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| 1 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene, |
The fifteenth year – This is a clearly fixed date of which there can be no reasonable doubt. Tiberius became emperor at the death of Augustus Caesar, in the year of Rome 767, which was the year AD 14. B58
An unequivocal date. Tiberius began to reign in AD 14. The fifteenth year of his reign would therefore be the year AD 29. B60
Those who claim that Jesus began his ministry AD 27, instead of AD 29, claim that John's ministry began in AD 26, and are obliged to count the reign of Tiberius Caesar two years before its admitted date. R2562:2
The only people to raise a question about it are those who, following the inaccurate records of Josephus, want to twist Luke's plain statement into harmony with a date two years earlier. B59; R2132:4, 1975:4
Of Tiberius Caesar – Luke connected the beginning of John's preaching with the reign of Tiberius for the very purpose of locating or fixing the event chronologically. R2132:4
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| 2 Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. |
Annas – Was subsequently dragged through the streets, scourged and murdered. R3369:3
The word of God came – When John was thirty years of age. R2562:2
In the spring, about April first, just as soon as he was of age; for God's plans are always carried out on exact time. B60
The Lord made clear to John that the time had come for the beginning of his ministry, not merely by an impression or surmise, but with positiveness, as in the case of all the prophets. R2563:1
Exactly at the right time to introduce the Lord Jesus to the Jewish nation. R3292:3
John – The last of the prophets, none of whom was his superior, "There hath not arisen a greater prophet than John the Baptist." (Matt. 11:11) R4958:2, 3292:1
Six months older than his second cousin, Jesus. B58; R2562:2
John's work at the first advent foreshadowed the closing work of the Church at the second advent. B253
In the wilderness – Not in the sandy deserts, but more properly in the wilds, perhaps in the "hill country," where his parents resided at the time of his birth. R2562:5
The world is in a wilderness condition and needs the presence of the great King to bring order out of its confusion. R4113:5
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| 3 And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins; |
About Jordan – Thickly settled regions. R2563:1
John sought the pools, or deep places of the river, sufficiently deep for the purposes of immersion. R2563:1
The work of John the Baptist was merely to the Jew, and proportionately only was he the antitype of Elijah. Jesus in the flesh and all his faithful members in the flesh have constituted the larger antitype of John the Baptist. R4958:5, 2563:2
John was not preaching to Christians, he was not preaching the message that Jesus preached, he was preaching merely the demands of the Jewish Law. OV199:2
Baptism of repentance – It is uncertain just when immersion was instituted as a symbol of repentance and reform. John the Baptist, it is claimed, followed a custom for some time in vogue among Jewish reformers. R1161:2
The remission of sins – Those addressed were all Jews, already in covenant relationship with God. R1421:1
Not that repentance and baptism would work for them a remission of their sins. John preached a baptism signifying repentance unto, or preparation for, a remission of sins. R2563:1
If repentance and immersion in water would bring the forgiveness of sins, the "Savior and a great one" whom God had promised to Israel for so long would have been wholly unnecessary. R2563:2
Not original sin, which could be removed only by the blood of Christ--"without shedding of blood there is no remission" (Heb. 9:22)--but sins against the Law Covenant. R2931:3
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| 4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. |
As it is written – A prophecy not even yet fulfilled, but which includes the entire work of the Millennial age. R2563:2
The voice – Not "The Word." (John 1:1) R2409:2
Crying in the wilderness – The Church has cried in "the wilderness" in the sense that she has been alienated and separated from the world. R4958:6
We are not, as John, to dwell in the wilderness, to criticize and denounce everything. We are to copy our Lord, not John the Baptist. R4978:5
Prepare ye the way – But John's mission was not successful to his nation, and profited only a few of the people. R2563:3
The mission of the Elijah class is to exhort to repentance and to prepare men for the glorious setting up of the Messianic Kingdom. R2563:4, 4958:6
A highway for the coming King. R4113:5
As John the Baptist was unsuccessful, the Church in the flesh has not succeeded in preparing men for a triumphal entry of God's Kingdom upon earth. R2563:5
His paths straight – Those who hear should walk circumspectly--make a straight pathway in the desert, a highway for the coming King. R4113:5
"An highway shall be there." (Isa. 35:8) R2563:5
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| 5 Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; |
