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Fall Asleep to The Complete Genealogy of Jesus _ 42 Generations from Abraham to Christ · truthunedited

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  Speaker 1: Welcome back to night psalms, where we rest in the
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  Speaker 1: word and let ancient stories carry us gently into sleep. Tonight,
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  Speaker 1: we're opening a passage most people skip, a list of
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  Speaker 1: names forty two generations, stretched across two thousand years, names
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  Speaker 1: that are difficult to pronounce, impossible to remember, and easy
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  Speaker 1: to ignore. But hidden within that list is one of
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  Speaker 1: the most breathtaking truths in all of Scripture. The genealogy
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  Speaker 1: of Jesus Christ is not a record of perfect people.
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  Speaker 1: It is a story of prostitutes and murderers, adulters and outcasts,
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  Speaker 1: foreigners and failures, all woven together by the hand of
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  Speaker 1: a God who does not require perfection, but offers redemption.
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  Speaker 1: As you rest to night, we will walk slowly through
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  Speaker 1: these forty two generations, from Abraham, who left everything to
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  Speaker 1: follow a promise, to Jesus, who left heaven itself to
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  Speaker 1: become that promiseful filled. So your eyes, let the weight
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  Speaker 1: of the day fall away. Breathe deeply, and let us
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  Speaker 1: begin where God's promise began, beneath the stars, with a
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  Speaker 1: man who dared to believe. Chapter one, Why two genealogies
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  Speaker 1: Matthew versus Luke. If you open your Bible to the
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  Speaker 1: first chapter of Matthew, you will find a genealogy forty
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  Speaker 1: two names, divided into three groups of fourteen Abraham to David,
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  Speaker 1: David to the Babylonian Exile, the Exile to Jesus. But
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  Speaker 1: if you turn to the third chapter of Luke, you
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  Speaker 1: will find something different, another genealogy, and at first glance
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  Speaker 1: it does not match. For centuries, skeptics have pointed to
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  Speaker 1: this difference and said, see the Bible contradicts itself. But
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  Speaker 1: those who look closer discover something far more beautiful. Both
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  Speaker 1: genealogies are true, both are inspired by God, and both
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  Speaker 1: are necessary to understand who Jesus really is. Let us
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  Speaker 1: begin with Matthew. Matthew was a Jewish tax collector who
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  Speaker 1: became one of Jesus's twelve disciples. He wrote his Gospel
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  Speaker 1: for a Jewish audience, people who had been waiting centuries
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  Speaker 1: for the Messiah, the promised King from the line of David.
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  Speaker 1: And the very first question any Jewish reader would ask
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  Speaker 1: is this, can you prove he is the rightful king?
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  Speaker 1: In Jewish culture, kingship passed through the legal Father to
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  Speaker 1: sit on the throne of David. You needed more than
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  Speaker 1: just bloodline, you needed the legal right, the official claim
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  Speaker 1: recognized by law and custom. So Matthew begins with Abraham,
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  Speaker 1: the father of the Jewish people. He traces the line
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  Speaker 1: down through Isaac, Jacob, Judah, and eventually to David, the
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  Speaker 1: greatest king Israel ever knew. From David, the line continues
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  Speaker 1: through Solomon, the son who inherited the throne. Generation after generation,
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  Speaker 1: Matthew follows the royal line through good kings and wicked ones,
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  Speaker 1: through glory and disaster, through triumph and exile, until at
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  Speaker 1: last he arrives at Joseph, the legal father of Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: Now Here is where it becomes extraordinary. Joseph was a
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  Speaker 1: direct descendant of King David through Solomon. That means, legally,
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  Speaker 1: in the eyes of Jewish law, Joseph's son would be
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  Speaker 1: the rightful heir to David's throne. But Joseph was not
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  Speaker 1: Jesus's biological father. Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
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  Speaker 1: born of the Virgin Mary. So while Jesus had no
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  Speaker 1: earthly biological father, he still carried the legal right to
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  Speaker 1: kingship through Joseph's lineage. Matthew is proving to his Jewish
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  Speaker 1: readers that Jesus is the promised Messiah, the king the
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  Speaker 1: prophets for or told, the one with the legal authority
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  Speaker 1: to sit on David's throne. But Luke tells a different story.
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  Speaker 1: Luke was a physician, a gentile, a man who traveled
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  Speaker 1: with the apostle Paul and wrote for a broader audience.
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  Speaker 1: He did not write only for the Jews. He wrote
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  Speaker 1: for all humanity, and so his genealogy does not begin
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  Speaker 1: with Abraham. It begins with Jesus and works backward all
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  Speaker 1: the way to Adam, the first Man, and from Adam
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  Speaker 1: it traces back to God himself. Luke is declaring something universal.
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  Speaker 1: Jesus is not just the King of the Jews. He
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  Speaker 1: is the savior of all mankind. And here is where
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  Speaker 1: the genealogies diverge in a fascinating way. While Matthew traces
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  Speaker 1: Joseph's line through Solomon and the royal succession, Luke follows
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  Speaker 1: a different branch of David's family tree. Christians have proposed
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  Speaker 1: several faithful explanations for this difference. Some believe Luke may
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  Speaker 1: trace the line through Mary, Jesus's mother, showing his biological
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  Speaker 1: descent from David. Others suggest both genealogies belong to Joseph,
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  Speaker 1: but through different lines, perhaps because of leveright marriage, an
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  Speaker 1: ancient custom where if a man died childless, his brother
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  Speaker 1: would marry the widow. This meant a man could have
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  Speaker 1: both a legal father and a biological father, creating two
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  Speaker 1: legitimate genealogies. What matters most is this, both genealogies are true,
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  Speaker 1: both are inspired, and together they show us something complete.
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  Speaker 1: Jesus is the legal heir to David's throne through Joseph,
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  Speaker 1: and he is the biological descendant of David through his
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  Speaker 1: mother's line. He has both the right to rule and
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  Speaker 1: the blood of the king flowing through his veins. Matthew
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  Speaker 1: says Jesus is the legal king. Luke says Jesus is
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  Speaker 1: the true son of David and the son of all
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  Speaker 1: humanity to Together, they declare he is everything the Messiah
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  Speaker 1: was prophesied to be. Now there is one more mystery
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  Speaker 1: we must address, one that nearly destroyed the entire Messianic line.
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  Speaker 1: Before Jesus was ever born. In the Old Testament, there
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  Speaker 1: was a king named Jakoniah also called Jehoiachin. He was
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  Speaker 1: so wicked that God pronounced a curse upon him through
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  Speaker 1: the prophet Jeremiah. The words are sobering, as surely as
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  Speaker 1: I live, declares the Lord. Even if Jackoniah were the
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  Speaker 1: signet ring on my right hand, I would still pull
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  Speaker 1: him off record. This man as if childless, meaning though
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  Speaker 1: he would have biological children, none of them would prosper
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  Speaker 1: or sit on the throne of David. None of his
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  Speaker 1: offspring will prosper sitting on the throne of David or
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  Speaker 1: ruling any more. In Judah. This curse created an impossible problem.
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  Speaker 1: The Messiah had to come from David's line, that was
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  Speaker 1: the promise God had made. But jake Caniah was in
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  Speaker 1: that line, and anyone descended from him was cursed forbidden
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  Speaker 1: from sitting on David's throne. So how could the Messiah come?
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  Speaker 1: If you trace the genealogy in Matthew chapter one, you
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  Speaker 1: will find that Joseph, Jesus's legal father, was a direct
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  Speaker 1: descendant of Jeconiah. The line goes Jeconiah Schiltiel Zerubabyle and
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  Speaker 1: eventually down to Joseph. So if Jesus had been Joseph's
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  Speaker 1: biological son, he would have fallen under the curse of Jeconiah,
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  Speaker 1: he could never be king, the promise would be broken.
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  Speaker 1: But here is where the virgin birth reveals one of
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  Speaker 1: its many profound purposes. Jesus is the legal heir to
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  Speaker 1: the throne through Joseph. He has the legal right because
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  Speaker 1: he is considered Joseph's son in the eyes of the law,
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  Speaker 1: but he is not Joseph's biological son. He was conceived
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  Speaker 1: by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.
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  Speaker 1: Because Jesus was not biologically descended from Joseph, he does
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  Speaker 1: not fall under the curse of Jeconiah. The curse only
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  Speaker 1: applied to Jeconiah's biological descendants. At the same time, many
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  Speaker 1: believe Jesus is still biologically connected to David through Mary,
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  Speaker 1: whose lineage traced by some through Luke's genealogy, descends from Nathan,
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  Speaker 1: another son of David, not through Solomon or Jechoniah. So
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  Speaker 1: here is the beautiful, intricate harmony many Christians see in
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  Speaker 1: God's design. Jesus is the legal heir to David's throne
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  Speaker 1: through Joseph, giving him the right to rule, but he
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  Speaker 1: avoids the curse of Jeconiah because he was not Joseph's
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  Speaker 1: biological son, and he is still the true biological descendant
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  Speaker 1: of David through Mary. Among its many purposes fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy,
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  Speaker 1: demonstrating Christ's deity, ensuring his sinless nature, the virgin birth
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  Speaker 1: also answered this impossible legal problem. It was one profound
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  Speaker 1: and way God ensured that both justice and mercy could
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  Speaker 1: meet in the birth of his son. The prophet Isaiah
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  Speaker 1: foretold this seven hundred years before Jesus was born. Therefore,
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  Speaker 1: the Lord himself will give you a sign. The virgin
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  Speaker 1: will conceive and give birth to a son, and will
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  Speaker 1: call him Immanuel, which means God with us. Think about
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  Speaker 1: the precision of this plan. If Jesus had been born
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  Speaker 1: just a generation earlier or later, the genealogy would not align.
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  Speaker 1: If he had been the biological son of Joseph, he
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  Speaker 1: would be under the curse. If he had not been
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  Speaker 1: legally connected to Joseph, he would have no recognized claim
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  Speaker 1: to the throne. But God orchestrated every detail, every marriage,
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  Speaker 1: every birth, every generation, so that at exactly the right
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  Speaker 1: moment in history, a virgin named Mary would give birth
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  Speaker 1: to a son who was fully God and fully man,
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  Speaker 1: with the legal right to rule, and the blood of
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  Speaker 1: David in his veins. The geniality she is not just
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  Speaker 1: a list of names. It is a masterpiece of divine sovereignty.
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  Speaker 1: Every generation mattered, every decision, every child born was part
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  Speaker 1: of a plan that stretched across centuries. This is why
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  Speaker 1: there are two genealogies. One proves his legal authority, the
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  Speaker 1: other proves his true humanity. Together they proclaim that Jesus
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  Speaker 1: is exactly who he claimed to be, the King of
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  Speaker 1: kings and the savior of the world. And now, with
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  Speaker 1: this foundation laid, we can walk through the names themselves.
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  Speaker 1: We can meet the people flawed, broken, faithful, and beloved
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  Speaker 1: whom God chose to place in the family tree of
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  Speaker 1: his son. If you are listening to Night and you
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  Speaker 1: feel your past disqualifies you, remember this God used broken
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  Speaker 1: people to bring forth his perfect son. If he can
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  Speaker 1: do that, he can use you too. Let us go
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  Speaker 1: back to the beginning, to a man who heard the
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  Speaker 1: voice of God and dared to believe. Let us meet
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  Speaker 1: Abraham Chapter two, The Foundation, Abraham to Isaac to Jacob.
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  Speaker 1: In the beginning, there was a man named Abram. He
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  Speaker 1: lived in Or, a city of wealth and culture in
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  Speaker 1: the land of the Chaldeans. Towering ziggurats rose into the sky.
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  Speaker 1: Markets bustled with merchants from distant lands. The people of
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  Speaker 1: Ur worshiped many gods, idols of stone and wood, gods
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  Speaker 1: of the moon and stars. But Abram did not. Somewhere
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  Speaker 1: in the silence of his heart, he knew there was
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  Speaker 1: only one true God, and one day that God spoke
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  Speaker 1: to him. The voice did not come with thunder or
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  Speaker 1: blinding light. It came with a quiet certainty that shook
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  Speaker 1: the foundations of Abram's life. Leave your country, your people,
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  Speaker 1: and your father's household. Go to the land I will
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  Speaker 1: show you. I will make you into a great nation,
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  Speaker 1: and I will bless you. I will make your name great,
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  Speaker 1: and you will be a blessing. All peoples on earth
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  Speaker 1: will be blessed through you. Abram was seventy five years old.
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  Speaker 1: His wife Sarah, was barren. They had no children, no heir.
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  Speaker 1: Yet God promised him descendants as numerous as the stars
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  Speaker 1: in the sky. It made no sense, but Abram believed.
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  Speaker 1: He left everything, his home, his family, his security, and
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  Speaker 1: set out into the unknown. The Bible says, simply so
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  Speaker 1: Abram went as the Lord had told him that is
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  Speaker 1: faith not understanding but obeying, not seeing but trusting. What
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  Speaker 1: does this mean for us to night? If you are
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  Speaker 1: listening and you feel God calling you to something that
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  Speaker 1: makes no sense, To forgive someone who hurt you, to
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  Speaker 1: let go of what feels safe, to step into the unknown, Remember, Abraham,
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  Speaker 1: faith is not having all the answers. It is taking
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  Speaker 1: the first step when God says go. Years passed, Abram
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  Speaker 1: and Sarai grew older. Still there was no child. Doubt
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  Speaker 1: crept in. Sarah, desperate and heart broken, gave her servant Hagar,
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  Speaker 1: to Abram, hoping to build a family through her. From
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  Speaker 1: that union, Ishmael was born, but Ishmael was not the
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  Speaker 1: child of promise. When Abram was ninety nine years old,
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  Speaker 1: God appeared to him again. This time he changed Abram's
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  Speaker 1: name to Abraham, meaning father of many nations, and he
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  Speaker 1: changed Sarah's name to Sarah, meaning princess. God said, I
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  Speaker 1: will bless Sarah, and she will give you a son.
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  Speaker 1: She will be the mother of nations, kings of peoples
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  Speaker 1: will come from her. Abraham fell on his face, not
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  Speaker 1: in mockery, but in astonishment. Sarah was ninety years old.
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  Speaker 1: How could this be? But God's promises do not depend
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  Speaker 1: on human ability, They depend on his power. One year later,
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  Speaker 1: Sarah gave birth to a son. They named him Isaac,
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  Speaker 1: which means laughter. Sarah said, God has brought me laughter,
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  Speaker 1: and every one who hears about this will laugh with me.
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  Speaker 1: Isaac was the child of promise, the one through whom
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  Speaker 1: all nations would be blessed. But God was not finished
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  Speaker 1: testing Abraham's faith. When Isaac was a young man, God
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  Speaker 1: gave Abraham a command that pierced his soul like a knife.
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  Speaker 1: Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love,
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  Speaker 1: and go to the land of Moriah. Sacrifice him there
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  Speaker 1: as a burnt offering on a mountain. I will show
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  Speaker 1: you imagine the darkness that must have fallen over Abraham's heart.
