Saturday, March 26, 2016

Where Are The Laborers?



A Sermon From The Book Of Matthew
Effective Expositions For Life


Matthew 9:35-38



Written By: Dr. Stan A. Frye
President of Gateway International Ministries


P.O. Box 667
Taylorsville, NC 28681
Office Phone: 828-632-2344


E-mail Address: gimi@charter.net
"Where Are The Laborers?"


Matthew 9:35-38




Introduction


Today we live in a world of seven billion people. Almost two billion of these are professing Muslims, while thousands upon thousands are in the bondage of other false religions and cultic activity. Presently, we are told that almost two billion people have never heard the simple plan of salvation so that they might have the opportunity to receive Christ as their personal Savior. Therefore, we must conclude that God's genuinely saved people have not and are not doing the work of world evangelism like Jesus challenged the early disciples and all believers succeeding the first disciples to do. We live in a world that the primary feeling of most people is that they are the individuals that need the most attention, and therefore, this self-centered selfish attitude has kept even those who say they are saved from truly sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ with the masses of people who are going to die and spend eternity in the fires of hell. All of the human rationality and disbelief by those who say they are atheist doesn't change the fact one iota that when people die without Jesus, they will go to hell.

This lesson today is about our Lord Jesus who was making His third tour through Galilee where He was not only healing scores of sick people, but He was also going in and out of the synagogues teaching and preaching not only the Old Testament Law and Prophets, but also proclaiming the New Testament covenant message of the love of  Himself for the lost world and the mandatory responsibility for every sinner to get saved and follow Christ. We are told by some historians that at this time of Jesus' earthly ministry, there may have been as many as 200 cities, towns and villages in the Galilee area. And it is believed that the population may have been as much as three million people. Thus, everywhere Jesus went, He was constantly bombarded with the needs of scores of people. Numbers were sick physically, but the greatest sickness that the people had was the spiritual sickness of being lost like  sheep that had strayed from the flock, and they needed urgently to be found before it was too late.

Up until this time in the life and ministry of Jesus, it would seem that He alone was doing the teaching and preaching, plus the healing of the sick. But, we should understand that in the very next chapter of Matthew, Jesus began to commission His disciples for the work ahead of them because it was now time for them to get involved in the mission ministry to which God had called them. So, what we see Jesus doing at this time was indeed preparation for the soon-coming ministry of His disciples. In other words, Jesus had shown them for many months what He had come to do, and He had been training them for their task which was just ahead. And may I say that the task He was training His disciples to do is the same one He has given to us. Therefore, let us take a look at the Scripture text for this study and see the challenge that God is giving to us from His Word.


I. NOTICE THE PROOF OF THE MESSAGE. v. 35

In verse 35 of our text, God gives us some tremendous thoughts about the message that Jesus was delivering to the people all over Galilee. You might say that in this one verse, He give us valid proof that His message was different than any message that had ever been delivered to the people of Galilee or any other place in Israel.  It was the message of salvation and deliverance for all those who would believe in Him and receive Him as their personal Lord and Savior. Still today, this is the message that the entire world needs. And what a thrill it is to be a part of God's program of world evangelism and missions. Let's take a look at this proof of the message which Jesus proclaimed.

A. The proof was in the credibility of the Messenger. v. 35a

Who was this new preacher that had come to Galilee with this new message which the world needed? Well, this new preacher was none other than Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, Who was born of the virgin Mary down in Bethlehem, and was now living in His earthly father's home in Nazareth. His home was a modest one and one where no doubt He learned the carpenter's trade from His earthly father, Joseph. This was Jesus Who had given up all of the royalty and regality of heaven and divested Himself of much of His position and power to take on the form of a human being so that He could ultimately die on the cross. Therefore, there never had been a teacher like this One and there never will be again. But, we can rejoice because we will have no trouble believing that He is Who He claimed to be if we give our lives to Him and experience the new birth. All the proof in the world that we need to know that His message is authentic is just simply to give our lives totally and completely to Him. Once a person does this, he or she will become a new creature in Christ and his or her life will never be the same again.

B. The proof was in the content of the message. v. 35b

The content of the message which Jesus was teaching and preaching was simply the Gospel (Good News) of the Kingdom of God. It was the glorious message that there was and is hope in what is seemingly a hopeless world. And, even in that New Testament time when Rome controlled the known world, the message of the Gospel brought the promise that one day things would be better, not only for the Israelites, but especially for everyone who gave their lives to Christ in a personal experience with Jesus. The people of Jesus' day may have been looking for a new kingdom which would provide a deliverer to free the people from Rome's bondage, but the message they received from Jesus was far greater because it was a message about living in a spiritual Kingdom rightly related to the King. And, it was also a message of hope that one day there would ultimately be a literal earthly Kingdom for the Jewish nation, but presently they could have an eternal relationship with Christ Himself and live above the bondage of Rome and of sin. The message was one of hope, forgiveness, and a promise for better things to come.