Valley shall be filled – The lifting up of the poor. R4958:6
Signifying that the humble shall be lifted up out of degradation. R4113:5
Leveling up the deep crevices of character. R2563:5
Mountain and hill – Kingdom and less autocratic government. R4990:2, 5575:4; A318; D551
Shall be brought low – Those who have reached high positions of influence and affluence under the reign of sin shall be humbled under the reign of righteousness. R4113:5
Leveling down the hills of pride to the proper level of humility. R2563:5
The conditions of society will be leveled. R4990:2
Little by little coming down to the level of popular demand. D551
The city of Quito, Ecuador, the highest city in the world, has subsided 76
feet in the past 122 years, indicating that this prophecy may have a literal fulfillment also. R1215:3
Showing that society is to be reconstructed and equality of classes obtain. R332:4
The crooked – The great things which belong to the present time of sin and imperfection will all be straightened out. R4113:5
The perverse. R332:3
The rough ways – The incongruous things will all be smoothed over. R4113:5
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| 6 And all flesh shall see the salvation of God. |
All flesh – The dead, as well as the living. R2402:4
All flesh indeed shall see the salvation of our God, and so many as will may share therein. R2563:6
The world in general. T83
The promised deliverer is to bless not only Israel, but through Israel "all the families of the earth." (Gen. 22:18) A58
Shall see – Greek, optomai, recognize. R141:4
Appreciate, understand, experience. R4958:6
Recognize God's gracious love more and more. T83
Whose mission it is to seek to prepare all flesh to see the salvation of God. R2563:5
The salvation of God – As a result of the work of the "times of restitution of all things." (Acts 3:23) R4113:5
Both John and the Church declare that this salvation is to be brought through Jesus and his glorified Bride in Kingdom power. R4958:6
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| 7 Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? |
To the multitude – The prepared instruments of the Lord are powerful in his hand. The whole nation was aroused. R1916:3
Generation of vipers – Greek, gennema, race or posterity. D603
Rejectors of the divine favor. R2301:4
Their religion was one of outward forms and ceremony merely, and not of the heart. R2236:3
Some seemed to John to be so vile that he could not properly accept them until they had given some proofs of reform. R2563:6
We are not to understand that such language is proper to be copied by the Lord's people of today. "In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves." (2 Tim. 2:25) R2563:6
Similarly, today many have "a form of godliness" (2 Tim. 3:5), a devotion to Sectarianism. R2236:5
The wrath to come – Not flames and torments after death, but divine judgments upon the Jewish nation for hypocrisy, formalism, and failure to live up to the light and privileges enjoyed. "There shall be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people" ( Luke 21:23). "Wrath to the uttermost" (1 Thess. 2:16), which came upon the Jewish nation in the end of the Jewish age. R2236:6, 3292:5, 2564:1
The trouble that was about to come upon that nation unless they would receive Messiah, who had not yet been offered to them. R2564:1
There is a proper presentation of the truth, and a proper fear of God and his retribution, which may be properly kept before the mind of the transgressors; but this is wholly different from the terrorizing fear of eternal torment. R2564:5
Let us present the wrath to come truthfully, not misrepresenting the character of our God; for assuredly God will not hold them guiltless who blaspheme his holy name. R2564:4
"Wrath to come upon them to the uttermost." (1 Thess. 2:15,16) R2301:4
Picturing the wrath to come in the end of this age upon Christendom. R2564:5
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| 8 Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. |
Begin not to say – Do not permit yourselves do be deceived into thinking that God is under compulsion to accept such as you, and that otherwise his word would become void. R2564:3
Within yourselves – As nominal Christendom says to itself. R2564:2
Abraham to our father – His hearers thought that they were God's specially chosen, "elect" people, whose glorification had been foretold in the prophets, and that since there were no better people in the world it was unreasonable to suppose that God would pass by the very best. R2564:1, 1457:3
The principle opposition to the teaching of holiness, entire consecration to the Lord, today throughout "Christendom," is the same error. R2564:2
Of these stones – Out of some that you consider as far from the possibilities of being Abraham's children as though they were these stones at your feet. R2864:3
Children unto Abraham – Who would have Abraham's loyalty of spirit. R2245:6
As a matter of fact we know, that after the "wheat" had been separated from the "chaff" of that nation, the Lord has been seeking from among the Gentiles others to complete the elect number of Israelites indeed, the true seed of Abraham. R2245:6