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  Speaker 1: This was the son he had waited for, the son
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  Speaker 1: God himself had promised, the son through whom the Messiah
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  Speaker 1: would one day come. Now God was asking him to
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  Speaker 1: give that son back. Early the next morning, Abraham rose,
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  Speaker 1: saddled his donkey and took Isaac with him. For three days,
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  Speaker 1: they walked in silence, the wood for the offering strapped
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  Speaker 1: to Isaac's back. When they reached the mountain, Isaac asked
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  Speaker 1: the question that must have shattered his father's heart. Father,
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  Speaker 1: the fire and wood are here, but where is the
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  Speaker 1: lamb for the burnt offering? Abraham answered, his voice steady,
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  Speaker 1: but his heart breaking, God himself will provide the lamb,
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  Speaker 1: my son. They built the altar together. Abraham bound Isaac
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  Speaker 1: and laid him on the wood. He raised the knife,
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  Speaker 1: and just as he was about to strike, the Angel
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  Speaker 1: of the Lord called out from heaven Abraham, Abraham, do
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  Speaker 1: not lay a hand on the boy. Now I know
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  Speaker 1: that you fear God, because you have not withheld from
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  Speaker 1: me your son, your only son. Abraham looked up. There
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  Speaker 1: caught in a thicket by its horns was a ram
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  Speaker 1: God had provided. Isaac was spared. But this story does
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  Speaker 1: not end here. Centuries later, another son would walk up
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  Speaker 1: another hill, carrying the wood of his own sacrifice on
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  Speaker 1: his back, and this time there would be no ram.
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  Speaker 1: This time the father would not hold back. His only
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  Speaker 1: son would die so that we might live. If you
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  Speaker 1: are listening to night and God has asked you to
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  Speaker 1: surrender something precious, a relationship, a dream, a plan, remember Abraham,
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  Speaker 1: Sometimes God asks us to let go, not to take away,
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  Speaker 1: but to show us he is all we need, and
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  Speaker 1: when we trust him with what we love most, we
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  Speaker 1: discover he is trustworthy. Isaac grew and married a woman
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  Speaker 1: named Rebeccah. She too was barren for many years, but
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  Speaker 1: Isaac prayed, and the Lord answered. Ecca conceived not one child,
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  Speaker 1: but twins. Even in the womb the two boys struggled.
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  Speaker 1: God said to Rebecca, two nations are in your womb.
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  Speaker 1: One people will be stronger than the other, and the
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  Speaker 1: older will serve the younger. The first to be born
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  Speaker 1: was red and covered with hair. They named him Esau.
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  Speaker 1: His brother came out grasping Esau's heel, so they named
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  Speaker 1: him Jacob, which means he grasps the heel, or more plainly, deceiver.
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  Speaker 1: Jacob lived up.
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  Speaker 2: To his name.
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  Speaker 1: He tricked his brother out of his birthright for a
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  Speaker 1: bowl of stew. He deceived his father, Isaac, pretending to
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  Speaker 1: be Esau, and stole the blessing that belonged to the
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  Speaker 1: first born. Esau wept and raged, and Jacob fled into
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  Speaker 1: the wilderness, fearing for his life. But even in his deception,
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  Speaker 1: God was at work. One night, as Jacob lay on
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  Speaker 1: the ground with a stone for a pillow, he dreamed
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  Speaker 1: he saw a ladder reaching from earth to heaven, and
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  Speaker 1: angels ascending and descending on it. At the top stood
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  Speaker 1: the Lord, who said, I am the Lord, the God
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  Speaker 1: of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I
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  Speaker 1: will give you and your descendants the land on which
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  Speaker 1: you are lying. All peoples on earth will be blessed
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  Speaker 1: through you. I am with you and will watch over
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  Speaker 1: you wherever you go. Jacob woke and whispered, surely the
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  Speaker 1: Lord is in this place, and I was not aware
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  Speaker 1: of it. Years passed, Jacob married, had children, and grew wealthy,
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  Speaker 1: but he was still running from his past, from his brother,
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  Speaker 1: from himself. Then one night, as he prepared to meet
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  Speaker 1: Esau again after twenty years, Jacob was alone by a river,
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  Speaker 1: and a man appeared and wrestled with him until daybreak.
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  Speaker 1: Jacob fought with everything he had. His hip was wrenched
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  Speaker 1: out of joint, but he would not let go. He
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  Speaker 1: cried out, I will not let you go unless you
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  Speaker 1: bless me. The man asked, what is your name? Jacob
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  Speaker 1: answered Jacob, deceiver, liar, cheat. The man said, your name
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  Speaker 1: will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have
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  Speaker 1: struggled with God and with humans and have overcome. Jacob
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  Speaker 1: now Israel limped away from that river, broken but blessed,
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  Speaker 1: no longer defined by his deception, but by his desperation
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  Speaker 1: for God. If you are listening to Night and you
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  Speaker 1: feel defined by your failures, remember Jacob. God does not
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  Speaker 1: call us by our worst mistakes. He gives us a
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  Speaker 1: new name. He sees not who we were, but who
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  Speaker 1: we are becoming in Him. From Abraham to Isaac to Jacob,
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  Speaker 1: now Israel, the line of promise continued, not through perfection,
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  Speaker 1: but through faith, not through strength, but through surrender. And
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  Speaker 1: from Israel would come twelve sons. One of them was
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  Speaker 1: named Judah, and it is through Judah that the story
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  Speaker 1: takes a turn no one expected. Chapter three, Judah and Tamar,
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  Speaker 1: the scandalous beginning. If you were designing the family tree
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  Speaker 1: of the Messiah, you would choose the purest blood line,
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  Speaker 1: the most righteous ancestors, the most honorable marriages. But God
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  Speaker 1: does not work the way we do. The very first
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  Speaker 1: woman named in Matthew's genealogy is not a queen. She
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  Speaker 1: is not a prophetess. She is a Canaanite widow who
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  Speaker 1: disguised herself as a prostitute to secure her place in
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  Speaker 1: the line of Christ. Let me be clear, Tamar was
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  Speaker 1: not a prostitute. She only disguised herself as one in
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  Speaker 1: a desperate act to claim what was rightfully hers. Her
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  Speaker 1: name is Tamar. Judah was the fourth son of Jacob.
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  Speaker 1: He was strong, ambitious, and deeply flawed. While his brothers
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  Speaker 1: remained shepherdords, Judah drifted away from his family and settled
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  Speaker 1: among the Canaanites. There, he married a Canaanite woman and
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  Speaker 1: had three sons, er Onan and Shelah. When Er came
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  Speaker 1: of age, Judah found him a wife, Tamar. The Bible
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  Speaker 1: does not tell us where she came from or what
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  Speaker 1: she looked like, but we know this she was faithful. Er, however,
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  Speaker 1: was wicked. The Bible says simply, Er was wicked in
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  Speaker 1: the Lord's sight, so the Lord put him to death.
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  Speaker 1: Tamar was now a widow, but according to the custom
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  Speaker 1: of the time called levereight marriage, she had a right.
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  Speaker 1: If a man died childless, his brother was required to
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: marry the widow and raise up children in the dead
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: brother's name. This ensured the family line would continue and
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: the widow would be cared for. So Judah told his
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: second son, Onan to marry Tamar and fulfill his duty.
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: Onan agreed, but he did not want to father a
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: child that would not be considered his own, so whenever
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: he slept with Tamar, he made sure she would not conceive.
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: The Bible says what he did was wicked in the
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: Lord's sight, so the Lord put him to death. Also,
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: two husbands both dead. Judah had only one son left, Sheilah,
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: and he was afraid. He began to think Tamar was
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: cursed that any man who married her would die, so
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: he told her, go back to your father's house and
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: remain a widow until my son, Sheelah grows up. But
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: it was a lie. Judah had no intention of giving
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: Shella to Tamar. He was protecting his last son, and
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: in doing so, he was denying Tamar her only hope
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: for a future. Tamar returned to her father's house. She waited.
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: Years passed, Sella grew up, but Judah did not call
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: for her. She had been forgotten, cast aside, left with nothing.
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: But Tamar was not a woman who would fade quietly
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: into the shadows. One day she heard that Judah's wife
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: had died and that he was traveling to Tymna for
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: the sheep. Shearing this was her chance, she took off
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: her widow's garments, covered her face with a veil, and
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: sat by the road side at the entrance to a name,
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: a place Judah would pass. When Judah saw her, he
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: thought she was a prostitute, for her face was covered.
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: He approached her and said, come now, let me sleep
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: with you. She asked, what will you give me. He
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: promised a young goat from his flock, But she said,
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: will you give me something as a pledge until you
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: send it. He asked what pledge should I give you?
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: She answered, your seal and its cord and the staff
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: in your hand. These were not small things. A man's
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: seal was his signature, his identity. His staff was a
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: symbol of his authority. By giving them to her, Judah
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: was handing over proof of who he was. He gave
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: them to her. He slept with her, and then he left.
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: Tamar went home, took off the veil, and put her
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: widow's clothes back on. When Judah sent his friend back
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: with the goat to retrieve his seal and staff, the
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: woman was gone. The people said, there hasn't been any
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: shrine prostitute. Here, Judah gave up the search. Embarrassed, he said,
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: let her keep what she has, or we will become
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: a laughing stock. Three months later, Judah was told, your
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: daughter in lawd Tamar is guilty of prostitution, and as
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: a result, she is now pregnant. Judah's response was swift
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: and self righteous. Bring her out and have her burned
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: to death. But as they brought Tamar out, she sent
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: a message to Judah. She said, I am pregnant by
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: the man who owns these, and she showed him the seal,
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: the cord, and the staff. Judah's face must have gone pale.
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: He looked at the proof in his hands, his own seal,
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: his own staff, and realized what he had done. He
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: had denied Tama her right, he had abandoned her, and now,
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: in her desperation, she had done what he himself had
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: participated in. And in that moment Judah spoke five words
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: that echo through all of scripture. She is more righteous
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: than I. He did not condemn her, He condemned himself.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: Because Tamar had fought for what was right, for her
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: place in the family, for her future, for the promise
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: God had made to Abraham's line and Judah had failed her.
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: Tamar gave birth to twin boys. The first was named Pees,
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: and it is through Pees that the line of David
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: and the line of Jesus continued. Why would God allow
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: this story into the genealogy of his son because this
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: is the heart of the gospel. God does not require perfection.
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: He requires a heart willing to fight for what is right,
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: even when the world has abandoned you. Tamar had every
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: reason to walk away, to give up, to let bitterness
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: consume her, but she did not. She fought for her
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: place in the story God was writing, and God honored that.
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: If you are listening to Night and you feel abandoned, forgotten,
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: or cast aside, remember Tamar, your fight for what is right,
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: your refusal to give up your faithfulness when no one
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: is watching. God sees it, and he will honor it.
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: Centuries later, when the religious leaders look down on sinners
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: and outcasts, Jesus reminded them the tax collectors and the
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: prostitutes are entering the Kingdom of God ahead of you,
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: not because their sin did not matter, but because they
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: knew they needed a savior and they were willing to
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: fight for grace. Tamar's story is the first hint that
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: this family tree would not be what anyone expected. It
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: would not be a list of saints. It would be
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: a story of broken people redeemed by a faithful God.
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: And her story was only the beginning for in the
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: generations to come, another woman would enter this lineage, a
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: woman who was not just accused of prostitution, but was one.
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: Her name was Raehab Chapter four Raehab the Harlot and Salmon.
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: Four hundred years after Tamar, the people of Israel were
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: no longer a family. They were a nation. They had
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: been slaves in Egypt for generations, crying out under the
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: weight of Pharaoh's whip. But God heard their cries. He
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: raised up Moses, parted the Red Sea, and led them
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: out of bondage. For forty years, they wandered in the wilderness.
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: An entire generation died in the desert because they did
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: not trust the Lord. But now a new generation stood
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: at the edge of the promised land. Before them lay
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: the city of Jericho. Jericho was an ancient fortress surrounded
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: by massive walls that rose high into the sky. It
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: was the gateway to Canaan, and everyone inside knew the stories.
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: They had heard how the God of Israel had dried
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: up the Red Sea. They had heard how he had
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: defeated the kings of the Amorites, and they were afraid.
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: Inside those walls lived a woman named Raehab. The Bible
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: is blunt about who she was. It says plainly, Rahab
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: the prostitute, not a priestess, not a temple servant, a prostitute,
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: a woman whose very livelihood was built on the brokenness
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: of others. But Raehab had heard the stories too, and
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: unlike the rest of Jericho, she did not just fear
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: the God of Israel. She believed in him. One evening,
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: two Israelite spies entered the city in secret, sent by
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: Joshua to scout the land. They needed a place to hide,
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: and somehow they ended up at Rahab's house. Word reached
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: the King of Jericho. The Israelites have sent spies. They
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: are in the house of Raehab. Soldiers pounded on her door.
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: Bring out the men who came to you. They have
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: come to spy out the land. Raehab could have handed
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: them over. She could have saved herself, secured her safety
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: been rewarded by the king. But instead, she lied, Yes,
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: the men came to me, but I did not know
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: where they were from. They left at dusk when it
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: was time to close the city gate. I don't know
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: which way they went. Go after them quickly, you may
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: catch them. But she had not sent them away. She
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: had hidden them on her roof under stalks of flax.
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: After the soldiers left, Raehab climbed to the roof and
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: knelt beside the spies. Her voice was steady, but her
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: heart must have been pounding. She said, I know that
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: the Lord has given you this land. A great fear
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: of you has fallen on us. We have heard how
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: for you when you came out of Egypt. When we
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: heard of it, our hearts melted in fear. For the Lord,
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: your God is God in heaven above and on the
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: earth below. She did not say, your God is powerful.
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: She said the Lord, your God is God, not just
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: one god among many, the God, the only God. Then
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: she made her request. Now, then, please swear to me
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: by the Lord that you will show kindness to my family,
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: sure sign that you will spare my father and mother,
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: my brothers and sisters, and all who belonged to them,
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: and that you will save us from death. The spies
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: gave her their word, our lives for your lives. If
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: you don't tell what we are doing, we will treat
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: you kindly and faithfully when the Lord gives us the land.
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: Then they told her what to do. Tie this scarlet
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: cord in the window through which you let us down.
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: Bring your father and mother, your brothers, and all your
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: family into your house. If any of them go outside,
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: their blood will be on their own heads. But if
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: a hand is laid on any one with you in
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: the house, their blood will be on our heads. Raehab agreed.
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: She let them down by a rope through her window,
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: for her house was built into the city wall, and
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: she tied the scarlet cord in the window. When Joshua
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: and the Israelites marched around Jericho, the priests blew their trumpets,
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: the people shouted, and the walls collapsed. Every person in
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: the city was destroyed except for Raehab and her family.
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: The spies went into her house and brought her out,
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: along with every one who was with her. The Bible
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: says she lives among the Israelites to this day. But
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: the story not end there. Raehab did not remain an outsider.
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: She was brought fully into the covenant people of God,
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: and not just as a servant or a guest. She married,
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: and not just any man. She married Samon, a man
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: of standing from the tribe of Judah, from the lineage
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: that would lead to King David, a man whose son
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: would become one of the most important figures in the
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: story of Redemption. Think about what this means. A Canaanite woman,
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: a prostitute, a worshiper of false gods. She should have
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: been an enemy of Israel. She should have been destroyed
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: along with the rest of Jericho. But instead she became
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: the wife of a prince, the mother of a son
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: in the line of David, the ancestor of Jesus Christ.