C. The proof was in the confirmation of the miracles. v. 35c

It is very hard for some people to understand it in this dispensation of history, but we must understand that during the time of the first century church there was a transitional period of time when the new Gospel message had to have signs and miracles to affirm the truthfulness and credibility of the message. These miracles and signs were very prominent in the ministry of Jesus, and then again after the Day of Pentecost when Peter preached his dynamic message.

These miracles and signs were necessary because the Bible text of the New Testament was not yet completed. Of course, after the completion of the written text at the end of the first century, there was no longer the necessity of these confirming signs and miracles to validate the Gospel message preached by Jesus and afterward His disciples. Yet, I do believe that God still heals people physically in these days, but not to confirm the authenticity of the Word of God or the Gospel message. I would be very wrong to say that He does not continue to heal people because He healed an incurable lung disease for me back in 2013. But my friends, we must understand that the originally transitional signs were not given to the entire church to continue for the same purpose they were demonstrated in New Testament days. But one thing for sure, when Jesus and the disciples, including Paul the Apostle, healed people during their ministries, both Jews and Gentiles were given proof that the new message they were hearing was indeed truth.

Before moving on to the next point, I want to mention that now since the  written Word of God is completely finished, there is no need for any kind of miracle to affirm or confirm that the Bible is truth when scores of people are being changed completely spiritually by the power of God's Word. In fact, the greatest healing miracle that has ever been known is when Jesus Christ saves a lost soul and changes the entire life of the individual who places his or her faith in the finished product of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. So, all we need to do is to believe in the authenticity of God's Word and the Gospel message in order to exercise saving faith in what Jesus did for us when He died on the cross and arose from the dead. There is no greater miracle ever to be seen more than when a lost sinner is transformed by the power of God's Word (II Corinthians 5:17).

II. NOTICE THE PITY OF THE MASTER. v. 36

I want to begin this point by providing this entire verse, Matthew 9:36, where we find these words: "But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd." Folks, this has to be one of the most moving passage of Scriptures in the entire Word of God. I say this because of the unbelievable compassion that is shown by our Savior toward those wandering lost people that were like sheep without anyone to shepherd them. Remember that Jesus has been in Galilee teaching and preaching the Kingdom of God while confirming the veracity of His message by many miracles of healing and deliverance. Obviously, there was a huge multitude that showed up to witness what Jesus was saying and doing, and so our Lord's heart was literally broken over the lostness of these people. The people were just hopeless living in their own world with no hope whatsoever. But may I say that when Jesus comes on the scene, there will always be hope for everyone who will put their faith and trust in Him. And I must tell you that when no one else will care, Jesus will. Therefore, we must have on our hearts what He has on His, and when this happens we will do everything we can to reach out to those who are wandering in their lostness with no one to care for them. Let's take a look at three  important points concerning the pity and compassion that Jesus extended to the multitudes during the days of His earthly ministry, and He is still doing the same today.

A. Notice that this pity was created by the Master's Cogitation. v. 36a

Now if this sounds like a big word, I guess you could say it is. However, it is truly a great word because it means that as Jesus was viewing the multitudes, he was sizing up the situation to determine what needed to be done to solve this enormous problem of humanity that needed so much help. In other words, Jesus was evaluating the seriousness of the need and the urgency of the hour.  And even in His assessment of the situation, I can see His broken heart which really went out to these lost people who were fainting along the way with no hope whatsoever. So, Jesus' evaluation of the problem produced a vision of what could be done.

Therefore, we too must take a look around us and see the multitudes that are perishing without Christ as their Shepherd, and we must recognize that the Gospel message is the only hope that they have. And, if they are to receive the Gospel, then we must take the message to them. But, we need to know that this will never happen until we too have genuine pity in our hearts for theses lost dying people who still need to hear about Jesus. Without laborers to take them the Good News, there will be no hope. And if they get the Good News too late, it will no longer be good news.

And, I must remind all of us that we can never have genuine compassion for those who are lost unless we have intimacy with Christ daily. In order for us to really love sinners the way we should, then Jesus must love them through us. And therefore, He can't love through us unless we allow Him to be Lord and Master in our lives.