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| 9 And now also the ax is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. |
And now also – Typifying the end of the Gospel Age. R2237:5
The axe – Of divine judgment. R2237:1
The axe was about to be applied to that nation. Pruning would no longer do. R4958:6
Now the axe is laid to the root of the trees again, a test to every one in nominal Christendom. R2237:5
Unto the root – Not, for the new creature, to lop off some of the unsightly branches of the fallen disposition, but the axe of truth is to cut down the whole tree, branches and all. R3986:4
Of the trees – The three and a half years of our Lord's ministry to the Jewish nation, and their final rejection by him, are represented by the barren fig tree parable, in harmony with this statement of John ( Luke 13:6-9). R2564:4
Good fruit – The fruitage of righteousness. R2237:1
Is hewn down – Nominal fleshly Israel was thus cut off from divine favor. R3292:5
Cast into the fire-- The time of trouble in 69-70 AD. R2564:1, 4958:6, 3292:5, 2237:1
Picturing the great fire of trouble with which this Gospel age shall end. R2565:1
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| 10 And the people asked him, saying, What shall we do then? |
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| 11 He answereth and saith unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise. |
He answereth – If any now inquire, we answer: Practice righteousness, truth, godliness, kindness, benevolence, justice, trust in the Lord, seek to walk in his ways. (Zeph. 2:3) R2564:5
Let him impart – Thus would they show their repentance from the selfishness and hard-heartedness which evidenced them as sinful--thus would they show a condition of heart necessary to an acceptance of Jesus. R4959:1
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| 12 Then came also publicans to be baptized, and said unto him, Master, what shall we do? |
Also publicans – Being cast off from the sympathies and friendships of the Jews in general, they were naturally less influenced by their prejudices and hence more ready to receive the truth. R1783:3
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| 13 And he said unto them, Exact no more than that which is appointed you. |
Appointed you – No more than that to which you are entitled by the Law. R4959:1
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| 14 And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages. |
The soldiers likewise – Just such advice would be applicable to a soldier today. OV199:2
Violence to no man – Not that they were to prove unfaithful to their duties as soldiers, not that they should let a man to be arrested go free or that, if attempted to escape, he might not suffer violence at their hands; but the responsibility was with their superior. OV199:3
The difficulty is not that the Law requires the soldier to do violent things, but that they frequently take advantage of the situation and give greater violence than the Law permits or sanctions. OV199:4
Violate no man's rights or interests, nor even his feelings or his reputation. OV199:4
Thus will you show that you have repented and that you are seeking to do the divine will, for such a course will be very different from the one to which you have been accustomed. R4959:1
Do not violate the laws of your government. F607
Accuse any falsely – Neither exact anything wrongfully. R4959:1
Either spite, revenge, malice or affronted dignity might lead some police officer to exaggerate some fault and thus to falsely accuse--to accuse more than would be proper, or to make an accusation out of whole cloth. OV199:5
Be content – Notwithstanding John's preaching of contentment he was apprehended as a disturber of the peace and beheaded. R4959:1
"Godliness with contentment is great gain" (1 Tim. 6:6). Only the unintelligent could be content without godliness. OV200:3
In addition to example, the counsel of the saints to those about them should be in harmony with their faith. It should be of the nature of ointment and healing balm, pointing the world to the good time coming. A341
With your wages – Not that those who love righteousness must take whatever wages are offered to them, and be content. But, having contracted for a certain period of time, being content, because it is what they had bargained for. OV200:2
Infidelity assails such scriptures as this as being opposed to progress and advancement, but, as in other matters: Blind unbelief is sure to err and scan God's work in vain, God is his own interpreter, and he will make it plain. NS63:1
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| 15 And as the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ, or not; |
The people – Even the Gentile world, as is manifest from the visit of the wise men from the east, possibly Persia. R1674:3; B21
In expectation – Thirty years before his anointing as Messiah at the beginning of his ministry. There was a corresponding expectation on the part of many, culminating in the year AD 1844, just thirty years before AD 1874, when Christ actually came. B240; C85
Even if they were not all able to receive him in the way he came. B66
Yet, when he offered himself, they were ashamed of him and of his peculiar following of fishermen, publicans, etc. NS630:3
