Remember the saying that goes something like, “He’s still a thief, he just hasn’t been caught yet?” It’s a truism that points out that there are unlawful people in the world who ‘just haven’t been caught yet.’ The acts are committed, the doers have just managed to escape justice. The same can be said about sinners. For the time being, they are escaping justice.

    This brings us to the responsibility of Christians. Which would be better: 1. For the sinner to come to a knowledge of his/her sinfulness and repent?; or, 2. To fall into the hands of the living God on judgment day? The answer is obvious for any believer. This raises the old question. In a tricky world like this one, what is the believer’s testimony going to be?

    One approach could be the truthfulness of the Bible. The question has mostly been settled centuries ago. The Bible is the inspired word of God. It is no different from looking at yourself in the mirror. You know it is you. Why do you know it’s you in the mirror? By its’ looks. The same with the Bible. And there is much to be found there. The immortality of the soul, the dangers of sinning, the reality of hell, and the love of Christ are good for starters. It may be difficult to come up with answers to everything that is asked. The reality, though, is not being able to answer all the questions doesn’t change the truthfulness of the Bible. Wisdom for us is a work in progress. We may know the answers someday and we strive for that.

    Sinning is part of the human condition. Romans 3:23 states that all have sinned. All is all. We sin because we are sinners. Only God’s grace spares us from an everlasting hell. And because we recognize that we sin, God has prepared a place for us (John 14:2). As sinners who are saved we have become Christ’s witnesses. Like Paul says in Romans 1:6 we are also the called of Jesus Christ.

    Genealogies are interesting. Most everyone likes knowing who their ancestors were. The same was true in biblical times. Except that in biblical times, the Jewish elite were really picky about whether one had the right heritage. In fact, there are several accounts (one in Ezra 2:61-63 and another in Nehemiah 7:63-65) of priests losing their priestly office because they couldn’t produce the correct genealogy. It’s true, some place a lot of importance on ‘lineage.’

    This brings us to the genealogy of Jesus. Luke 3 traces it all the way back to Adam. An interesting side-note--the tail end of verse 38 says “…Adam, which is the son of God.” Easily overlooked but it seems clear that it means that the human race can claim its’ lineage back to God. It works for me.

    There’s another genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1. It begins with Abraham, the father of Israel, and works its’ way up to Jesus. If one isn’t into reading the ‘begats’ or ‘sons of’ and comparing them against each other; it would be easy to overlook that, from Solomon to Jesus in Matthew, the lineage is different from that in Luke. Luke names Nathan instead of Solomon. And from there, the two are different all the way to Jesus.

    So, how could this be? There are differing theories but the one that seems to fit concerns Joseph. In those days it was common for a widow to marry the brother of her husband if he died childless. Joseph’s mother could have been in such a situation. Joseph would actually be the son of Heli but in the eyes of the law, he was the son of Jacob. And the same may have been true with Heli and Jacob. They could have had the same mother but different fathers. Just look at how complicated genealogy can get!

It does give one some pause for thought. But, I like what Paul had to say on the subject of genealogy. To paraphrase it, he said not to concern ourselves with endless pedigrees, that it only leads to controversy and keeps us from our faith in the divine. (I Timothy 1:4)

    Why would a king who reigned for 33 years be threatened over the birth of a child? Isn’t 33 years long enough to be the ‘king of the Jews’? Yet, here it is in Matthew 2 the story of how Herod the Great conspired to have Jesus, the infant, killed. Jesus was born close to the end of his reign. By this time Herod was in his 70’s. What’s curious is that Herod, just days before his death, split the Jewish state up among 3 of his sons.

    Herod had been an adept politician. Could it be that he was put off when he heard that wise men were looking for the King of the Jews who had been born. Not only were they looking for him but they had come to worship him. Herod’s immediate response was that he was troubled by this. Troubled? It looks worse than that because in verse 3 it says that all Jerusalem was troubled by the news.

Herod calls in the priests and scribes and wants to know what gives. They tell him the prophet Micah had made such a prediction. It’s in Micah 5:2 but also in Matthew 2:6. Being the good politician he is, he arranges a secret meeting with the wise men and gets from them when they saw the star. Then he sends them, as though they were his representatives, to find this Jesus. When they found him, the wise men were to report back to Herod where he was.

Herod was probably jealous. These wise men didn’t come looking for him and just look at how long he had been king! In fact, he was jealous enough to have all the male children in Bethlehem 2 years and under murdered. Herod was old. He knew he wasn’t long for this world. Yet, he was determined to dominate the Jews until his last breath.

The wise men were wise. They traveled a long way to find the King of the Jews and worship him. They found him and left their gifts. They were wise enough to heed the angel’s warning and not return to Herod. The first definition of wise means having or showing good judgment. It’s appropriate here. Would that all would be wise and make the trip down the aisle to find and worship the King of the Jews, our Christ--the head of the church.

    The word is predestinate. It’s a word that causes confusion for those who want to understand the Bible. An early allusion to it is in Acts 4:28 which is “For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.” This scenario takes place after the Sanhedrin had forbidden Peter and John to preach in the name of Jesus. They (Peter and John) returned to their company, told what happened and in verse 24 began to pray. Verse 28 is part of that prayer and those praying are acknowledging that God had foretold the Passion of Christ. 

    A regular dictionary says that predestinate is to foretell which is simple enough. Then, there is a listing that says that in theology (the study of God) there is a doctrine that states that God has foreordained (predestinated) some souls to damnation and others to salvation. This is the source of the confusion and John Calvin is probably the one who made this idea famous; although, there are others who have supported this same doctrine. But this doctrine flies in the face of John 1:7 which says that ‘all men might believe.’ How can God’s grace just be for the ones HE has chosen in advance?  Wouldn’t the verse have said that ‘men chosen by God might believe?’

    It’s true that God’s power is unlimited. HE can do whatever suits HIS purposes. But, God has chosen to limit this power and offer mankind the gift of grace. It’s also true that man cannot save himself. The God of John 3:16 is our God. HE has extended the invitation and it’s up to man to either accept it or reject it. That’s called free will. 

    Then there’s Romans 8:28-30. Verse 28 says ‘…who are the called…’. Those that love God are called. They have accepted the call to salvation. Once the call is accepted, those who are called are destined (or predestined) to be like God. Hence, the continuing explanation in verses 29 and 30.

    Vine’s Dictionary of Bible Words gives the English word predestinate followed by the original New Testament word proorizo which means ‘to make a choice’. Using this to help with clarification, Ephesians 1:5 and 11 becomes clearer. Paul, the apostle, begins chapter 1 addressing the faithful in Christ. These faithful have already made the choice and Paul is relating to them what is waiting for them. They are God’s adopted children (verse 5) because of Jesus Christ. They have received redemption and forgiveness--not because they deserved it but because of HIS grace which HE had planned to do since the beginning. The faithful have an inheritance (verse 11), also, which God has planned for believers. God designed everything including the destination of believers. That’s why it’s called predestination.