B. Notice that this pity was continued by the Master's Compassion. v. 36b

We now come to the main point that produced this great text in the Word of God. That point is that Jesus had enormous compassion toward the multitude who did not yet know Him. Truthfully, when the Bible says that Jesus was moved with compassion, it means that He was "moved in His bowels" with so much emotion that He may have even been sick on His stomach to the point that He vomited or He may have even had diarrhea. If this sounds very gross to you, just try to remember a time in your life when you received some bad news and you were so overwhelmed by the news that you were made sick on your stomach. This has happened to me several times down through the years, and therefore I can readily understand how Jesus must have felt because He came to seek and save those who were lost. Thus, when He saw the multitudes that needed to be saved, His heart was broken and His pity went out to these dear people. Also, bear in mind that up until this time, Jesus was doing most of all of the ministry while being with His disciples, but the time had now come when these disciples were going to be commissioned to get busy fulfilling the Great Commission to the lost world. In other words, the mission was changing because soon Jesus would die on the cross, rise from the dead, and return to heaven. Then, the work would have to go on through those laborers whom He had sent to take the Gospel to the lost world. In fact, in the next chapter, Matthew 10, Jesus did indeed commission the apostles and sent them forth to the mission fields. I am presently writing a book on chapter ten dealing with “God’s Biblical Blueprint For Missions.” So my dear friends, we will never reach the multitudes with the Gospel until we have genuine pity and compassion coming from our hearts because of our intimacy with Christ. Again I must say, “We have to have on our hearts what Jesus has on His; the souls of men, women, boys and girls.”

C. The pity was compounded by the Master’s Calculation. v. 36c

In the first part of this verse, Jesus saw the multitudes and evaluated the situation as very bad. But now, in the last part of the verse, He calculates that the situation is indeed extremely bad because of the fainting of the people and the danger that is present for those wandering sheep. You might say that Jesus’ thought pattern had moved from observation to complete calculation so much that He is now pondering what must be done. Of course, we know that Jesus knew that He had come to die on the cross and rise from the dead to rescue the perishing, but now He came to acknowledge or confess that because He would be going away to heaven, He would for sure need more laborers to help Him in this worldwide task. Therefore, I believe He was trying to impress upon the hearts and minds of His disciples to see the lost sheep as He saw them, or they would never be moved with compassion to help reach these lost people. So friends, we need to know that not only can evangelism and world missions be taught, they must also be caught from those who have a contagious spirit for winning people to Christ. I assure you that you will never become a laborer for Jesus unless you get on fire and become passionate about telling the world about Him. It is sad to say though that in most of our churches around the world, especially here in America, the fire for evangelism has gone out and church function has become nothing more than dead routine and formalism. May God deliver us from these country-club style religious recreation centers, and get us back to the task of world missions.

III. NOTICE THE PROCLAMATION TO THE MISSIONARIES. v. 37

Before Jesus could send out His disciples as new missionaries, he had to proclaim a personal message to them so that they could receive His command and catch His burden before they started on their way to share the Gospel message. You might say that we are not prepared to preach to others until we have had a receptive heart and a teachable spirit to claim the message and responsibility that God has given to everyone of His saved brothers or sisters. Therefore, my prayer is that God will open our ears and our hearts to the message He is trying to get across to us in order to prepare us for the task of world evangelism which all of us should be doing.
Let’s now take a look at three points pertaining to the proclamation which Jesus gave to His disciples.

A. Our Lord’s Proclamation Was Personal. v. 37a

In the first part of this verse, we are told that Jesus speaks personally to his disciples about the great harvest that is waiting for reapers. I don’t mean to be melodramatic, but I would just like to say that when God speaks to any or all of us, He always does it in a personal way. This is true when He draws us to salvation and it is also true when He calls us to a place of service in His Kingdom work. The call of God is very personal and no one will know for sure what God wants him or her to do with their lives in the work of the Kingdom unless he or she pays close attention to the voice of God speaking through His Word and even through open doors. May God please help us to listen carefully to what He is saying to us when the fields are now ripe unto harvest and the laborers are so few.

