Jesus as Messiah, Genealogy part2
Out of the 3) reasons I listed earlier why the genealogy of Matthew was given, this second reason is the most cited. To the point is its basically a Trueism. Basically a statement that is commonly held as a given so much that to speak about it, can almost seem like stating the obvious. Like saying the sky is blue, the existence of gravity etc.
Even though doubtless this is the case. It's still worth looking into. Because we often only have a very superificial understanding of the meaning and significance concerning this important Jewish and Christian doctrine.
To cover the basic will quote from this article which seems like it has a decent coverage of the topic.
http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-r004.html
"The word "Messiah" means "Anointed One," the name given to the promised Deliverer who would some day come to the people of Israel as their great Savior and Redeemer, "anointed" as Prophet, Priest, and King by God Himself."
............
The name "Christ" is the Greek equivalent of "Messiah," so that the name Jesus Christ really means "Jesus the Messiah," or "Jesus the anointed."
....
"The Old Testament Messianic prophecies were found to be uniquely fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. There are hundreds of these prophecies, so that the possibility of their accidental convergence on any ordinary man is completely ruled out by the laws of probability."
......
"Similarly the promise was given to King David that the Messiah should be one of his descendants, as the King eternal, the one of whom God said, "I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever" (II Samuel 7:13). Isaiah said, "There shall come forth a rod out of the stem (literally 'stump') of Jesse (that is David's father), and a Branch shall grow out of his roots" (Isaiah 11:1). This is another name of the Messiah, and indicates that, even after it would appear that the family tree of Jesse has been cut down, yet one Branch will grow out of the stump. Evidently the very last one who could be known to have come of this lineage would finally prove to be the promised Messiah!
This was fulfilled uniquely in Jesus. His foster father, Joseph, was in the royal line from David and thus held the legal right to the throne (Matthew 1:1-16). His mother, Mary, was also a descendant of David, as shown by her genealogy in Luke 3:23-31. But ever since the time of Jesus, it would be quite impossible to establish the legal or biological lineage of any pretender to David's throne, as all the ancient genealogical records were destroyed soon after that."
Addai commentary- It is also worth noting some of the ways Jesus is portrayed by contemporary protestants. Most notably now by Brain Mclaren, in the Secret Message of Jesus, where one Chapter is devoted to the idea of "Jesus the Revolutionary". My best friend Stan eloquently explained why this is a bad analogy. As he stated "Jesus was not a revolutionary! Jesus was the rightful king! King Herod was the person who didn't have the right to the throne (Because he had Greek blood and his family came to power during the time of Alexander the Great through conquest).
And as Gina so aptly quoted from her blog, from this web site Orthodixie:
"We must remember that for a few hours Christ was indeed King on earth in this world of ours, for a few hours only and in one city. But as in Lazarus we have recognised the image of each man, in this one city we acknowledge the mystical centre of the world and indeed of the whole of creation. For such is the biblical meaning of Jerusalem, the focal point of the whole history of salvation and redemption, the holy city of God's advent. Therefore, the Kingdom inaugurated in Jerusalem is a universal Kingdom, embracing in its perspective all men and the totality of creation. The entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem came at the end of the entire process of preparation revealed in the Bible: it was the end of all that God did for men. And thus this short hour of Christ's earthly triumph acquires an eternal meaning. It introduces the reality of the Kingdom into our time, into all hours, makes this Kingdom the meaning of time and its ultimate goal. The Kingdom was revealed in this world - from that hour - its presence judges and transforms human history. And at the most solemn moment of our liturgical celebration, when we receive from the priest a palm branch, we renew our oath to our King and confess His Kingdom as the ultimate meaning and content of our life. We confess that everything in our life and in the world belongs to Christ, nothing can be taken away from its sole real Owner, for there is no area of life in which He is not to rule, to save and to redeem. We proclaim the universal and total responsibility of the Church for human history and uphold her universal mission."
