Why the New Testament Starts With Abraham — Matthew 1:1 Explained

Hello, and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Okay. Good to have everybody back, and I guess you've had your coffee and had about enough for the afternoon. So anyway, we're glad to have all of you in television with us. You know, it's unreal as we sit here, and fortunately, I can forget about it, but we're getting listeners just about every state in the Union, all except New England. We haven't heard anything from New England, but the satellite has just been reaching all over the country. And for those of you in Oklahoma, probably do not even realize that we cover most of eastern Colorado out of Denver, a good share of Indiana out of the Indianapolis station, and then a good part of Minnesota out of a Minnesota state, a Minneapolis station, St. Paul. So anyway, our audience is growing, and the Lord is blessing it, and we're just thrilled that we can be used. We many times have people ask if we have classes in Colorado, or do we have classes in Indiana, and we tell them, no, we have not been out of the state of Oklahoma, but if you ever get to Oklahoma, why, you can look us up. Maybe I should rehearse it, because even here in Oklahoma, a lot of people don't realize where we are teaching, and I'll just run it by you real quickly. Monday night we meet at Tahlequah in the Goyi Mission Dining Room, and in Tahlequah we're in the Book of Revelation in our study there. Tuesday night we meet at Wilberton in the Senior Citizen Center, and in the Wilberton class we're in the Gospel of John. Wednesday night we meet up here at Tulsa at the Helmrich Library most of the time, and in Tulsa we're in the Book of Acts. Thursday night we meet at McAllister in the First National Bank Building, and down there we're in the Book of Exodus. And then Saturday nights we meet at Muskogee, and in Muskogee we're also in the Book of Genesis. So if you happen to be in any of those areas, and you care to join us, why, you call us on our 800 number, and we'll tell you how to get there, and the time, and so forth. But we do, we teach all through the Scriptures almost every night of the week, and I like to keep them separated, because I've told my classes, if I had to teach the same lesson on Tuesday night that I taught on Monday night, I'd get thoroughly confused. So I try to keep them all far enough separated so we can keep the content separated. All right, so much for that, and again we just want our television people to know that we do enjoy their letters, and the fact that you're being part and parcel of the class with us. Now, we finished the Book of Revelation in our last program, and then as I announced before we went into that last program, since we jumped out of Daniel and began the study in Revelation, we naturally had to skip over the Gospels, the Book of Acts, and all of Paul's letters. Now even as we teach through the Scriptures in a continuity, we don't take every book and every verse. What I try to do is take that theme of beginning to end as it unfolds, and keep it simple. You know, after all, you can get so complicated that nobody can get anything out of it. But we try to hit the highlights without just picking out singular verses, because I don't believe in that. See, the cults do that. They can pick out a verse here and a verse there, and they can build a doctrine. I don't want to do that. But we try to take the overall theme of Scripture from Genesis through Revelation without necessarily taking every minor prophet, for example, and every verse of Luke and Mark and what have you. So now we're going to come back where we left off several many months ago in order to teach Revelation, and we're going to introduce our television audience to the New Testament. And so we're going to jump right in at Matthew verse 1, but we won't stay there very long, because contrary again to, I suppose, 90 percent of church members and Bible readers, the New Testament doesn't suddenly start something totally different, as most people think. A lot of people think there's just a great big wall between the Old Testament and the New Testament. Some people feel we can just, well, cut the Old Testament out because it has nothing to do with us. Nothing could be further from the truth. And Matthew 1 verse 1 immediately tells us that you can't do that, because, and I want you to read it with me, Matthew 1 verse 1, the book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham. And that's where it stops. It doesn't go back to the forebears before Abraham. It doesn't go back to Adam. Now the other genealogy, you remember, in Luke chapter 3, it goes all the way to Adam, who was the Son of God, or was created of God. But see Matthew, those of you who know your Bible and studied a little bit, Matthew depicts Christ as the what? The King. See? Matthew depicts Him as the King, and that's why the terminology is so often in Matthew, the Kingdom of Heaven. It's unique to the book of Matthew. Although the Kingdom goes all the way through the Gospels, yet it's uniquely referred to as the Kingdom of Heaven in Matthew. Now since Christ is presented in Matthew as the King, the very opening verse of this book then is going to take us back to where that whole kingship idea began. And where did it begin? Abraham. See? And so immediately verse 1, before we dare go any further, is going to drive us back to