B. Our Lord’s Proclamation Was Promising. v. 37b

I genuinely love the part of this verse which says, “The harvest truly is plenteous,….” What a tremendous promise our Lord gave to His first disciples, and He is still giving to us today this same promise. The promise is that the harvest is truly plenteous if we will pay the price to reap in the fields regularly and consistently. Folks, this means that harvesting the crop of souls that are ready to be saved should be our main concern. If it is our main concern, then our lives will be prioritized so that we will be busy sharing the Gospel personally, participating in missions collectively with our church and mission teams, and we will be down sizing our lives so that we can invest in this harvest field evangelism. Of course, “I know that there are those today who teach that we should not fish where the fish are biting, or reap where the crops are ripe, or try to win people to Christ through mass evangelism.” Their concept of the Great Commission is that we must go through under-ground methods and slip up on the blind side of non-expectant people groups and maybe share the Gospel with a few of these people, and then be sure and disciple each one of the new converts before we move on to try and win more to Christ. If this sounds like I am sarcastic, you are absolutely right! This new style of mission strategy is strait out of the pits of hell. Why folks, the former President of the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention told me in a letter indirectly sent to me that “the purpose of the Great Commission is not to populate heaven with as many souls as possible, but instead, the purposes is to take the Gospel to every unreached people group and then let them win their own people to Christ.” This really sounds good until you stop and think about that statement that the purpose of the Great Commission is not to populate heaven with as many souls as possible. May I say emphatically, “Hogwash”. If the purpose of the Great Commission is not to win souls and prepare them for heaven, then folks let’s shut her down, close the churches and take a long vacation. This new-fangled “Emergent Church” trash doctrine is so far from Biblical truth that we should avoid it at all cost. Poor Jesus! He didn’t know that He needed to send His disciples to the fields where the doors were closed to the Gospel, and then, as Zane Pratt said in his book on “The Introduction To Global Missions”, “God gave us the authority to go into any closed country and declare the Gospel.” until the country opens up. Whatever happened to what Jesus said in our next chapter, Matthew 10, about taking the Gospel to the cities where the people would receive the message, and if they didn’t, shake the dust from their feet and go to where they would receive it. How in the world have we gotten so messed up about the Great Commission? Jesus promised that the fields would be plenteous, not just to win two Muslims to Christ per year so that we can brag on that to our churches. But we have been given the promise of a very fruitful harvest if we will go where He tells us to go and where He opens the doors, rather than us trying to move people from the fields where God sent them to places God never called them. Some fields may be harder than others, but if God places a missionary in the field where He wants them, then there will be fruitfulness and many times the harvest will be plenteous.

C. Our Lord’s Proclamation Was Plain. v. 37c

In the latter part of verse 37, we discover that Jesus emphatically said that there are not enough harvesters to reap the crops that are ready to be taken in. Jesus was making a plain statement telling his new disciple missionaries that their responsibility was large, the harvest was plenteous, and that there were not enough people committed to the task of winning the world to Him. Just try to imagine this! This was near the end of Jesus’ singular earthly ministry and just before He was turning the task of world evangelism over to His disciples, and there were not enough committed people to get the job done then. If we take a good look around us today, I am afraid that we will find even less people proportionately than Jesus had in the first century.

Where are the laborers? George Barna tells us that 97% of all Evangelical Christians never lead a person to Christ in their entire life time. This is such a terrible tragedy! It is a tragedy for those who need to be saved but are not getting the message. And beyond this, it is a terribly sad thing that so few believers ever get to enjoy the excitement of winning someone else to Christ. And even worse, we are told that the average professing believer only gives one cent per day to world missions. So, what a tragic situation that we are in because professing Christians want to enjoy having eternal fire insurance because they got saved, but they are perfectly content, seemingly, to never tell someone else about what they have found in Christ. Therefore, we all should feel ashamed and embarrassed because of our lack of concern and interest in seeing the multitudes come in from wandering in their lostness. Later in Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus commissioned all us to go and teach the world about Him, and then disciple those who get saved. Are we doing a good job with this? I would say we are not.

IV. NOTICE THE PRAYER FOR MANPOWER. v. 38

In this last verse for this study, we come to see that Jesus gave His disciples explicit instructions for them to give themselves to praying fervently for Him to call and send forth laborers into the fields of service. This is a remarkable request because Jesus could have Sovereignly called and sent forth every reaper that would be needed, but instead of doing this, He called on the disciples to pray and register the request with our Lord before He would grant their prayer and send the servants into the harvest fields. Why do you suppose that He did this? Well, let us take a look at this verse and discover the answer to this question.

A. Jesus commanded the disciples to pray and ask for workers because He wanted to reveal to them their personal responsibility. v. 38a

I know that this might sound a little trite, but our Lord cherished the thought of using His disciples in His plan to win the world to Himself. He could have done it any other way He wanted to, but He decided that He would let His disciples and us as well, get in on this wonderful responsibility and privilege. This is why that in over 50 years of ministry, I have never gotten over the wonder that God chose me and my family to be a part of His plan for world evangelism and service. II Corinthians 5:20, tells us that we are ambassadors for Christ! In other words, we have been chosen here in this world to represent His Kingdom as His ambassador. There is no joy on earth that I believe can compare with the joy of trying to win men, women, boys and girls to Christ. Therefore, it is truly a privilege to accept the responsibility to try to tell the world about the Gospel message of Christ, and then get in on seeing the harvest right before our very eyes. And, to be given the responsibility to pray for God to call others to the harvest fields is truly a great privilege that we should not take lightly. Let me say it again! Christ could have called and sent everyone needed to the fields without our help. But, He loved us enough to give us the privilege to pray for Him to send forth more laborers.

