Chapter 3 - The Second Rejection of the King (Part 1 of 8)

 

As we learned in the last six blog posts of Chapter 2, Israel wished to divorce themselves from God. They no longer wanted to obey His teachings and instructions, known as the Torah. They no longer wished for Him to be their King. They would use Him when convenient and ignore Him when it was equally convenient.

However, that wasn’t the only time the Israelites rejected God.

Enter Matthew 2

 Rejection #2

A baby is born in Bethlehem in the midst of an established, ruthless, pagan culture called the Roman Empire. All the things of “king and country”—the ways of the serpent—that God said would happen through the prophet Samuel have been well-entrenched in Israeli society since 1 Samuel 8.

However, by this time, they get to experience the heavy hand of a human king as an occupied nation as opposed to a free one.

That is approximately six hundred years of Israelite history, by the way, interspersed with decades of national division, captivity, cries unto the Almighty for salvation from their oppressors, God’s gracious and merciful hand lending aid, followed by more rejection of God’s teachings and instructions and their utter rejection of the concept of being qadosh (holy).

This period ended with the frightening words of Malachi in chapter 4 of his prophecy:

“For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze,” says the LORD of hosts, “so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall. You will tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day which I am preparing,” says the LORD of hosts.

“Remember the law of Moses My servant, even the statutes and ordinances which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel.

“Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD. He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse” (vv. 1-6; NASB 1995).   

All these centuries later, God is still pleading with Israel to abide by the Law of Moses and be obedient.

And this will never change. Only those who have done so will have their names written in the Book of Remembrance, or the Book of Life (Psalm 69:28; Malachi 3:16-18; Philippians 4:3; Revelation 3:5; 13:8; 17:8; 20:12, 15; 21:27). 

Four Centuries of Silence

Then, four centuries of divine silence followed as the Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans exacted their wills upon everyone in that region of the world, including the Israelites, who heard nothing from their rejected King during those four centuries.

Even after God’s admonition to think twice about wanting an earthly king, He admonished all the subsequent kings, as well as their people, to change from their wicked ways. To seek God first. To be qadosh. He did so through His prophets. But did the people listen? No. They killed the prophets. Why? Because they did not want to love the Lord their God with all their hearts any longer. They did not want to be set apart, and the Law of Moses was quickly becoming a cauldron of human platitudes, designed to make the torah more palatable and easier to obey. They wanted to be like their pagan counterparts, but they wanted the goodies God offered in His Word too. So, they adopted pagan means and pagan ways into their religious practices, their economic systems, and their political affiliations, which included becoming hostile toward anyone who tried to tell them their ways were wrong. In essence, they tried to marry the Kingdom of Heaven to the kingdom of men.

Does this sound familiar at all to you? Does that sound like the church of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries? I’d say our current social, economic, political, and theological climate in the church of today is Exhibit 1-A in that trial, but I digress. More on that later.

God Responds 

This abandonment of God and His Theocracy led the Israelites to the time period covered in Matthew, Chapter 1.

It is here they find themselves completely subject to one of the greatest, strongest, and ruthless political and military machines in human history. Only the British Empire in more modern times spanned a greater swath of the globe than did the Romans. And when you consider the technological advances available to the Brits versus the Romans, it makes the Roman Empire even more impressive.

It is here, in Matthew, Chapter 1, where we find God Almighty implementing Phase Two of His redemptive plan for the world. It is here where God reestablishes His Kingship. Not in the way the Israelites were imagining it, mind you. They envisioned a Messiah, riding in on a white horse, sword drawn, wielded high for all to see, with an army of angels following behind, armed to the teeth themselves, to do what?

Vanquish His foes.

Just like a human king.

Just like the king God had warned the Israelites about in 1 Samuel 8.

And for what purpose?

To exact revenge upon their oppressors, the Romans. To get some payback, as we would say today.

Then, He would re-establish the nation Israel to its “rightful place” and get all of its precious Promised Land back.

