which makes them a cousin of Jesus.  When we look at the third chapter of Luke we can see the genealogy of Mary who came from the line of David through his son Nathan, and we have talked about that earlier.  Elizabeth who was the wife of Zacharias was a relative of Mary, which makes John the Baptist a relative of Jesus.

            We know that Mary was a godly woman who was sensitive and submissive to the Lord’s will as can be seen in her conversation with Gabriel.  Gabriel was the angel who announced to Mary that she would be the mother of the Messiah, that is the human mother.  “How can this be, since I am a virgin,” (Luke 1:34).  Mary never questioned the angel Gabriel being sent from God or what he said to her was true or not.  Mary completely trusted the Lord in all that was about to happen to her.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Mary had amazing faith, a faith that would be good for me to also have.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  It surely takes humility to have a vibrant faith.  I want that kind of faith.

Today’s quotation from “Love in Action” comes from the commentary that David Jeremiah wrote on Genesis 2:25 and Genesis 3:7.

“In the beginning, the first married couple had no sense of self-consciousness or embarrassment. The sin entered into the world and the great cover-up began.  When Adam and Eve sinned, they realized they were naked.  The nakedness that our first parents felt was emotional, psychological, and most of all, spiritual.  Before sin and self took over, they were both naked and were not ashamed.  Afterwards, everything changed.  Most of us would like to reveal who we really are to the ones with whom we live, but we are afraid.  But in most cases, we would be accepted and loved if we would just give ourselves up to one another.  Through responsibility, intimacy, and transparence, we can find the encouragement zone!

11/27/2019 1:32 PM     

PT-2 Intro into the Virgin Birth (Matt. 1:18-25)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/26/2019 10:58 AM

My Worship Time                                                             Focus:  PT-2 “Intro to the Virgin Birth”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Matthew 1:18-25

            Message of the verse:  “18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. 19 And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. 20 But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of 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 Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: 23 “BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL," which translated means, "GOD WITH US." 24 And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, 25 but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.”

            When the cannon of the New Testament was settled it is no accident that in the very first chapter of Matthew, which is the very first chapter of the New Testament that we see in that chapter both the regal humanity and the deity of Jesus Christ.  I realize that the chapters were not put into the Bible until latter, but none the less this is the first thing we read about when we begin reading the New Testament that Jesus Christ was 100% man and 100% God.  If this were not the case then there would not be any gospel at all.  No man only born of a woman like every other man born would be able to save humanity because the seed of all persons born with the exception of Jesus Christ is passed on by the man.  Let us look at Genesis 3:15, the first prophecy of the coming Messiah:  “And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.’”  This is the only time in the Word of God you see the phrase “her seed” and her seed is that of the birth of the Messiah.

            John MacArthur writes “The incarnation of Jesus Christ is the central fact of Christianity.  The whole superstructure of Christian theology is built on it.  The essence and the power of the gospel is that God became man and that, by being both wholly God and wholly man, He was able to reconcile men to God.  Jesus’ virgin birth, His substituionary atoning death, resurrection, ascension, and return are all integral aspects of His deity.  They stand or fall together.  If any of those teachings—all clearly taught in the New Testament—is rejected, the entire gospel is rejected.  None makes sense, or could have any significance or power, apart from the others.  If those things were not true, even Jesus’ moral teachings would be suspect, because if He misrepresented who He was by preposterously claiming equality with God, how could anything else He said be trusted?  Or if the gospel writers misrepresented who He was, why should we trust their word about anything else He said or did?

            Let us look at what Jesus said to the Pharisees in Matthew 22:42-45 “42 “What do you think about the Christ, whose son is He?" They said to Him, "The son of David." 43 He said to them, "Then how does David in the Spirit call Him ’Lord,’ saying, 44 ’THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD, "SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND, UNTIL I PUT YOUR ENEMIES BENEATH YOUR FEET"’? 45 “If David then calls from that day on to ask Him another question.”  In these verses Jesus tells them who the Christ is and it is He.

            How was Jesus conceived in the womb of Mary is a question that we really cannot answer.  There is a verse in the book of Revelation that tells us about people given a name which no one else can know and in one of John MacArthur’s sermons he states that people would come up to him and ask him what was the name.  Well we get the same answer to how the Lord was conceived in the womb of Mary:  We don’t know, but we do know that it happened and that is where faith comes into play as God gives us the faith to believe it, but not truly understand how it happened. 

