Christian Trivia World

From what we've learned last week study, Matthew had given us somewhat of this. He goes no higher than Abraham, but Luke brings it as high as Adam. Matthew designed to show that Christ was the son of Abraham, in whom all the families of the earth are blessed, and that he was heir to the throne of David; and therefore he begins with Abraham, and brings the genealogy down to Jacob, who was the father of Joseph, and heir-male of the house of David. Also God promise to Abraham was also fulfilled. (Genesis 15, Matthew 1)

But Luke, designing to show that Jesus was the seed of the woman (Genesis 3:15), that should break the serpent's head, traces his pedigree upward as high as Adam, and begins it with Eli, or Heli, (Luke 3:23) who was the father, not of Joseph, but of the virgin Mary. Joseph was Eli or Heli’s legal son or son-in-law.

Jesus Christ is descended from David.

If He is from the line of David, then certainly Joseph could not be of his immediate paternal bloodline since Joseph was not his natural father. The bloodline could only be traced through His mother, Mary. Jewish law required that genealogies were to be through the line of the males, and not the females. Since the custom was of using male genealogies only, then how could an ancestral line of Jesus be shown through Mary?

As I’ve mentioned in other study, It appears that GOD left a convenient loophole in this law that would allow women to be included in the ancestral line if they met two stringent conditions.

1. Num 27:8, "Therefore, tell the Israelites; If a man dies without leaving a son, you shall let his heritage pass on to his daughter."

2. Numbers 36:6-7 This is what the LORD commands for Zelophehad's daughters: They may marry anyone they please as long as they marry within the tribal clan of their father. No inheritance in Israel is to pass from tribe to tribe, for every Israelite shall keep the tribal land inherited from his forefathers.

So now, all we have to is that:

1. Eli aka Heli, the father of Marry had no sons.

2. Marry married within her own tribe of Judah.

Regarding the first condition, did Mary have brothers? We have no record of it. The Bible does not mention brothers, but it does say she had a sister. John 19:25, "Now there were standing by the cross of Jesus his mother and his mother's sister, Mary of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene." Keep in mind that this genealogy shows the legal, or royal, or public record, of descent and not the human descent.

Luke 3:23 Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph, the son of Heli (some translation known him as Eli. According to NIV he was known as Heli)

So in order to trace the bloodline of Jesus through Heli or Eli, we would first have to go through Mary, His mother.

This shows that Heli or Eli would be the blood father of Mary, and the father in law of Joseph.

Even though the name of Mary is not listed, in order to comply with Jewish custom, it is certainly implied.

Luke's genealogy is specifically a very different genealogy, but it states it is of Jesus the "supposed" son of Joseph which is the son of Heli. This is not a "begotten" genealogy (bloodline), but a Mother's genealogy that is represented in accordance with the Jewish custom. Hebrews did not permit the name of a woman to enter the genealogical tables, but inserted the husband to enter the genealogical tables, but inserted the husband as the son of him who was in reality the father-in-law. That is, Heli is Joseph's Father-in-law. This is consistent with Old Testament lineage’s of David that show Boaz as David's ancestor, but does not mention Rahab, who is also significant and mentioned in other passages.

Luke was a physician (Colossians 4:14) and was preoccupied with presenting Christ as the Son of Man - in his humanity. He showed that Christ was God incarnate. Borne of a Virgin into humanity. Luke starts Christ's genealogy from 1st man - Adam - to King David.

However, Luke goes through David directly to David's son Nathan - Solomon's brother. (While David reigned in Jerusalem for thirty-three years, these were the children born to him there: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan and Solomon. These four were by Bathsheba daughter of Ammiel. (1 Chronicles 3:4-5) His genealogy is then traced through to Heli, Mary's Father (Please Read 1 Chronicles).

So, This demonstrates the actual Blood line of Christ. Luke's lineage of Mary (Luke 3) goes through David and not through Solomon, but through Nathan (1 Chronicles 3:4-5), a branch that avoids the Jeconiah blood curse (Jeremiah 22:30) "None of His seed will prosper". So now, Mary, who is the "Virgin" blood parent of Jesus was not cursed and therefore the proper blood forebear of the Christ, while Joseph was the legal heir to the throne, but, not the blood heir of the Messiah. If Jesus did not belong biologically to Joseph's Davidic line, He clearly did through His mother Mary. Mary was a descendant of Nathan, Solomon's brother and son of Bath-sheba, the wife of David. Joseph was a descendant of Solomon, Nathan's brother.

Jesus came as two parts of a unique whole. He came as God and as man -- as pure spirit and as earthly flesh. To effect His redeeming work, a Virgin Birth was absolutely essential. Jesus Christ had to have two genealogies, therefore -- a divine genealogy and an earthly one. Joseph provided the earthly one and Mary provided the "heavenly" one.

But for we who have found the Christ, and have been reborn in His Spirit, the presence of Joseph's genealogical line is no mystery. For as Joseph adopted God-in-the-flesh on the earth, God-in-the-flesh has adopted us in heaven.

John 3:3 In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again

John 3:7 You should not be surprised at my saying, `You must be born again.'

So, the good news is, we too have received a "virgin birth" but on a different plan. Our rebirth on the spiritual plane is the fruits of that planting on the physical plane. We too have a biological line through our mothers and fathers and they are important to us so that we know to whom we belong on the earth.

on the heaven. But as Christians, we also have another genealogical line through adoption, making us children of heaven and citizens of a better world. Because you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:26

Because he loved us, he planned that we should be his own children. It is through Jesus Christ that we are God's children. That is the way God wanted it to be. Ephesians 1:5

We have been adopted by one who was adopted Himself, the One we know who has experienced everything and knows us through and through. God, in His infinite wisdom, left nothing incomplete.

Matthew gives one account of the lineage of Christ while Luke gives another. The two accounts are different. Does this mean that there is a contradiction within the Bible? If there is a contradiction, does that indicate that the Bible is not the inspired word of God? If the Bible is not inspired by God, then the Bible is truly myth. The purposes of this information are to prove that the two accounts of Christ's genealogy are not a contradiction at all; rather both accounts are totally accurate. This also leads to the Bible indeed being the inspired word of God, and therefore not myth.

From the creation to the end of time, as we seek to learn more about the Bible, more about God and more about ourselves, we will eventually determine that the Bible is indeed the true inspired word of God. We will learn that the Bible does not have contradictions, and that the Bible is not myth. We will stand before God, knowing the power and purity of his presence. God's word is what we build our faith upon, and his word will never fail.

We, however, are citizens of heaven. We look forward to the Lord Jesus Christ coming from heaven as our Savior. (Philippians 3:20)

Amen!

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