“Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren; …(Matthew 1:2); Judas (v. 2); Rachab Ruth (v. 5); …her that had been the wife of Urias (v. 6); Manasses” (v.10).
We have observed, in the note to 1:1 above, God’s preparation for the first advent of Jesus Christ and the choice He made for His human root. In spite of all care that God must have exercised in charting the course of Jesus along the best possible passage, He too had people of questionable identities in His own genealogy.
There was Jacob, the deceiver or sup-planter whose name God had to change to Israel in the course of his turbulent career. There was Judas his forth son who, in pursuit of unholy pleasure informed by his regular visit to brothel, slept with his daughter-in-law. Rahab was a professional prostitute. Ruth inherited idolatrous culture and cursed background. Beersheba, though unknowingly but not without a tinge of carelessness, sold her body to David who employed a most degrading means to gain and marry her. Mannaseh carried a reputation as perhaps the most spiritually debased of all the kings in the two kingdoms of Israel.
The mention of people of shady spiritual status in the genealogy of Christ as narrated by Matthew helps us to know that the most precious human instrument of God may come through a most unworthy human vessel. And up till now, like a local adage will put it, God can bring out the whitest pap from the blackest pot. For instance, one of the most respected political figures that once ruled a foremost nation in this generation came from a father who was a rotten and hopeless drunk. It will therefore not really matter how many murderers, witches, homosexuals, drunkards, idol worshippers, fornicators and the likes that may have been part of your foundations.
Thus, apart from the general provision God may have made for our coming into the world, He is not unaware of the rots that may have eaten into our root or tinted our passage into the world. Where it becomes necessary, therefore, God will neither fail nor hesitate to heal and re-arrange our foundations so that they will be able to sustain our destinies. This will be to ensure that His counsel and purpose for us is not defeated.
Many today are afflicted with diverse problems that are rooted in their polluted foundations just as there are also professions and status known to be spiritually disadvantageous and dangerous. For example, you may have come from such a background with people like powerful kings or chiefs who were neck deep in idolatry and occultism and against which many blood have been crying. Or perhaps you are from the lineage of herbalists, idol priests, great warriors, hunters, fishermen and such people who, by reason of their status and profession, must have been cumbered by negative covenants. By reason of those covenants, the associated demons are fully armed with the legal ground to trap and torment the unborn generations that wicked and ignorant parents will have consciously and unconsciously donated to them.
As if to further compound the problems, the Christendom has witnessed the emergence of deliverance ministers who do not take sufficient time to match the judgement of God on demon worship and idolatry with His love, mercy and power to save even to the utmost. As a result, there are instances when such preachers end up confusing those who need their help and direction with lopsided messages that places greater emphasis on the damage that Satan may have done in their lives and not on what God is able and ready to do. They tell those who need their help about intensive prayers and extra miles they must run to break their peculiar curses and deeply rooted bondage. They tell them that the victory which Jesus won for them and the salvation of their souls are not to exempt them from battle and problem but serve only as a license by which they too can fight to secure their own victory. While the claims here contain element of truth, they trouble is how they have unconsciously magnified the exploits of Satan than they have showcased the victory of the cross.
But there is both a lesson and a consolation from this passage for a troubled heart, and it is summed up in the fact that even Jesus had people of unhealthy credentials in His genealogy. Yet He fulfilled His own mission and became a pattern to those who may be hunted by similarly background.
He shed His blood for you and was made a curse for your sake, to take away our curses, including all the curses that emanate from and are rooted in our foundations. It does not take God any more effort to save and deliver the most hopeless man on earth than it will take Him to save the modest or most refined sinner. Everything depends upon and revolves around the price that Jesus paid for our victory and deliverance at Calvary.
What I tell you here does not suggest that you will dance into your inheritance, with only thanksgiving and praise worship. If I tell you not to overrate the devil and his wicked purpose and counsel, Jesus did not teach us to underrate him either. But you must open your eyes to the scriptures and seek godly counsel from a source that is not likely to add to your burden in the name of deliverance ministration. It will be important for you to know that before stepping into any of the battle, our Lord and Captain has gone ahead to win the victory. It is only Satan, camouflaging through a familiar platform, that makes someone a permanent deliverance candidate milling in and out of prayer houses in search of solution to a problem that was once settled on the cross.
It will not matter, therefore, who may have paved the way for your coming into the world or which parentage God has chosen for you. The only thing that matters is your decision to part way with darkness as you proclaim the victory of Jesus on your behalf and the supremacy of the counsel and purpose of God for your life through the same means.