            We will conclude this portion of this SD by quoting the last paragraph of MacArthur’s introduction which will help us understand where we will be going after this:

“After establishing Jesus’ human lineage from David, Matthew proceeds to show His divine ‘lineage.’  That is the purpose of verses 18-25, which reveal five distinct truths about the virgin birth of Christ.  We see the virgin birth conceived, confronted, clarified, connected, and consummated.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17).  Without faith it is impossible to understand what the Word of God is saying to me, and I am thankful for the faith given to me so that I can understand the wonderful truth of who Jesus Christ is.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Humility is a big part of faith as I have to be humble to realize my need to understanding the Word of God, knowing it has to come from the Spirit of God.

Today’s quotation from “Love in Action” is from Genesis 2:25 and Genesis 3:7.

They were naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

They sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.

11/26/2019 11:33 AM

PT-1 "Intro Into The Virgin Birth" (Matt. 1:18-25)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/25/2019 11:17 AM

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  PT-1 “Intro into the Virgin Birth”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Matthew 1:18-25

            Message of the verses:  “18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows. When His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. 19 And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man, and not wanting to disgrace her, desired to put her away secretly. 20 But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for that which has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21 “And she will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins." 22 Now all this took place that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, 23 “BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD, AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL," which translated means, "GOD WITH US." 24 And Joseph arose from his sleep, and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took her as his wife, 25 and kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.”

            When we look mostly at the OT we can see some surprising births which I will just name at this point and not really go into the details.  Isaacs’s birth to Abraham and Sarah is the first one I want to mention.  Next Samson’s birth came from his barren mother.  Samson’s birth to Hannah who was also barren until God opened her womb.  Next we see the birth of John the Baptist which is described in Luke’s gospel, but none of these births, special as they were can be compared to the birth of Jesus Christ which is described in the verses we will be looking at in this second chapter from John MacArthur’s commentary.

            MacArthur writes “Fantasy and mythology have counterfeited the virgin birth of Jesus Christ with a proliferation of false accounts intended to minimize His utterly unique birth.”

            We can be sure that all of the so-called virgin births that happened in the so-called gods were thought up by Satan.  MacArthur adds “Science, like mythology, has no explanation for the virgin birth of Christ.  He was neither merely the son of a previously barren woman nor a freak of nature.  By the clear testimony of Scripture, He was conceived by God and born of a virgin.”

            As the world continues to sink deeper in sin it is no surprise that many, even so-called Christians do not believe that Jesus was virgin born conceived by the Holy Spirit making Him 100% man and 100% God as the New Testament teaches.  Even if we cannot totally understand the virgin birth of Jesus Christ we should never ignore it for as stated this confirms the deity of Jesus Christ.  I can’t understand how God created all that I see just by speaking, but I believe it because that is what the Bible teaches.  Paul writes the following in Romans 3:3-4 “3 What then? If some did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it? 4 May it never be! Rather, let God be found true, though every man be found a liar, as it is written, "THAT YOU MAY BE JUSTIFIED IN YOUR WORDS, AND PREVAIL WHEN YOU ARE JUDGED.’”

            The Jews of Jesus’ day hated Him and probably thought that Mary becoming pregnant with Jesus felt it was with a man, perhaps by a Roman Soldier living in Galilee.  The Jews demanded the death of Jesus because He stated that God was His Father:  “For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.”

            Part of Matthew’s gospel can be call “apologetic” and I am not saying that he was making an apology for the gospel, but in the more traditional sense of explaining and defending it against its many attacks and misrepresentations.  We have pastors today who are call “apologetic” that is defending the truth of the Bible.   I went to a church while living in Kauai whose pastor was an apologetic.”

            We will continue, Lord willing, to look at this introduction to the virgin birth of Jesus Christ in our next SD.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I desire to make sure as best I can to talk about the truths of the Scriptures that I study and put onto my blogs.  One of the things that causes me to be angry is when Pastors don’t believe that Jesus’ virgin birth was necessary.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  There are things in the Word of God that humaningly speaking are hard to believe or understand, and one has to be humble to take the time to understand these things as best as one can, but belief is the key.

Today’s quotation from “Love in Action” is from David Jeremiah’s thoughts on Genesis 2:24, which we looked at yesterday.

“We have a phrase we use to describe marriage.  We call it ‘tying the knot.’  I once read a comment from a mountain climber who said that the reason mountain climbers are tied together is to keep the sane ones from going home.  One of the reasons God ties the knot in marriage is to keep us from running away when the going gets tough.  Where there is this kind of commitment, the Christian family can truly be an encouragement zone.”