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: Why because God does not judge by the past, He
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: judges by the heart. Rahab's profession did not define her.
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: Her ethnicity did not disqualify her. What mattered was her faith.
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: The writer of Hebrews says it plainly by faith, the
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: prostitute Raehab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: with those who were disobedient, and James adds was not Raehab,
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: the prostitute, considered righteous for what she did when she
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: a different direction. Faith and action, belief and obedience, that
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: is what saved her. If you are listening to night
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: and you feel defined by your past, by the choices
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: you made, the life you lived before you knew God,
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: remember Raehab, your past does not write your future. God does,
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: and when you place your faith in Him, he calls
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: you righteous. There is one more detail we cannot ignore.
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: The scarlet chord. Raehab was told to tie a scarlet
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: cord in her window. As long as that chord was visible,
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: she and her family would be safe. The color red,
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: the color of blood, a sign that marked the house
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: for salvation. Does that sound familiar? Centuries earlier, on the
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: night of the Passover, the Israelites in Egypt were told
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: to take the blood of a lamb and paint it
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: on their door posts. When the Angel of Death passed
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: through the land, he would see the blood and pass
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: over that house, and centuries later another lamb would be slain.
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: His blood would be poured out, not on a door post,
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: but on a cross, and all who trust in him,
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: all who place their faith in his sacrifice, would be saved.
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: The scarlet cord was a shadow of the cross. Raehab
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: trusted that cord. She tied it in her window and waited,
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: And when the walls fell, she was saved. From Raehab
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: and Salmon came a son named Boas, and through Boas,
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: the story continues into one of the most beautiful love
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: stories ever told. But that story begins with another widow,
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: another foreigner, another woman who had every reason to give up.
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: Her name was Ruth. Chapter five, Ruth and Boaz, Redemption
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: in the Fields. There are some love stories that feel
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: like they were written by the hand of God himself,
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: stories where every detail, every moment, every quiet decision was
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: guided by a grace too tender to be coincidence. The
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: story of Ruth and Boaz is one of those stories.
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: It begins in tragedy. During the time when judges ruled Israel,
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: there was a famine in the land. A man named Elimelech,
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: along with his wife Naomi, and their two sons, left
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: Bethlehem and traveled to the country of Moab, hoping to
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: find food, but Moab was not just another land. It
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: was the land of Israel's enemies. The Moabites were descendants
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: of Lot, born from an act of deep shame. They
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: had opposed Israel in the wilderness. They had led God's
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: people into idolatry, and because of this, the Law of
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: Moses declared, no Moabite may enter the assembly of the Lord,
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: even to the tenth generation. Yet it was to Moab
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: that Elimelech brought his family. While they were there, Elimelech died.
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: Naomi was left with her two sons. In time, both
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: sons married Moabite women. One was named Orpah, the other
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: was named Ruth. For ten years they lived together, but
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: then both sons died as well. Naomi was left with nothing,
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: no husband, no sons, no future. She was a widow
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: in a foreign land with two foreign daughters in law
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: who owed her nothing. When she heard that the famine
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: in Bethlehem had ended, Naomi decided to return home. She
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: told Orpah and Ruth, go back, each of you to
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: your mother's house. May the Lord show you kindness, as
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me.
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: Orpah kissed her mother in law good bye. And left,
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: but Ruth clung to her. Naomi urged her, Look, your
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: sister in law is going back to her people and
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: her gods, go back with her. But Ruth would not go.
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: And here she spoke words that have echoed through the centuries,
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: words that have been read at weddings, inscribed on gravestones,
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: and whispered by those who have chosen love over safety.
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: Do not urge me to leave you or to turn
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: back from you. Where you go, I will go, and
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: my people, and your God my God. Where you die,
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: I will die, and there I will be buried. May
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely,
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: if even death separates you and me. This was not
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: just loyalty, It was covenant. It was faith. Ruth was
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: turning her back on her homeland, her family, her gods,
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: and choosing the God of Israel, choosing a future with
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: no promise of security, no guarantee of acceptance. All she
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: had was an old, bitter widow and a God she
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: had learned to trust. If you are listening to Night
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: and you are facing a choice between safety and faithfulness,
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: between what makes sense and what God is calling you
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: to remember, Ruth, sometimes the right path is the one
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: that costs us everything, but it is also the path
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: where we discover God is enough. The two of them
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: traveled together to Bethlehem. They arrived at the beginning of
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: the barley harvest, but Naomi had no land, no income,
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: no way to survive. They were destitute. Ruth said to Naomi,
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: let me go to the fields and pick up the
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: leftover grain behind anyone one in whose eyes I find favor.
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: This was called gleaning. According to the law of Moses,
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: when a farmer harvested his field, he was not allowed
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: to go back and gather every stalk. He had to
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: leave some behind for the poor, the widow, and the foreigner.
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: It was God's provision for those who had nothing. So
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: Ruth went out into the fields, following behind the harvesters,
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: gathering what they left behind. And, as it happened, though
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: nothing in God's story truly happens by accident, she found
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: herself working in the field of a man named Boaz.
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: Boaz was a relative of Naomi's late husband, Elimelech. He
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: was wealthy, respected, and most importantly, he was a kinsman redeemer.
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: That meant he had the right, according to the law,
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: to buy back family land that had been lost, and
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: to marry a widow to preserve the family line. When
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: Boaz arrived at the field, he noticed Ruth immediately he
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: asked his foreman, who is that young woman. The foreman replied,
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: she is the Moabite who came back from Moab with Naomi.
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: She asked permission to glean, and she has been working
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: steadily from morning till now, except for a short rest.
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: Boaz walked over to Ruth. His first words to her
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: were words of protection and kindness. My daughter, listen to me.
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: Don't go and glean in another field. Stay here with
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: the women who work for me. Watch the field where
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: the men are harvesting, and follow along after the women.
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: I have told the men not to lay a hand
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: on you, and whenever you are thirsty, go and get
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: a drink from the water jars the men have filled.
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: Ruth bowed low to the ground. She asked, why have
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: I found such favor in your eyes that you notice
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: me a foreigner. Boas answered, I've been told all about
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: what you have done for your mother in law since
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: the death of your husband, how you left your father
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: and mother, and your homeland and came to live with
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: the people you did not know before. May the Lord
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: repay you for what you have done. May you be
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: whose wings you have come to take refuge, Under whose
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: wings you have come to take refuge. Boaz saw what
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: Ruth had done. She had chosen the God of Israel,
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: and in doing so, she had placed herself under his protection.
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: If you have ever felt like an outsider, like you
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: don't belong, like your past disqualifies you, remember Ruth. God
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: does not look at where you came from. He looks
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: at where your heart is turning. And when you come
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: to him, you come under his wings. You are no
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: longer an outsider. You are his. That evening, when Ruth
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: returned to Naomi, she was carrying an entire effort of ballei,
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: far more than a gleaner should have been able to gather.
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: Naomi was astonished, where did you glean to day? Blessed
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: be the man who took notice of you. When Ruth
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: told her it was Boaz, Naomi's eyes filled with tears.
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: She said, the Lord, bless him. He has not stopped
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: showing his kindness. To the living and the dead. Then
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: she added that man is our close relative. He is
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: one of our kinsman redeemers. Naomi began to see what
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: God was doing. This was not just kindness, this was providence.
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: She instructed Ruth carefully. When the threshing was finished and
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: Boaz lay down to sleep by the grain, Ruth was
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: to go quietly, uncover his feet and lie down. It
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: was a symbolic act, a request for covering and protection.
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: She was asking him to spread his garment over her,
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: to take her as his wife, to redeem her. Ruth obeyed.
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: In the middle of the night, Boaz woke and found
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: her there. Startled, he asked, who are you. She answered softly,
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: I am your servant. Ruth. Spread the corner of your
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: garment over me, since you are a kinsman redeemer. Boaz
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: was deeply moved. He said, the Lord bless you, my daughter.
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier.
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: You have not run after the younger men, whether rich
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: or poor, and now, my daughter, don't be afraid. I
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: will do for you all you ask. But there was
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: a problem. There was another kinsman redeemer closer in relation
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: than Boaz, according to the law, that man had the
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: first right to redeem. The next morning, Boaz went to
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: the city gate, where legal matters were settled. He called
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: the other kinsman and said, Naomi is selling the peace
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: of land that belonged to our relative Olimelech. If you
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: want to redeem it, do so. But if not, tell
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: me so I will know. The man said, I will
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: redeem it. Then Boaz added, on the day you buy
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: the land from Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite,
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: the dead man's widow, in order to maintain the name
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: of the dead with his property. The man hesitated. If
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: he redeemed the land and married Ruth, any son she
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: bore would carry the name of her first husband, not
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: his own. The inheritance would not go to his family line.
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: It would cost him without benefiting him. He said, then,
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: I cannot redeem it because I might endanger my own estate.
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: You redeem it yourself, I cannot do it. And so
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: in the presence of the elders, Boas redeemed the land,
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: and he took Ruth as his wife. The Bible says,
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: so Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. When
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: he made love to her. The Lord enabled her to conceive,
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: and she gave birth to a son. The women of
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: the town said to Naomi, praise be to the Lord,
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: who this day has not left you without a kinsman, redeemer.
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: May he become famous throughout Israel. He will renew your
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: life and sustain you in your old age. For your
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: daughter in law, who loves you and who is better
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: to you than seven sons, has given him birth. They
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: named the baby Obed, and Obed became the father of Jesse,
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: and Jesse became the father of David. The Moabite woman,
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: the foreigner who should never have been allowed into the
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: assembly of the Lord, became the great grandmother of Israel's
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: greatest king. And through David, she became an ancestor of
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. Why because redemption is the heart of God's
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: story Boas redeemed Ruth. He paid the price to bring
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: her into his family, to give her a future, to
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: restore what had been lost. And that is exactly what
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: Jesus does for us. We are the outsiders, we are
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: the ones with no claim, no right, no hope. But
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: he stepped forward and said, I will redeem them. I
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: will pay the price Ruth's story is a shadow of
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: the Gospel, and it reminds us that no one is
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: too far away, too broken, or too foreign to be
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: brought into the family of God. From Ruth and Boaz
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: came Obed. From Obed came Jesse, and from Jesse came
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: a shepherd boy who would become the greatest king Israel
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: ever knew. His name was David, Chapter six, David, the
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: Man after God's own heart. There are some names in
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: scripture that shine brighter than others, names that carry the
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: weight of entire kingdoms, the echo of ancient psalms, the
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: promise of a throne that would never end. David is
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: one of those names. He was the youngest son of Jesse,
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: a shepherd boy from Bethlehem. While his older brothers were
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: tall and strong, impressive in the eyes of men, David
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: spent his days in the fields, watching over sheep. He
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: was forgotten, overlooked, unimpressive. But God does not see as
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: man sees. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: Lord looks at the heart. One day, the prophet Samuel
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: came to Bethlehem. God had sent him to anoint a
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: new king, for King Saul had fallen away from the Lord.
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: Samuel gathered Jesse and his sons. One by one. The
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: older brothers stood before him, tall, strong warriors, but each
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: time God said no, not this one. Finally, Samuel asked, Jesse,
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: are these all the sons you have? Jesse answered, there
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: is still the youngest, but he is tending the sheep.
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: Samuel said, send for him. We will not sit down
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: until he arrives. When David arrived, the Bible says he
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: was ruddy, with a fine appearance and handsome features. But
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: more than that, the Lord said, to Sammle, rise and
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: anoint him. This is the one. So Samuel took the
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: horn of oil and anointed David in the presence of
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: his brothers. And from that day on the spirit of
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: the Lord came powerfully upon David. But the path to
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: the throne was not immediate. For years, David served King Saul.
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: He played the harp to soothe Saul's troubled mind. He
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: fought in Saul's army, and when a Philistine giant named
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: Goliath taunted the armies of Israel, it was David, still
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: a boy, who stepped forward. He had no armor, no sword,
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: only a sling and five smooth stones from the brook.
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: But he had something far greater. He had faith in
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: the Living God. David stood before Goliath and said, you
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: come against me with sword and spear and javelin. But
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty,
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: defied this day. The Lord will deliver you into my hands.
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: All those gathered here will know that it is not
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: by sword or spear that the Lord saves, for the
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: battle is the Lord's. He slung one stone. It struck
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: the giant in the forehead. Goliath fell and David became
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: a hero. But fame brought jealousy. Saul grew to hate David,
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: and for years David ran for his life. He hid
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: in caves, He gathered a band of outcasts and misfits.
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: He was anointed king, but he lived like a fugitive.
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: And yet David did not take the throne by force.
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: Twice he had the chance to kill Saul. Twice he refused.
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: He said, the Lord forbid that I should lay a
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: hand on the Lord's anointed. David trusted God's timing, and
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: in time Saul fell in battle. David was made king
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: of Judah and eventually king of all Israel. He was
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: a warrior, a poot, a worshiper. The Bible says he
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: danced before the Lord with all his might, so undignified
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: that his own wife despised him for it. But David
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: did not care. He said, I will become even more
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: undignified than this, for I will celebrate before the Lord.
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: God made a covenant with David. He promised, your house
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: and your kingdom will endure forever before me, your throne
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: will be established forever. This was the promise of the Messiah.
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: One day a son of David would sit on an
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: eternal throne. That son was Jesus. But David's story is
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: not only one of triumph. It is also a story
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: of devastating failure. One evening, David was walking on the
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: roof of his palace. From there he saw a woman bathing.
• 50:52
  Speaker 1: Her name was Bathsheba, and she was beautiful. The Bible
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: says David sent someone to find out about her. The
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: man said, she is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: the wife of Uriah the Hittite. She was married, but
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: David sent for her anyway. He slept with her, and
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: she became pregnant. Now David faced a choice. He could
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: confess his sin, face the consequences, and trust God's mercy,
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: or he could cover it up. He chose to cover
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: it up. David sent for Uriah, Bathsheba's husband, who was
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: away at war. He brought him back to Jerusalem, hoping
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: Uriah would sleep with his wife and believe the child
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: was his own. But Yuria was a man of honor.
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: He refused to enjoy the comforts of home while his
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: fellow soldiers were still on the battlefield. So David sent
• 51:46
  Speaker 1: him back to the front lines with a letter. A
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: letter to Joab, the commander, instructing him to put Uriah
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: in the front of the fiercest battle, then pull back
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: and leave him to die. And that is exactly what happened.
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: Uriah was killed, and David took bathsheba as his wife.
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: The Bible says simply, But the thing David had done
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: displeased the Lord. God sent the prophet Nathan to confront David.
• 52:13
  Speaker 1: Nathan told him a story about a rich man who
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: stole a poor man's only lamb. David burned with anger
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: and said, as surely as the Lord lives, the man
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: who did this must die. Nathan looked at him and said,
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: you are the man. David's heart shattered. He had committed adultery,
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: he had committed murder. He had taken another man's wife
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: and stolen another man's life. Nathan declared God's judgment, the
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: sword will never depart from your house, out of your
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: own household. I am going to bring calamity on you.
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: The child born to you will die. David fell to
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: his knees. He did not make excuses, He did not
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: blame Bathsheba. He simply said, I have sinned against the Lord.
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: And Nathan replied, the Lord has taken away your sin.
