Is Jesus the Legitimate Messiah?
If I were an enemy of God, I would make it a point in casting doubt on the credibility of Jesus of Nazareth. I’d especially challenge his messiahship. By the way, this is exactly what the Devil is doing even in Christmas time. But God who is by far wiser than all had already thought of this. Do you recall His plan. Yes, ‘The Plan’ for our salvation.
We already saw part of His plan coming into fruition with the angel visiting Zecharias. The next stage is…
Luke 1:26-28
Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming in, he said to her, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”
Ok… Some questions need to be asked before we can go forward.
- Why would God send His most important angel to this girl?
- Who was Mary? At that matter, who was Joseph?
- And how were they part of God’s plan especially in regards to Jesus’ messiahship?
As part of God’s intricate plan, He had chosen a specific family… a family line that went from Adam to Noah to Abraham to Isaac to Jacob to Judah then many generations later to a shepherd boy who slew a giant and became the greatest king of Israel. Of course, we’re talking about King David.
Now, if you want to read David’s entire story, you can open your Bible at the 1st & 2nd books of Samuel, the 1st book of Kings and the 1st book of Chronicles. For our purposes, let us look at what God said about David.
Acts 13:22
After removing Saul, He raised up David as their king and testified about him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse a man after My own heart; he will carry out My will in its entirety.’
Saul, by the way, was Israel’s first king before David, but he had failed God big time. God loved David so much that He gave him this promise.
2 Samuel 7:12-13
When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
Since the time that David passed the people expected the Messiah who is to be their forever king. So, how did Joseph and especially Mary came to be legitimately the royal link?
Let us look at their geneology.
From a legality point of view, no one can deny about Jesus lineage. Even if they did not believe in the virgin conception, Joseph’s choice to keep Mary as wife, made Jesus’ birth as his.
Just before Christmas Eve, we will continue this advent story on how God fulfilled His prophecies on the birth of His son.
Johann Quisumbing 