11/25/2019 11:56 AM

           

The Grace of God seen in the Inclusion of Four Outcasts (Matthew 1:3-6)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/24/2019 8:42 PM

My Worship Time                  Focus:  The Grace of God seen in the Inclusion of Four Outcasts

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 1:3-6

            Message of the verses:  “3 and to Judah were born Perez and Zerah by Tamar; and to Perez was born Hezron; and to Hezron, Ram; 4 and to Ram was born Amminadab; and to Amminadab, Nahshon; and to Nahshon, Salmon; 5 and to Salmon was born Boaz by Rahab; and to Boaz was born Obed by Ruth; and to Obed, Jesse; 6 and to Jesse was born David the king. And to David was born Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah;”

            John MacArthur begins this section by writing “Matthew’s genealogy also shows us the work of God’s grace in His choosing four former outcasts, each of them women (the only women listed until the mention of Mary), through whom the Messiah and great King would descend.  These women are exceptional illustrations of God’s grace and are included for the reason in the genealogy that otherwise is all men.”

            We will briefly talk about these four women beginning with Tamar.  Tamar was a Canaanite women who was the wife of one of Judah’s sons, and Judah’s sons by his first wife died because the sinned greatly against the Lord.  Tamar was waiting for another of Judah’s sons to be born but Judah would not allow him to marry this woman.  She made herself up to be a prostitute and ended up having sexual relations with Judah, but he did not know it was her.  He had no money to pay her and so she kept a possession of Judah.  A little while latter it was reported that Judah’s daughter-in-law was with child and so he went to make sure she was put to death.  She told him that the person who owned these possessions was the father of the child.  Judah said she was more righteous than he was.  This is how Tamar is in the bloodline of our Lord Jesus Christ.

            Rahab is the next outcast and she truly was a prostitute who actually hid the spies of Judah and was saved from the destruction of Jericho when God destroyed that city when the children of Israel first came into the Promised Land.  MacArthur writes “God’s grace not only spared her life but brought he into the messianic line, as the wife of Salmon and the mother of the godly Boaz who was David’s great-grandmother.

            Ruth is the next woman and like the others is a Gentile.  The story of Ruth is found in the book of Ruth at the very end of the book of Judges.  It was said that this story took place during the time of the Judges of Israel.  Naomi and her husband and two sons left Israel and went to the pagan people of Moab where we find that her husband and two sons died.  One of her daughter-in-laws did not return to Israel with Naomi and Ruth was told to go back also, but Ruth, a very godly woman stayed with her mother-in-law and returned with her to Israel.  Ruth ended up marrying a man named Boaz and they had Obed who became the father of Jesse who was the father of David.

            The fourth outcast was Bathsheba and she is in the genealogy because of her adulteress relations with David. I put little blame on her and most on David, but none the less it happened.  This was one of the great sins of David and caused much pain and suffering in his life, but out of this great sin came Solomon who would follow David as the next King of Israel.  I have mentioned that in both of his great sins from David’s life that God brought about the construction of the first Jewish temple as David bought the property where the temple was to be brought at the end of the angel of the Lord killing 70,000 because of David’s sin in numbering the people.  It ended at the very place where Abraham was to offer Isaac as a burnt offering on Mt. Mariah which is where the temple was built.

            We conclude with the last paragraph from John MacArthur’s commentary on this section:

            “The genealogy of Jesus Christ is immeasurably more than a list of ancient names; it is even more than a list of Jesus’ human forebears.  It is a beautiful testimony of God’s grace and to the ministry of His Son, Jesus Christ, the friend of sinners, who ‘did not come to call the righteous, but sinners’ (Matt. 9:13).  If He has called sinners by grace to be His forefathers, should we be surprised when He calls them by grace to be His descendants?  The King presented here is truly the King of grace!

The quotation from “Love in Action” is from Genesis 2:24.

Therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother

and be joined to his wife, and they

shall become one flesh.

11/24/2019 9:14 PM

The Grace of God seen in the History of Three Eras (Matthew 1:17)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/23/2019 10:58 AM

My Worship Time                             Focus:  The Grace of God seen in the History of Three Eras

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 1:17

            Message of the verse:  “So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations.”

            We will have another rather short SD today as we look from Matthew’s summary of the genealogy of Jesus Christ we will see God’s grace at work in three periods, or perhaps eras of Israel’s history.

