To John and Judy and all,
The bloodline
of significance to this discussion is the one containing the Seed promised to
Eve in the garden. I would like to point out that Jesus did not come through
Ishmael but Isaac. The Ishmael comment is irrelevant to the subject at hand;
he has nothing to do with the truthfulness of our premise.
jt: Ishmael is relevant in
that he is contrasted with Isaac to show that the seed is spiritual in nature
rather than fleshly (see Galatians). The promise is also a spiritual one
with the seed of the woman (Jesus) a life-giving Spirit. God made
the first man Adam a living soul and the second Adam (Jesus) a
life-giving or quickening Spirit (1 Corinthians 15:45-50)
There is only one bloodline leading from Eve to Jesus. It is
the Seed promised to Eve, again to Abraham, through Isaac and Jacob and Judah,
then David and on through the ages to and through Mary to Jesus.
jt: The genealogies in both
Matthew and Luke have Joseph as Jesus' father. His mother is not mentioned -
women are usually not included in these genealogies and anyway Luke 3:22
precedes the genealogy in Luke with the voice from heaven which said
"Thou art my beloved Son in thee I am well pleased" then in Vs.23 "And Jesus
himself began to be about thirty years of age being (as was supposed) the son
of Joseph which was the son of Heil etc. etc.
Gentiles are included in that blood through our common heritage
in Adam through Eve, the giver of life. This is why Jesus can be the Kinsmen
Redeemer, because we are related to him by our common blood.
jt: Why do you take a
spiritual reality and try to make it something in the
natural?
When the covenant was cut with Abraham, he slept. It was a unilateral covenant, in other words, the fulfillment being dependant upon God's faithfulness to his
promise concerning the Seed, and not upon Abraham's obedience or any of the
rest of ours.
jt: Really? Then who is
the God who spoke through the prophet Jeremiah saying "they are turned back to
the iniquities of their forefathers, which refused to hear my words; and they
went after other gods and the house of Judah have broken
my covenant which I made with their fathers. Therefore thus saith the
Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon them which they shall not be able to
excape and though they shall cry unto me I will not hearken unto them"
(Jeremiah 11:10,11) Dosn't look to me like He (God) is doing the whole thing.
Where do you get that idea from?
Sure there are consequences for disobedience, just like
blessings for obedience, but the covenant stood because God was faithful to
his promise in and through his Son, the Jew Jesus Christ; its fulfillment
being made in him. In other words, Jesus stood in for the sleeping Abraham as
his substitute and his representative. Being the God-man, Jesus fulfills the entire covenant.
