Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
The marriage of Joseph and Mary united two descendants of David (see the genealogies of Matthew 1:1-17 and Luke 3:23-38). Although Joseph was not the biological father of Jesus (due to the miracle of the Virgin Birth), he was the legal father, thus establishing Jesus’ right to the eternal throne promised to David in II Samuel 7:13-16. Because Jesus did not have a human father, though, His blood relationship to David is traced through Mary. In fact, had Joseph been the actual father of Jesus, our Savior would have been disqualified from the everlasting throne of David due to the curse on David’s descendant Jeconiah (see Jeremiah 22:30 and II Kings 24:17) and also due to the sin nature that he would have inherited through a human father. Thus, Jesus as the legal but not literal son of Joseph solved the Old Testament dilemma of how the Messiah must be a descendant of King David but not of King Jeconiah. Because Jesus has the right to this promised throne, we know that all of His promises are true, including John 1:12: “But as many as received Him, to them gave He power [the right] to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.”