DAY 270 Read John 1:1-18; Luke 1:1-4; Matthew 1:1-17; Luke 3:23-28; 1:5-56.
Today's reading: Two of the Gospel writers give us detailed genealogies of Jesus human family.
Memory gem: "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth" (John 1:14).
Thought for today:
The virgin birth of Christ is demanded by at least three things in the Sacred Record. First, the preexistence of Christ is plainly declared in the Bible. Jesus prayed His Father to glorify Him with the glory which He had with the Father before the world was made (see John 17:5). Therefore, the holy Son of God existed before He was born of the virgin Mary in Bethlehem. This fact demands a virgin birth, not a normal human birth.
Second, the Scriptures teach that Jesus was sinless. They declare that He was "holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners" (Hebrews 7:26). In fact the Bible declares Christ's deity. He was "Emmanuel,...God with us" (Matthew 1:23). He who was a supernatural being must enter the world as the Son of man in a supernatural way.
Third, for centuries divine prophecy had declared that He--the Messiah, the Christ, the Redeemer of this world--would come and would ultimately sit upon the throne of His father David. To His kingdom there would be no end, and it would be worldwide. Isaiah 9:7. If Jesus had been merely a man, the son of Joseph, His legal father, He could never sit on the throne of David. According to Bible prophecy, no natural descendant of King Jechonias could ever hold that position. Listen to these words: "O earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord....Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed [that is, of Jechonias's direct bodily descent] shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah'' (Jeremiah 22:29, 30, see also Matthew 1:11). Jesus, not being Joseph's natural son, but only his legal son, could sit there. He had not only a divine right, but a legal right to that place.
Today's reading: Two of the Gospel writers give us detailed genealogies of Jesus human family.
Memory gem: "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth" (John 1:14).
Thought for today:
The virgin birth of Christ is demanded by at least three things in the Sacred Record. First, the preexistence of Christ is plainly declared in the Bible. Jesus prayed His Father to glorify Him with the glory which He had with the Father before the world was made (see John 17:5). Therefore, the holy Son of God existed before He was born of the virgin Mary in Bethlehem. This fact demands a virgin birth, not a normal human birth.
Second, the Scriptures teach that Jesus was sinless. They declare that He was "holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners" (Hebrews 7:26). In fact the Bible declares Christ's deity. He was "Emmanuel,...God with us" (Matthew 1:23). He who was a supernatural being must enter the world as the Son of man in a supernatural way.
Third, for centuries divine prophecy had declared that He--the Messiah, the Christ, the Redeemer of this world--would come and would ultimately sit upon the throne of His father David. To His kingdom there would be no end, and it would be worldwide. Isaiah 9:7. If Jesus had been merely a man, the son of Joseph, His legal father, He could never sit on the throne of David. According to Bible prophecy, no natural descendant of King Jechonias could ever hold that position. Listen to these words: "O earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord....Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed [that is, of Jechonias's direct bodily descent] shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah'' (Jeremiah 22:29, 30, see also Matthew 1:11). Jesus, not being Joseph's natural son, but only his legal son, could sit there. He had not only a divine right, but a legal right to that place.
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