The Only Loophole

It is very interesting to read the genealogies in the Gospels. They prove Jesus' royal right to the throne of Israel. He was, and Is, The King of the Jews. He is qualified like no other and the proof is right in the two genealogies printed in every Bible.

"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." - Matthew 1:18 ESV

Before this grand statement Matthews gospel reveals Joseph's lineage but Joseph was not Jesus' the biological father. Why have his lineage listed. Joseph was of the royal line of David and the Messiah needed to be a royal descendant of David.

"Josiah was the father of Jehoiachin and his brothers (born at the time of the exile to Babylon)." - Matthew 1:11 NLT

" 'As surely as I live,' says the LORD, 'I will abandon you, Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah. Even if you were the signet ring on my right hand, I would pull you off... This is what the LORD says: 'Let the record show that this man Jehoiachin was childless. He is a failure, for none of his children will succeed him on the throne of David to rule over Judah.'" - Jeremiah 22:24, 30 NLT

Jehoiachin, sometimes translated Jeconiah, was cursed by God to never have a child on the throne. Jesus' birth had to be a virgin birth or it would have disqualified Him to be Messiah. At the same time He needed to be the son of a man from the royal line in order to be qualified to be Messiah.

Moses was raised in Pharaoh's house but was not genetically linked to Pharaoh. Jesus was raised in Joseph's house but His Father was God himself.

There can be no other Messiah. No one could prove their lineage. Rome destroyed the temple in 70 AD and the official record got destroyed also. No one can prove that their father's fathers came directly from David and even if the could Jeconiah would be there in the bloodline poisoning it.

Is it any wonder that we are reborn in a strange way. Everyone who is born of God is born strange. Adam's line is cursed to die. God snuck us in to His family using a loophole just as He put Jesus in David's royal line using a loophole.

It is funny in a way because Joseph's Davidic heritage was discounted because of Jeconiah. His family was not a political threat because they were known to be disqualified by that ancestor.

Mary was also of David's line but in Jewish tradition you don't get to be king because of your mother. Your Father must be royal.

"Jesus answered, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' " - John 3:5-7 ESV

Jesus is the king that will sit on the throne of David. He died but He lives forevermore so no one will come after him to inherit that throne but if God is your father then you share in the inheritance of royal lineage. God has no grandchildren. You must be born again. That happens when a person believes in Jesus. Only believe. By believing we escape the curse of the fall. God brings us into His family using the only loophole available to mankind.

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The High Mountain Winds Of Freedom

We are born into unpredictability.

"Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit." - John 3:7-8 NKJV

Our directions change. Our intensity changes. On a natural level people expect moral consistency but what a spiritual person has is spiritual buoyancy. Freedom.

"If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain. But godliness with contentment is great gain," - 1 Timothy 6:3-6 ESV

Knowledge can puff up but grace understanding and emphasis ushers in contentment. Godliness isn't gain. It provides stability on a level above normal consistency. Grace can have or give all that it has away if that is what love would do in each situation.

"And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it. It shall belong to those who walk on the way; even if they are fools, they shall not go astray. No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it; they shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there. And the ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." - Isaiah 35:8-10 ESV

Wind blows in unpredictable ways up on that high path of holiness. High up as it is there is safety there. There is freedom there. The view is marvelous there. Let us worship returning as ransomed ones. Let's boldly go to the throne of grace. God is always on His throne waiting to be gracious to us.

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