Monday, August 8, 2016

Conundrum Solved

Jeremiah 22:30

This is what the Lord says: "Record this man (Jehoiachin) as if childless, a man who will not prosper in his lifetime, for none of his offspring will prosper, none will sit on the throne of David or rule anymore in Judah."

This was Judah's last king. The Northern Kingdom of Israel had previously been conquered and dispersed and was no longer a Nation. Now the Southern Kingdom of Judah, including the Tribe of Benjamin, are being carried off to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar. So King Jehoichin was captured, dethroned, and forced to go to this far away foreign country and would die there as a "nothing," and none of his descendants would ever reign. 

Jeremiah 23:5-6

"The days are coming," declares the Lord, "when I will raise up for David (in David's line) a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In His days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the Name (title) by which He will be called: The Lord our Righteous Savior."


Every king who ruled in Judah was of the same Davidic dynasty, the same family. Now none of this "royal line" could rule again. So how will this happen?

God solved this "problem" by having His Son Jesus to be born into David's line physically, but not the "royal" branch through Solomon, but through David's other son Nathan. (See Luke 3:23-38 for Mary's line all the way back to the first man, Adam.) Jesus' legal paternity was through Joseph, who was physically descended from Solomon and the rest of the line of kings, which gives Jesus the legal right to assume David's throne. (See Matthew 1:1-16 for Joseph's royal line back to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.)

So what we would view as impossible, God had already planned out in advance, all perfectly logical and reasonable in our hindsight. He is so great!

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!