Immanuel Part Two
God with the Outsiders (Peace)
Matt 1:21-23 (ESV)
[21] She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” [22] All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
[23] “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).
The scandalous family tree ensures that the outsiders, the imperfect, and the hopeless are included in “God with Us.”
Matt 1:5-6 (ESV)
[5] and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, [6] and Jesse the father of David the king.
Rahab: Canaanites, Israel commanded not to marry (Deut 7:3).
Joshua 2:8-9 (ESV)
[8] Before the men lay down, she came up to them on the roof [9] and said to the men, “I know that the LORD has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you.
Ruth: Moabites, excluded from assembly (Deut 23:3).
Ruth 1:16 (ESV)
[16] But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.
The genealogy of Jesus anticipates God’s peace with outsiders through faith.