They were expecting a great general, king and lawgiver combined--full of dignity, hauteur, ambition, pride, self-will; haughty and domineering in word and in act--their ideal of the King who would conquer the world and make Israel the leading nation. E157
But his presentation was so different from all they had expected that their proud hearts were ashamed of him. E157
It was the hope of every Israelite that, as a people, God would exalt their nation under Messiah; and when the Lord came to them, it would be as their King, to establish the long promised Kingdom of God upon the earth. A273
The affairs of Israel were more prosperous than they had been for centuries, and they were hoping that this return of God's favor might culminate in the sending of the promised King for the exultation of their nation. R3292:3
Roman dominion had brought peace, and the fame of the Jewish prophets had gone into all the world. The sudden announcement of his birth attracted wide attention, as it would not have done in less peaceful times. R1673:6
Now, in the end of the Gospel age, all men realize that we are in a transition period, and the horoscope of the 20th century is full of terrors and premonitions of great revolutionary changes. D167
Probably because of Daniel's prophecy of the seventy weeks. (Dan. 9:24) B66
Because God had promised centuries before that a holy child would be born. R4963:2
Even the Gentile world was in expectation of the coming Messiah. R1674:3, 4714:6
And all men mused – Just as all men are now considering whether the nominal church has fulfilled its mission. D167
John – Different from that of Jesus, John's mission was pre-eminently that of a reprover and reformer. R4978:5
He were the Christ – The establishment of the Kingdom of God was the hope of every Israelite. A273
Had he made the claim, how readily would the people have accepted it. R1916:4
So powerful was John's presentation of the truth. R2564:5
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| 16 John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire: |
Baptize you with water – Not with the holy Spirit. R1916:6
One mightier than I – Assuring them he was so inferior to the Messiah. R2564:5, 4113:6
I am not worthy – It was this complete self-abnegation and singleness of purpose to accomplish the will of God that constituted John's moral greatness. R1916:2
We who antitype him may also feel very humble in respect to all of our privileges in connection with the announcement of the glorious Kingdom. Any other attitude would be unworthy of us as his representatives and ambassadors. R4113:6
He shall baptize you – Some of them (the few) with holy Spirit, the remainder (the mass) with the fire of judgment. R2564:6
With the Holy Spirit – The "Israelites indeed" were gathered into the garner of the Christian Church, and baptized with the holy Spirit at Pentecost. B233; E290, E314; R5443:2, 4959:4, 2927:2
And with fire – The remainder of the Jewish nation, who "knew not the time of their visitation" (Matt. 19:44), were burned as "chaff" ( Luke 3:17) in a great time of trouble which overthrew their nation. R5443:2, 2090:5, 1916:6
After the holy Spirit had searched, sifted and winnowed out of the Jewish dispensation all of the true wheat, gathering it into the garner of the Gospel (spirit) dispensation, then the fire came upon the chaff. R2927:2
The fire of God's anger, wrath to the uttermost. (1 Thess. 2:16) R4959:4; F445
The fire of trouble on all others during the 36-½ years following their rejection. R2564:6, 5443:2, 4959:4, 2927:2; B233
Culminating in the destruction of the Jewish polity in the year 70 AD. E290; R4959:4, 1916:6
There will come a great time of trouble, symbolically a time of fire, upon the world, and especially upon rejected Babylon, even as similar fiery vengeance came upon Israel after the flesh. R2746:6
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| 17 Whose winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his threshing-floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable. |
Fan is in his hand – Messiah was about to make a separation between the true wheat and the chaff class. R4594:3, 4113:1
Thoroughly purge – The great separating work of the Jewish harvest. R1917:1, 2564:6; B260
Gather the wheat – Only the true Israelites. C149; B233; R5443:2, 4594:3, 2245:6, 273:6
By begetting them of the holy Spirit at Pentecost. R4959:4
All the true wheat, we may be sure; not a solitary grain was lost. R2564:6
The first members of the Gospel Church. R2564:6
A small proportion of the whole. B205; R1916:6
A larger fulfillment--world-wide. In the end of this age all the wheat class are to be gathered into the heavenly garner by the change of the first resurrection. R4959:4
Into his garner – A place of safety, a higher dispensation. R2564:6
The Christian Church. B233; C149; R5443:2
Of the Gospel age. R2927:2, 2090:4, 1917:1
The chaff – The refuse part of that church and nation. R273:6
Devoid of the real wheat principle within. C150
The balance of the nation, the refuse. B233; C149; R4594:3, 273:6
He will burn – As the chaff class of the Jewish nation was consumed in the close of that harvest, so the tare class will be consumed in this harvest. The chaff ceased from all pretension to divine favor as the triumphant Kingdom of God. C148
