Thu, 3 January, 2008: Today’s Bible readings.

Acts 3:17-26

¹⁷ “And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. ¹⁸ But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. ¹⁹ Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, ²⁰ that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, ²¹ whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. ²² Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. ²³ And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’ ²⁴ And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days. ²⁵ You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’ ²⁶ God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”

After healing the lame man, Peter makes sure everyone knows not to look at Peter as the source of this healing power. Instead, he points them to Jesus Christ. He then chastises them for having crucified Jesus. And then he explains that what happened was all in accordance with scripture.

Peter quotes Moses in Deuteronomy 18 to point out that Moses spoke of the coming of Jesus Christ. In fact, Peter says, “all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days.”

What do we learn from this?

The premise of Meditatio Mea is that all the scriptures point us to Jesus Christ. Peter is affirming this. Jesus is the fulfillment of the scriptures.

The law and the prophets all point us to Jesus Christ.

Where is Christ in this passage?

Peter effectively takes the Old Testament scriptures, and shows the people of Jerusalem in his day that these scriptures show us Jesus Christ. So, as we read what Peter told them in his day, we also are pointed to Jesus Christ.

Wed, 2 January, 2008: Today’s Bible readings.

Ezra 2:68-69

⁶⁸ Some of the heads of families, when they came to the house of the LORD that is in Jerusalem, made freewill offerings for the house of God, to erect it on its site. ⁶⁹ According to their ability they gave to the treasury of the work 61,000 darics of gold, 5,000 minas of silver, and 100 priests’ garments.

The book of Ezra begins with Cyrus’ proclamation allowing Jews to return to Israel. In chapter 2, there is a list of the Jewish exiles who returned to Israel. As the chapter ends, we are told that people contributed a significant amount to the reconstruction of the temple, according to their own desire and ability.

What do we learn from this?

This is another example in scripture of people giving to God out of gratitude for what He has done. The giving is not forced. They gave as they were able, and as they desired.

It is possible to give reluctantly or under compulsion, but this is not the kind of giving God desires. Rather, we should give as God prospers us and out of gratitude for what He has given to us.

If you begrudge God your money, don’t give it. But you should seriously consider what God has done for you, and think about why you are not grateful to Him for what He has done. If you truly are thankful to God for His mercy that He has bestowed upon you, then giving a portion of what He has blessed you with is a tangible way to show your gratitude.

Where is Christ in this passage?

The people in Ezra’s day were giving toward to completion of the temple. They were seeking to complete the earthly shadow of the heavenly reality. Everything in the temple was pointing forward to the final High Priest who would offer the perfect Sacrifice for sin. All in the temple was pointing to Jesus Christ.

Tue, 1 January, 2008: Today’s Bible readings.

Matthew 1:1-17

¹ The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

² Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, ³ and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, ⁴ and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, ⁵ and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, ⁶ and Jesse the father of David the king.

And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, ⁷ and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, ⁸ and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, ⁹ and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, ¹⁰ and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, ¹¹ and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

¹² And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, ¹³ and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, ¹⁴ and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, ¹⁵ and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, ¹⁶ and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.

¹⁷ So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.

Matthew gives us Joseph’s lineage, showing that Jesus as Joseph’s presumed firstborn son, has the right to the throne of David. Luke gives Mary’s lineage that also runs through David, but not through the kingly line.

In this list of many men, there are three women. But I’ve always loved how God has ordained that these three women have been included in this lineage of Christ.

These three women are:

1. Tamar, who tricked her father-in-law to impregnate her with the twins Perez and Zerah.

2. Rahab, the harlot from Jericho who protected the Israelite spies and joined Israel.

3. Bathsheba, here referred to as “the wife of Uriah”, who committed adultery with David.

These three women aren’t exactly the people you would expect in the lineage of the sinless Son of God. But there they are.

What do we learn from this?

We have our expectations of who God can use, and who God can not. We have our standards of who is “good” and who is “bad”. Usually, we define “good” and “bad” in such a way that we are “good” and those others are “bad”. Naturally, those who are “good” in our eyes are the ones we expect God to use.

But in God’s eyes, there is none righteous, no not one. All our righteousness is like filthy rags in His sight. And so the fact that God uses anyone is because of His grace.

God clearly shows this in the lineage before us today. God uses these women to bring Jesus Christ into the world. And instead of trying to hide them from public view as if embarrassed about them, God has them listed prominently. Every time we read this lineage, we are reminded that God uses those we would be inclined to rule out. He raises them to prominence in His kingdom, when we would be inclined to hide them.

We need to overcome our own desire to judge people and dismiss them because they do not live up to our own standards.

Where is Christ in this passage?

Jesus Christ is the culmination of this lineage of Matthew. God worked all the history involved in this list of names for the purpose of bringing Mary and Joseph together to raise Jesus Christ, the virgin born incarnate Second Person of the Trinity.