And while I am writing about this today at my computer, the thought has come to me that God has gloriously blessed us with the privilege to pray for other harvesters to come forth from our family members, work colleagues, classmates, and yes, even our neighbors down the street. Without God’s amazing grace extended to us which allows us to pray intercessory prayers for others, we would not be able to see the joy and excitement of seeing our family members, work colleagues, classmates, and our neighbors surrender their lives to Christ in answer to our prayers. So, I think I will just shout hallelujah! Amen!

Before I move on to the next point, I would just like to say that while I am talking about the call of God sending forth other laborers into the fields, I can’t help but think of a special young man in our church that God has given me the privilege to mentor and try to help train for the Gospel ministry. I am very proud of this young man, and I count it an enormous privilege to be able to intercede for him and his family as he prepares to be one of God’s special harvesters. It is my prayer that God might use him mightily!

B. Jesus commanded the disciples to pray and ask for workers because He wanted to reveal to them the need for a powerful reverence. v. 38b

The second part of this verse is so very important. As Jesus told His disciples to pray for more workers for the harvest fields, He told them to direct their prayers to the Lord of the harvest. This command reveals a very precious thought. That is, if we are going to pray for workers in the fields, we must address or direct our prayers to the only One that can answer our prayers and send forth the laborers. And to call upon the Lord of the harvest is to acknowledge our reverence and respect for not only the One that can provide the workers, but He must provide the fruitfulness of the harvest as well. In other words, it is like what Paul said in I Corinthians 3:6, when he said, “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.” In other words, it is only the Lord of the harvest Who provides the crops when the harvest comes in as a result of our labors. There is just no way that we can reap the crops unless the Lord of the harvest gives the increase.

So, if we are going to pray for more manpower for the fields that are ripe unto harvest, we must direct these prayers to the only One that can call the workers, and then provide the harvest when these workers go to work. We must totally understand that the harvest is not about our efforts only, but it is because of our obedience to the One Who has called us and because we trust Him to provide the harvest as a reward for those who go to the fields to work. We may not be able to see every effort we demonstrate rewarded down here in this life, but there will come a day at the Judgment Seat of Christ for the believers, when we will be rewarded for our faithfulness in the fields of harvest. And folks, rest assured, our Lord will not forget anything we have done. He surely keeps good records, and as the great Lord of the harvest, He will reward accordingly based upon our work with the right motives and sincere dedication. Aren’t you glad that He will never forget? I surely am, and truthfully, I look forward to that day when we shall be rewarded. And beyond this, I look forward to the day when I get to meet all of the people that may have come to Christ through our efforts.

C. Jesus commanded the disciples to pray and ask for workers because He wanted them to offer a pressing request. v. 38c

This pressing request was for more laborers to be sent forth into the fields to help harvest the crops. Obviously, Jesus knew the tremendous shortage of workers when the fields would be so ready for the harvest. As I stated earlier, it was true during Jesus’ earthly ministry, and it is probably more urgent that we get more workers today than ever before. Why? Because time is running out and Jesus is coming again. Therefore, we must pray for God to not only call forth more laborers, but we must also pray that His servants will respond without reservation to this call.

Then, when these people report for duty, He can send them forth into the fields of harvest. Yet, is very important to  know that God doesn’t always call the equipped, but He wants to equip those He calls. And, if these called harvesters are going to be properly groomed and trained, then the people receiving the call must be willing to pay the price to get properly trained. And I must say that in this generation, I see a lot of people who don’t want to pay the price for this training, but they are looking for some short cut that won’t require so much of them. May God give us some truly committed servants who are willing to take whatever time is necessary, sacrifice whatever is required, and pay whatever the cost to become efficient harvesters to work in the fields. The Bible says in Luke 12:48, “To Whom much has been given, much is required….” Therefore, if the God of heaven and earth loves us enough to save us, and then call us to His service, then we should give everything to Him in our commitment. Some of the old preachers of  the Gospel use to say, “we must abandon everything and follow Him,” if we are going to be fruitful working in the fields. I hope that  this is the way you feel, because for sure, this is the way I feel still after all of these years in the ministry. Will you please join me in not only appealing to our Lord to send forth more workers, but may our level of surrender be far above the commitment of the average professing Christian. I still believe that God can and will use totally committed people in His service far beyond any person’s expectation if they will abandon all and follow Him whatever the cost.

