Read today’s texts first: 2 Kings 23; 2 Chronicles 35; John 7
Jesus is our Brother from another Father -
fully God and yet fully just like us!
fully God and yet fully just like us!
After reading through the messianic prophesies of the major and minor prophets, it is shocking that the majority of Jews didn’t realize who Jesus was. When they saw Him perform extraordinary miracles and teach with such profound wisdom, they couldn’t make the connection to his very ordinary childhood in Nazareth (7:27,41). They would ask, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” “Doesn’t he come from Galilee?” (That’s like saying “c’mon, really, doesn’t he come from Surrey!”).
Well we know today in hindsight that Jesus was born of a virgin, from the very seed of God, so while He may have appeared ordinary, He was far from it! But The Jews then should have known that as well from the prophecy in Isaiah 7:14. They should have expected His birth in Bethlehem from Micah 5:2, and, with some simple research, discovered how a Galilean baby like Jesus coincidentally arrived on the scene in a Bethlehem barn!
The records written before and after the Messiah’s unique virgin birth in Bethlehem and subsequent childhood in Nazareth set the backdrop for His mission on planet earth. Jesus could fully identify with the human condition, being born and raised in the most humble of surroundings by two very down-to-earth parents. Yet He clearly had a mindset and a mission that came from His real Father, God Himself. Fully God, fully man, uniquely sent as the second Adam to contest what the first Adam lost.
You have to laugh at the foolish religious leaders. Not only did they dismiss the overwhelming evidence that Jesus was God’s Son, they applied lots of peer pressure to convince others they were right: Has any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? No! (7:48). Actually, yea! When Nicodemus, one of their own who secretly believed in Jesus, questioned their rationale, they mocked him, Are you from Galilee, too? (Translation: “seriously, Nic, aren’t you another Surrey rat?”).
“Lord, I am so grateful You were man enough to fully relate to a former Surrey boy like me, yet You are also God, fully able to pay for my citizenship in the Kingdom of Heaven!”
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