the beginning of all this, and that's the Abrahamic covenant. So if you'll come with me all the way back to Genesis chapter 12. Now for those of you who have been with me for the last three years, I hope I don't get overbearing and repeat a lot of things that you've already got locked down. But bear with me and remember that we've had so many new listeners come on stream that have had none of this back in the Old Testament, at least as we teach it. And we're going to have to at least build some basics again before we take that run through the Gospels and the book of Acts and on into Paul's epistles. Now, Genesis chapter 12, verses 1, 2 and 3, I've had most of my students mark their margin. This is the Abrahamic covenant. The Abrahamic covenant. Now remember a covenant, by definition, is an agreement that originated and ends in God. Even though it's made with man, in this case with Abraham, and it'll fall into the nation of Israel as we move on down the pipe. But even though it's made with man, since it originates and ends with God, regardless of what man does, a covenant never becomes invalid. It is never broken. It is never rescinded. These covenants stand, as we've already seen in our book of Revelation, forever and ever. They go on into eternity. So now here is this covenant that God makes with His man Abraham. Now again, for just a little quick review, without going back into Scriptures, beginning with the creation of Adam, you remember, you had one race of people. Everybody, of course even Abraham, is going to come from Adam and Eve. Now of course the typical question is, where did Cain get his wife? Well there certainly weren't other people, because only Adam and Eve were created. So it only follows that brothers married sisters for the first generation or two, and that was no problem, because the human race was so pure genetically that there wasn't any problem. In fact, as far along as Abraham, which is 2,000 years after Adam, Abraham with God's blessing still marries a half-sister, and there was nothing wrong with Isaac, and so God did not put a taboo on marrying close relatives until sometime even after Abraham, because by now the genetic pool is being weakened, and you know the problems that arise. But anyway, out of that one race of Adam then, we came to that great multitude of people who had totally turned their backs on God, and we had Noah's flood, destroyed them all, all except those that were in the ark, Noah and his three sons and their three wives, and Noah's wife of course. Then out of those three sons and their wives, we had the onset again of the whole human race. Out of the sons of Ham, Shem and Japheth. Then out of the line of Shem comes this man, Abraham. Now in the interval between Noah and Abraham, and we have about 400 years in there, roughly speaking, and in the middle of that 400 year period of time, we have the Tower of Babel. Now the race of course hadn�t multiplied into millions upon millions, but there were already quite a few after just a couple hundred years from Noah�s three sons. But the whole human race, which are of one language, still one blood basically, and they all met down in the plains of Shinar, down there in Mesopotamia in the Euphrates River Valley, and there they built a what? The Tower, the Tower of Babel. And it was at the Tower of Babel under Nimrod, you see, that Satan now, the god of this world of course, instituted all pagan and mythological religions. Always remember that. I�ve stressed that over the years, that every pagan or idolatrous religion had its beginnings at the Tower of Babel. So that by the time you get to Abraham, a couple hundred years after the Tower of Babel, now at 2000 B.C., the whole then known world, or the whole then known human race, was steeped in idolatry or mythology. You all know what the mythologies are, the Venuses and the Aphrodites and what have you. So out of a race of people now saturated in idolatry and paganism, God finds one man, one man that He knows still has a spark of faith or the ability to believe. And I have to feel He was the only one. And so God reaches down and puts the finger on that one man, Abraham, Abram as he�s known early on. And now then to this one man, God says, now read it with me, beginning at verse 1, �Now the LORD had said� of course that was back in chapter 11, �The LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country.� In other words, get out of Ur of the Chaldees, down at the lower reaches of the Euphrates River. That was just a few miles away from the Persian Gulf. And so He says, �Get out from your father�s house, from your kindred, and unto a land that I will show thee.� He didn�t tell him where He was going, but He said, �I�ll lead you, and you follow.� In so many words. Alright, now Abram, or Abraham as we know him later, is a man of what? Faith. And so he takes God at His Word. He doesn�t ask questions. He doesn�t say, �Well give me a map.� As yet He doesn�t say, �Give me a deed.� He will later. But at this point in time, He just simply follows. Now He�s not totally obedient. Now you see, this is the beauty of Scripture, and I�ve said this before even on the program. If God would raise these men up above the page and make them superhuman, sinless, obedient people, then I�d have to just feel as though I�m a miserable failure. But see, these people failed. These people weren�t always right on the mark. And so as God had instructed now, �Leave your father�s house, leave your relatives behind and get out of Ur.