Instead, God had a different approach. A qadosh approach, if you will. A “holy, set apart, different, consecrated, sacred” approach. An approach so foreign to them by this time in their history, they never would recognize it.

The Messiah would come in the flesh, but He would not live in a palace or a temple made of stones (Matthew 8:20; Luke 9:58). He would not wield a sword in the conventional sense like an earthly king would do (Matthew 10:34), and would actually repudiate those who wished to live by the sword (Matthew 26:51-54). He would not ride a traditional steed to His coronation (Matthew 21:1-11). He would even be willing to die for His subjects so they may live. This King would be different, consecrated, set apart. Sacred. Qadosh.

Yet, despite the differences, Jesus would be the One all men, women, and children would have to acknowledge as King (Isaiah 9:1-7; Isaiah 11; Isaiah 45:22-25; Matthew 26:64; Mark 14:61-62; John 18:37; Romans 14:9-12). They would have to follow His ways. They would be His people, and He would be their God (Revelation 21:3), if they wished to see their names written in the Book of Life.

The Right to Rule - Politically

In Matthew 1:1-17, Matthew establishes this kingship, noting it via Jesus’s genealogy. In verse 1, Matthew uses the Greek word γενέσεως, from which we get the word “genesis,” or “beginnings,” referring to Jesus’s “genesis” or “beginnings.”

Genealogies were extremely important in Jewish culture because it denoted one’s pedigree. In the Old Testament, there are many genealogies listed. In Genesis 5, Adam’s pedigree is listed. In Genesis 10-11, the family trees of Shem, Ham, and Japheth are recorded. Abraham’s mother Terah has her genealogy recorded in Genesis 11:27. And in First Chronicles, chapters 1-9, we see a boatload of people mentioned. There are over fifty genealogies listed in the Old Testament alone.

There were a number of reasons why this was important to know. For example, in Numbers, chapters 26 and 35, you see a listing of Israelites according to tribe, family, and the father’s house. This was so when they conquered the land of Canaan—the Promised Land—they knew who was to receive which portion. So, one purpose genealogies served was the business of land transactions.

In Ezra 2:62, pedigree was used for establishing the priesthood. If a young man was not from the tribe of Levi, he didn’t have to bother applying for the job. His application would be filed in the “round filing cabinet” because he was not certified as a member of the correct tribe.

The Apostle Paul used his pedigree to help his witness before men, particularly Jewish men in the synagogues of the cities he visited. In Romans 11:1 (GNT), Paul tells the Church in Rome: 

“I ask, then: Did God reject His own people? Certainly not! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin.” 

He also used this to witness to the people in Philippi:

“If any of you think you can trust in external ceremonies, I have even more reason to feel that way. I was circumcised when I was a week old. I am an Israelite by birth, of the tribe of Benjamin, a pure-blooded Hebrew. As far as keeping the Jewish Law is concerned, I was a Pharisee, and I was so zealous that I persecuted the church. As far as a person can be righteous by obeying the commands of the Law, I was without fault” (3:4b-6; GNT).

As you can see, pedigree was used for many different things. However, the most important aspect of preserving these records was maintaining the royal blood line. As with any kingdom, keeping the royal blood line identified and pure was of utmost importance in the establishment and perpetuation of the kingly line. Lose that, and the kingdom would be thrown into chaos as anyone and everyone could lay claim to the throne.

Matthew, by listing the “genesis,” or beginnings, of Jesus, accomplishes two very important things. First, by utilizing the Greek word γενέσεως, he ties this beginning to another beginning found in the very book by that name, Genesis. “In the beginning… (Genesis 1:1).” This isn’t simply a “Greek word ploy” used by Bible scholars to show links between the Old Testament and the New Testament that are fabricated to make connections that aren’t there. By starting the New Testament with the same word and in the same way. God is reestablishing His Kingship by showing that in the Old Testament, He created the heavens and the earth. In the New Testament, Jesus has the same Kingly qualities to establish the Kingdom of Heaven. There is a King-like quality to this Jesus being referenced here. One that mirrors the God of Genesis 1:1. Later, we would see why (John 8:58; 18:37; Revelation 5).

