12.20 Two Lines, One Lord

Romans 1:3

...regarding [God's] son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David...

"The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.  So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God."  This was the explanation the angel gave to Mary to describe how she who was a virgin would become pregnant with the Messiah.

Mary responded, "I am the Lord's servant.  May it be done to me as you have said."

Mary believed that what the Lord said to her would indeed come to pass, and because she believed, God blessed her with (what could arguably be) the most important job in the history of the world.  She was chosen to house the embryo into which the Eternal God would take up residence as a full fledged human being.

The Eternal Unchanging God who created the world and everything in it took on flesh, became a man and dwelt for a while among us.  Mary was given a seat, front and center, to witness the greatest event in the theater of history to that point, the coming of the Messiah into the world.  When she understood the enormity of her special position, she broke into song:

My soul praises the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,for He has been mindful of the humble state of His servant.From now on all generations will call me blessed,for the Mighty One has done great things for me.Holy is His Name!

God has a special place in His heart for women.  I heard a radio preacher once who explained that when God made Eve from Adam's rib, in essence God refined humankind, raised humanity up a notch when he made the woman.  The preacher compared it to smelting gold by taking the gold up out of the dross.  The illustration brought a smile to my face as I thought about it.  Women generally are more refined than men.  We are certainly softer, more polite, less smelly.  In value, however, men and women are equal in God's sight.  Women have less rank than their husbands, but in value we are the same.  There are positions in the church women should refrain from occupying for the purpose of keeping God's order, yet throughout history, and especially regarding the human genealogy of our Savior Jesus Christ, women have been chosen by God at pivotal points in history to leave a significant mark on the Biblical record. 

Jesus Christ our Lord, who as to His human nature was a descendant of David, but did you know He was a descendant of Bathsheba, too?  You remember the story.  King David looked down from his palace and saw another man's wife bathing on her rooftop.  He lusted for her and slept with her, Bathsheba, the wife of one of his mighty men who was off to war at the moment.  King David got Bathsheba pregnant, and then he had her husband murdered, and then he married her.  They had several sons together, two of which, Solomon and Nathan, are listed in the genealogies recorded in Matthew and Luke, which trace the human lineage of Jesus Christ.  Although Joseph was not involved in any way in the conception of Jesus Christ, his lineage is included with Mary's, and both lines trace back to David and Bathsheba.

And that is not all.  Other significant women are interspersed in the genealogies, Tamar, for example, Judah's daughter-in-law who was forced to trick Judah into giving her a child by pretending to be a prostitute.  Tamar is in the lineage of Jesus Christ.  Rahab, the foreigner, is also there.  She hid two Israeli spies on her rooftop during Joshua's takeover of the Promised Land and went on to become King David's grandmother thereby securing for herself a place in the lineage of Jesus Christ.

Tamar and Rahab show up in the genealogy listed at the beginning of the book of Matthew, which scholars tell us is probably a list of Joseph's ancestors.  Joseph added no genetic material to the birth of Jesus Christ, yet his line is included in the telling of the tale, I think for the simple purpose of demonstrating the truth of Ephesians 2:14:

For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation

God wants everyone to be born again into His family.  Once we are born again, the distinctions that separate us disappear as we are made one in Christ Jesus:

Gal 3:26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

Gal 3:27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

Gal 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

Gal 3:29 And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

It's as if Mary's line represents the olive tree described by Paul in Romans 11, cultivated by God and planted for the specific purpose of receiving the Messiah when He came in the flesh.  Joseph's line represents the wild olive tree spoken of in the same passage, and represents all of us who were neither called nor chosen and yet whom God, for His own purpose and design did call and choose in Christ Jesus to be grafted into the lineage as a wild branch into the true root.  Together, the line of Mary and the line of Joseph represent the One Tree, Jesus Christ our Lord, who as to His human nature was a descendant of David.  He became one of us, both Son and Outcast,  the Branch and the Root, the Servant of all who is King over all.

Jesus Christ, who at His resurrection from the dead was declared with power by the Holy Spirit to be the Son of God, with regards to His human nature was forecast in the prophetic Old Testament to be a descendant of King David.  Two natures, One God.  Jesus Christ is His name.  He is the Savior of the world, and especially of those who believe.

Do you believe?

Two lines of history converged in Jesus Christ 2000 years ago.  Jesus came to His own, but His own did not receive Him.  Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God, children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.

The miracle Mary witnessed continues today every time someone turns to Jesus and cries out, "Save me from my sin."  To be born again is to become a child of God.  To be born again is to receive from Jesus Christ the gift of eternal life. 

What is keeping you from receiving the gift of salvation today?