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: You are not going to die, But because by doing
• 53:06
  Speaker 1: this you have shown utter contempt for the Lord, the
• 53:08
  Speaker 1: sun born to you will die. Seven days later, the
• 53:13
  Speaker 1: child died. This is where we must pause and understand
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: something crucial. God forgave it David, but the consequences of
• 53:22
  Speaker 1: his sin were devastating. The sword never left his house.
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: His family was torn apart by violence, betrayal, and heart break.
• 53:31
  Speaker 1: Sin always has consequences, even when we are forgiven. If
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: you are listening to night and you have sinned, greatly,
• 53:39
  Speaker 1: know this God's forgiveness is real, But do not believe
• 53:44
  Speaker 1: the lie that sin doesn't matter. It does. It breaks things,
• 53:49
  Speaker 1: it hurts people, it leaves scars. God forgives, but he
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: does not erase the consequences. That is why we must
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: guard our hearts and flee from tem temptation before it
• 54:01
  Speaker 1: takes root. David wept, fasted, and lay on the ground,
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: But when the child was gone, he rose, washed himself
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: and worshiped. His servants were confused. They asked, while the
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: child was alive, you fasted and wept. Now that he
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: is dead, you get up and eat. David answered, while
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought,
• 54:27
  Speaker 1: who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me and
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: let the child live. But now that he is dead,
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: why should I go on fasting? Can I bring him
• 54:37
  Speaker 1: back again? I will go to him, but he will
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: not return to me. David understood something profound. He could
• 54:45
  Speaker 1: not undo what he had done. He could only repent
• 54:48
  Speaker 1: and move forward, trusting in the mercy of God, and
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: God in his grace, did not abandon David. Bathsheba conceived
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: again and gave birth to another son. They named him Solomon,
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: which means peace and the Bible says the Lord loved him.
• 55:08
  Speaker 1: From the greatest sin in David's life came the Sun,
• 55:11
  Speaker 1: who would build the Temple of God, the son through
• 55:14
  Speaker 1: whom the line of the Messiah would continue. Why would
• 55:18
  Speaker 1: God allow this? Because God does not work in spite
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: of our brokenness. He works through it. He redeems it.
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: He takes what was meant for destruction and weaves it
• 55:29
  Speaker 1: into his plan of salvation. David wrote many psalms, but
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: perhaps none is more raw, more honest, more desperate than
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: Psalm fifty one, the psalm he wrote after Nathan confronted him.
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: It begins, have mercy on me, O, God, according to
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: your unfailing love, according to your great compassion, Blot out
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: my transgressions, Wash away all my iniquity, and cleanse me
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my
• 55:59
  Speaker 1: sin is always before me against you. You only have
• 56:03
  Speaker 1: I sinned and done what is evil in your sight.
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: This is the cry of a broken man, a man
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: who knows he deserves nothing, a man who can only
• 56:14
  Speaker 1: throw himself on the mercy of God. And God heard him.
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: God forgave him, and God called him a man after
• 56:21
  Speaker 1: my own heart. Not because David was perfect, but because
• 56:25
  Speaker 1: when he fell he repented. When he was confronted, he confessed.
• 56:31
  Speaker 1: When he was broken, he worshiped. If you are listening
• 56:34
  Speaker 1: to Night and you feel unworthy, remember David. God does
• 56:39
  Speaker 1: not demand perfection. He desires a heart that is humble, honest,
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: and desperate for him, a heart that knows it cannot
• 56:47
  Speaker 1: save itself, a heart that clings to grace. From David
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: came Solomon. From Solomon came a long line of kings.
• 56:57
  Speaker 1: Some walked with God, others turned away. But through them
• 57:01
  Speaker 1: all the promise remained. One day a son of David
• 57:05
  Speaker 1: would come, not just to sit on an earthly throne,
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: but to reign forever, and his kingdom would have no end.
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: Chapter seven, Solomon to rehaboem glory and division. After David died,
• 57:21
  Speaker 1: his son Solomon ascended to the throne. He was young,
• 57:25
  Speaker 1: perhaps only twenty years old. The weight of the kingdom
• 57:29
  Speaker 1: rested on his shoulders, and he felt the burden deeply.
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: One night, God appeared to Solomon in a dream. The
• 57:36
  Speaker 1: Lord said, ask for whatever you want me to give you.
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: Solomon could have asked for wealth. He could have asked
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: for long life or victory over his enemies, but instead
• 57:47
  Speaker 1: he asked for wisdom. He said, I am only a
• 57:51
  Speaker 1: little child and do not know how to carry out
• 57:54
  Speaker 1: my duties. So give your servant a discerning heart to
• 57:58
  Speaker 1: govern your people and to disc distinguish between right and wrong.
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: The Lord was pleased. He said, since you have asked
• 58:06
  Speaker 1: for this, and not for long life or wealth for yourself,
• 58:09
  Speaker 1: nor have asked for the death of your enemies, but
• 58:11
  Speaker 1: for discernment in administering justice, I will do what you
• 58:15
  Speaker 1: have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart,
• 58:19
  Speaker 1: so that there will never have been any one like you,
• 58:22
  Speaker 1: nor will there ever be. Moreover, I will give you
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: what you have not asked for, both wealth and honor,
• 58:28
  Speaker 1: so that in your lifetime you will have no equal
• 58:31
  Speaker 1: among kings. And so Solomon became the wisest man who
• 58:35
  Speaker 1: ever lived. Kings and queens traveled from distant lands just
• 58:40
  Speaker 1: to hear him speak. He wrote three thousand proverbs and
• 58:44
  Speaker 1: over one thousand songs. He understood plants, animals, the movement
• 58:50
  Speaker 1: of the stars. His wisdom was unmatched. But more than
• 58:54
  Speaker 1: anything else, Solomon is remembered for one thing. He built
• 58:58
  Speaker 1: the temple of the Lord. David had wanted to build it,
• 59:02
  Speaker 1: but God said no. David was a man of war,
• 59:05
  Speaker 1: his hands had shed too much blood. But his son, Solomon,
• 59:09
  Speaker 1: whose name means peace, would be the one to build
• 59:12
  Speaker 1: the House of God. For seven years Solomon oversaw the construction.
• 59:18
  Speaker 1: He brought cedar from Lebanon, gold from Ophia, stones cut
• 59:22
  Speaker 1: and shaped by the finest craftsman. The temple was breath taking.
• 59:27
  Speaker 1: The inner sanctuary was overlaid with pure gold. Cherubim, with
• 59:32
  Speaker 1: outstretched wings stood over the ark of the Covenant. The
• 59:35
  Speaker 1: glory of the Lord filled the temple so powerfully that
• 59:39
  Speaker 1: the priests could not stand to minister. It was the
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: height of Israel's glory. The nation was at peace. Wealth
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: flowed into Jerusalem. The Queen of Sheba herself traveled a
• 59:50
  Speaker 1: great distance, and when she saw Solomon's wisdom and the
• 59:54
  Speaker 1: magnificence of his court, she said, the report I heard
• 59:58
  Speaker 1: in my own country about you, your achievements and your
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 1: wisdom is true. But I did not believe these things
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 1: until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed,
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 1: not even half was told me. But beneath the glory
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 1: a crack was forming. Solomon had everything, wisdom, wealth, peace,
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 1: the blessing of God, but he began to make compromises.
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 1: The Bible says Solomon had seven hundred wives of royal
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 1: birth and three hundred concubines. Many of them were foreign
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 1: women Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites. These were the
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 1: very nations God had warned Israel not to intermarry with,
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 1: because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 1: But Solomon loved them, and as he grew older, his
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 1: wives turned his heart away from the Lord. He built
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 1: high places for their gods. He offered sacrifices to Ashtreth
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 1: and to Molek, the man who had prayed for wisdom,
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 1: the man who had built the temple, the man who
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 1: had been blessed beyond measure. He bowed before idols. This
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 1: is a sobering reminder for us to night. It does
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 1: not matter how much wisdom you have been given, how
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 1: much blessing you have received, or how close to God
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 1: you once walked. If you turn away from Him, if
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 1: you compromise with the world, if you place anything wealth, pleasure,
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 1: power above the Lord, you will fall. And your fall
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 1: will affect not only you, but generations to come. The
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 1: Lord was angry with Solomon. He said, since this is
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 1: your attitude and you have not kept my covenant, I
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 1: will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 1: give it to one of your subordinates. Nevertheless, for the
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 1: sake of David, your father, I will not do it
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 1: during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 1: hand of your son. When Solomon died, his son Rihoboam
• 1:01:57
  Speaker 1: became king. He was arrogant, foolish, and blind to the
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 1: hearts of the people. The northern tribes came to him
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 1: and said, your father put a heavy yoke on us,
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 1: But now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 1: he put on us, and we will serve you. Rihoboam
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 1: consulted the elders who had served his father. They advised him,
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 1: if to day you will be a servant to these
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 1: people and serve them and give them a favorable answer,
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 1: they will always be your servants. But ri Hoboam rejected
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 1: their advice. He turned to the young men who had
• 1:02:32
  Speaker 1: grown up with him. They told him, tell them, my
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 1: little finger is thicker than my father's waist. My father
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 1: laid on you a heavy yoke. I will make it
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 1: even heavier. My father scourged you with whips, I will
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 1: scourge you with scorpions. And that is exactly what Rehoboam said.
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 1: The people's response was immediate, what share do we have
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 1: in David? To your tents, Israel, look after your own house. David,
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 1: the kingdom split. Ten tribes in the north followed Jeroboam
• 1:03:05
  Speaker 1: and formed the Kingdom of Israel. Only Judah and Benjamin
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 1: remained loyal to Rehaboem. In the south, the United Kingdom
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 1: that David had built, the kingdom that had reached its
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 1: peak under Solomon, it was torn in two. The glory
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 1: was gone and it would never fully return. But even
• 1:03:23
  Speaker 1: in this division, God's promise remained. The Messiah would not
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 1: come from the Northern Kingdom. He would come from Judah,
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 1: the tribe of David. The royal line continued fragile and
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 1: flowed through the kings of Judah. Some of those kings
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 1: were righteous, some were wicked beyond measure, But through them all,
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 1: generation after generation, the promise held. If you are listening
• 1:03:50
  Speaker 1: to night and you feel like everything is falling apart,
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 1: like the plans you made are crumbling, like the future
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 1: you hoped for is being torn in two. Remember this,
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 1: God's promise does not fail, even when kingdoms divide, even
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 1: when glory fades, his plan moves forward. Trust him. He
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 1: is still writing your story. One day a son of
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 1: David would come and his kingdom would not be divided.
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 1: It would stand forever. Chapter eight, The Kings of Judah
• 1:04:24
  Speaker 1: from glory to exile. After the kingdom split, the story
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 1: of Israel's monarchy became a tale of two nations walking
• 1:04:32
  Speaker 1: in opposite directions. The northern kingdom called Israel fell quickly
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 1: into idolatry. Not a single one of its kings followed
• 1:04:41
  Speaker 1: the Lord wholeheartedly. Within two centuries, it was destroyed by
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 1: the Assyrians, its people scattered and lost to history. But
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 1: the southern kingdom Judah, survived longer, not because its kings
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 1: were perfect, but because God had made a promise to David,
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 1: a promise that could not be broken. Through the centuries
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 1: that followed, Judah was ruled by a long line of kings.
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 1: Some walked in the ways of David their father, Others
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 1: did evil in the sight of the Lord. But through
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 1: them all, through the faithful and the wicked, the line
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 1: of the Messiah continued to night. We will not walk
• 1:05:20
  Speaker 1: through every name. Instead, let us meet a few who
• 1:05:24
  Speaker 1: teach us something profound about the heart of God. First
• 1:05:28
  Speaker 1: came Esa, and with him a breath of fresh air.
• 1:05:32
  Speaker 1: Aesa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 1: He removed the idols his fathers had made. He even
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 1: deposed his grandmother from her position as Queen Mother because
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 1: she had made a repulsive image for worship. Aesa cut
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 1: it down, burned it, and through the ashes into the
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 1: Kidron Valley. For forty one years, Esa ruled, and for
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 1: most of that time the land had peace. This is
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 1: what happens when a leader chooses god o tradition over
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 1: family loyalty, over what is comfortable. Aesa teaches us that
• 1:06:06
  Speaker 1: sometimes faithfulness requires us to break with the past, even
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 1: when that passed his family. Then came Jehoshaphat, who walked
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 1: in the earlier ways of his father David. He sent
• 1:06:17
  Speaker 1: teachers throughout Judah to teach the people the law of
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 1: the Lord. The Bible says the fear of the Lord
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 1: fell on all the kingdoms of the lands surrounding Judah,
• 1:06:28
  Speaker 1: so that they did not go to war against Jehoshaphat.
• 1:06:32
  Speaker 1: But Jehoshaphat made one critical error. He allied himself with Ahab,
• 1:06:38
  Speaker 1: the wicked king of Israel, by marrying his son to
• 1:06:41
  Speaker 1: Ahab's daughter. That alliance brought corruption into the royal House
• 1:06:45
  Speaker 1: of Judah, a corruption that would nearly destroy the line
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 1: of David Entirely. After Jehoshaphat came darker days. His son
• 1:06:54
  Speaker 1: Jehoram married Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel. She
• 1:06:58
  Speaker 1: brought the worship of Bath into Jerusalem. Jehoram killed all
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 1: his brothers to secure the throne. God struck him with
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 1: an incurable disease of the bowels. After two years of suffering,
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 1: he died, and the Bible says he passed away to
• 1:07:15
  Speaker 1: no one's regret. His son Ahaziah reigned for only one
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 1: year before he was killed. Then Athaliah, his mother, seized power.
• 1:07:25
  Speaker 1: She was not content to be queen mother. She wanted
• 1:07:28
  Speaker 1: the throne, so she ordered the execution of all the
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 1: royal heirs, every son and grandson of David she could find.
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 1: The line of David was nearly extinguished, but one baby
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 1: was saved. His name was Joash. His aunt Jehosheba took
• 1:07:44
  Speaker 1: him and hid him in the temple for six years
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 1: while Athaliah ruled. Then, when Joash was seven years old,
• 1:07:52
  Speaker 1: the priest Jehoyada brought him out, anointed him king, and
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 1: put Athaliah to death. Can you hear what God is
• 1:07:59
  Speaker 1: saying through the story. The enemy will always try to
• 1:08:03
  Speaker 1: destroy the line of promise. He tried with baby Moses
• 1:08:06
  Speaker 1: in the river, he tried with baby Joash in the temple,
• 1:08:10
  Speaker 1: and centuries later he would try with baby Jesus in Bethlehem.
• 1:08:15
  Speaker 1: But every time God preserved his chosen one. Not one
• 1:08:19
  Speaker 1: of his promises has ever failed. Joash did what was
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 1: right in the eyes of the Lord all the years Jehoiada,
• 1:08:27
  Speaker 1: the priest instructed him. He repaired the temple, he restored worship.
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 1: But after Jehoyda died, Joash listened to corrupt officials and
• 1:08:36
  Speaker 1: turned to idols. When the prophet Zechariah confronted him, Joash
• 1:08:41
  Speaker 1: had him stone to death in the courtyard of the temple.
