Redemption Equals New Beginnings

“Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them—the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your territory. No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I shall be with you, I will not leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and of good courage, for to this people the land which I swore to their fathers I give them. Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”   (Joshua 1:2-9) 

God speaks to us through this historical story of redemption of the deliverance of Israel from Egypt’s degrading bondage; it is an example of our deliverance from the degrading bondage of sin from Satan. The New Testament reveals the central act of redemption through the work of Jesus on the cross. The central act of redemption in the Old Testament is the deliverance of Israel (God’s chosen people) from Egypt. 

Before salvation I lived unknowingly in a world of darkness. Personally, I believed in God and because of that also believed that belief was good enough to enter heaven when I would pass from this life; little did I know!  

At the age of 20 God revealed to me through His Word that just believing in Him was not enough to enter heaven; I needed to be redeemed from my sin and that I needed a redeemer for that, simply because I could not redeem myself. Just as the children of Israel were enslaved under that heavy yoke of bondage and needed a redeemer to free them, so was I enslaved under the heavy yoke of sin which came from the fall of man in the garden that every human is subject to and in need of redemption. 

When I came to that realization and received Jesus Christ’s gift of salvation, I entered (as does everyone who accepts Jesus) into a life of new beginnings through His redemption. Yes, I’m still a sinner and continually need forgiveness while here on earth. However, as a believer I’m now living as one cloaked by the righteousness of Jesus and not striving on my own to attain God’s favor. The Father sees Jesus in me because of His redemptive work that was done because of His love for us. 

As followers of Christ each day that we are given is a gift from Him and in essence a new beginning to obey and follow Him faithfully here on earth until He calls us home or returns for us. Let us give thanks for what He has done for us this last year and for His forgiveness for our failures of obedience as we set aside what is now behind us and move forward into a new year. Let us determine that we will be more faithfully obedient to Him and His call for us to do His work this coming new year. 

Dale LaFrance (please look up 1 Corinthians 5:17 & 1 Peter 1:3) 

Birth of Jesus Christ

For unto us a Child is born; Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this. (Isaiah 9: 6-7) 

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows. After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.” So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.” Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife, and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name JESUS. (Matthew 1:18-25) 

And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. (Luke 2:1-7) 

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14) 

Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail drew them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne. Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days. (Revelation 12:1-6) 

Merry Christmas! The verses above reflect what was to come regarding the birth of Jesus Christ, Son of God our Savior. How it came to pass. And yet about what is still to come! 

Dale LaFrance (please look up Genesis 3) 

Wisemen From Afar Come to Worship Jesus

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.” (Matthew 2: 1-2) 

Matthew does not go into detail regarding the birth of Jesus as Luke does. What Matthew tells us regards events that happened shortly after the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. The time of this event saw Herod as king; he was also known as Herod the Great. He was great in some ways as a ruler, builder, and administrator, in other ways great in politics and cruelty. 

When the wise men enter the region seeking the one who was born “King of the Jews,” they first inquired at the court of Herod thinking he would certainly know of this. Many traditional stories have these men as kings and that there were three of them; this is nowhere to be found in the biblical account. These wise men were known in ancient Greek as magoi. They were astronomers. This was a large group of men, not three, who had traveled a great distance from the East to worship the one born called “King of the Jews”. Their arrival is sometime after the birth of Jesus, not on the very night He was born as some stories would have you believe. 

These wise men had a connection with Daniel, who many years before their time had prophesied regarding a Messiah and His death. These wise men (magi) came from a tribe that first appeared in the seventh century B.C within the Median nation in eastern Mesopotamia. Most historians consider them to have been Semites and that the Jews and Arabs are both descendants of Noah’s son Shem. The origins of the magi are also the origins of Abram, who was later called by God. Later, the name magi became associated with the hereditary priesthood. They were known for their combined knowledge of science, agriculture, mathematics and history; because of this their political influence continued to grow as they became the most prominent and powerful group of advisors in the Medo-Persian and subsequently the Babylonian empire. These men were monotheistic, believing in the existence of only one God! 

When the magi arrived in search of this baby born to be “King of the Jews” it came as a great surprise to Herod, who was not versed in the scriptures and prophesies of a coming Messiah as revealed in Matthew 2:7-8. Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.” 

The wise men did find Jesus; however, He was not a newly born babe, and He was not in a stable but a house (Matthew 2:11) and it’s possible He was already about 2 years old. It’s very possible the magi had first observed the star of Bethlehem the night of Jesus’ birth and began their journey at that time to come worship Him. Bringing gifts of great wealth that would eventually finance the flight of Joseph, Mary and Jesus into Egypt. The magi followed the prophecy of God given to man by the Spirit of God, so all glory must go to God!  

