SKELETONS IN THE FAMILY CLOSET (Part II)

SKELETONS IN THE FAMILY CLOSET (Part II)

Although we tend to showcase our best and brightest, within any family genealogy lay deep dark secrets seldom mentioned in public discourse.  Unquestionably, if we dig deep enough, all families have members who epitomize shame and disgrace.  Such is the case with the family of the greatest man in human history, JESUS CHRIST.  Did you know that Jesus was rooted in a rather unsavory family tree?  The fact that Jesus achieved a righteous and victorious life (despite his family history) is indisputable evidence that it does not matter where we have come from…it only matters where we are headed!

Jesus certainly had ‘good guys’ in his family tree (like Josiah, Hezekiah and Ruth), but there were numerous villainous relatives who sowed seeds of sin and sorrow in the family DNA.  In our previous devotional, we referenced specific untoward issues that were part of the legacy of Abraham, his trickster grandson, Jacob, his disobedient great-grandson, Judah, and his combative great-great-grandson, Perez.  We also discovered that Rahab, the great-great-[many-times-great]-grandmother of Jesus, was both a prostitute and traitor to her own people.  We concluded that Jesus Christ came through a mess! 

Not quite convinced yet?  Rahab’s great-great-great-grandson is a man known well to us.  One day, while Israel was at war with Syria and the Israelite army was away on the battlefield, that man (King David) was taking an evening stroll in the roof-top palace garden.  Then and there, he developed a serious case of ‘eye trouble.’  From his elevated vantage point, David gazed upon the beautiful Bathsheba, who was (no pun intended) taking a private bath at the time.  Seized by unrighteous passion, the king sent for Bathsheba and consummated a romantic affair.  Ultimately, Bathsheba’s husband (Uriah) was sent to the front of the battle where he would be killed.  All of this was done to hide Bathsheba’s unlawful pregnancy and to allow the secret lovers to be legally wed.  So…King David was not only a psalmist, he was an adulterer, a murder (and incidentally) a noted ancestor of Jesus Christ.  Oh what skeletons in Jesus’ family closet…he came through a mess!

As instrumental as David’s son (Solomon) was in building a magnificent temple, and as wise as he was in leading and resolving the disputes of God’s people, he still got tied up with the Queen of Sheba and tangled up with approximately 700 wives (believe it or not) and 300 girlfriends.  Jesus Christ came through a mess!

Another one of David’s sons (Absalom) got killed in an attempt to displace Daddy David on the throne.  His intent was to take the life of his own father.  Jesus Christ came through a mess!

Solomon’s son (King Rehoboam) was so greedy, mean-spirited and oppressive of his people that civil war broke out and the nation was split into two parts.  Jesus Christ came through a mess!

However, the most notorious of wicked kings was Solomon’s great-great-great-great-great-great-grandson (Ahaz).  He rebuilt the pagan altars and actively encouraged idol worship.  Israelite children were sacrificed to idol gods, and King Ahaz even went so far as to replace the temple altar Solomon had built with a pagan altar he had found in Assyria.  Jesus Christ came through a mess!

We could go on and on with heinous examples of sin in Jesus’ family – actions that were deliberately enacted against God and His people.  But our purpose for focusing in on the skeletons in Jesus’ family tree is not (by any means) to dishonor our Savior.  It is solely intended to liberate us from the spirit of accusation that Satan continuously unleashes against God’s people (both in our minds and from others’ lips).  These accusations are designed to make us feel unworthy of the gift of God’s grace and undeserving to be used in God’s Kingdom. 

You might have emerged from less than ideal conditions.  Your family lineage might have experienced more than its share of poverty, or pain, or failure, or disgrace.  But before He called you to the Kingdom, ALMIGHTY GOD had already seen, contemplated and factored in all of the ‘mess’ in your personal life or in your family tree.  The truth is that God plans to use what others perceive as disgrace – by transforming it into grace.  He seeks to make you a living testimony of the love, power and glory of God.  You might have come through a mess…but you have now come to the cross…so you will no longer be dominated by your past.  In the words of Jesus Christ, “Now you are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.” (John 15:3)  I love the Apostle Paul’s admonition to Timothy:

II Timothy 2:20-22

²⁰ But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.

²¹ If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.

Amen, brothers and sisters!  AMEN!  AMEN!