Conclusion


Let me conclude this wonderful lesson by asking you a question: “Where are the laborers”? I know where they are! They are all around us just waiting for us to help get them to Christ and then pray to the Lord of the harvest to call them to His service and send them forth into the fields. They are everywhere, but they want become workers in the fields until we accept the responsibility to pray for God to redirect them to the harvest fields where He has planned for them to go. Therefore, my beloved friends, we must commit ourselves totally and completely to Christ, abandon all, pay the price to become better equipped, and then follow the will of God to the fields where He is sending us. Then, we must beseech our God in heaven to save and call other workers to join us in this worldwide endeavor of taking the Gospel to the world. And may I jump upon my soap box one more time and say, “God will send us and those around us to the fields where the harvest is plenteous, and not to those places where the doors are closed and the fish are not biting. Whoever would have thought that our so-called Christian leaders would be directing the workers away from the open doors to the doors that are closed where covert mission activity must  go on in order to get one or two saved every year? There is no wonder that people are stopping their giving to world missions when because one man, Ralph Winter, decided in 1974 in Lausanne, Switzerland to convince the entire Christian world that all of our mission strategy must be changed in order to fulfill the Great Commission. If this damnable lie would have been propagated in Africa before the Masai Revival, thousands upon thousands of Kenyans and Tanzanians would have never gotten saved and given their hearts to Christ. May God forgive Ralph Winter and those who bought this failed mission strategy to an endless degree and have shoved it down the throats of multitudes of pastors and churches. I can’t even begin to imagine the greatness of  the judgment of God upon these people who have squelched the missionary zeal of millions of people! Without a doubt, hell will have enlarged herself because of this false mission strategy and activity. I just wish that good Godly people and church leaders would open their eyes and see the tragic mistake that has taken the excitement away from millions of believers who no longer see the importance of winning the masses to Jesus one life at a time. If we are not to give invitations and invite people to make decisions for Christ, then why are we throwing away millions of dollars  which could be used to help the poor in our neighborhoods.

It is my sincere prayer that if you have taken the time to read this sermon and pay attention to its content that you will allow God to use it to get you where you need to be in the harvest fields, and that He may have placed upon your heart a greater burden to pray to the Lord of the harvest to call and send forth other workers to help us with the big harvest; not the fields where the Gospel is rejected and the laborers are hated! I just believe that we need to be shaking the dust from our shoes in some of these closed-door places and move on to the fields that are plenteous and white unto harvest. May God richly bless you for reading this material.