Not physically destroy (though of course many lives were lost in their trouble), but were cut off from all Kingdom favors in which previously they trusted and boasted; and so also in the parallel or counterpart. C149
In the time of trouble coming all others than the true Church will be cut off from association with the Church and from all opportunity of membership in it. As tares they will be burned, reduced to the level of the rest of humanity. R4959:4
Fire unquenchable – The great fire of religious and political contention which destroyed the Jewish nation. B233; C148; R5443:2, 5363:3, 4594:3, 2564:6
A time of trouble which nothing could stop or hinder. Even the Roman Emperor was desirous of preserving the nation and establishing order there. The Roman army went, not to destroy them, but to establish peace in their midst. But the Lord declared that it should do its work to the full; and it did. R2564:6, 273:6; A229
Represented by figure f on the Chart of the Ages. A229; R273:6F196
Likewise the great fire of trouble with which this Gospel age shall end will completely consume earthly governments and Churchianity in a fire of anarchy. Nothing shall quench that fire, or hinder that utter destruction of present systems. R2565:1
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| 18 And many other things in his exhortation preached he unto the people. |
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| 19 But Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him for Herodias his brother Philip's wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, |
But Herod – Was living in adultery. R2621:4; 557:6
Representing the kings of the earth. B261
Reproved by him – Perhaps John acted imprudently and exceeded his duty. R3326:2
We should expect that, as John's reproving of Herod for having an unlawful wife led to his imprisonment, so here, the reproving of the church and the world for their unlawful union, provokes the displeasure of both and leads to the ostracizing (beheading) of the faithful reprovers. R557:6; 2621:4
For Herodias – Representing the unfaithful nominal church. B261
For all the evils – As a result of this typical union of church and State, contrary to Scripture. B261
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| 20 Added yet this above all, that he shut up John in prison. |
Shut up John – Representing the Church in this harvest time. B261
Which surprised and stunned the people. R4138:6
After he had preached about a year. R3325:2
In prison – Typifying the coming restraint of the Church's liberties because of faithfulness in opposing and condemning error. B261
Where he remained about a year before execution. R3325:2
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| 21 Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, |
That Jesus also – Having reached 30 years of age, manhood according to the Law, and therefore the right time to consecrate himself as a man. A179
With the baptism of Christ the ordinance received a new signification of entire consecration to God. In this new view, some of the Jewish converts were baptized again. R1917:4, 1161:2
Being baptized – The Royal Priesthood began with the anointing of Jesus, the High Priest, at baptism. T27
This is the Spirit dispensation; hence, it is proper to say that the Gospel age began with the anointing of Jesus at the time of his baptism. A224
Not because he or any other Jew was commanded to do so, but as a fitting symbol of his consecration even unto death, and his faith in Jehovah's power to raise him out of death. R1161:2; A179
He sacrificed all the blessings and favors which were his under the Law Covenant. R5090:1
And praying – We should pray before believers and unbelievers. R2251:6, 3698:5, 2252:1
Literally, rent asunder. R4970:1
He began to understand the higher, spiritual things. R5080:6, 5157:5, 5128:5
His brain was impressed with the recollections of his pre-human condition. R5157:5, 2565:5
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| 22 And the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased. |
The Holy Spirit descended – He received the divine adoption and the spirit without measure. (John 3:34) R182:3
Thus beginning the Gospel age or Spirit dispensation. A224; R273:1
In a bodily shape – A manifestation representing the invisible. E212
Like a dove – Emblematic of peace and purity, representing the fullness of Jehovah's spirit of love in Jesus. E212
Not violently like lightning, but gently like a dove. R3296:6
Upon him – Jesus made the covenant to lay down his humanity as our ransom. R182:3
Giving him the "earnest of his inheritance" (Eph. 1:14), of the divine nature. A179
Anointing him. Jesus was not the Messiah, the Christ, until this anointing took place. B66; T27, T37
Thou art my beloved – The witness of his relationship came at once. R182:3
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Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased – Remarkable rejected reading (WH) "My son art thou, I this day have begotten thee." - Rotherham's Emphasized Bible |
