I think a lot of us know that Jesus was born of the virgin Mary, but I don’t think we really ask why.

Origins In Genesis

If we start with Genesis, we find a somewhat familiar passage right after Adam and Eve’s sin in the Garden. God is handing out judgments and He is starting with Satan. The key verse we want to focus on is:

“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed.” –Genesis 3:15.

When we think of “seed,” we commonly associate this to the male species. Here, God is associating to the woman which is in anticipation of the virgin birth.

From this point on, Satan goes to work doing everything he can to corrupt this “seed.” Here’s a short list of some of the things he tries to spoil the seed:

• He causes Cain to murder his brother Abel (Genesis 4)
• He causes his fallen angels to corrupt the bloodlines of many generations that precipitate the flood (Genesis 6)
• He causes the tower of Babel to be built (Genesis 11)
• He causes Abram and Sarai to have Ishmael by Hagar (Genesis 16)
• He causes the rise of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18-19)
• He causes Joseph’s brothers to deal treacherously with him (Genesis 37)
• He causes the illicit affair between Judah and Tamar (Genesis 38)
• He causes Aaron to make the golden calf and the resulting worship (Exodus 32)
• He causes David to commit adultery with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11)

There are many more examples, but let’s jump ahead to the event that probably caused Satan to rejoice.

King Jehoiachin (Coniah)

All through the books of 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles, we read of Israel’s many failures and departures from worshipping God and turning to idol worship. Things would get better but then go right back to mire. There would be good kings, and then bad ones. The northern and southern kingdoms would seeming go from bad to worse.

God finally has enough and so with king Jehoiachin He pronounces a blood curse upon him.

“Thus says the LORD, ‘write this man down childless, a man who will not prosper in his days; for no man of his descendants will prosper sitting on the throne of David or ruling again in Judah.’” –Jeremiah 22:30.

With this proclamation, Satan thinks he finally has succeeded in undermining God’s plan of redemption through David’s bloodline. It was announced by God that the Messiah would come from David’s line, but now Satan thinks that the plan has been ruined by his doing.

Joseph

So if we turn to Matthew now, we run across king Jehoiachin in Jesus’ genealogy.

Josiah was the father of Jeconiah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon. After the deportation to Babylon: Jeconiah became the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel. –Matthew 1:11-12.

Here, Jeconiah is another spelling of Jehoiachin. The genealogy continues and we’ll pick it up in verse 16:

Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah. –Matthew 1:16.

Remember, Joseph was not Jesus’ natural father. If he were, then the blood curse that God pronounced on the lineage of David would apply to Jesus! No, Joseph was Jesus’ legal father, thus fulfilling the specifications that the Messiah was a descendant of David.

Something also peculiar that you might gloss over. In Luke 3, there is a little verse that has significant implications.

When He began His ministry, Jesus Himself was about thirty years of age, being, as was supposed, the son of Joseph, the son of Eli. –Luke 3:23.

Did you pick up on that? In Matthew 1:16, it says that Joseph’s father was Jacob. Here in Luke, it makes it sound like there is a contradiction by saying “Joseph, the son of Eli.”

Who is Eli?

Eli is Mary’s father! In other words, Joseph is Jacob’s son by birth, and Eli’s son (in-law) by marriage to Mary. In order to really get at what is going on here, we need to dig back into the Old Testament to the book of Numbers.

The Daughters of Zelophehad

I won’t get into all the scriptures here, but will provide them in a moment. Basically what happened is that Zelophehad did not have any sons, only daughters. In ancient Israel, inheritance would typically go to sons. After Zelophehad had died, his five daughters came to Moses asking him what would happen to their father’s property who died without sons?

Moses then took the question directly to God who made a very particular exemption. However, this exemption was absolutely critical to the coming of the Messiah that we don’t appreciate the implications until we get to Jesus’ birth! God anticipated this detail a thousand years before Jesus’ birth!

If you want to dig into the background, check out these passages:

• Numbers 26:33
• Numbers 27:1-11
• Numbers 36:2-12
• Joshua 17:3-6
• 1 Chronicles 7:15

Merry Christmas 2010!

On behalf of the Chavez family, I wish each of you a blessed Christmas and a New Year filled with God’s love, grace, and mercy.

May He Increase!

I’m very squeamish when it comes to giving blood. I can’t look at the vial as they are doing it. I have to look in the opposite direction and think of something else until they are done. This is what my plan was for Friday morning.

“I’m almost done,” the nurse said. I thought to myself: “I sure hope so, because I’m starting to feel light-headed . . . .

Next thing I know, I’m being asked “Are you with us?” The room is fuzzy and spinning. I feel horrible and completely disoriented. Turns out, I had passed out for 5-10 seconds although it seemed a lot longer.

What’s my point?

Well, for most people–maybe the exception of doctors–they are repulsed at the sight of blood. Have you ever stopped to think of why the sight of blood makes people faint or causes them to recoil? Sure, there might be all sorts of psychological and evolutionary theories, but I think it’s put there by God. What does God have to say about blood?

The word “blood” appears 342 times in the Bible. The first mention (which is always significant) of the word is in Genesis. Cain had just killed his brother Abel. God says:

He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground.” –Genesis 4:10.

You see, blood is the basis for human (and animal) life. But what is the deeper issue here?