John even goes a step farther at the beginning of his gospel account:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1-4; KJV).

The connection is plainly revealed to those who have eyes to see and ears to hear. The tie-in to Genesis 1:1 is purposeful.

Second, Matthew also mentions that Jesus is the son of David and of Abraham, thus establishing this baby’s “right to rule legally.” This baby is a descendant of King David. He has the pedigree to sit on the throne of Israel. This would have been the first thing His detractors would have attacked, but Matthew, writing to a Jewish audience under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, begins the implementation of Phase Two of God’s redemptive plan: Reestablishing Himself as King. The Israelites tried it their way, and their current predicament of being in the hands of the Roman Empire was proof positive their ways were not qadosh by any true understanding of the word.

God’s response could have been to allow the nation Israel to “die on the vine,” as it were. But His redemptive plan was always about more than just the Israelites. He wanted to be their King so they could be His chosen people. Obeying His commands, they would have been the “city on a hill.” They would have been the “salt of the Earth.” They would have been the conduit through which salvation reached out to the nations around them.

Imagine what the world would be like today if they had been obedient all those years ago and remained so?

However, that didn’t happen, so we have now reached the point where God takes command again like He did in Egypt. He establishes a King that meets the criteria of Deuteronomy 17: 14-20. This baby will be the “King of Kings,” meaning the one true King over all the others (Philippians 2:9-11; Romans 14:11; cf. Isaiah 45:22-25).

Thought for the Week:

Before we toss stones at the windows of the house of Israel, we as the Church of Jesus Christ, must first look at our own houses of worship, both individually and collectively. How much do we mirror the actions and thoughts of the Israelites in the Old Testament times, as well as those who existed in the times of Jesus?

What do I mean by that?

What got them in trouble with God? What did God take issue with, concerning their relationship to Him during those times? It was all about the heart, was it not? Their hearts were not given over to God. They still wanted to “rule” their own hearts and only allow God to do so when it was convenient.

In other words, God was viewed in the same way we view Amazon and Sam’s Club today. We need something, so we get on the “God website” and order it, expecting next-minute delivery with free shipping. But we also want to try other stores, too, like “Satan’s Select,” wherein we can find things that promise everything good but deliver nothing, except heartache and separation from God in some form or fashion. Then, when we go back to “God’s website” and order some comfort and peace, God purposefully places it on backorder because our account is overdrawn in the areas of humility (being poor in spirit), mourning, meekness, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, mercy, and purity of heart (Matthew 5:3ff).

The Israelites went to their Old Testament version of “God’s website,” called the Tabernacle (and later the Temple), with the wrong heart one too many times, and God said he would not hear them when they called (1 Samuel 8:18). They heard that message again and again throughout the Old Testament: “Repent, and turn away from your wickedness” (1 Kings 8:47; 2 Chron. 6:37; Psalm 7:12; Jer. 8:6; 18:8; Isaiah 1:27; Ezekiel 14:6; 18:30, et. al.).   

On the flip side of this, just like the Israelites of old, when life gets “tough” (and that is such a relative term), then God becomes our “first responder/physician” with the purpose of healing our situation so we could go back to His website and place more orders. In other words, go right back to the lifestyle that lead us here in the first place.

God is not a genie. He is not “all around us,” just waiting to supply our every beck and call. The exact opposite is how it should be. We should be on our knees, asking Him where we should go, what we should do, how we should live. That’s what slaves do (Romans 6:16; 1 Cor. 7:22; 9:19). As slaves, we serve a Risen Master.

And slaves never tell the Master what to do.

NEXT WEEK:

We will look deeper into the Legality of Jesus’s Kingship.

Photos Compliments of Pixabay.com:

Baby Lamb - PublicDomainPictures

Genesis - SpencerWing

David - GDJ

Jesus/Peter's Feet - JeffJacobs1990