Our normal routines of everyday life have come to a screeching halt in these last 3 weeks. We have all been urged to quarantine and wait patiently for this coronavirus pandemic to subside. Waiting and trusting and being patient doesn’t come easily for us. But to experience God’s greatest blessings, it is often necessary.

Faith + Patience = God’s Blessings

We see this truth also at work right at the beginning of our 52-day journey through the New Testament. Mathew’s words in his Gospel are the first words of a writing prophet in Israel in over 400 years. The last time God spoke through a prophet was Malachi, right at the end of the Old Testament. It has been many generations since God’s people have heard a clear word from the Lord.

But all of a sudden, God’s promises of life-giving blessings for the world through Abraham’s descendants (Genesis 12:1-3), and through the royal line of King David, takes a giant step forward. The long-awaited Jewish Messiah or Christ, meaning ‘the Anointed One’, was coming into the world.

God’s faithfulness to His covenant with Israel is seen in the opening genealogy of Jesus (Mathew 1:1-17). In these verses we see that God doesn’t hide and is not ashamed of His people’s unfaithfulness. Judah’s fornication with Tamar resulted in the birth of Perez and Zerah (Mt. 1:3).  And David’s adultery with Bathsheba is implied when Solomon’s mother is described as Uriah’s wife (Mt. 1:6). It’s like God is saying right off the bat here in the opening verses of the New Testament, that despite human unfaithfulness and weakness, “I am still going to accomplish my promise of redeeming the world through a descendant of Abraham”.

Jesus came into a broken world filled with betrayal and selfishness. We needed the Lord Himself to come and save us from our inability to love God and to love others in a faithful manner. The name ‘Jesus’ literally means “the Lord saves” (Math. 1:21). He was given a second name at his birth, ‘Emmanuel’, meaning ‘God with us’ (Math. 1:23). Our redemption and spiritual healing require a divine Savior.

The brokenness and darkness of the world is further seen in the murderous response of King Herod to the arrival of the Gentile Magi from the East (Math. 2:1-18). It is only God’s intervention through a dream which enables Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus to escape to Egypt. Again we see that no human being and nothing else in the world will be able to stop God’s saving purposes through King Jesus. He is Lord of our circumstances.

A Faithful Trailblazer

Mathew intentionally portrays Jesus as the True Israelite who lives in perfect covenant faithfulness to Israel’s God. After King Herod dies, God calls Jesus and his parents out of Egypt, back to Canaan, the Promised Land. We are reminded of the nation Israel’s Exodus out of Egypt and Pharaoh’s slavery, and their subsequent journey through the desert to the Promised Land. In Jesus, God is rising up a new Moses, a new Joshua, a new David, and a 2nd Adam, who will be perfectly faithful to God.

In Mathew 4, Jesus faces 3 great temptations in the desert (vv. 1-11). Unlike the nation Israel’s experience in the desert, Jesus fully trusts and obeys His heavenly Father. He passes the test of covenant loyalty and allegiance to the One who is the source of every good thing in our lives.

If you remember Israel’s experience in the desert, they didn’t pass the testings of thirst and hunger. They continually complained and, as a result, they wandered aimlessly in the desert for 40 years. The entire adult population died in the desert, with the exception of Joshua and Caleb. They failed to enjoy the blessings of their spiritual birthright as God’s sons and daughters. Through unbelief, they failed to experience the milk and honey of the Promised Land.

Through repentance and faith, we are called to turn to King Jesus, and live under his Lordship (Math. 4:17). It is through Him that we receive forgiveness of sins and we receive the Spirit of adoption into our hearts, that cries out Abba Father to God (Galatians 4:4-7, Romans 8:15-16). It is through Jesus Christ, the Faithful One, that we are enabled to live in covenant faithfulness with our God. It is through Him that we can experience our spiritual inheritance as children of God.This is Good News. It is the Gospel of King Jesus.

Tomorrow I will look at Jesus’s kingly teaching in His Sermon on the Mount, Mathew 5-7, and His kingly work in Mathew 8-10.

QOTD: Have you ever turned to King Jesus in repentance and faith?