Friday, March 4, 2016

Seed of the Woman


God With Us – Immanuel
The Protevangelium
  • Genesis 3 is a hopeless, pessimistic chapter of the Bible except for
  • one verse—Genesis 3:15. This single verse is the foundation upon
  • which the gospel of God’s grace rests. God’s proclamation was
  • understood by Adam, Eve and all their “believing” descendants as
  • God’s promise to send His Seed, born of a woman to conquer Satan
  • and deliver them from the curse of sin. At the very beginning of
  • man’s history on this earth, God provided great hope in this verse.
  • The Seed would make life and the world right again! The first hint in
  • the Old Testament that the coming Christ would be born of a virgin
  • also occurs in this same verse.
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: He shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel (Genesis 3:15).
This prophecy, known as the Protevangelium, comes from the most ancient oracle known to man—the oracle the Lord pronounced when He found Adam and Eve guilty of sin. The Lord is speaking to Satan, who enticed “the woman,” Eve, to disobey the Lord’s command: “but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die” (Genesis 2:17).
Catholic scholars point to Gen. 3:15 to support their teaching of Mary as the co-redeemer.  The Roman Catholic Bible (Douay Rheims version) reads: “I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed;she shall crush thy head, and thou shall lie in wait for her heel.” This is based on the translation of the Latin texts of the Vulgate Bible—the official Bible of the Roman Catholic Church since the fourth century. Mary…” most completely triumphed over him (the ancient serpent) and thus crushed his head with her immaculate foot” (Pope Pius IX Ineffabilis Deus).[1]
The Hebrew Masoretic text which is the original language of the Old Testament reads quite different then the Douay Rheims version. The one who will crush the serpent’s head is masculine, not feminine. It is translated “Heshall crush thy head—the God/man (not “she” as noted in the Catholic Bible. This verse prophesies Christ’s future victory over Satan, not Mary.
The New Testament Scripture agrees with the Hebrew manuscript of the Book of Genesis.
The God of peace will soon crush Satan” (Rom.16:20).
” It was for this very reason that the Son of God appeared to destroy the devil’s work.” (1Jn.3:8)
“that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death-that is the devil” (Heb. 2: 14b).
When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him (Col. 2:15).
For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death. For He has put all things in subjection under His feet (1Cor.15: 25-27).
The Bible does not confirm Mary as the victor over the devil, she did not die for any man’s sin.
Identification of the “seed of the woman” with Jesus Christ goes back at least as far as Irenaeus (a very early church father). The phrase “Seed of the woman” is counted as one of Jesus’ many Biblical titles.[2] A tradition found in some old eastern Christian sources (including the ‘Kitab al-Magall’ and the ‘Cave of Treasures’) holds the serpent’s head was crushed at Golgotha, described as a skull-shaped hill at the centre of the Earth, where Shem and Melchizedek had placed the body of Adam.[3]
Martin Luther identifies the “seed of the woman” as the coming Messiah—not Mary: “When we are given instruction in this passage concerning the enmity between the serpent and woman – such an enmity that the Seed of the woman will crush the serpent with all His powers – this is a revelation of the depths of God’s goodness …[who] clearly declares that the male Seed of the woman would prostrate this enemy.”[4]
Isaiah’s Prophecy
Genesis 3:15 alludes to a virgin birth of the Savior, but only one other Old Testament verse clearly spells it out.  That is Isaiah’s prophecy of the virgin born Christ child: Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign: Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14).
Over seven hundred years before Jesus was born, the prophet Isaiah proclaimed this promise which provided greater detail about the “Seed of the woman” in Genesis 3:15.
The name Immanuel means, “God with us.”  A virgin will give birth to God in the flesh, Who will conquer Satan.
The Hebrew word for virgin is Alma, which is translated as “virgin” in every Old Testament Scripture that uses this word.  When the Hebrew Old Testament was translated into Greek about 250 B.C., the Hebrew word ‘alma’ was translated to ‘parthenos,’ which also refers to a young girl who has never had sexual relations with a man. The great temple Parthenon stood in Athens at that time.  The Greeks used ‘Parthenon’ as the temple’s name because they used virgins for ritual prostitution there.
Isaiah describes Immanuel in chapter 9 as the One who will vanquish all enemies and rule the world forever from King David’s throne.  He would arise from the land of Zebulun and Naphtali (region of Sea of Galilee) as a great light in the darkness:
But there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish; in earlier times He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He shall make it glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles.  The people who walk in darkness will see a great light…For a child will be born to us, a Son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.  There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore (Isa. 9: 1-2; 6-7).
Did Jesus need the virgin birth to be sinless? No, He was eternally sinless before His human conception and virgin birth.
The New Testament Gospel of Matthew clearly identifies Jesus’ virgin birth as a fulfillment of Isaiah’s Old Testament prophecy:
So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which is translated, ‘God with us’ (Matthew 1:22–23).
Jesus was born of the virgin Mary.  He had a supernatural conception but a perfectly natural birth.  He is Immanuel—‘God with us.’
The Incarnation of Jesus Christ
The word incarnation does not occur in the Bible. It is derived from the Latin in and caro (flesh), meaning clothed in flesh—God’s act of assuming flesh. This word describes the gracious, voluntary act of the Son of God in assuming a human body. [5]  The eternal Lord Jesus Christ became a man.  This is the greatest event to occur in the history of the universe.  History is not about time, matter, and energy randomly colliding to form the elements of the universe and ultimately life.  The creative act of God becoming man defines history. The Apostle Paul wrote‘And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh. . . ” (1Timothy 3:16). The incarnation of Jesus Christ is beyond human comprehension.  God reveals this mystery to His “chosen” through the Holy Spirit’s illumination of the Scriptures.
Jesus’ existence didn’t begin with His birth or conception, but pre-existed Creation. His Divine nature was never created, but always existed.  Jesus was both God and with God. Jesus created the universe and all things in it.[6]