• 1:08:44
  Speaker 1: Zechariah's last words were, may the Lord see this and
• 1:08:48
  Speaker 1: call you to account, and he did. Joash was assassinated
• 1:08:53
  Speaker 1: by his own officials. The pattern continued. King after king,
• 1:08:58
  Speaker 1: some good evil, but through them all the throne of
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 1: David was preserved. Then came Hezekiah, one of the most
• 1:09:07
  Speaker 1: faithful kings Judah ever had. He reopened the temple which
• 1:09:11
  Speaker 1: his father had shut. He cleansed it, he restored the Passover.
• 1:09:17
  Speaker 1: The Bible says Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God
• 1:09:21
  Speaker 1: of Israel. There was no one like him among all
• 1:09:24
  Speaker 1: the kings of Judah, either before him or after him.
• 1:09:28
  Speaker 1: When the Assyrian king Senacarib threatened Jerusalem with an army
• 1:09:32
  Speaker 1: of one hundred eighty five thousand soldiers, Hezekiah did not panic.
• 1:09:37
  Speaker 1: He did not make alliances with foreign powers. He went
• 1:09:40
  Speaker 1: into the temple, spread the enemy's letter before the Lord,
• 1:09:43
  Speaker 1: and prayed. That night, the Angel of the Lord went
• 1:09:47
  Speaker 1: out and struck down the entire Assyrian army. Senacarib withdrew
• 1:09:51
  Speaker 1: in shame and was later murdered by his own sons.
• 1:09:56
  Speaker 1: If you are listening to night and facing an impossible situation,
• 1:10:00
  Speaker 1: an enemy too powerful, a problem too big, a future
• 1:10:04
  Speaker 1: too uncertain, remember Hezekiah, do not run to the world
• 1:10:08
  Speaker 1: for solutions. Run to God. Spread your problem before him
• 1:10:13
  Speaker 1: and pray. He is still the God who sends angels
• 1:10:17
  Speaker 1: to fight on your behalf. But Hezekiah's son, Manassa, became
• 1:10:21
  Speaker 1: the worst king Judah ever had. Manassa rebuilt the high
• 1:10:26
  Speaker 1: places his father had destroyed. He erected altars to Baal,
• 1:10:31
  Speaker 1: He bowed down to the starry hosts. He sacrificed his
• 1:10:35
  Speaker 1: own sons in the fire. He practiced divination, sought omens,
• 1:10:39
  Speaker 1: consulted mediums and spiritists. He even set up a carved
• 1:10:43
  Speaker 1: image in the Temple of God. The Bible says Manassa
• 1:10:47
  Speaker 1: led Judah and the people of Jerusalem astray, so that
• 1:10:51
  Speaker 1: they did more evil than the nations the Lord had
• 1:10:53
  Speaker 1: destroyed before the Israelites. God allowed the king of Assyria
• 1:10:57
  Speaker 1: to capture him. Manassa taken in chains to Babylon, and there,
• 1:11:03
  Speaker 1: in his suffering and humiliation, he came to his senses.
• 1:11:07
  Speaker 1: He humbled himself before the God of his ancestors. He
• 1:11:11
  Speaker 1: prayed earnestly, and the Lord heard him. God brought him
• 1:11:15
  Speaker 1: back to Jerusalem and restored him to his throne. From
• 1:11:19
  Speaker 1: that moment on, Manassa removed the foreign gods and the
• 1:11:23
  Speaker 1: idol from the temple. He restored the altar of the Lord.
• 1:11:27
  Speaker 1: It was one of the most remarkable conversions in all
• 1:11:30
  Speaker 1: of scripture. If God could forgive Manassa, a man who
• 1:11:34
  Speaker 1: committed child's sacrifice, who led an entire nation into idolatry,
• 1:11:38
  Speaker 1: then he can forgive any one. But let us not
• 1:11:41
  Speaker 1: miss the other truth. Though Manassa repented and was forgiven,
• 1:11:46
  Speaker 1: the damage he had done to Judah could not be undone.
• 1:11:49
  Speaker 1: His sins set the nation on a path toward exile.
• 1:11:54
  Speaker 1: Forgiveness is real, but consequences remain. That is why we
• 1:11:58
  Speaker 1: must guard our hearts before sin takes root. After Manassa
• 1:12:03
  Speaker 1: came Josiah, the boy king, who was only eight years
• 1:12:06
  Speaker 1: old when he began to reign. Josiah loved the Lord
• 1:12:09
  Speaker 1: with all his heart. In the eighteenth year of his reign,
• 1:12:13
  Speaker 1: while repairing the temple, the high priest found something astonishing,
• 1:12:18
  Speaker 1: the Book of the Law. It had been lost, forgotten,
• 1:12:22
  Speaker 1: buried under years of neglect. When the book was read
• 1:12:26
  Speaker 1: to Josiah, he tore his robes in anguish. He realized
• 1:12:30
  Speaker 1: how far Judah had strayed. He sent messengers to the
• 1:12:33
  Speaker 1: prophetess Huldah, who declared that judgment was coming, but because
• 1:12:37
  Speaker 1: Josiah's heart was responsive, he would not live to see it.
• 1:12:42
  Speaker 1: Josiah led the greatest reformation Judah had ever seen. He
• 1:12:46
  Speaker 1: destroyed the high places, smashed the sacred stones, cut down
• 1:12:50
  Speaker 1: the ashera poles. He celebrated the Passover as it had
• 1:12:54
  Speaker 1: not been observed since the days of the Judges. The
• 1:12:58
  Speaker 1: Bible says, neither befit for nor after Josiah was there
• 1:13:02
  Speaker 1: a king like him who turned to the Lord, as
• 1:13:04
  Speaker 1: he did with all his heart and with all his soul,
• 1:13:08
  Speaker 1: and with all his strength. But even Josiah's faithfulness could
• 1:13:11
  Speaker 1: not turn back the judgment that was coming. Judah had
• 1:13:15
  Speaker 1: sinned too deeply for too long. Josiah died in battle
• 1:13:19
  Speaker 1: at the age of thirty nine. After him came a
• 1:13:22
  Speaker 1: succession of weak and wicked kings. The end was near,
• 1:13:26
  Speaker 1: and through it all beloved the promise remained. God did
• 1:13:31
  Speaker 1: not preserve these kings because they were good. He preserved
• 1:13:34
  Speaker 1: the line because of his faithfulness to David. When everything
• 1:13:38
  Speaker 1: around you is crumbling, when leaders fail and nations fall,
• 1:13:42
  Speaker 1: remember this, God keeps his promises, not because we are faithful,
• 1:13:48
  Speaker 1: but because He is. The judgment was coming, the exile
• 1:13:53
  Speaker 1: was at hand. But even in the darkest hour, the
• 1:13:57
  Speaker 1: seed of David would survive, and one from that seed
• 1:14:01
  Speaker 1: a king would arise who would never fall. Chapter nine,
• 1:14:07
  Speaker 1: Jeconiah and the Curse. How can Messiah come? There is
• 1:14:11
  Speaker 1: a moment in scripture so critical, so dangerous, that if
• 1:14:15
  Speaker 1: not for the wisdom of God, the promise made to Abraham,
• 1:14:18
  Speaker 1: to David, to all the patriarchs would have seemed shattered
• 1:14:22
  Speaker 1: beyond repair. That moment centers on a man named Jeconiah.
• 1:14:26
  Speaker 1: Jeconiah also called Jehoiachin or Konayah, became king of Judah
• 1:14:31
  Speaker 1: when he was eighteen years old. He reigned for only
• 1:14:35
  Speaker 1: three months. The Bible says he did evil in the
• 1:14:38
  Speaker 1: eyes of the Lord, just as his father had done.
• 1:14:42
  Speaker 1: During his brief reign. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, laid siege
• 1:14:47
  Speaker 1: to Jerusalem. Jeconiah, along with his mother, his servants, and
• 1:14:51
  Speaker 1: his officials, surrendered. Nebucadneza carried them away to Babylon. He
• 1:14:57
  Speaker 1: also took all the treasures from the temple and from
• 1:15:00
  Speaker 1: the royal palace. He carried into exile all Jerusalem ten
• 1:15:04
  Speaker 1: thousand people in all, only the poorest were left behind.
• 1:15:09
  Speaker 1: Jeconiah spent the rest of his life in exile for
• 1:15:12
  Speaker 1: thirty seven years he lived in Babylon, and though the
• 1:15:16
  Speaker 1: king eventually released him from prison and treated him kindly,
• 1:15:20
  Speaker 1: he never returned to Judah. He never sat on the
• 1:15:23
  Speaker 1: throne of David again. But the tragedy of Jeconiah is
• 1:15:27
  Speaker 1: not just political, It is theological, because God pronounced a
• 1:15:31
  Speaker 1: curse upon him, a curse that threatened the entire Messianic line.
• 1:15:36
  Speaker 1: The prophet Jeremiah declared the word of the Lord. As
• 1:15:40
  Speaker 1: surely as I live, declares the Lord, even if you, Jeconiah,
• 1:15:44
  Speaker 1: son of Jehoiakim, King of Judah, were a signet ring
• 1:15:47
  Speaker 1: on my right hand, I would still pull you off.
• 1:15:51
  Speaker 1: I will deliver you into the hands of those who
• 1:15:53
  Speaker 1: want to kill you. This is what the Lord says.
• 1:15:57
  Speaker 1: Record this man as if childless, meaning though he would
• 1:16:00
  Speaker 1: have biological children, none of them would prosper or sit
• 1:16:04
  Speaker 1: on the throne of David. None of his offspring will prosper.
• 1:16:08
  Speaker 1: None will sit on the throne of David or rule
• 1:16:11
  Speaker 1: any more in Judah. Read those words carefully, Record this
• 1:16:16
  Speaker 1: man as if childless. The phrase means he would have
• 1:16:19
  Speaker 1: no heir to continue his reign. No son of his
• 1:16:23
  Speaker 1: would prosper on the throne This was not just a
• 1:16:26
  Speaker 1: political judgment. It was a curse that applied to every
• 1:16:29
  Speaker 1: descendant of Jechoniah. Any son or grandson who tried to
• 1:16:33
  Speaker 1: sit on the throne of David would fail. Now Here
• 1:16:36
  Speaker 1: is the problem. The Messiah had to be a descendant
• 1:16:40
  Speaker 1: of David. That was the promise God had sworn to David.
• 1:16:45
  Speaker 1: Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me.
• 1:16:48
  Speaker 1: Your throne will be established forever. But if you trace
• 1:16:52
  Speaker 1: the genealogy in Matthew Chapter one, you find that Joseph,
• 1:16:56
  Speaker 1: Jesus's legal father, was a direct descendant of Jakonaia. Matthew one,
• 1:17:01
  Speaker 1: verse eleven says Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his
• 1:17:05
  Speaker 1: brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon. The
• 1:17:09
  Speaker 1: line goes Jeconiah shield tel Zerubabyle and eventually down to Joseph.
• 1:17:15
  Speaker 1: So if Jesus was the biological son of Joseph, he
• 1:17:19
  Speaker 1: would fall under the curse of Jeconiah. He could never
• 1:17:22
  Speaker 1: be king. The promise would be broken. This is the
• 1:17:26
  Speaker 1: problem that has puzzled scholars for centuries. If Jesus comes
• 1:17:31
  Speaker 1: through Joseph's line, and if Jeconiah is in that line
• 1:17:34
  Speaker 1: with a curse upon his descendants, how can Jesus be
• 1:17:38
  Speaker 1: the Messiah. Here is where we see one profound way
• 1:17:41
  Speaker 1: Christians have understood God's wisdom. Jesus is the legal heir
• 1:17:46
  Speaker 1: to the throne through Joseph. He has the legal right
• 1:17:50
  Speaker 1: because he is considered Joseph's son in the eyes of
• 1:17:53
  Speaker 1: Jewish law and custom. This gives him the recognized claim
• 1:17:57
  Speaker 1: to David's throne. But Jesus is not Joseph's biological son.
• 1:18:02
  Speaker 1: He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of
• 1:18:05
  Speaker 1: the Virgin Mary. Because Jesus was not biologically descended from Joseph,
• 1:18:11
  Speaker 1: he does not fall under the curse of Jeconiah. The
• 1:18:14
  Speaker 1: curse applied only to Jeconiah's biological descendants, those who carried
• 1:18:18
  Speaker 1: his blood. At the same time, many Christians believe Jesus
• 1:18:23
  Speaker 1: is still biologically connected to David through Mary, while Matthew
• 1:18:27
  Speaker 1: traces Joseph's line through Solomon and Jechoniah. Many scholars suggest
• 1:18:32
  Speaker 1: that Luke's genealogy traces Mary's ancestry through Nathan, another son
• 1:18:37
  Speaker 1: of David, a line not under the curse. So here
• 1:18:40
  Speaker 1: is a beautiful harmony. Many believers see in God's design,
• 1:18:44
  Speaker 1: Jesus has the legal right to David's throne through Joseph,
• 1:18:48
  Speaker 1: but he avoids the curse because he was not Joseph's
• 1:18:51
  Speaker 1: biological son, and he carries the true blood of David
• 1:18:55
  Speaker 1: through Mary's line. Among its many profound purposes, fulfill lling
• 1:19:00
  Speaker 1: Isaiah's prophecy of a virgin birth, demonstrating Christ's deity, insuring
• 1:19:06
  Speaker 1: his sinless nature conceived by the Holy Spirit. The virgin
• 1:19:10
  Speaker 1: birth also answered this impossible legal and theological problem. It
• 1:19:16
  Speaker 1: was one remarkable way God ensured that both justice and mercy,
• 1:19:20
  Speaker 1: both law and grace could meet perfectly in the birth
• 1:19:24
  Speaker 1: of his son. The prophet Isaiah foretold this seven hundred
• 1:19:28
  Speaker 1: years before Jesus was born. Therefore, the Lord himself will
• 1:19:32
  Speaker 1: give you a sign. The Virgin will conceive and give
• 1:19:35
  Speaker 1: birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel, which
• 1:19:38
  Speaker 1: means God with us. Think about the precision of God's plan.
• 1:19:43
  Speaker 1: If Jesus had been born just a generation earlier or later,
• 1:19:46
  Speaker 1: the genealogy would not align. If he had been the
• 1:19:50
  Speaker 1: biological son of Joseph, he would be under the curse.
• 1:19:54
  Speaker 1: If he had not been legally connected to Joseph, he
• 1:19:57
  Speaker 1: would have no recognized claim to thee. But God orchestrated
• 1:20:02
  Speaker 1: every detail, every marriage, every birth, every generation, so that
• 1:20:06
  Speaker 1: at exactly the right moment in history, a virgin would
• 1:20:09
  Speaker 1: give birth to a son who was fully God and
• 1:20:12
  Speaker 1: fully man, with the legal right to rule, and the
• 1:20:16
  Speaker 1: blood of David in his veins, yet free from any curse.