Out of the 3) reasons I listed earlier why the genealogy of Matthew was given, this second reason is the most cited. To the point is its basically a Trueism. Basically a statement that is commonly held as a given so much that to speak about it, can almost seem like stating the obvious. Like saying the sky is blue, the existence of gravity etc.
Even though doubtless this is the case. It's still worth looking into. Because we often only have a very superificial understanding of the meaning and significance concerning this important Jewish and Christian doctrine.
To cover the basic will quote from this article which seems like it has a decent coverage of the topic.
http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-r004.html
"The word "Messiah" means "Anointed One," the name given to the promised Deliverer who would some day come to the people of Israel as their great Savior and Redeemer, "anointed" as Prophet, Priest, and King by God Himself."
............
The name "Christ" is the Greek equivalent of "Messiah," so that the name Jesus Christ really means "Jesus the Messiah," or "Jesus the anointed."
....
"The Old Testament Messianic prophecies were found to be uniquely fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. There are hundreds of these prophecies, so that the possibility of their accidental convergence on any ordinary man is completely ruled out by the laws of probability."
......
"Similarly the promise was given to King David that the Messiah should be one of his descendants, as the King eternal, the one of whom God said, "I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever" (II Samuel 7:13). Isaiah said, "There shall come forth a rod out of the stem (literally 'stump') of Jesse (that is David's father), and a Branch shall grow out of his roots" (Isaiah 11:1). This is another name of the Messiah, and indicates that, even after it would appear that the family tree of Jesse has been cut down, yet one Branch will grow out of the stump. Evidently the very last one who could be known to have come of this lineage would finally prove to be the promised Messiah!
This was fulfilled uniquely in Jesus. His foster father, Joseph, was in the royal line from David and thus held the legal right to the throne (Matthew 1:1-16). His mother, Mary, was also a descendant of David, as shown by her genealogy in Luke 3:23-31. But ever since the time of Jesus, it would be quite impossible to establish the legal or biological lineage of any pretender to David's throne, as all the ancient genealogical records were destroyed soon after that."
Addai commentary- It is also worth noting some of the ways Jesus is portrayed by contemporary protestants. Most notably now by Brain Mclaren, in the Secret Message of Jesus, where one Chapter is devoted to the idea of "Jesus the Revolutionary". My best friend Stan eloquently explained why this is a bad analogy. As he stated "Jesus was not a revolutionary! Jesus was the rightful king! King Herod was the person who didn't have the right to the throne (Because he had Greek blood and his family came to power during the time of Alexander the Great through conquest).
And as Gina so aptly quoted from her blog, from this web site Orthodixie:
"We must remember that for a few hours Christ was indeed King on earth in this world of ours, for a few hours only and in one city. But as in Lazarus we have recognised the image of each man, in this one city we acknowledge the mystical centre of the world and indeed of the whole of creation. For such is the biblical meaning of Jerusalem, the focal point of the whole history of salvation and redemption, the holy city of God's advent. Therefore, the Kingdom inaugurated in Jerusalem is a universal Kingdom, embracing in its perspective all men and the totality of creation. The entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem came at the end of the entire process of preparation revealed in the Bible: it was the end of all that God did for men. And thus this short hour of Christ's earthly triumph acquires an eternal meaning. It introduces the reality of the Kingdom into our time, into all hours, makes this Kingdom the meaning of time and its ultimate goal. The Kingdom was revealed in this world - from that hour - its presence judges and transforms human history. And at the most solemn moment of our liturgical celebration, when we receive from the priest a palm branch, we renew our oath to our King and confess His Kingdom as the ultimate meaning and content of our life. We confess that everything in our life and in the world belongs to Christ, nothing can be taken away from its sole real Owner, for there is no area of life in which He is not to rule, to save and to redeem. We proclaim the universal and total responsibility of the Church for human history and uphold her universal mission."
posted by Addai | 8:40 AM
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