Advent-ure Day 4: Tribe of Judah

As we continue with our Advent readings here on Faith Radio, there are several readings that deal with the bloodline of Jesus.  We read that He was from the tribe of Judah of the bloodline of David. And, spiritually speaking, we have been adopted into that royal bloodline, with an incredible spiritual lineage. 1st Peter 2 says:
9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light...

We were born into sin and needed a Savior; humanity was fallen and God made a way through sending His Son to die for us.  He met all the qualifications; He fulfilled every single one of the prophecies written about Him.  We can be convinced that Jesus is our Savior, Redeemer, and King. He reigns, not on an earthly throne, but over the earth and the entire universe - Lord of all creation! And, we can invite Him to reign in our lives!

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It's Day 4 of December, Day 4 of 25: A Christmas Advent-ure, and here on this Monday, let's catch up on the two items from the weekend.  The first 6 areas deal with prophecy, as we can be motivated to worship Jesus because of what He has fulfilled.

On Friday, we went to Genesis 3, in which God pronounced the ultimate victory over the enemy, even though he had lured Adam and Eve into sin, resulting the fall of humanity.  But, we recognize that God had a plan, a plan to bring us back into fellowship with Himself.  It would be done through His Son, Jesus, about whom we read in the Old Testament.

Isaiah 7:14 points to this coming of our Messiah: "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel."  We see the fulfillment of this verse in the first chapter of Matthew, as an angel spoke to Joseph in a dream,
saying:
21 And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins."
22 So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying:
23 "Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,"which is translated, "God with us."

In our third reading, we see that the Bible accurately predicted where Jesus was to be born. Micah 5:2 says: "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting."

So, Jesus would be born of a virgin - in Bethlehem. Now we come to the fourth reading of the Advent-ure, which is in Genesis 49:10.  Let's actually get a running start by beginning in verse 8:

8 "Judah, you are he whom your brothers shall praise; Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; Your father's children shall bow down before you.
9 Judah is a lion's whelp; From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He bows down, he lies down as a lion; And as a lion, who shall rouse him?
10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor a lawgiver from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes; And to Him shall be the obedience of the people.

So, we get a clear picture of the lineage of Jesus from the Old Testament - in fact, Jesus fulfilled over 300 prophecies written about Himself; with this provision, we can be certain that He is our Messiah. God's words are iron-clad.

Our lineage can tell us a lot about ourselves.  We can gain some insight into why we are like we are, how we came to be where we are, and even realize some aspects of our behavior that we can be proud of or not so proud of.  We can learn from our ancestry, and we can appreciate who God has made us to be and why we are here, how we are wired by Him for His glory.  And, when we encounter negative elements about our ancestors, we can seek to go in a different direction.  So, there's a lot to be said about our lineage.

There's a lot about lineage that is important in Great Britain, even heightened these days with the prospect of a royal wedding.  Ancestry plays a major role in the sustenance of the monarchy there. Prince Harry, the son of Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana, the grandson of Queen Elizabeth II, has announced his engagement to Meghan Markle, who is American, and, according to People magazine, her "mother is African-American and her father is Caucasian."

People also reported on her religious heritage.  An article states:

Although she attended a Catholic high school, she was not raised Catholic: Her father is an Episcopalian — which is essentially the Church of England in the United States — and her mother is a Protestant. Jason Knauf, Prince Harry’s Communications Secretary, confirmed that Meghan will be “baptized and confirmed” into the Church of England ahead of her wedding.

As perhaps you know, the Queen is recognized as the head of the Church of England.  Certainly, there is fascination about Markle's background - she is American, she has been married before, her parents are of different races, which, according to People, has exposed her to racism and discrimination.  And, she may be the product of a mixed religious background.

I think we do have to be careful to recognize that the Biblical picture of baptism is that sacrament is an outward demonstration of the inward act of accepting Christ as Savior.  Not surprisingly, the article does not relate this act to the practice of Biblical Christianity.

In the British system, lineage is important.  There are certain, iron-clad immutable principles in the practice of the palace.

In the plan of God, lineage is important, too.  And, God has established His throne on certain iron-clad principles and has appointed Jesus, His Son, born on earth in a certain way in a certain place of a certain tribe, to sacrifice for our sins and to sit at His right hand.

In the U.K., position is determined by birth.  In the Christian faith, position is determined by our identification with Jesus.  While our natural ancestry is important and can help to shape our personality and even our ideals, we also recognize we can have a new spiritual ancestry - while faith can be modeled by parents and relatives, ultimately, we have to decide for ourselves whether or not we will follow Christ in salvation. 

The ancestry of Jesus was pre-determined by God - it came to pass.  And, we can trust God to manifest a new spiritual ancestry in our hearts - we have come to be part of His family; we have been redeemed by His blood and adopted as children of God.  We know we can be born again if we meet the qualifications of believing in Him and confessing His Lordship, according to Romans 10.

It's more than a symbolic ritual or an attempt to embrace an outward demonstration of religious practice; no, we can have a new nature in Him and allow His characteristics to flow through our lives.  It's not a matter of what we can do to change or to "be better" somehow - it's based on our humility before Him, admitting we are sinners and cannot save ourselves.  We were born into sin, but we can be raised to new life by being born again.