            This first period of history is from Abraham to David and this is a part of what we call in the Bible, the history part of the Bible.  There were many things that went on during this period as it began in the 12^th chapter of Genesis when God called Abram to begin the nation of Israel, and it goes all the way through the life of David.  We see in this section the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and how at the end of the book of Genesis there is a family of around 70 people who ended up in Egypt where God, through much difficulty would take this family and make them a nation.  We see Moses and Joshua and then the judges in this period too, and then towards the end of the judges we see the story of Ruth and how the Lord used this Moabite woman to be the great grandmother of David. 

            The second time period is from David to the deportation into Babylon and this is what we call the period of the monarchs, that is all the kings of Judah as at this time the children of Israel demanded to have an earthly king which God gave to them, one like they wanted and then gave them David a man after God’s own heart.  After David’s son Solomon died the kingdom was divided between the kingdom of the North and South, which is where the genealogy of Jesus would follow.  As we read through this time period we see that both the north and south kingdoms had the exact number of kings, however there was not one good king in the North and only a few in the Southern kingdom beginning with David.  It was during this time period that Jerusalem and the temple in Jerusalem were destroyed and at the end the people were taken to Babylon.

            The third period goes from the deportation to Babylon up to the time when Christ was born.  This time period began in 586 BC and so we can see that it lasted a little over 586 years as we have to take into account that Jesus was born in 0 AD.  As we read through this group of names there are not too many that we know a lot about.  This was a very dark time in the history of Israel as even though they went back to their land they were never in control of it, never owned it until May of 1948 when as Ezekiel prophesied Israel would become a nation again.

            John MacArthur concludes:  “Nevertheless, God’s grace was at work on behalf of His people through all three periods.  The national genealogy of Jesus is one of mingled glory and pathos, heroism and disgrace, renown and obscurity.  Israel rises, falls, stagnates, and finally rejects and crucifies the Messiah that God sent to them.  But God, in His infinite grace, yet sent His Messiah through them.”

Today’s quotation from “Love in Action” is David Jeremiah’s commentary on Genesis 2:21-25 which we looked at yesterday.

“Eve was taken from Adam’s side, not molded from the ground as was her husband.  She was taken from Adam so that he was naturally incomplete without her.  Ish could not be complete without Isha.  When God was finished with the creation of Eve, he brought her to Adam and the first wedding too place.  The Living Bible says that when Adam first saw Eve, he said, “This is it!”  There is great excitement in his heart!  When God’s blueprint for marriage is followed, it is one of the most wonderful, encouraging experiences one can know while on this earth.  We can begin now to create a zone of encouragement at home.  Genesis 2 includes some enduring principles that can mature, strengthen, and breathe new life into our marriages.”

11/23/2019 11:28 AM

The Grace of God seen in the Descendants of Two Men (Matt. 1:1)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/22/2019 11:03 AM

My Worship Time                  Focus:  “The Grace of God seen in the Descendants of Two Men”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 1:1

            Message of the verse:  “1 The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham:”

            Just a reminder that we mentioned in an earlier SD:  ““The graciousness of this King and of the God who sent Him can be seen in the genealogy of four places and ways.  We will look at these in logical, rather than chronological order.”  So with that said we go back to the very first verse in the New Testament, “Matthew 1:1).

            God can only use sinners in His plan to have His will accomplished, and so each and every person in the genealogy of Jesus Christ as seen in both Matthew and Luke are sinners, and that includes Mary as we learned in our last SD.

            We can read about the sins of David in the Old Testament which were many including adultery and murder, and also the numbering of the children of Israel because of his pride, and also because he did not do what Charles Stanley calls “CMB, a critical moment of decision.”  Stanley is talking about what a believer does when Satan shoots his fiery arrows at us.  We can either add to those flaming arrows or we can reject them and those first moments that they are shot at us.  David failed in his “CMB) as many of us do.

            When we think about Abraham, a man of great faith he twice lied about Sarah being his wife, and one of the other things that he did we still are paying for today and that was when he brought a hand maid back for his wife who ended up having a child by Abraham which brought forth the twelve tribes of the Arabs.  I have to say at this point that I would not like to have my sins plastered all over the Old Testament like Abraham and David have.  What we see in the lives of Abraham and David and others is the grace of God intervening in their lives. 