• 1:20:21
  Speaker 1: If you are listening to Night and you face a
• 1:20:23
  Speaker 1: problem that seems impossible, a situation where every door is closed,
• 1:20:27
  Speaker 1: where the math doesn't add up, where there seems to
• 1:20:29
  Speaker 1: be no way forward, remember Jeconiah's curse. What looks impossible
• 1:20:34
  Speaker 1: to us is simply an opportunity for God to show
• 1:20:38
  Speaker 1: his wisdom. He specializes in the impossible. Trust him. He
• 1:20:43
  Speaker 1: is writing a better story than you can imagine. The
• 1:20:46
  Speaker 1: genealogy is not just a list of names. It is
• 1:20:49
  Speaker 1: a masterpiece of divine sovereignty. Every generation mattered, every decision,
• 1:20:55
  Speaker 1: every child born was part of a plan that stretched
• 1:20:58
  Speaker 1: across centuries, and in the end, the curse of Jeconiah,
• 1:21:02
  Speaker 1: which seemed like it would destroy everything, became one more
• 1:21:06
  Speaker 1: testimony that nothing can stop God from fulfilling his word.
• 1:21:11
  Speaker 1: The promise made to Abraham still stood. The covenant with
• 1:21:14
  Speaker 1: David was still secure, and the child born in Bethlehem
• 1:21:18
  Speaker 1: was the fulfillment of every prophecy, every hope, every longing
• 1:21:22
  Speaker 1: carried through forty two generations. Now from Jeconiah, the genealogy
• 1:21:29
  Speaker 1: continues through the years of exile and return, through men
• 1:21:33
  Speaker 1: whose names are mostly forgotten, whose lives were lived in obscurity,
• 1:21:37
  Speaker 1: but each one carried the promise forward, step by step,
• 1:21:41
  Speaker 1: until the day when an angel would appear to a
• 1:21:44
  Speaker 1: virgin in Nazareth. Let us walk through those quiet years
• 1:21:48
  Speaker 1: and see how God never stopped working, even in the
• 1:21:51
  Speaker 1: Silence Chapter ten Zirubebel to Joseph the Silent years. After
• 1:21:59
  Speaker 1: the curse of Jeconiah and the destruction of Jerusalem, the
• 1:22:03
  Speaker 1: people of Judah found themselves in a foreign land. Babylon
• 1:22:07
  Speaker 1: became their home, though it was never truly home. They
• 1:22:11
  Speaker 1: hung their harps on the willow trees and wept when
• 1:22:14
  Speaker 1: they remembered Zion. The Psalmist wrote, by the rivers of Babylon,
• 1:22:19
  Speaker 1: we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. How can
• 1:22:22
  Speaker 1: we sing the songs of the Lord while in a
• 1:22:24
  Speaker 1: foreign land? For seventy years they lived in exile, seventy
• 1:22:30
  Speaker 1: years of waiting, seventy years of wondering if God had
• 1:22:34
  Speaker 1: forgotten his promise. But God had not forgotten. The prophet
• 1:22:38
  Speaker 1: Jeremiah had said, when seventy years are completed for Babylon,
• 1:22:43
  Speaker 1: I will come to you and fulfill my good promise
• 1:22:46
  Speaker 1: to bring you back to this place. And that is
• 1:22:49
  Speaker 1: exactly what happened. In the first year of Cyrus, king
• 1:22:52
  Speaker 1: of Persia. The Lord moved his heart to issue a proclamation.
• 1:22:57
  Speaker 1: The Lord, the God of Heaven, has given me all
• 1:23:00
  Speaker 1: all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has appointed
• 1:23:02
  Speaker 1: me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem. In Judah,
• 1:23:07
  Speaker 1: any of his people among you may go up. A
• 1:23:09
  Speaker 1: remnant returned, not all of them. Many had settled into
• 1:23:13
  Speaker 1: Babylonian life, but some still remembered Jerusalem. Some still longed
• 1:23:19
  Speaker 1: for the House of God. Among those who returned was
• 1:23:22
  Speaker 1: a man named Zerubabl. Zerubabel was the grandson of Jeconiah.
• 1:23:28
  Speaker 1: He was a prince of the royal line, a descendant
• 1:23:31
  Speaker 1: of David. Though he would never sit on a throne,
• 1:23:34
  Speaker 1: he was chosen by God to lead the people back
• 1:23:37
  Speaker 1: and to rebuild the temple. When they arrived in Jerusalem,
• 1:23:41
  Speaker 1: they found ruins, the walls were broken down, the temple
• 1:23:46
  Speaker 1: was a heap of rubble. The city of David was
• 1:23:49
  Speaker 1: a ghost of its former glory. Yet they did not despair.
• 1:23:53
  Speaker 1: They gathered together and began to rebuild. Zerubabul laid the
• 1:23:58
  Speaker 1: foundation of the temple, and when it was laid, the
• 1:24:01
  Speaker 1: priests and levites took their places to praise the Lord, singing,
• 1:24:05
  Speaker 1: he is good. His love toward Israel endures forever. The
• 1:24:09
  Speaker 1: Bible says all the people gave a great shout of
• 1:24:13
  Speaker 1: praise to the Lord. But many of the older priests
• 1:24:16
  Speaker 1: and levites who had seen the former temple wept aloud
• 1:24:20
  Speaker 1: when they saw the foundation being laid, while many others
• 1:24:23
  Speaker 1: shouted for joy. It was a moment of both celebration
• 1:24:27
  Speaker 1: and sorrow. Celebration because God had brought them back, sorrow
• 1:24:33
  Speaker 1: because this temple would never match the glory of Solomon's.
• 1:24:37
  Speaker 1: But it was still the house of God and his
• 1:24:40
  Speaker 1: presence was still there. If you are listening to night
• 1:24:43
  Speaker 1: and you are rebuilding something, a life, a relationship, a
• 1:24:47
  Speaker 1: dream that was broken, remember this moment. The new thing
• 1:24:51
  Speaker 1: may not look as glorious as what you lost, but
• 1:24:54
  Speaker 1: if God is in it, it is enough. Do not
• 1:24:57
  Speaker 1: despise small beginnings. God is faithful to complete what he starts.
• 1:25:02
  Speaker 1: For years, the work was opposed. Enemies tried to stop
• 1:25:07
  Speaker 1: the rebuilding, but God sent prophets Hagai and Zechariah to
• 1:25:12
  Speaker 1: encourage the people, and under Zerubabul's leadership, the temple was completed.
• 1:25:17
  Speaker 1: But Zerubabyl never became king. The throne of David remained empty,
• 1:25:23
  Speaker 1: and after him the genealogy enters a shadowy period. Matthew
• 1:25:28
  Speaker 1: lists the names abeud Eliakim azor zadok Akim, eliud Eliezar
• 1:25:34
  Speaker 1: matthan Jacob. We know almost nothing about these men. The
• 1:25:39
  Speaker 1: Bible does not record their deeds, History does not remember
• 1:25:43
  Speaker 1: their reigns. They were not kings, they were not prophets.
• 1:25:48
  Speaker 1: They were ordinary men, living quiet lives in a nation
• 1:25:52
  Speaker 1: that had lost its independence. Carpenters, perhaps farmers, mercians, men
• 1:25:59
  Speaker 1: who who woke each morning, worked with their hands, provided
• 1:26:04
  Speaker 1: for their families, and went to bed at night. They
• 1:26:07
  Speaker 1: did not know they were part of a divine plan.
• 1:26:10
  Speaker 1: They did not know that through their ordinary lives God
• 1:26:13
  Speaker 1: was weaving the thread that would one day bring forth
• 1:26:16
  Speaker 1: the savior of the world. These are the silent years.
• 1:26:20
  Speaker 1: Four hundred years passed between the last prophet of the
• 1:26:23
  Speaker 1: Old Testament, Malachi, and the birth of Jesus, four hundred
• 1:26:28
  Speaker 1: years without a word from God, no prophets, no miracles,
• 1:26:34
  Speaker 1: no voice from heaven. The world changed around them. The
• 1:26:38
  Speaker 1: Persian Empire gave way to the Greeks. Alexander the Great
• 1:26:43
  Speaker 1: conquered the known world. After his death, his empire was divided.
• 1:26:48
  Speaker 1: Judea came under foreign rule again and again. In the
• 1:26:52
  Speaker 1: quiet homes of faithful families, lanterns were lit each evening.
• 1:26:57
  Speaker 1: Mothers sang the psalms to their children. Fathers taught them
• 1:27:01
  Speaker 1: the stories of Abraham leaving Er of Moses, parting the
• 1:27:05
  Speaker 1: Sea of David, defeating Goliath. They told their children, one
• 1:27:10
  Speaker 1: day the Messiah will come. One day God will remember
• 1:27:14
  Speaker 1: his promise. And they waited. Then came Rome. In sixty
• 1:27:19
  Speaker 1: three b c. The Roman general Pompey conquered Jerusalem. The
• 1:27:24
  Speaker 1: Jewish people became subjects of the greatest empire the world
• 1:27:27
  Speaker 1: had ever seen. And still no word from God. The
• 1:27:32
  Speaker 1: faithful clung to the old prophecies. They remembered Isaiah's words,
• 1:27:36
  Speaker 1: the Virgin will conceive and give birth to a son,
• 1:27:39
  Speaker 1: and will call him Immanuel. They remembered Micah's promise. But you, Bethlehem,
• 1:27:44
  Speaker 1: though you are small among the clans of Judah, out
• 1:27:47
  Speaker 1: of you, will come for me one who will be
• 1:27:50
  Speaker 1: ruler over Israel. But when how long would they have
• 1:27:54
  Speaker 1: to wait? Through all these years the genealogy continued. Unknown
• 1:28:00
  Speaker 1: men married, unknown women. They had children, raised families, worked
• 1:28:05
  Speaker 1: their trades, They lived under Roman occupation, paid their taxes,
• 1:28:10
  Speaker 1: and tried to survive. They did not know they were
• 1:28:13
  Speaker 1: part of history, but God knew. The last name in
• 1:28:17
  Speaker 1: the line before Joseph is Jacob. We know nothing about
• 1:28:21
  Speaker 1: him except this. He was the father of Joseph, the
• 1:28:24
  Speaker 1: husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is
• 1:28:28
  Speaker 1: called the Messiah. Joseph was a carpenter, a craftsman who
• 1:28:33
  Speaker 1: worked with his hands. He lived in Nazareth, a town
• 1:28:36
  Speaker 1: so small and insignificant that when Nathaniel heard Jesus was
• 1:28:40
  Speaker 1: from there, he said, Nazareth, can anything good come from there?
• 1:28:45
  Speaker 1: Joseph was not a king. He was not wealthy, He
• 1:28:49
  Speaker 1: was not famous. He was a righteous man, quiet and faithful,
• 1:28:54
  Speaker 1: living a simple life in a forgotten corner of the
• 1:28:56
  Speaker 1: Roman Empire. He had no idea that God would about
• 1:29:00
  Speaker 1: to turn his life and the entire world upside down.
• 1:29:04
  Speaker 1: If you are listening to Night and you feel invisible, forgotten,
• 1:29:09
  Speaker 1: or insignificant, remember Joseph, Remember the unnamed men who carried
• 1:29:15
  Speaker 1: the promise through the silent years. God does not need
• 1:29:19
  Speaker 1: you to be famous. He needs you to be faithful.
• 1:29:23
  Speaker 1: Your quiet obedience, your hidden prayers, your ordinary faithfulness. They
• 1:29:28
  Speaker 1: matter more than you know. You are part of a
• 1:29:31
  Speaker 1: story far greater than you can see. For in the silence,
• 1:29:35
  Speaker 1: God had been working, in the waiting, he had been preparing,
• 1:29:39
  Speaker 1: and in the quiet town of Nazareth, the most extraordinary
• 1:29:43
  Speaker 1: moment in all of human history was about to unfold.
• 1:29:46
  Speaker 1: The four hundred years of silence were about to be broken,
• 1:29:50
  Speaker 1: not with thunder, but with the voice of an angel.
• 1:29:54
  Speaker 1: Not in the temple, but in the home of a
• 1:29:56
  Speaker 1: young virgin. The promise was here. Chapter eleven, Joseph and Mary,
• 1:30:04
  Speaker 1: the unlikely parents. In the town of Nazareth, in the
• 1:30:08
  Speaker 1: region of Galilee, there lived a young woman whose name
• 1:30:12
  Speaker 1: would echo through eternity. Her name was Mary. She was
• 1:30:16
  Speaker 1: probably no more than fourteen or fifteen years old, young
• 1:30:19
  Speaker 1: by our standards, but of marriageable age. In her culture,
• 1:30:24
  Speaker 1: she was engaged to a man named Joseph, a carpenter,
• 1:30:27
  Speaker 1: a descendant of David. The engagement or betrothal, was a
• 1:30:32
  Speaker 1: binding contract in Jewish culture. It could only be broken
• 1:30:36
  Speaker 1: by divorce. But they had not yet come together as
• 1:30:39
  Speaker 1: husband and wife. Mary was still living in her parents home,
• 1:30:43
  Speaker 1: preparing for the day she would join Joseph's household. Her
• 1:30:47
  Speaker 1: life was ordinary. She lived in a small town that
• 1:30:51
  Speaker 1: no one thought was important. She had no wealth, no status,
• 1:30:56
  Speaker 1: no power. She was simply a young woman, faithful to God,
• 1:31:01
  Speaker 1: waiting for her life to begin. But God had chosen
• 1:31:04
  Speaker 1: her for something far greater than she could have imagined.
• 1:31:08
  Speaker 1: One day, as she was going about her daily tasks,
• 1:31:11
  Speaker 1: perhaps drawing water, perhaps preparing bread, the ordinary became extraordinary.
• 1:31:16
  Speaker 1: The mundane became miraculous. The veil between heaven and earth
• 1:31:21
  Speaker 1: grew thin, and an angel stepped into her world. The
• 1:31:24
  Speaker 1: Gospel of Luke tells us what happened. It says God
• 1:31:28
  Speaker 1: sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee,
• 1:31:32
  Speaker 1: to a virgin pledged to be married to a man
• 1:31:35
  Speaker 1: named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary.
• 1:31:40
  Speaker 1: Gabriel appeared to her and said, greetings, you, who are
• 1:31:44
  Speaker 1: highly favored. The Lord is with you. Mary was deeply
• 1:31:47
  Speaker 1: troubled by his words. She wondered what kind of greeting
• 1:31:51
  Speaker 1: this might be. She had never seen an angel before.
• 1:31:55
  Speaker 1: She did not know why Heaven would take notice of her.
• 1:31:58
  Speaker 1: The Angel said to her, do not be afraid, Mary,
• 1:32:01
  Speaker 1: you have found favor with God. You will conceive and
• 1:32:05
  Speaker 1: give birth to a son, and you are to call
• 1:32:07
  Speaker 1: him Jesus. He will be great and will be called
• 1:32:10
  Speaker 1: the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will
• 1:32:14
  Speaker 1: give him the throne of his father, David, and he
• 1:32:16
  Speaker 1: will reign over Jacob's descendants forever. His kingdom will never end.
• 1:32:22
  Speaker 1: Mary's heart must have been racing her son, the son
• 1:32:26
  Speaker 1: of the Most High, the throne of David, a kingdom
• 1:32:31
  Speaker 1: without end. But there was a problem, a significant, undeniable problem.
