Category: Good News

Did you know that one of the sons of King Josiah was so evil that it was prophesied that he would be written out of the Bible? Now this particular prophecy is a wonderful tool for witnessing to Jews as well as to those who believe that they can point out errors in the New Testament. This can be used in addition to whatever witnessing methods you're already using. The Jews have nothing that shows the prophecy I'm about to explain has been fulfilled; the prophecy that the son of King Josiah, Jehoiakim, would be written childless. The place where the prophecy is fulfilled is in the genealogy of Joseph, Jesus' stepfather.

When you read the generations of Jesus through his stepfather, Joseph, it jumps from Josiah to the grandson of Josiah; Jechoniah, which decreases the total generations from King Josiah to Jesus down to thirteen instead of the actual fourteen generations. Fourteen generations is the number of generations between great kings or leaders in the Bible. If the reader does not know about the part of the lineage outlined in the Old Testament which Matthew left out then he might think that Matthew couldn't count and that Jesus was a fraud since a simple counting of the generations listed in Matthew puts him at thirteenth and not fourteenth from one of the great kings. The truth is that Matthew, by leaving out Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah in Jesus lineage, fulfilled a prophecy while still accurately counting the generations from Josiah to Jesus as if Jehoiakim were not left out of his account.

Here is where the prophecy concerning Jehoiakim is written:

Jeremiah 22:30 "Thus saith the LORD, Write ye this man childless, a man [that] shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah."

Jeremiah is speaking of Jehoiakim, the father of Jechoniah. The way that Jehoiakim is written childless is that Jechoniah is written to be the son of King Josiah, not Jehoiakim.  Thus, Jehoiakim is childless because Jechoniah becomes the son of King Josiah. Jehoiakim has his position as a king in the generations to the Messiah taken away.

Jeremiah 22:24 "[As] I live, saith the LORD, though Coniah (Jeconiah) the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee (Jehoiakim) thence;"

Matthew 1:11 "And Josiah begat Jechoniah and his brethren, about the time they were carried away to Babylon."

Matthew 1:17 "So all the generations from Abraham to David [are] fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon [are] fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ [are] fourteen generations."

Jews have no way to explain how this prophecy of Jehoiakim becoming childless was fulfilled; this verse that says Jehoiakim would have none to sit upon the throne of David. Christians can point to Matthew for an explanation and hopefully an opportunity to witness.

A note on counting in other languages or cultures:
Every culture and language has idiosyncrasies in the way numbers are counted. In counting the generations of kings, the Hebrew custom was to include both the first in a succession and the last in the succession. Thus you have the generations from Patriarch Abraham to King David counted with both Patriarch Abraham and King David counted plus the kings in between which equals fourteen. Then you have King David counted as the first in the subsequent generations that span from King David to King Josiah again giving you fourteen. And finally, you have King Josiah counted again for the generations from King Josiah to Jesus, the King of Kings. Everyone who studies documents that are written in other languages (that's everyone who reads the Bible) must remember that every word, including numbers, have cultural nuances that are not in common with the reader's own language. This "common sense" that speakers of the same language share doesn't exist when reading another language. Let's have common sense when we study the Bible by looking for any cultural or language nuances in what we're reading.

If you have questions or comments concerning this article please click here to send a message to Pastor Don.

All have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God.

The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

God has shown his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

If you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and will believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

With the heart, a man or a woman believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation.

Romans3:23, Romans 6:23, Romans 5:8, Romans 10:9&10

Will you pay for your sins or has Jesus paid already? If you don't know, pray this prayer outloud.

"Lord Jesus, I have sinned and do not deserve you. I accept that o­nly You can save me and I believe that You rose from the dead. I am calling o­n You now to save me. Save me Jesus. Thank you Jesus. Thank you for bringing me into fellowship with You."

Now that you have prayed this prayer please click here to fill out our contact form to request a referral to a Born Again Christian ministry near you.

Holy Scriptures of the Lord found in a letter to the Descendants of Abraham (Romans 4-5)

A short explanation of these Holy Scriptures of the Lord is provided at the end of these passages.

1 What then shall we say about Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh?

2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.

3 For what does the scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness."

4 Now to o­ne who works, his wages are not reckoned as a gift but as his due.

5 And to o­ne who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness.

6 So also David pronounces a blessing upon the man to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works:

7 "Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered;

8 blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not reckon his sin."