There are 2,045 pages in my NASB Bible, from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21. It only took until page 8 for man to screw up! It then takes over 2,000 pages for God to explain the consequences of that sin and how to make it right again!

It is an issue of blood. After Adam and Eve sinned in Genesis 3, there is a subtle but key verse later in that chapter:

The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them. –Genesis 3:21.

You see, Adam and Eve, after they sinned, tried to cover their nakedness with fig leaves. This was inadequate clothing by God’s standards. Now that they have sinned, that sin must be paid for. The only currency God accepts is blood.

And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. –Hebrews 9:22. (Emphasis mine.)

Unfortunately, our modern culture misses what ancient Israel had to witness from the Garden to 70 A.D. Blood constantly ran in their culture by the countless thousands of animal sacrifices. We have little capacity to imagine the sights, sounds, and smells of this.

But why? Why would God choose this method? Simple: we are to realize the abhorrence of our sin which causes all this blood to flow! Sin causes death!

However, all those animal sacrifices only covered the people’s sin, in never removed it. And one of the biggest problems in Biblical Judaism today is that once the temple was destroy in 70 A.D., there is no way to deal with the sin issue because they cannot perform their ritual sacrifices as outlined in the Old Testament.

Still, all of those laws set down by God in the Old Testament pointed to the one sacrifice that dealt with mankind’s sin issue once and for all: the cross. Jesus paid our debt of sin with His blood! He bore the debt we can’t pay.

Next time you see blood and recoil from its sight, think about that reaction in light of God’s reaction to our sin! Deal with your sin issue now! Take it to the foot of the cross of Jesus now! Tomorrow may be too late. Five minutes from now may be too late because you don’t know when Jesus is coming back.

May He Increase!

When I grow up, I’d like to be able to write like he does: as of 8/29/2010, he has blogged for 2,494 consecutive days!

The other day he had a post called “Prudes and Puritans.” He included an excerpt out of the book Saving Leonardo, by Nancy Pearcey.

The portion of the quote I liked best was:

Liberalism treats sex as instrumental to extrinisic goals, such as physical pleasure or expressing affection. That’s why liberals do not object to any form of sexual relation as long as it meets those extrinisic goals—as long as it involves mutual pleasure or affection. By contrast, a biblical worldview treats sex as intrinsically good in constituting the one-flesh relationship. Humans are an image of God not only as individuals but also in their relationship with one another—and most intensely in the intimate sexual-emotional-spiritual unity of marriage.

This explains why marriage is used throughout Scripture as a metaphor for the intimate relationship God aspires to have with his people. In the Old Testament, Israel is the unfaithful wife. In the New Testament, the church is the bride of Christ. The marital metaphor means that our sexual nature possesses a “language” that is ultimately meant to proclaim God’s own transcendent love and faithfulness.

This gets to the heart of the matter over homosexual marriage and the lunacy around the opposition to Proposition 8 here in California.

You can read the entire post by clicking here.

May He Increase!

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. –Genesis 1:1.

In Hebrew it is:

בראשית ברא אלהים את השמים ואת הארץ

It’s only a mere 10 words in the English. If you truly believe this verse then there should not be anything in this world that would cause you worry or concern.

On the other hand, if you don’t believe this verse then you have some bigger problems in this life and the life to come!

Do you find comfort in this verse? Or do you scoff at this verse?

May He Increase!

“The lights are going out all over America . . . America is now on the unlit, unpaved road to nowhere.”

Indeed, if you look around, the cardiac patient is on the table, hooked up to IVs but the medications are doing any good to a patient that has lived far too fast, on borrowed time (money!) for far too long!

I also ran across some recent YouTube videos by self-help guru, Tony Robbins. I actually watched the videos which were posted on a Christian blog over at The Economic Collapse. Makes for interesting viewing. The second of the two videos I found more worthwhile.

We’ve covered topics about the Decline of the United States here at May He Increase. We asked the question “Are We Past the Point of No Return?” We have even looked at what could possibly be one instance of America In Biblical Prophecy.

America: we need to repent! Christians: we need to get back to the basics of our faith. We need to start walking our talk! This goes firstly for me.

My family and I are partly responsible for this financial crisis America finds itself in. We are just as guilty as the next guy for buying stuff we didn’t need. We need to repent for getting our eyes off God and putting them on the false gods and idols of comfort and entertainment. We need to humble ourselves and seek the Lord’s face again.

As Christians, I’m sure many of us can see what we are starting to go through as possibly a judgment of God. And why shouldn’t God judge America? I think the question is: How can God not judge America soon?

Think I’m over-emphasizing this point? Check out these statistics from the National Coalition for the Protection of Children & Families.

By the time I finished the list, I felt nauseated and like a dark spirit entered the room.

You might be asking: where is the linkage between America’s financial crisis and pornography? Friend, it’s all related! Look at what we are choosing over our Creator! How much longer do you think God is going to allow this?

“For we are about to destroy this place, because their outcry has become so great before the Lord that the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” –Genesis 19:13.

You’ve probably heard of “this place”: Sodom and Gomorrah.

Ruth Graham, the wife of Billy Graham, had this to say of America and its relationship to Sodom and Gomorrah:

“If God doesn’t judge America, He will need to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah!”

Wake up American Christians! Let us all repent, turn from our wicked ways, and seek God’s face for our bankrupt–in every way–nation!

May He Increase!