• 1:32:37
  Speaker 1: Mary asked the Angel, how will this be? Since I
• 1:32:40
  Speaker 1: am a virgin. It was not a question of doubt,
• 1:32:43
  Speaker 1: but of wonder, she believed the angel. She simply did
• 1:32:48
  Speaker 1: not understand how it could happen. Gabriel answered, the Holy
• 1:32:52
  Speaker 1: Spirit will come on you, and the power of the
• 1:32:54
  Speaker 1: Most High will overshadow you. So the Holy One to
• 1:32:57
  Speaker 1: be born, will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth,
• 1:33:01
  Speaker 1: your relative, is going to have a child in her
• 1:33:03
  Speaker 1: old age, and she who was said to be unable
• 1:33:06
  Speaker 1: to conceive, is in her sixth month. For no word
• 1:33:10
  Speaker 1: from God will ever fail. There was a silence, a
• 1:33:14
  Speaker 1: moment when the entire universe seemed to hold its breath.
• 1:33:18
  Speaker 1: Everything hinged on what Mary would say next. She could
• 1:33:22
  Speaker 1: have said no, She could have refused. She could have
• 1:33:25
  Speaker 1: asked for time, for proof, for some one else to
• 1:33:28
  Speaker 1: carry this impossible burden. The cost was real. She was
• 1:33:33
  Speaker 1: engaged to Joseph. If she became pregnant, he could divorce her,
• 1:33:38
  Speaker 1: she could be stoned. At minimum, she would live the
• 1:33:41
  Speaker 1: rest of her life in shame. But she did not hesitate.
• 1:33:45
  Speaker 1: Mary said, I am the Lord's servant. May your word
• 1:33:49
  Speaker 1: to me be fulfilled. And with those words the word
• 1:33:53
  Speaker 1: became flesh. The eternal Son of God, who had existed
• 1:33:58
  Speaker 1: before the foundation of the world, took on human form
• 1:34:01
  Speaker 1: in the womb of a teenage girl. If you are
• 1:34:04
  Speaker 1: listening to Night and God is asking you to say
• 1:34:07
  Speaker 1: yes to something that makes no sense, something that will
• 1:34:10
  Speaker 1: cost you dearly, something that might bring misunderstanding or pain,
• 1:34:14
  Speaker 1: remember Mary She did not ask for guarantees, She did
• 1:34:18
  Speaker 1: not demand to understand. She simply said, I am the
• 1:34:23
  Speaker 1: Lord's servant. That is the heart God honors. That is
• 1:34:28
  Speaker 1: the faith that changes the world. When Joseph discovered that
• 1:34:32
  Speaker 1: Mary was pregnant, his heart must have been crushed. He
• 1:34:36
  Speaker 1: loved her, He was a righteous man, but the child
• 1:34:39
  Speaker 1: was not his. What else could he think but that
• 1:34:42
  Speaker 1: she had been unfaithful, The Bible says, because Joseph, her husband,
• 1:34:47
  Speaker 1: was faithful to the law and yet did not want
• 1:34:50
  Speaker 1: to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind
• 1:34:53
  Speaker 1: to divorce her quietly. He did not want to hurt her.
• 1:34:57
  Speaker 1: He did not want to see her stoned. So he
• 1:35:00
  Speaker 1: decided to end the engagement as gently as possible and
• 1:35:04
  Speaker 1: let her go. But that night, as he lay down
• 1:35:07
  Speaker 1: to sleep, his plan still heavy on his heart, an
• 1:35:11
  Speaker 1: angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream.
• 1:35:14
  Speaker 1: The angel said, Joseph, son of David, do not be
• 1:35:17
  Speaker 1: afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what
• 1:35:20
  Speaker 1: is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She
• 1:35:24
  Speaker 1: will give birth to a son, and you are to
• 1:35:26
  Speaker 1: give him the name Jesus, because he will save his
• 1:35:30
  Speaker 1: people from their sins. Joseph woke up, and he believed,
• 1:35:35
  Speaker 1: without hesitation, without demanding more proof, He did what the
• 1:35:39
  Speaker 1: Angel commanded. He took Mary as his wife. He chose
• 1:35:43
  Speaker 1: to obey God, even when it meant his reputation would suffer,
• 1:35:47
  Speaker 1: even when people would whisper and point, even when his
• 1:35:51
  Speaker 1: name would be associated with scandal. He became the earthly
• 1:35:55
  Speaker 1: father of the Son of God, not by biology but
• 1:35:59
  Speaker 1: by chol not by right, but by obedience. If you
• 1:36:04
  Speaker 1: are listening to Night and obeying God means people will
• 1:36:08
  Speaker 1: misunderstand you, talk about you, question your judgment. Remember Joseph,
• 1:36:14
  Speaker 1: he knew the cost. He paid it anyway, because faithfulness
• 1:36:18
  Speaker 1: to God matters more than the opinions of men. The
• 1:36:22
  Speaker 1: name the Angel told him to give the child was
• 1:36:25
  Speaker 1: Jesus Yeshure in Hebrew, which means the Lord saves, For
• 1:36:30
  Speaker 1: as the Angel said, he will save his people from
• 1:36:33
  Speaker 1: their sins. This was the mission, not to conquer Rome,
• 1:36:38
  Speaker 1: not to overthrow Caesar, not to establish an earthly kingdom
• 1:36:43
  Speaker 1: of power and wealth, but to save his people from
• 1:36:46
  Speaker 1: their sins. All of this fulfilled what the prophet Isaiah
• 1:36:50
  Speaker 1: had spoken centuries earlier. The virgin will conceive and give
• 1:36:54
  Speaker 1: birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel,
• 1:36:58
  Speaker 1: which means God with us, God with us. Not God
• 1:37:02
  Speaker 1: far away in heaven, untouched by human pain, but God
• 1:37:07
  Speaker 1: here among us, feeling what we feel, suffering what we suffer.
• 1:37:13
  Speaker 1: As Mary's time drew near, Caesar Augustus issued a decree
• 1:37:17
  Speaker 1: that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.
• 1:37:20
  Speaker 1: Every one had to go to their own town to register.
• 1:37:24
  Speaker 1: So Joseph, because he belonged to the house and line
• 1:37:27
  Speaker 1: of David, went from Galilee to Judea to Bethlehem, the
• 1:37:32
  Speaker 1: town of David. He took Mary with him. She was
• 1:37:36
  Speaker 1: heavily pregnant, riding on a donkey, traveling seventy miles over
• 1:37:40
  Speaker 1: rough terrain. When they arrived, the town was crowded. Every
• 1:37:45
  Speaker 1: room was full. There was no place for them. So
• 1:37:48
  Speaker 1: they found shelter where they could, in a stable among
• 1:37:51
  Speaker 1: the animals. And there, in the most humble of circumstances,
• 1:37:56
  Speaker 1: Mary gave birth to her first born, a son. She
• 1:38:00
  Speaker 1: wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger,
• 1:38:02
  Speaker 1: a feeding trough for animals. The King of Kings was
• 1:38:05
  Speaker 1: born in a stable. The light of the world entered
• 1:38:08
  Speaker 1: in darkness. The creator of the universe lay helpless in
• 1:38:12
  Speaker 1: the arms of a teenage mother. If you are listening
• 1:38:15
  Speaker 1: to night and you feel like your circumstances are all wrong,
• 1:38:19
  Speaker 1: like you're in the wrong place, at the wrong time,
• 1:38:21
  Speaker 1: with the wrong resources, remember this moment. God does not
• 1:38:26
  Speaker 1: need perfect circumstances to do his greatest work. He enters
• 1:38:30
  Speaker 1: the mess He comes in the darkness. He is born
• 1:38:34
  Speaker 1: in the stable. Your situation does not limit his power.
• 1:38:38
  Speaker 1: In the fields near by, shepherds were keeping watch over
• 1:38:41
  Speaker 1: their flocks at night, and suddenly an Angel of the
• 1:38:45
  Speaker 1: Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord
• 1:38:47
  Speaker 1: shone around them. They were terrified. The angel said, do
• 1:38:52
  Speaker 1: not be afraid. I bring you good news that will
• 1:38:55
  Speaker 1: cause great joy for all the people. To day. In
• 1:38:58
  Speaker 1: the town of David, a save has been born to you.
• 1:39:01
  Speaker 1: He is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a
• 1:39:04
  Speaker 1: sign to you. You will find a baby wrapped in
• 1:39:08
  Speaker 1: cloths and lying in a manger. And suddenly a great
• 1:39:12
  Speaker 1: company of the heavenly host appeared with the Angel, praising
• 1:39:15
  Speaker 1: God and saying glory to God in the highest heaven
• 1:39:19
  Speaker 1: and on earth, Peace to those on whom His favor rests.
• 1:39:23
  Speaker 1: The shepherds hurried to Bethlehem, and they found Mary and
• 1:39:26
  Speaker 1: Joseph and the baby who was lying in the manger.
• 1:39:30
  Speaker 1: When they had seen him, they spread the word, and
• 1:39:34
  Speaker 1: all who heard it were amazed. But Mary treasured up
• 1:39:37
  Speaker 1: all these things and pondered them in her heart. Joseph
• 1:39:41
  Speaker 1: and Mary were unlikely parents. They were poor, they were young,
• 1:39:46
  Speaker 1: They were nobodies in the eyes of the world. But
• 1:39:50
  Speaker 1: God chose them. He trusted them with the most important
• 1:39:53
  Speaker 1: task in all of history, to raise his son, to
• 1:39:57
  Speaker 1: protect him, to teach him to love him. And they
• 1:40:00
  Speaker 1: did not perfectly, but faithfully. The forty two generations, from
• 1:40:06
  Speaker 1: Abraham to David, from David to the exile, from the
• 1:40:09
  Speaker 1: exile to the Messiah were complete, but the story was
• 1:40:13
  Speaker 1: only beginning Chapter twelve, the Birth of Jesus. Forty two
• 1:40:20
  Speaker 1: generations complete. On a night like any other, in a
• 1:40:25
  Speaker 1: town that had seen a thousand sunsets, the world changed forever.
• 1:40:29
  Speaker 1: Bethlehem was quiet. The streets crowded during the day with
• 1:40:34
  Speaker 1: travelers who had come for the census, were now still.
• 1:40:38
  Speaker 1: Lamp light flickered in windows, Families settled in for the night.
• 1:40:42
  Speaker 1: The stars above were brilliant, as they always were in
• 1:40:45
  Speaker 1: the Judean hills. But this night was different, though no
• 1:40:50
  Speaker 1: one in Bethlehem knew it yet. This was the night
• 1:40:52
  Speaker 1: Heaven had been waiting for, the knight prophets had dreamed of,
• 1:40:57
  Speaker 1: the night that forty two generations had been leading to.
• 1:41:00
  Speaker 1: In a humble stable, tucked away from the noise and
• 1:41:03
  Speaker 1: bustle of the overcrowded in, Mary brought forth her first
• 1:41:07
  Speaker 1: born son. There were no midwives, no attendants, just Joseph,
• 1:41:13
  Speaker 1: strong and steady, doing his best to help the woman
• 1:41:16
  Speaker 1: he loved through the most sacred moment of her life.
• 1:41:20
  Speaker 1: When the baby was born, Mary held him close. She
• 1:41:24
  Speaker 1: looked into his tiny face, and she knew this was
• 1:41:27
  Speaker 1: no ordinary child. This was the one the angel had
• 1:41:31
  Speaker 1: spoken of, the Sun of the Most High, the king
• 1:41:35
  Speaker 1: whose kingdom would never end. But he did not look
• 1:41:38
  Speaker 1: like a king. He looked like every other new born, small, fragile,
• 1:41:43
  Speaker 1: completely dependent. His first bed was not a royal cradle,
• 1:41:47
  Speaker 1: but a feeding trough. His first blanket was not fine linen,
• 1:41:51
  Speaker 1: but rough strips of cloth. The King of Heaven lay
• 1:41:54
  Speaker 1: in a manger, surrounded by animals, in a place that
• 1:41:57
  Speaker 1: smelled of hay and earth. It was the most profound
• 1:42:00
  Speaker 1: paradox in all of history, the God who created the universe.
• 1:42:04
  Speaker 1: He became a baby, helpless, vulnerabler, fully human, and yet
• 1:42:11
  Speaker 1: fully divine. Mary wrapped him in swaddling cloths, just as
• 1:42:16
  Speaker 1: every mother did. She whispered his name, Jesus, the Lord saves.
• 1:42:22
  Speaker 1: She did not fully understand what it all meant. She
• 1:42:25
  Speaker 1: only knew that this child was a gift, a promise,
• 1:42:29
  Speaker 1: a miracle. If you are listening to night, close your
• 1:42:33
  Speaker 1: eyes and see this moment. The God of Abraham, Isaac
• 1:42:37
  Speaker 1: and Jacob, the God who parted the Red Sea, who
• 1:42:40
  Speaker 1: spoke from Mount Sinai, who held back the sun for Joshua.
• 1:42:44
  Speaker 1: He is lying in a manger, not because he had to,
• 1:42:48
  Speaker 1: but because he chose to. He chose you. He chose
• 1:42:52
  Speaker 1: to enter your world, your pain, your darkness. That is
• 1:42:56
  Speaker 1: how much you are loved. Outside in the field beyond Bethlehem,
• 1:43:01
  Speaker 1: shepherds were keeping watch over their flocks. It was cold,
• 1:43:06
  Speaker 1: the night was long. They huddled together, talking in low voices,
• 1:43:11
  Speaker 1: watching for wolves or thieves, And then without warning, the
• 1:43:15
  Speaker 1: sky exploded with light. An angel appeared before them, and
• 1:43:20
  Speaker 1: the glory of the Lord blazed around them like a
• 1:43:22
  Speaker 1: thousand sons The shepherds fell to the ground, shielding their eyes, terrified.
• 1:43:28
  Speaker 1: Beyond words, the angel spoke, do not be afraid. I
• 1:43:33
  Speaker 1: bring you good news that will cause great joy for
• 1:43:36
  Speaker 1: all the people. To day in the town of David.
• 1:43:39
  Speaker 1: A savior has been born to you. He is the Messiah,
• 1:43:42
  Speaker 1: the Lord. This will be a signed to you. You
• 1:43:46
  Speaker 1: will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in
• 1:43:48
  Speaker 1: a manger. Before the shepherds could respond, the heavens opened.
• 1:43:53
  Speaker 1: A multitude of angels appeared, thousands upon thousands of them,
• 1:43:57
  Speaker 1: filling the night sky with radiance and song. They sang
• 1:44:01
  Speaker 1: glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth,
• 1:44:04
  Speaker 1: peace to those on whom His favor rests. The sound
• 1:44:08
  Speaker 1: was unlike anything ever heard before. It was the song
• 1:44:12
  Speaker 1: of creation itself, the anthem of heaven, the declaration that
• 1:44:16
  Speaker 1: after four thousand years of waiting, the promise had come. Then,
• 1:44:21
  Speaker 1: as suddenly as they had appeared, the angels were gone.
• 1:44:25
  Speaker 1: The sky returned to darkness, the stars shone quietly again.