            We will conclude this short SD with a quote from John MacArthur:  “A careful look at the descendants both of Abraham and David (vv. 2-16) reveals people who were often characterized by unfaithfulness, immorality, idolatry, and apostasy.  But God’s dealing with them was always characterized by grace.  ‘Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham,’ was sent to overcome the failures of both those men and all their descendants, and to accomplish what they could never have accomplished.  The King of grace came through the line of two sinful men.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I desire to give thanks to the Lord of Grace who has caused me to be born-again into His family, me a sinful man.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Being born-again into the family of God has to be about humility on my part as I accept what Christ has done for me, not being able to do anything on my own to care for this worst problem that I have.

Today’s quotation from “Love in Action” comes from Genesis 2:21-25

And the Lord God caused

a deep sleep to fall on Adam,

and he slept; and He took one of his

ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place.

Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from

man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the

man.  And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh

of my flesh; she shall called Woman [isha], because she

was taken out of Man [ish].”  Therefore a man shall

leave his father and mother and be joined to his

wife, and they shall become one flesh.  And

they were both naked, the man and his wife,

 and were not ashamed.

Genesis 2:21-25

11/22/2019 11:42 AM

The Grace of God Seen in the choice of One Woman (Matt. 1:16)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/21/2019 11:02 AM

My Worship Time                        Focus:  “The Grace of God Seen In the choice of One Woman”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 1:16

            Message of the verse:  “16 Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.”

            Here is a quote from our last SD to help explain where we are going:  “The graciousness of this King and of the God who sent Him can be seen in the genealogy of four places and ways.  We will look at these in logical, rather than chronological order.”

            When we begin to talk about Mary we will see that some of the things that are spoken of about Mary are not true which we will get into as we move along in the SD.  We know that Mary was a descendent of King David, but as we have already learned she came through the line of David’s son Nathan, and not through Solomon which is where her husband Joseph came.  Mary was just an ordinary, unknown woman who desired to do the will of God.  Many women during this time period desired to be the mother of the Messiah but God chose Mary.  When you read about what Mary said in the gospel of Luke you can see that Mary was a sinner and in need of salvation just like every other person born with the exception of Jesus Christ.  Mary was likely much better, morally and spiritually, than most people of her time, but she was not sinless.  She was deeply devout and faithful to the Lord, as she demonstrated in the passage we have eluded to, Luke 1:38 and following.  The following verses in Luke’s gospel are what Elizabeth said about Mary, and then after that are what Mary stated about being chosen by God to deliver the Messiah into the world.  46 And Mary said: "My soul exalts the Lord, 47 And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior”  (Luke 1:46-47).  John MacArthur writes “The notion of her being co-redemptrix and co-mediator with Christ are wholly unscriptural and were never a part of early church doctrine.  Those heretical ideas came into the church several centuries later, through accommodations to pagan myths that originated in the Babylonian mystery religions.”

            When we studied the book of Revelation four years ago we talked about how Babylon was behind every so-called “religion” meaning false religions.  This all started with a man named Nimrod who was a grandson of Ham, one of Noah’s sons.  There has always been a mother/son cult involved in this religion from its very beginning.  Different names were given to the mother son cult as it evolved in different religions.  As we move toward the time after Jesus Christ was crucified and the beginnings of the church, as mentioned this mother/son cult was not involved in the church.  It wasn’t until the times when the church was being persecuted by the Romans that their emperor Constantine was fighting in a battle in which he saw a cross, and he took this as a sign for him to follow.  He stopped the persecution of the church and named Christianity as the state religion.  He changed the names of Romans mother/son cult to Mary and Jesus and that is how this cult came into the church. 

            John MacArthur writes “The Bible knows nothing of Mary’s grace except that which she received from the Lord.  She was the recipient, never the dispenser, of grace.  The literal translation of ‘favored one’ (Luke 1:28) is ‘one endured with grace.’  Just as all the rest of fallen mankind, Mary needed God’s grace and salvation.  That is why she ‘rejoiced in God [her] Savior’ (Luke 1:47).  She received a special measure of the Lord’s grace by being chosen to be the mother of Jesus; but she was never a source of grace.  God’s grace shoes a sinful woman to have the unequaled privilege of giving birth to the Messiah.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful for the grace of God, grace that was given to Mary in order for her to believe in her Son for her salvation, and grace that I too can believe in her Son so I can receive salvation.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  One has to be humble to receive the salvation that Jesus has provided, knowing that there was nothing I could do on my own to be saved.

Quotation from “Love in Action” for today is from David Jeremiah’s comments on Genesis 2:18.

