SKELETONS IN THE FAMILY CLOSET (Part II)

 SKELETONS IN THE FAMILY CLOSET (Part II)

Although families tend to showcase their best and brightest, all genealogies contain unsavory secrets that are seldom mentioned in public discourse.  Unquestionably, every family has members who somehow epitomize sin and shame.  Such is the case with the family of the greatest man in human history, JESUS CHRIST.  Did you know that our Lord was incarnated in a profoundly unsavory family tree?  The fact that Jesus achieved an undeniably righteous and victorious life (despite his family legacy) is ‘Exhibit A’ in the Courtroom of Grace.  It offers indisputable evidence that it does not matter where you have come from – it only matters where you 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 within the family DNA.  In the previous devotional, we referenced specific untoward issues that were part of the family 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-[many-times-great]-grandmother of Jesus, was both a prostitute and traitor to her own people.  We concluded that Jesus Christ came through an absolute family mess! 

 Not quite convinced yet?  Rahab’s great-great-great-grandson is a man known well to us.  One day, while the Israelite army had been deployed to the battlefield in a war with Syria, 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 taking (no pun intended) a private bath at the time.  Caught up in unrighteous passion, the king sent for Bathsheba and thereafter consummated a romantic affair.  Ultimately, Bathsheba’s husband (Uriah) was sent to the battlefront where he would certainly be killed.  All of this was done to hide Bathsheba’s unlawful pregnancy and to allow the secret lovers to be legally wed.  So, the beloved King David was not only a gifted psalmist; he was also an adulterer, a murderer (and incidentally) a direct ancestor of Jesus Christ.  Oh what bare-bone-skeletons lay in Jesus’ family closet.  He came through a mess!

 As instrumental as David’s son (Solomon) was in building the magnificent Jerusalem Temple, and as wise as he was in leading and resolving the disputes of his 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 (believe it or not).  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 to 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 the 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 built with a pagan altar he found in Assyria.  Jesus Christ came through a mess!

 We could go on and on with heinous examples of sin in Jesus’ family  lineage – actions that were selfishly and 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, or his family tree.  It is solely intended to liberate all of us from the debilitating spirit of accusation that Satan continuously unleashes against God’s people, both within our own minds and from the lips of others.  These spiritual warfare accusations are designed to make us seem unworthy of the wondrous gift of God’s grace and to cause us to feel undeserving to be used in God’s kingdom. 

 My friend, you too might have emerged from less-than-ideal conditions.  Your family line might have experienced more than its fair share of poverty, pain, failures, foibles and fiascoes.  However, long before Almighty God called you to His Kingdom, He had already seen, contemplated and factored in every facet 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 miraculously transforming it into grace, unmerited favor.  He seeks to make you a living testimony of the love, mercy, compassion, power, grace 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 detained, detoured, or 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)  

 How I love the Apostle Paul’s admonition to Timothy: “But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor, and some for dishonor.  Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.” (II Timothy 2:20-22, NKJV)

 With spiritual authority, repeat after me:  “I am a victor, not a victim.  I am who ‘I AM’ says I am!” 

 Sisters and brothers, be continually blessed, and please (above all else) MAKE SURE YOU ARE READY TO MEET OUR SOON COMING KING. Maranatha!