• 1:44:30
  Speaker 1: One of the shepherds whispered, let's go to Bethlehem and
• 1:44:33
  Speaker 1: see this thing that has happened. They ran, these rough,
• 1:44:37
  Speaker 1: unpolished men, the lowest class in society. Considered unclean by
• 1:44:42
  Speaker 1: the religious elite, they were the first to be invited
• 1:44:44
  Speaker 1: to see the Savior. They found Mary and Joseph, just
• 1:44:48
  Speaker 1: as the Angel had said, and there in the manger
• 1:44:52
  Speaker 1: was the baby. The shepherds fell to their knees. They
• 1:44:56
  Speaker 1: did not need gold or fine robes to recognize a king.
• 1:45:00
  Speaker 1: They saw him with the eyes of faith, and they worshiped.
• 1:45:04
  Speaker 1: When they left, they could not keep silent. They told
• 1:45:07
  Speaker 1: everyone they met, we have seen the Messiah. He is here.
• 1:45:13
  Speaker 1: But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them
• 1:45:15
  Speaker 1: in her heart. Eight days later, Joseph and Mary took
• 1:45:19
  Speaker 1: the baby to be circumcised according to the law of Moses,
• 1:45:23
  Speaker 1: and they gave him the name Jesus, just as the
• 1:45:26
  Speaker 1: Angel had commanded. When the time came for their purification,
• 1:45:31
  Speaker 1: they brought him to the temple in Jerusalem. They offered
• 1:45:34
  Speaker 1: a sacrifice two young pigeons, the offering of the poor.
• 1:45:38
  Speaker 1: In the temple there was a man named Simeon. He
• 1:45:42
  Speaker 1: was righteous and devout, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
• 1:45:46
  Speaker 1: God had promised him that he would not die before
• 1:45:48
  Speaker 1: he had seen the Lord's Messiah. When Simeon saw the baby,
• 1:45:52
  Speaker 1: something stirred deep within his soul. He walked over to
• 1:45:56
  Speaker 1: Mary and she placed Jesus in his arms. Simeon looked
• 1:46:00
  Speaker 1: down at the child, and tears filled his eyes. He
• 1:46:04
  Speaker 1: lifted his face to heaven and said, Sovereign Lord, as
• 1:46:07
  Speaker 1: you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace.
• 1:46:12
  Speaker 1: For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have
• 1:46:15
  Speaker 1: prepared in the sight of all nations, a light for
• 1:46:18
  Speaker 1: revelation to the gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.
• 1:46:22
  Speaker 1: Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, this child
• 1:46:26
  Speaker 1: is destined to cause the falling and rising of many
• 1:46:29
  Speaker 1: in Israel, and a sword will pierce your own soul too.
• 1:46:33
  Speaker 1: Mary did not understand fully, but one day she would.
• 1:46:38
  Speaker 1: One day she would stand at the foot of a
• 1:46:40
  Speaker 1: cross and watch her son die, and in that moment
• 1:46:44
  Speaker 1: a sword would indeed pierce her soul. Not long after,
• 1:46:48
  Speaker 1: wise men from the East arrived in Jerusalem. They were scholars, astrologers,
• 1:46:54
  Speaker 1: men who studied the stars, and they had seen something extraordinary,
• 1:46:58
  Speaker 1: a star like any they had ever seen, rising in
• 1:47:02
  Speaker 1: the sky. They believed it signaled the birth of a
• 1:47:06
  Speaker 1: great king. When they arrived in Jerusalem, they asked, where
• 1:47:11
  Speaker 1: is the one who has been born? King of the Jews.
• 1:47:14
  Speaker 1: We saw his star when it rose and have come
• 1:47:16
  Speaker 1: to worship him. King Herod was disturbed. He gathered the
• 1:47:21
  Speaker 1: chief priests and asked where the Messiah was to be born.
• 1:47:24
  Speaker 1: They answered in Bethlehem. Herod sent the wise men to
• 1:47:28
  Speaker 1: Bethlehem with instructions, search carefully for the child. When you
• 1:47:33
  Speaker 1: find him, report to me so that I too may
• 1:47:36
  Speaker 1: go and worship him. But Herod had no intention of worshiping.
• 1:47:40
  Speaker 1: He intended to kill. The wise men continued their journey.
• 1:47:45
  Speaker 1: The star went ahead of them until it stopped over
• 1:47:48
  Speaker 1: the place where the child was. When they entered the house,
• 1:47:51
  Speaker 1: Joseph and Mary had found better lodging. By this time.
• 1:47:55
  Speaker 1: They saw the child with his mother. They bowed down
• 1:47:58
  Speaker 1: and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented
• 1:48:02
  Speaker 1: him with gifts gold, frankincense, and mrh. Gold for a king,
• 1:48:08
  Speaker 1: frankincense for a priest, mrh for one who would die.
• 1:48:14
  Speaker 1: These gifts were not random, they were prophecies. This child
• 1:48:19
  Speaker 1: was king, priest and sacrifice. After the wise men left,
• 1:48:24
  Speaker 1: an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream. Get up,
• 1:48:28
  Speaker 1: take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt.
• 1:48:32
  Speaker 1: Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going
• 1:48:34
  Speaker 1: to search for the child to kill him. Joseph woke
• 1:48:37
  Speaker 1: Mary in the middle of the night. They gathered what
• 1:48:40
  Speaker 1: little they had and fled into the darkness. Behind them.
• 1:48:45
  Speaker 1: Herod's soldiers would soon sweep through Bethlehem, killing every male
• 1:48:50
  Speaker 1: child two years old and under. Mothers wept for their children.
• 1:48:55
  Speaker 1: The prophecy of Jeremiah was fulfilled. A voice is heard
• 1:48:59
  Speaker 1: in Ramah weeping and great mourning. But Jesus was safe, protected, hidden,
• 1:49:06
  Speaker 1: because his time had not yet come. From Abraham to Isaac,
• 1:49:11
  Speaker 1: from Isaac to Jacob, from Jacob to Judah, through Tamar
• 1:49:16
  Speaker 1: reraehab Ruth and Bathsheba, through David and Solomon, through exile
• 1:49:22
  Speaker 1: and return, through Zarubabelle and the Silent years, through Joseph
• 1:49:27
  Speaker 1: and Mary. Forty two generations, Prostitutes and kings, liars and heroes,
• 1:49:35
  Speaker 1: failures and saints. Every one of them was part of
• 1:49:39
  Speaker 1: the story. Every name mattered, every life had a purpose,
• 1:49:45
  Speaker 1: and every thread was woven together by the hand of
• 1:49:47
  Speaker 1: God to bring forth this moment. The child in the
• 1:49:50
  Speaker 1: manger was the fulfillment of every promise, the hope of
• 1:49:54
  Speaker 1: every nation, the light in every darkness. He did not
• 1:49:58
  Speaker 1: come from a perfect family. He came from a real one, flawed,
• 1:50:03
  Speaker 1: broken human And that is the whole point, Because if
• 1:50:08
  Speaker 1: God could use tamar raehab Ruth, David, if he could
• 1:50:13
  Speaker 1: redeem their failures and weave their stories into his plan,
• 1:50:17
  Speaker 1: then he can use you. Your past does not disqualify you.
• 1:50:22
  Speaker 1: Your failures do not define you. Your brokenness does not
• 1:50:26
  Speaker 1: make you worthless. Because the same God who guided forty
• 1:50:29
  Speaker 1: two generations is still guiding yours. And one day, when
• 1:50:33
  Speaker 1: all the names are written, when all the stories are told,
• 1:50:37
  Speaker 1: you will see that every moment, every heart break, every triumph,
• 1:50:41
  Speaker 1: every quiet act of obedience, was part of a plan
• 1:50:44
  Speaker 1: far greater than you could ever imagine. The genealogy of
• 1:50:47
  Speaker 1: Jesus is not just history. It is hope. Hope that
• 1:50:51
  Speaker 1: God is always working, Hope that He never gives up,
• 1:50:56
  Speaker 1: Hope that even in the darkest night, a light is coming,
• 1:51:00
  Speaker 1: and that light has a name Jesus.
• 1:51:05
  Speaker 2: Chapter thirteen, closing Prayer and reflection, And so beloved, the
• 1:51:11
  Speaker 2: journey is complete. Forty two generations, from Abraham, the father
• 1:51:17
  Speaker 2: of Faith, to Jesus, the Son of God, from a
• 1:51:21
  Speaker 2: promise spoken beneath the stars to a baby born in
• 1:51:24
  Speaker 2: a stable, from the calling of one man to the
• 1:51:27
  Speaker 2: redemption of all mankind. Every name we have walked through
• 1:51:31
  Speaker 2: tonight was part of a story far greater than any
• 1:51:34
  Speaker 2: of them could have known. Abraham did not know that
• 1:51:37
  Speaker 2: his obedience would lead to the birth of the Messiah.
• 1:51:41
  Speaker 2: Ruth did not know that her faithfulness would place her
• 1:51:44
  Speaker 2: in the royal line. David did not know that his
• 1:51:48
  Speaker 2: greatest failure would bring forth Solomon, and through Solomon, the
• 1:51:52
  Speaker 2: lineage of the Savior. They simply lived, They obeyed, they trusted,
• 1:51:58
  Speaker 2: and God wove their life lives into a tapestry of grace.
• 1:52:02
  Speaker 2: The Genealogy of Jesus teaches us something profound. God does
• 1:52:07
  Speaker 2: not work only through the perfect. He works through the broken,
• 1:52:11
  Speaker 2: the forgotten, the scandalous, and the ordinary. Tamar, who had
• 1:52:16
  Speaker 2: to fight for her place in the story, Rahab the
• 1:52:19
  Speaker 2: prostitute who chose faith, Ruth the foreigner who chose love, Bathsheba,
• 1:52:26
  Speaker 2: whose marriage began in tragedy, and Mary, the teenage girl
• 1:52:31
  Speaker 2: from Nazareth who said yes to the impossible. These are
• 1:52:35
  Speaker 2: the women named in the Genealogy of Jesus, not queens,
• 1:52:40
  Speaker 2: not priestesses, women who, by human standards, should never have
• 1:52:45
  Speaker 2: been part of the story. But God's standards are not ours.
• 1:52:49
  Speaker 2: He does not see as we see. He looks at
• 1:52:52
  Speaker 2: the heart. If you are listening tonight and you feel unworthy,
• 1:52:57
  Speaker 2: remember this genealogy. If you feel your past disqualifies you,
• 1:53:02
  Speaker 2: remember Raehab. If you feel like an outsider, remember Ruth.
• 1:53:07
  Speaker 2: If you have failed greatly, remember David. If you feel forgotten,
• 1:53:11
  Speaker 2: remember the silent years and the ordinary men who carried
• 1:53:15
  Speaker 2: the promise without ever knowing their names would matter. God
• 1:53:19
  Speaker 2: does not require perfection, He requires surrender to night. As
• 1:53:24
  Speaker 2: you rest, remember that the same God who guided Abraham
• 1:53:28
  Speaker 2: through the wilderness, who protected Moses in the river, who
• 1:53:31
  Speaker 2: raised David from the fields, who brought Mary through the
• 1:53:35
  Speaker 2: scandal and the fear, that same God is with you.
• 1:53:39
  Speaker 2: He has not forgotten you, He has not abandoned you.
• 1:53:43
  Speaker 2: Your life is not random, your struggles are not meaningless.
• 1:53:48
  Speaker 2: Your story is being written by the same hand that
• 1:53:51
  Speaker 2: wrote the genealogy of Jesus. And one day, when all
• 1:53:56
  Speaker 2: is revealed, you will see how every moment, every tear,
• 1:54:01
  Speaker 2: every triumph, every choice was part of a plan far
• 1:54:05
  Speaker 2: greater than you could have imagined. So close your eyes now,
• 1:54:10
  Speaker 2: let the weight of the day fall away. Let your
• 1:54:13
  Speaker 2: heart be still and know that you are loved, You
• 1:54:17
  Speaker 2: are seen, You are part of his story. Let us pray,
• 1:54:24
  Speaker 2: Heavenly Father, we come to you tonight with hearts full
• 1:54:28
  Speaker 2: of gratitude and wonder. Thank you for this journey through
• 1:54:31
  Speaker 2: the generations. Thank you for showing us that your plan
• 1:54:35
  Speaker 2: is not stopped by human failure, but fulfilled through your grace.
• 1:54:40
  Speaker 2: Thank you for Abraham, who believed when there was no
• 1:54:43
  Speaker 2: reason to believe. Thank you for Ruth, who chose loyalty
• 1:54:47
  Speaker 2: over safety. Thank you for David, who showed us that
• 1:54:51
  Speaker 2: even the greatest sinners can find forgiveness in a repentant heart.
• 1:54:56
  Speaker 2: And thank you most of all for Jesus, the fulfillment
• 1:55:00
  Speaker 2: of every promise, the hope of every generation, the light
• 1:55:05
  Speaker 2: in every darkness. Lord, we are not perfect. We are broken, flawed,
• 1:55:12
  Speaker 2: and often faithless. But you have shown us tonight that
• 1:55:16
  Speaker 2: you do not require perfection. You require only a willing heart.
• 1:55:22
  Speaker 2: So we offer ourselves to you, our past, our present,
• 1:55:27
  Speaker 2: our future. Use us as you use the men and
• 1:55:30
  Speaker 2: women in this genealogy. Write our names into your story.
• 1:55:35
  Speaker 2: Let our lives however small, however ordinary, be part of
• 1:55:40
  Speaker 2: the great work you are doing in the world. Forgive
• 1:55:44
  Speaker 2: us where we have failed, strengthen us where we are weak,
• 1:55:48
  Speaker 2: and remind us when we feel forgotten, that you have
• 1:55:52
  Speaker 2: never taken your eyes off us. Guard our hearts as
• 1:55:56
  Speaker 2: we sleep, give us rest deep and peaceful, And when
• 1:56:01
  Speaker 2: we wake, let us rise with renewed faith, knowing that
• 1:56:05
  Speaker 2: you are still writing our story, still guiding our steps,
• 1:56:09
  Speaker 2: still working all things together for good. We pray in
• 1:56:13
  Speaker 2: the name of Jesus, the son of David, the son
• 1:56:16
  Speaker 2: of Abraham, the son of God. Amen. And now, dear friend,
• 1:56:24
  Speaker 2: it is time to rest. The story of the forty
• 1:56:28
  Speaker 2: two generations is complete, but your story is still being written,
• 1:56:33
  Speaker 2: and the same God who guided them is guiding you.
• 1:56:37
  Speaker 2: Sleep peacefully tonight, knowing that you are part of something
• 1:56:40
  Speaker 2: far greater than you can see. You are loved, you
• 1:56:45
  Speaker 2: are chosen, You are His. From Abraham to David, from
• 1:56:50
  Speaker 2: David to the exile, from the exile to Jesus, and
• 1:56:55
  Speaker 2: from Jesus to you. The promise continues. The light still shew,
• 1:57:01
  Speaker 2: and the God who kept his word for forty two
• 1:57:03
  Speaker 2: generations will keep his word to you. Good Night, beloved,
• 1:57:08
  Speaker 2: Rest in his presence, Sleep in his peace. You are
• 1:57:13
  Speaker 2: safe in the arms of the one who was born
• 1:57:15
  Speaker 2: in Bethlehem, who died on the cross, and who rose
• 1:57:19
  Speaker 2: again in glory. And he is with you now and
• 1:57:23
  Speaker 2: he will be with you always. Sleep well. The Lord
• 1:57:27
  Speaker 2: is watching over you. The end.