Hopefully, this brief article will encourage others to study the Bible and learn for themselves the truth of what the Bible really teaches.
The Bible is true. Not one prophecy that was foretold has not come true. Every prophecy from Genesis 3:15 to Isaiah 44:28 to Daniel 5:30 to Matthew 2:16:18 (Jeremiah 31:15) and many more have been fulfilled without fail and without a wrinkle. Secular history, anthropology, and archeology support the Bible and now even science has come on board acknowledging that what the Bible stated long ago, those things which by comparison science has just recently come to understand, are true. Simply stated how could the Bible writers know that the earth was suspended on nothing, or that the seas were filled with myriads of different life forms? When we all consider the limitations of our knowledge we may well feel as Job did:
And Jehovah proceeded to answer Job out of the windstorm and say:
2 “Who is this that is obscuring counsel
By words without knowledge?
3 Gird up your loins, please, like an able-bodied man,
And let me question you, and you inform me.
4 Where did you happen to be when I founded the earth?
Tell [me], if you do know understanding. (Job 38:1-4)
Many people through ignorance or through desire have no idea of what the Bible really teaches. However, and sadly many fall within the category of humanity written about by Peter at 2Peter 3:3, 5-6.
3 For YOU know this first, that in the last days there will come ridiculers with their ridicule, proceeding according to their own desires…5 For, according to their wish, this fact escapes their notice, that there were heavens from of old and an earth standing compactly out of water and in the midst of water by the word of God; 6 and by those [means] the world of that time suffered destruction when it was deluged with water
As regards the Deluge, nearly every person on every continent holds a history of the Deluge – through storytelling, architectural or creative design or in the geology of the land itself.
As far as the lineage is concerned it cannot be dismissed unless it is understood. The full explanation would take considerable time. It is a study in itself. However:
1. The first lineage written at Matthew the first Chapter is concerning Jesus’ lineage through the lines of responsibility of the patriarchs, the judges, prophets, kings, prophets and priests down to the birth of Joseph. Joseph was a direct descendant of the line of David as prophesied throughout the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament).
2. The Second lineage in Luke if reading CAREFULLY begins with Joseph – and proceeds …son of…. This traces Josephs’s lineage which is very important because again, he is a direct descendant of King David and further a direct descendant of Shem who was the son of Noah and on down the line to Adam.
Jesus’ lineage
In effect, these two samples of Jesus’ lineage, as written by two different men, show Jesus lineage from two different but very importantly different perspectives. Also, take into account the makeup of these two men. Matthew was a tax collector, what we would today call an accountant -direct in thought, trimmed to the essentials. Luke, however, was a physician, given to details and insights to people. If you read the Book of Acts, also written by Luke, you can see the same sensitivity.
Hopefully, this has shed some light on some of the questions these two passages have presented.