� Abraham was obedient, but only up to a point, because who did he take with him? His father and his nephew Lot. And of course, God couldn�t let that happen for very long. So as they got up to the upper reaches of the Euphrates, up there in Haran, which was north of present-day Damascus, God stopped that little entourage, that little caravan, and He kept them until Terah, Abraham�s father, died. Now He does condescend and let him keep Lot, but anyway, after Terah has died, then you see God brings Abraham down into the Promised Land. Now this didn�t all happen in a year or two. Years go by, probably as much as 25. Now we always like to point out that every segment of Abraham�s life is divisible by five. In other words, he probably got this first call when he was 50. He probably left Haran to go down into the Land of Israel when he was 75. When he�s 100, Isaac is born, and then when he�s 175, he dies. So Abraham�s whole life is in segments of fives and twenty-fives. But anyhow, he tells him now to get out of his father�s house, get out of his homeland, and go to a land that God will show him. Now verse 2, now look at the pronoun. It�s God speaking all the way through. Abraham hasn�t said a word yet, nor will he. He just simply takes it. Now we know that, of course, is true even from archaeology. We know the archaeologists have found bills of sale that Abraham was a great man in his day. Even up until our present time, I think even the most secular knows pretty much about Abraham and all that he was, and what he accomplished. The Jew in particular is thrilled by the fact that he is a son of Abraham. Verse 3. Now this is all part of this covenant that God makes with this man Abraham. He says, Now I�ll bet I didn�t get it along, I stayed in my other Bible. Whatever. I get the Jerusalem Post, as you�re all aware, and in the next to last page in every issue. Wouldn�t it be something if it was in that one? Nah, it might be. Ah, let me take the time, even on camera, if I may. I�ll say it�s the one that I cut it out, won�t work. But anyway, there�s an article by a rabbi, and that�s not the one, there�s an article in there every week by the rabbi. And of course, like everybody in Israel lately, they�re looking for their Messiah. And of course, he makes reference to it in almost every article every week. But in that issue, I�d already clipped it out and put it in my other Bible that I use all through the week. He says in so many words that, I hope I don�t misquote him, that Israel is looking for the one, which of course is their Messiah, who will bring the nation of Israel to the peak of peace and prosperity, in so many words. But they don�t want to keep it for themselves. They want their Messiah to bring Israel to the peak of all this, for what purpose? That She can funnel it out to all the other nations of the world. When I read that, I just about screamed at my wife, I said, �See, that�s what I�ve been trying to tell my classes for 20 years, that this was the prospect given to Abraham that out of this nation of Israel would come a King who wouldn�t just rule the nation of Israel, which He would, but He would also spread that rule to the whole planet, but through Israel.� Now this becomes then the whole concept of the Abrahamic Covenant, beginning with Genesis chapter 12, the putting the finger on one man and telling him, now for some of you this is over and over and over, I know, but repetition is the mother of learning. He tells him, �I�m going to make of you a nation of people, I�m going to take that nation of people, and I�m going to give them and put them into a geographical area of land.� And then at some point down the road, God Himself would come and set up the government, because you can�t have people in a geographical area without government, or you have what? Anarchy. You don�t have a functioning society unless you have a government. So he says, after that nation has become viable, and where did the Israels become a nation? In Egypt, in slavery. Genesis is so plain, where God told Jacob, �Fear not to go down into Egypt, for there I will make of thee a great nation.� So they came out under Moses now, a nation of people. Now forty years later, after their wilderness experience, Joshua takes them into what we call the what? Promised land. Then they were ruled by judges for what, 400 and some years, and then they didn�t like that idea, so they asked for a king. Well the first king was a total flop, Saul. I mean he just fell flat on his face, and God couldn�t use him. Then who was the next one? David. Now then David becomes the beginning of that, as we saw in our last program, David becomes then the beginning of that royal family that�s going to not just lead through generations of this existence, but all the way into eternity, because out of the line of Abraham and David would come this government, but this government isn�t going to be a democracy, it�s going to be a monarchy, it�s going to be ruled by the King, the King of Kings, Lord of Lords. But he�s not going to be a despot, he�s not going to be a totalitarianist, he�s going to be what? A benevolent. His kingdom is going to be righteous, it�s going to be fair, it�s going to be glorious. But this was the prospect as it was laid out in the Abrahamic covenant. Now