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| 23 And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Eli, |
Began to be – Note his promptness to engage in his Heavenly Father's business at the very earliest moment. R3291:5, 4427:2
About thirty – No Levite was permitted to engage in the work of the tabernacle under thirty. (See Num. 4:3.) So Christ did not begin the work of the antitypical tabernacle (the work of atonement) until he was thirty. R1161:2; B58
It was necessary that Jesus conform to the Law of Moses, given by God to the Jews; for Jesus as a man was a Jew, born under the Law and subject, therefore, to its every feature. R5536:2
The fact that our Lord Jesus waited until he was thirty years of age before making his special consecration and receiving his ordination and commission to preach does not mean that his followers should wait until they are thirty before they begin to preach. R5536:3
Happily for us we are not bound under the Law nor under the limitations which hinder us from receiving the call and responding to it before thirty years of age. R2559:6, 3291:5
Manhood according to the Law; in condition to be the sin-offering. R444:6, 5064:2, 4535:6, 4427:2
Able to begin the work of atonement of the antitypical tabernacle. R1161:2
When he emerged from obscurity and began to declare his mission. R1247:3
We may be sure he presented himself in sacrifice to the Lord at the very earliest possible moment. R4427:2, 3291:5
As was supposed – Some suppose the same thing now, reminding us of those Pharisees who sarcastically said, "We have not been born of fornication; we have one Father, God." (John 8:41) R443:3*
The son of Joseph – Luke shows the genealogy of Mary, by which our Lord was actually related, according to the flesh, to our race and to the royal family of David, through the line of Nathan. R2555:6; E129; Q791:2
A good illustration of the principle of inherited royalty through a mother is furnished in the heir-apparent to the throne of Great Britain--the Prince of Wales; not through his father, but through his mother, the present queen. R453:1
Legal father of Jesus, from Solomon's line. R2060:4
The son of Heli – The son of Eli, Mary's father, by marriage, or legally; or, as we would say, son-in-law of Eli. By birth, Joseph was the son of Jacob, as stated in Matt. 1:16. E129; Q791:2
A custom of that day was to reckon the genealogy through the wife's ancestry and treat her husband as in her stead, the son of her father. We would call such a son-in-law. Here Joseph is called the son of Heli, Mary's father, who was the son of Nathan the son of David. R453:2; E129
The necessity of thoroughly establishing the pedigree was the more important, since of this tribe (Gen. 49:10) was to come the ruling King of Israel, as well as the promised Messiah, hence the minutiae of detail not given in other instances. (Gen. 39) A42; HG532:4
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| 24 Which was the son of Matthat, which was the son of Levi, which was the son of Melchi, which was the son of Janna, which was the son of Joseph, |
The son of Matthat – Luke gives 42 generations, while Matthew gives 27. The difference need not be considered as remarkable. It would be remarkable had they been the same. Q791:2
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| 25 Which was the son of Mattithiah, which was the son of Amos, which was the son of Nahum, which was the son of Elioenai, which was the son of Nogah, |
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| 26 Which was the son of Maath, which was the son of Mattithiah, which was the son of Shimi, which was the son of Joseph, which was the son of Juda, |
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| 27 Which was the son of Johanan, which was the son of Rephaiah, which was the son of Zerubbabel, which was the son of Shealtiel, which was the son of Neriah, |
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| 28 Which was the son of Melchi, which was the son of Addi, which was the son of Cosam, which was the son of Almodad, which was the son of Er, |
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| 29 Which was the son of Jose, which was the son of Eliezer, which was the son of Jorim, which was the son of Matthat, which was the son of Levi, |
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| 30 Which was the son of Simeon, which was the son of Judah, which was the son of Joseph, which was the son of Jonan, which was the son of Eliakim, |
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| 31 Which was the son of Melea, which was the son of Menan, which was the son of Mattatha, which was the son of Nathan, which was the son of David, |
Of Nathan – Mary's ancestor. Only the legal heirship came through Solomon, through his descendant Joseph, the legal father of Jesus. R2060:4
While Joseph came of the royal line, as Matthew testifies, Mary came of the obscure one, beginning with Nathan. R468:4*
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| 32 Which was the son of Jesse, which was the son of Obed, which was the son of Boaz, which was the son of Salmon, which was the son of Nahshon, |
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| 33 Which was the son of Amminadab, which was the son of Ram, which was the son of Hezron, which was the son of Pharez, which was the son of Judah, |