9 Is this blessing pronounced o­nly upon the circumcised, or also upon the uncircumcised? We say that faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness.

10 How then was it reckoned to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised.

11 He received circumcision as a sign or seal of the righteousness which he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised and who thus have righteousness reckoned to them,

12 and likewise the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but also follow the example of the faith which our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

13 The promise to Abraham and his descendants, that they should inherit the world, did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith.

14 If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void.

15 For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.

16 That is why it depends o­n faith, in order that the promise may rest o­n grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants -- not o­nly to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham, for he is the father of us all,

17 as it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations" -- in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

18 In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations; as he had been told, "So shall your descendants be."

19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead because he was about a hundred years old, or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb.

20 No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God,

21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.

22 That is why his faith was "reckoned to him as righteousness."

23 But the words, "it was reckoned to him," were written not for his sake alone,

24 but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him that raised from the dead Jesus our Lord,

25 who was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

5:1 Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Through him we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God.

3 More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,

4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,

5 and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us.

6 While we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

7 Why, o­ne will hardly die for a righteous man -- though perhaps for a good man o­ne will dare even to die.

8 But God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.

9 Since, therefore, we are now justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

11 Not o­nly so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received our reconciliation.

12 Therefore as sin came into the world through o­ne man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned --

13 sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law.

14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sins were not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the o­ne who was to come.

15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through o­ne man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of that o­ne man Jesus Christ abounded for many.

16 And the free gift is not like the effect of that o­ne man's sin. For the judgment following o­ne trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brings justification.

17 If, because of o­ne man's trespass, death reigned through that o­ne man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the o­ne man Jesus Christ.

18 Then as o­ne man's trespass led to condemnation for all men, so o­ne man's act of righteousness leads to acquittal and life for all men.

19 For as by o­ne man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by o­ne man's obedience many will be made righteous.

20 Law came in, to increase the trespass; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,

21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

These writings tell us that our forefather Abraham was justified by faith. What does this mean? It means that since we can do nothing to change those sins we have committed (and all have sinned---man dare not think himself perfect! You do not do such a blasphemous thing as to think you are perfect, do you?) that we must ask the Lord to help us in our desire to be righteous in His sight. We can do nothing o­n our own to correct the wrongs we have committed against Him whether by accident or deliberately.

The Lord is willing to help us though so that we may be right with Him. Our faith, even if not strong, is enough to tell Him we want His assistance in finding His blessings of a new life close to Him and not be burdened with the wrongs we have done. Please consider our precious and perfect Lord and how we are dogs in His sight if we are not made clean. But the Lord loves even the dogs and has first loved us and offered us the free gift even before we have chosen His way which is perfect. Our perfect Lord has promised that He will make us clean so that we may approach Him with confidence as a forgiven o­ne. Will you become a forgiven o­ne? Will you accept the Free Gift of Life from our Savior Jesus who is the anointed, the Christ?

STOP, before you say no and turn away, before you reject my ways as those of an infidel. I have risked rejection by my people for accepting that a man may have many wives which is acceptable before the Lord as the Holy Scriptures say. Do you know that I have been rejected by my people for accepting what the Lord through His Holy Scriptures says about marriage? You may not accept my beliefs about the Lord but surely you must know that I have shown love to you in that I have taken the time to write directly to you. Will you but consider the way you have chosen to approach the Lord. The Lord has said you and I are not perfect and that o­nly a perfect o­ne can approach Him. How then can we approach Him? By accepting His free gift of salvation which washes us of all sins and impure thoughts whether in the past, present, or future. We will not become perfect in deed but will be given (invisible) robes of righteousness that take our sins as far from us as the east is from the west. Each time we sin He will again remove our sins before they can even become a part of us. This is not to say that we should sin but that if we are weakened He will be true to His promise to take our sins away and someday we will spend eternity in fellowship with our perfect Lord. Will you praise our Lord with me as we thank Him that He loves us for I know that you believe as I do that the Lord loves us. Praise the Name of the Lord! I thank you for reading this because I know the Lord wants us to know the truth for the truth will set us free. If you have prayed to the Lord for forgiveness then He has forgiven you. Thank Him now and please click here to tell me about your decision to let the Lord remove your sins.