Throughout the Bible we see how God confounds the wise, "For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight. As it is written: "He catches the wise in their craftiness" (1 Corinthians 3:19). When The Prophet Samuel was to select the next king of Israel, he went to Jesse's home and all of Jesse's handsome and powerful sons were presented, but the anointing was on none of them, it was David a shepherd boy, whom Jesse did not even bother to present and considered the least in his brood that Samuel anoints (see 1 Samuel 16:1-13). Jesus Christ makes clear why this happened, "So the last (now) will be first, and the first (now) will be last," (Matthew 20:16), and "But many who are the greatest now will be least important then, and those who seem least important now will be the greatest then." (Matthew 19:30). This theme of the least being chosen of God is throughout Scripture. It was Esau whom Isaac loved, but Jacob was the one God chose (Genesis 35). Then we have Jacob's two wives, Leia who Jacob never wanted nor loves, and Rachael his beloved, it is from Leia the unloved that Jesus comes, "Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar.. Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ," (Matthew 1:2-4. 16), and "Once again Leah became pregnant and gave birth to another son. She named him Judah, for she said, "Now I will praise the LORD!" And then she stopped having children." (Genesis 29:35). Then we arrive at David who has many sons, one is Absalom who leads a coupe de etate and insurrection against David and dies with his hair caught in a tree (), there is Solomon the Wise who David ultimately chooses as King, there is Abinadad who helped Abasolme (), and then there is Nathan, whom you might say Nathan who?
Nathan was David's second born son of Bathsheba, the first died in child birth as a curse for David's sin of stealing Bathseba from Uriah and murdering Uriah. Nathan is believed to have been named after the Prophet Nathan who confronted David about Bathsheba and who told David that God wanted no Temple (2 Samuel 7:1-58). As we know Solomon is who David chooses to be his successor, Solomon becomes the wisest man because he asks God for wisdom (see) and Solomon builds the Temple which God never wanted. But Solomon's brother Nathan who we never read much about, who has no accolades, throne, kingdom, or contribution ends up being the ancestor of the King of Kings, "Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years of age, being the son..the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David, the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz" (Luke 3:23, 31-32). It is through Nathan's lineage that the Lord God chose to come forth, not Soloman's. In fact Solomon builds the temple God never wanted and then serves other gods, while the one Nathan the prophet said who "come from David and establish his kingdom forever" (2 Samuel 1:1-12) is actually Jesus Christ and He comes from Nathan's line.
The point is that you may not inherit the kingdom of this earth, or be the best or most beloved in yoru family; but you may not know your importance. Solomon became the most famous king of Israel after David, but his legacy included idolatry, polygamy, and almost falling away from the faith. While Nathan we know nothing about, except that his descendants are the ancestors of God incarnate and the Messiah! You may be like Nathan, seemingly forgotten in the annals and not inheriting the kingdom of this earth, but you have a great calling that is unseen and not even possible to reveal in your life time; by being faithful and even just having a family, you like Nathan could be preparing the way for the Lord! You may be Leah, an unloved wife, but your children will be Christ's heritage, you may be David, not the strongest or best son, but you slay a Goliath and get to be God's line. The Bible is full of meek inviduals who think they were passed over, but they end up in line of Jesus Christ. This is why Jesus says, "The Meek will inherit the Earth," (Matthew 5:5), "But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong," (1 Corinthians 1;27), and, "Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, "Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all." (Mark 9:35). We get a picture from God through His Word, the least will be greatest, and those who are last in this life will be first in the next.
Solomon Son of David build the Temple God said no to (2 Samuel 7:1-12), but through Nathan Son of David Jesus Christ came and made us God's Temple (1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19). Solomon was the wisest, but he had many wives and fell into the lies of polytheism. Nathan was probably moderately wise, and had one wife, and the Truth (John 14:6), All Wisdom and Understanding who is Jesus Christ (Colossians 2:2-3) came forth from his line! It is men's desire to be famous and be called wise, but for Nathan he got to be in the line of Wisdom itself (1 Corinthians 1:30); Nathan got to be the ancestor of God Incarnate. So often we judge by appearance and titles, and even achievements, but the lasting achievements may not appear for many years, and what was considered a great achievement like the Temple of Jerusalem is torn down by God himself, "As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, “Teacher, look at the magnificent stones and buildings!” “Do you see all these great buildings? Jesus replied. “Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be toppled.” (Mark 13:1-2). Solomon's (and Zerubbabel and Herod's) Temple was torn down by the Savior, Jesus even prophesized against it (Matthew 24:1-10), and even reprimanded everyone within it (John 2:13-22, Matthew 12:12-17); but Jesus instead build a new temple, His people (1 Corinthians 6:19). So Nathan son of David got to be part of the real building of God's Temple, the Body of Christ, while Solomon built what men want to build.