“We snap to attention when we read this statement.  It was God’s assessment that man should not be alone, that He needed someone to relate to him.  So God created woman.  Contrary to what some have jokingly said, woman is not a cognate of the words ‘woe to man.’  The word ‘woman’ in the Hebrew language is the word isha.  Man is ish, woman is isha.”

Genealogy of Jesus Christ

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/20/2019 10:47 AM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  Jesus’ Genealogy

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 1:1

            Message of the verses:  “1 The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham:”

            Let me say first of all that I will copy Matthew 1:1-17 in this SD, and then will not put in on another SD because all it contains is the names of the genealogy of Jesus Christ from Abraham to Jesus, including Joseph.  I am not saying that none of these names are important because they are important as they show the blood line of the Messiah, which in and of itself is very important.  Each name has a story to tell and the story of each name can be found in the Old Testament.  Some were believers, and some were not believers, but all were important because through them the Messiah was born.

            “1 The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham: 2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, and

Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. 3 Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez was the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram. 4 Ram was the father of

Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon. 5 Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse. 6 Jesse was the father of David the king. David was the father of Solomon by Bathsheba who had been the wife of Uriah. 7 Solomon was the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asa. 8 Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah. 9 Uzziah was the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah. 10 Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, and Amon the father of Josiah. 11 Josiah became the father of

Jeconiah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon. 12 After the deportation to Babylon: Jeconiah became the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel. 13 Zerubbabel was the father of Abihud, Abihud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor. 14 Azor was the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud. 15 Eliud was the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob. 16 Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah. 17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations.”

            The Greek word for “book” is Biblos, and this word can also refer to a record or account, as is the case here.  What Matthew is doing is giving a brief record of the genealogy or genesis, (“beginning, origin”) of Jesus Christ.  We have probably stated in earlier SD’s that “Jesus” is from the Greek equivalent of Jeshua, or Jehoshua, which means “Jehovah (Yahweh) saves.”  I remember when I was studying the OT books of Deuteronomy and Joshua that Warren Wiersbe pointed out that it was the plan of God not to have Moses lead the Israelites into the Promised Land, but was His plan to have Joshua because that is the OT name of Jesus.  The angel gave this name to Joseph to give to his Son after He was born.  Joseph knew that it was the Holy Spirit of God who brought Jesus’ life into the womb of Mary and the reason that His name is Jesus is seen in Matthew 1:21 “"She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.’”  Christos (Christ) is the Greek form of the Hebrew mashie (English, Messiah), which means “anointed one.”  Israel’s prophet’s priests and kings were anointed and Jesus was anointed as all three of these offices.  Jesus was the Anointed One, the Messiah, whom the Jews had long expected to come as their great deliverer and their monarch.

            There was a great deal of evidence that Jesus Christ was the long awaited Savior of Israel, but as we learn near the end of His life the leaders of Israel stated that they did not want this man to reign over them.  I have read that the odds of having one man fulfill all of the prophecies that were written about in the Old Testament for the coming Messiah were that if you stacked silver dollars six feet high all over the state of Texas and you had to find one particular silver dollar that would be the odds of having Jesus Christ fulfill all of the OT prophecies that He fulfilled while on planet earth. 

            At this point I want to quote a paragraph from John MacArthur’s commentary which he entitles “The Gracious King” and then in our next SD we will begin to look at the sub-section “The Grace of God seen in the Choice of One Woman,” which comes from Matthew 1:16.

            “Even so, From Matthew’s genealogy we learn more that Jesus’ lineage.  We also see beautiful reflections of God’s grace.  Jesus was sent by a God of Grace to be a King of grace.  He would not be a King of law and of iron force, but a King of grace.  His credentials testify of royal grace.  And the people He chose to be His ancestors revealed the wonder of grace, and give hope to all sinners.  The graciousness of this King and of the God who sent Him can be seen in the genealogy of four places and ways.  We will look at these in logical, rather than chronological order.”

            As mentioned the first is “The grace of God seen in the choice of One Woman.”  After that we will look at the other three as MacArthur stated in this highlighted quotation seen above.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I mentioned in our last Sunday school class that God has to word through sinners because that is all He has to choose from, and as we look at the genealogy of Jesus Christ all of them were sinners, and probably a great deal of them never came to faith in the coming Messiah, that can only happen by God’s grace.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I have been given God’s grace and this certainly goes along with the learning of humility because God’s grace is certainly undeserved by me.

Our quotation from “Love in Action” today is Genesis 2:18.

“And the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that man should be along;

I will make him a helper comparable to him.”

11/20/2019 11:21 AM