Dale LaFrance (please look up Genesis 25:6 & Micah 5:2) 

Jesus Son of David

Then Jesus answered and said, while He taught in the temple, “How is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the Son of David? For David himself said by the Holy Spirit: ‘The LORD said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.”’ Therefore David himself calls Him Lord; how is he then his Son?” And the common people heard Him Gladly. (Mark 12:35-37) 

Earlier in Mark 12 Jesus had been faced with numerous questions by the religious leaders; their questions were meant to trap Jesus. Jesus did not do the same to them; His questions to them got to the heart of the matter: “Do you really know who I am?” These religious leaders acted as if they knew everything there was to know about the Messiah. Jesus challenged this thought when He asked them to consider that they may have something to learn. Jesus challenged them with information that they already had regarding what David had said about the Messiah in our focus passage. 

One would tend to think that before computers record keeping of family genealogies would be very difficult, and yet this was not the case. The lineage of Jesus reveals that His human part comes from a long line of broken people and that they all just like everyone else need salvation. King David recognized this when he declared what he did regarding the Messiah being Son of David as well as Lord of David. Revelation 22:16 declares, “I, Jesus, have sent My angels to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.” 

As Jesus moved among the people and taught, there were those who questioned if He was the Son of David. All the crowds were amazed, and were saying, “This man cannot be the Son of David, can he?” (Matthew 12:33) And then there were times when individuals, most likely overcome by the Spirit of God, would loudly declare that He was the Son of David. And a Canaanite woman from that region came out and began to cry out, saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed.” (Matthew 15:22) Blind Bartimaeus cried out to Jesus for healing as seen in Mark 10:47-48. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Each time someone referred to Jesus as Son of David they were acknowledging the messiahship of Jesus!  

God’s word foretold the coming Messiah! And that He would come from the line of David. Jesus fulfilled that and so much more. Jesus, Son of David, Son of God, our Messiah what a gift to all mankind! 
 

Dale LaFrance (please look up Matthew 21:9 & John 7:42) 

The Genealogy of King Jesus

And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. (Matthew 1:16) Messiah Jesus was not begat!   As we read the account of the genealogy of the line of Joseph there are two things to note. First, up until Jesus was born every one was begat (to produce offspring, father a child), Secondly, the royal line of David had a blood curse upon it from the time of Jeconiah who was a very evil king, Jeremiah 22:30.  Thus says the Lord,  Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah.  According to the lineage, Joseph would have been a king not Herod who was not of the line of David.  Jesus was not begat by Joseph, so He was not of the bloodline that was cursed, which satisfies the first requirement to be Messiah.  Matthews’s genealogy is of the line of Joseph. 

Luke, however, presents a genealogy of Jesus through Mary (church historian Eusebius gives a detailed account of how this came to pass). Because of Mary’s line, our Messiah was a physical descendant of David.  By law Jesus was the legal son of Joseph by adoption, therefore, giving Him legal right to be the King of the Jews.  Had there been no curse on Jeconiah Joseph would have been king-giving Jesus legal right to the throne as the firstborn (even through adoption).  God does what is worldly impossible by producing Somebody who was both a descendant of that kingly line and was not a descendant of that line.   

The genealogies of Christ reveal three truths about Messiah Jesus.  1) He was the legal descendant of David through Solomon and Jeconiah.  2) He was not part of the curse because He was not physically descended from Jeconiah.  3) He was the physical descendant of David through His mother.  After the fall of Adam and Eve God proclaimed a promise of hope for all time in Genesis 3:15. “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.”   The seed comes from man, however in this case it would come from a woman, which would be supernatural: Jesus had a human mother but not a human father.  God crashed into the messianic line sovereignly.   This had to be done because of the sin that was in the messianic line.  Judah had his sons by his daughter-in-law, Tamar.  Rahab was a prostitute and King David begat Solomon by the wife of Uriah.  Then we have the descendant of Manasseh, Jeconiah, who was the most evil and wicked of kings when the line was cut off.   

The bottom line for us!   

All were sinners with the line being contaminated all the way back to Adam, just as all humanity.  We may not be gross sinners but sinners we are because of our inherited fallen nature, in need of a Savior.  Jesus is the Savior we need. He is the Hope of mankind offered by God the Father. Jesus the Gift for all who would choose to receive Him.  

The Lie Whisperer (Satan) knew the prophecy but could not stop it no matter how hard he tried.  He is a defeated enemy trying to take as many as he can, but because of what Christ has done. You don’t have to be a victim.  Receive His free gift of salvation today and be sealed for eternity through the name of Jesus, King of Kings! 

                  Dale LaFrance (please look up Isiah 7:14, Matthew 1:1-25 & Luke 3:21-38)