The Pharisees were so called religious elite (they were half Arabs, and had no true claims to Levite or Cohen priesthood), but Jesus who is God hated them (see Matthew 23, the whole chapter rebukes the Pharisees) but John the Baptist was the last true Cohen Priesthood, baptized Jesus (Luke 3), believed in Jesus, and he was mistreated and even beheaded (Luke 3). God chooses men and to the world they seem accursed, men choose men and to world they seem blessed but to God they are accursed. Isaac loved his son Esau (Genesis 25:28), but God hated Esau (Romans 9:13, Malachi 1:2-3).
God loves the underdog, and has repeatedly chosen the rejected ones: Jacob (Isaac loved Esua), Leia (Jacob loved Rachael), David (Jesse loved his other sons more), Nathan (David loved Absalom and Solomon), and finally Jesus was rejected by all and bore all rejection for us (shares verses) and yet He is Gods' Son and God in bodily form! (John 1:1-15, Colossians 2:9).
Now studying the two genealogies of Jesus (Matthew 1 and Luke 3:22-38) you might discover that through Joseph's line Jesus comes from Solomon, while through Mary (Luke 3:22-38) its Nathan. Well here's some important thoughts, Mary actually gave birth to Jesus, Joseph did not. Mary received the Seed of Christ (Christ entered her Womb, For Christ has always existed John 1:1-15, Genesis 1:1-3, and Colossians 1:10-18) via the Holy Spirit not from Joseph (Luke 1:34-35). Luke the Physician who gave His Gospel account and traced the Luke 3 lineage interviewed the Women, which was not a Jewish custom, but was Greek custom. The Gospel of Luke contains Mary Mother of Jesus' account, Mary Magdalene, and the Women of Galilee (Luke 8:3, ); only a woman like Mary would remember the intricate details of Jesus' birth, especially because Joseph is long dead by the time Luke pens the account. We know Luke interviewed Mary because it says, "Mary stored these things in her heart," (Luke 2:19) how else could Luke have learned what Mary stored in heart except form Mary?, or anything to do with Joseph who was long dead before Luke became a Christian, unless he asked the only other eyewitness, Mary! It is important to note that Mary lives on, she gets to witness Christ's crucifixion (John 19:25), she sees Jesus risen (Mark 16:8 inferred, but if we take John 19:27 into account and cross ref with John 21:22, The Apostle John is caretaker of Mary, and so if John sees Jesus Risen, so does Mary), and she is taken care of by John the Apostle (John 19:26-27), but Joseph disappears and is presumed dead after Jesus is thirty years of age (he's never mentioned after Jesus, Mary, and Joseph return to Israel from Egypt, Jesus being around Age seven at that point). So Mary's linage is very important for many reasons, she actally had Holy Spirit overshadow her (Luke 1:35), She birthed Jesus (Matthew 1:18), she saw Jesus' mission completed (John 19), and she lived on tell all that happened (Luke 2 proof), while Joseph died presumably after returning from Egypt. Joseph was a step-father to Jesus, though important in protecting Mary due to social customs (Matthew 1:20) and getting direction from the angel when to leave Bethlehem before Herod's soldiers came to slaughter the infants (Matthew 2:13), he was not involved in Miraculous birth nor carried Christ as Mary did in her womb I mean no disrespect towards Joseph, its just if we compare whose linage would be more important, is it Joseph who has no ties to Jesus save being a step father or Mary who carries Christ in her womb and conceived Him miraculously as a Virgin via the Holy Spirit? In Jesus' day it was important you traced your lineage via the father, and so Matthew shows us that Jesus through Joseph's adoption is from King David (the Messiah had to be) but so does Mary's linage which goes all the way back to Adam. Today, to check your Jewish linage its important it comes from Mother's line, not the father's, which is the linage of Luke 3. Jesus had to come from Rejected Ones, because He himself is rejected (They received him not John 1:11-13, a man of sorrow Isaiah 53:3, rejected and accursed Mark 15) and Jesus had to bear all the rejection from Adam to present. Adam rejected God in Eden (Genesis 3) and so Jesus who is God (Colossians 2:9) had to be rejected on Cross (Hebrews 13:12) and coming from Mary's Line of Rejection (Luke 3:23-38) to break eternal rejection from God (Hell see verse Ephesians 2:12-15, Romans 11:11-17).
Comments
Post a Comment