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| 34 Which was the son of Jacob, which was the son of Isaac, which was the son of Abraham, which was the son of Terah, which was the son of Nahor, |
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| 35 Which was the son of Serug, which was the son of Reu, which was the son of Peleg, which was the son of Eber, which was the son of Salah, |
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| 36 Which was the son of Cainan, which was the son of Arphaxad, which was the son of Shem, which was the son of Noah, which was the son of Lamech, |
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| 37 Which was the son of Methuselah, which was the son of Enoch, which was the son of Jared, which was the son of Mahalaleel, which was the son of Cainan,
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| 38 Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God. |
Son of Adam – In the male of the human species has resided the power to communicate the spark of life, or living seed, to progeny. E99
The son of God – Adam's form or organism was of and from earth (which therefore served as his mother); but his spark of life, which constituted him a man, came from God (who thus was his Father or life-giver). E99, E110; R776:5
Before Adam fell he was a son of God. He had the Spirit of God, in the sense of having the right spirit, disposition, will, intention. (Eph. 2:3) R5582:3, 1717:2, 219:4; A225; E108; F40; T84
He was very good--morally, intellectually and physically--a likeness which God was not ashamed to own and to call his son. R1609:5, 1264:3, 1266:2; E407
From the moment of sin onward, Adam was not recognized as a son of God. R1005:2, 866:1; E108; SM615:1
The same Creator who, before his creation, called Adam his son, declares that Adam and we, his children, became "children of wrath" and passed under condemnation because of sin. F40
As God's creation. God was his Life-giver, Creator, Producer, or Father. R1005:2
God made a copy, an image of himself, a manifestation of himself in flesh. R1266:2
He was God's son, as well as his image. R1264:3
"If a son, then an heir" (Rom. 8:17), of the vast domain of earth, which he was to subdue and take possession of as his posterity would increase and require it. R1266:2
Every member of the human family is a human brother to every other human being. All are children of the one father, Adam, a son of God. D310
While Adam's transgression was a wilful one, it did not mean that Adam preferred to be "a child of the devil." R2707:1
From the time that sin entered the world through Adam's disobedience, God recognized none of the human family as his sons until Jesus came and died. R5859:1, 2843:5, 1005:1; CR498:6
Adam, before he sinned, "was very good." (Gen. 1:31) R1609:3, 1717:2, 816:3, 382:1, 364:1, 273:2
A "sheep" that wandered from the fold. R2707:1
God's energy operating on spirit substances produced angels; on earthly substances, man. E105
All Adam's children are equally God's beneficiaries and are entitled to sympathy and aid in proportion to the degree of their impairment. D311
By our adoption into the divine family, God becomes our Father. R182:3
"As many as received him, to them gave he power [liberty] to become the sons of God" (John 1:12). "Beloved, now are we the sons of God" (1 John 3:2). R1005:5
Only those who have the right spirit, disposition, will or intention, can keep the divine law, and only those who are in perfect harmony with God will he recognize as sons. R5582:3
All who, at the end of the Kingdom, will have been restored to perfection will be recognized as sons of God, in the same sense that Adam was a son of God--human sons. R2607:2, 655:4, 382:1, 376:4
All who accept of Christ as their Redeemer are reckonedly on the plane of human perfection (N on the Chart of the Ages). All on this plane God calls sons--human sons, reckoned as restored to primitive purity. In consequence they have fellowship or communion with God. A225
The Church can now, being "justified from all things" (Acts 13:39), call God Father, as Adam did before sin, and be recognized by him as human sons. R364:1, 209:4
The Church is invited to be sons of God on a higher plane of sonship; higher than the angelic sons, as heirs of God, joint-heirs with the Logos, partakers with him of the divine nature. R2409:4
The father does not determine the nature. Jehovah, of the divine nature, has begotten sons of the same, as well as other natures--angelic (Job 2:1); human ( Luke 3:38), and "new creatures," who shall be of his own divine nature. (2 Pet. 1:4) E104; R777:4, 354:5
God is a Father of his creatures on different planes. But there is no mother on either plane. As the Creator of angels and men, he is their Father, and they his sons, though on different planes. R315:3, 777:4, 376:4, 354:5
Freedom from death and trouble is the glorious liberty common to sons of God on whatever plane of being they may be, whether sons of the human nature, the angelic nature (Job 38:7), or sons of the divine nature (1 John 3:2; 2 Pet. 1:4). R816:3; T84
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