all the rest of the Old Testament, all of it, from Genesis 12 right on into the New Testament is all resting on this covenant. Now there will be other covenants. God makes the covenant with Moses we call the Law. He makes a covenant with Moses and the nation of Israel that even though they are uprooted out of the land, they�re going to be brought back, it�s going to be their homeland. Along with that covenant He promises David, as we already saw, that there�d be a royal family leading up to the King, and that�s the government. Now I haven�t got time to look at all of them, we may do this in future programs, but for now if you�ll just turn with me up to Isaiah chapter 9. We are so acquainted with these verses, especially at Christmastime, Isaiah chapter 9 and drop down to verse 6. Isaiah chapter 9, we�ll begin with verse 6. These verses are what make Handel�s Messiah what it is, and you�ll, you can almost hear the music in the background as I read the verse, if you love Handel�s Messiah as much as I do. Here it is now, Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6, �For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.� Now some people may think I�m a little bit out in left field, but I tie this verse with John 3.16, because what does John 3.16 say? �For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.� But now hold it, before you come to a further revelation, to whom was the Son given? To the nation of Israel. What does John say? �He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.� And from there he went to the agenda. Never lose sight of the fact that Christ in His first coming came to the nation of Israel. So unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be future upon His shoulder. On whose shoulder? This Son that would be given. See how plain that is? Oh I like it when you nod your head. And His name shall be called, here comes Handel�s Messiah, Consular, Wonderful, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. This is Old Testament, this is Isaiah, and these are the names of the Messiah. And then verse 7, �Of the increase of His government and� what? �Peace.� Isn�t that what the world is looking for tonight? Oh how the world wants peace, the absence of war, but you see peace in Scripture means more than the absence of war. Peace means that whole sphere of good things that God is ready to pour out, but He can�t until Christ is King, and then He will. All right, so the increase of His government and peace, there shall be no end, and it�s going to come where? Upon the throne of David, and upon His, there�s that word again, Kingdom. Now there are some words that I wish people would always be aware of and watch for. One of them is Covenant, and another one is Kingdom, and I�ll probably run across a few others as we go along, but those two words will suffice for today. You just be aware of those two words constantly popping up. To establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth, even, and again, how long? Forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform it. In other words, man can�t do it, the United Nations can�t do it, but God Himself will bring it in. Well, I don�t have enough time to go as far as I�d like, but turn with me quickly if you will to Luke chapter 1. In our next program we may have to do some more of this review, because I know a lot of folk out there aren�t going to hear where I�m coming from unless they can get a good basic understanding from the Old Testament, because that�s why there�s so much confusion amongst Christians today. One takes this, and one takes that, and one takes something else, and they completely ignore the foundation that was laid back here in the Old Testament for all of this that comes about in the New. All right, now in Luke chapter 1, and I probably won�t have time to hit many of these, but here we have Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, the husband of Elizabeth, and he�s been stricken dumb, remember, while Elizabeth is carrying the baby. But now he�s gotten his speech back, and all the citizens of Judea, the Jews, are in amazement, knowing it�s quite a miracle first that Zacharias and Elizabeth are to have a child, and now that he�s got his speech back. But anyhow, as you come down to verse 67, you�ll notice that he was filled with the Holy Spirit. Now that meant everything he speaks in these intervening verses are going to be inspired by the Holy Spirit. And he goes on down, and he said, �Blessed be the Lord God of Israel. He hath raised up a horn of salvation, 69, for us in the house of His servant David.� Remember verse 71, �that we should be saved from our enemies,� and remember their enemies then were the same as they are tonight, �and from the hand of all that hate us, to perform the mercy promised to our fathers,� that is all the way back to Abraham, �to perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember His holy covenant.� Now underline that word. Now here�s New Testament, remember. This isn�t Old Testament now, we�re in the New. What covenant? The next verse, verse 73, �the oath which He, God, swear to our father Abraham.� Now that�s in the New Testament. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area, or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552, that�s Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. 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