We know Jesus was aware of His pre-existence in eternity from His proclamation noted in the Gospel of John:  “Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.’ Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him…” (John 8:58-59). His enemies knew perfectly well He was claiming divinity, because they intended to stone Him.
There is a difference between the Incarnation of Jesus Christ and His virgin birth.  The Incarnation of the Son of God is the fact of God becoming Man; the Virgin Birth is the method by which God the Son became Man.[7]
If Jesus Christ was not virgin born, then He was not God in the flesh, but only a man possessing the same sinful nature of every fallen child of Adam. The fact of the Incarnation lies in the eternal One casting aside His eternal glory to become a man. The method of the Incarnation is the manner by which He came—via a miraculous God created conception in the womb of the Virgin Mary.
The gospels of Matthew and Luke begin with the story of Jesus’ supernatural conception and virgin birth. John’s gospel presents the incarnation of the eternal Word of God.
”And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld His glory. the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth”    (John 1:14).
John 1:14 cannot be fully appreciated apart from verses 1-3:
‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being (John 1:1-3).
Jesus as God was one with the Father in eternity and He chose to take on a human body and ”become flesh” (vs. 14). “when He cometh into the world, He saith, . . . a body hast thou prepared me” (Hebrews 10:5). Why did Jesus do this?
Paul provides another verse in the Book of Galatians to answer this question: ”But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons” (Gal. 4:4-5). God placed His only eternal Son into a human body to die and redeem sinners.
God’s main purpose in His incarnation was to redeem sinners so He could adopt them into His family.  This truth is given in the name of Jesus. Said the angel, “Thou shalt call his name JESUS (meaning “God saves”), for He shall save His people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21). At His birth the angel testified again“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11). Even the Lord Jesus Himself proclaimed the purpose of His Incarnation when He said, “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).
After the fall of Adam and Eve into sin, there was no hope of human deliverance apart from Jesus.  The following Scriptures penned by the Apostle Paul testify to that: There is none righteous, not even one…(Rom. 3:10) and“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:23-24).
Isaiah prophesied of this coming Savior as literally the ‘Kinsman-Redeemer’  (i.e. one who is related by blood to those he redeems).[8] The Book of Ruth uses the same Hebrew word for Kinsman Redeemer (gôēl) to describe Boaz’ redemption of Naomi and Ruth.[9] Boaz pictured the redemption his future descendant (Jesus Christ) would accomplish for all humanity. This was possible only because Jesus physically descended from Adam via Mary.[10] God created His human nature at conception and called Him “the last Adam”[11]—which relates Him to all humans who have ever lived on this earth.
Jesus was tempted in all things humans are tempted,[12] yet His temptation was apart from any thought, word, or act of sin.[13] This made it possible for Jesus, as a perfect man to pour out His blood as a payment for all the sins of mankind. “that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man” (Hebrews 2:9). Jesus stated the purpose of His Incarnation: “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Mark 2:17).
He must be fully human to pay the sin penalty of humanity.
Since then the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, so that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil (Hebrews 2:14).
Jesus became incarnate as the “Seed of the woman” not only to become the kinsman Redeemer of mankind, but also to defeat Satan.
Yet, Jesus had to be fully Divine to endure God’s infinite wrath, since a mere creature could not withstand it.[14]Furthermore, God Himself said “I, even I, am the Lord, and apart from me there is no savior.” (Isa. 43:11). So calling Jesus ‘Savior’ is logically calling Him YAHWEH since YAHWEH is the only Savior.[15]
The Bible teaches, “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23).  Therefore, Jesus, as our Substitute had to die to satisfy God’s judgment for our sins—the punishment we deserve.  God planned this from Eternity, as the names of the Redeemed were already written in His Book of Life from the foundation of the World.[16]
Paul records the following in his Epistle to the Philippians:
”Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:5-10).
This verse explains that before His Incarnation Jesus was eternally “in the form of God.” He is forever God.  In His Incarnation Jesus laid aside His position in heavenly glory, but not His Divine nature.  He is always God the Son, for God is unchangeable and cannot cease to be God.  He continued as God the Son in His human life on earth, and He will remain God the Son throughout eternity. He is ”Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever” (Hebrews 13: 8).
”He took upon Him the form of a servant.” Jesus was almighty God who stooped to become mankind’s lowly Servant. He did not boast of His eternal glory, but revealed His humility. ”The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20: 28).
“He was made in the likeness of men.” Jesus became flesh and blood for reasons previously discussed.
“He humbled Himself.” There has never been a more genuine act of humility.  The eternal Son of God became flesh in a stable and lay wrapped in burial clothes in a manger (cow’s watering trough). He lived His life in poverty.
He became obedient unto death.” Jesus obeyed until His death on a cross to attain the victory of His namesake (Jesus-“God saves”). ”For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (1Cor. 15: 22).  This was God’s plan of salvation for men, and therefore, Jesus submitted to a criminal’s death on a cross.
His own people considered crucifixion a disgrace. In their law it was written, “For he that is hanged is accursed of God” (Deut. 21:23; Gal. 3:13).
Jesus revealed God to mankind. God’s greatest revelation of Himself is in the person of His Son.  God accomplished that revelation in the incarnation.  “Philip said to the Lord Jesus, ‘Lord, show us the Father . . . ‘ and our Lord answered, ‘. . . He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father . . .’ ” (John 14:8-9).
We can never understand the doctrine of the incarnation, whereby God the Creator became man the creature, for it is beyond the limits of finite comprehension. But we can believe it, and rejoice in it![17]  In fact, we must believe it, for “every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God” (1John 4:3). “If ye believe not that I am He,” said the Lord Jesus, “ye shall die in your sins” (John 8:24).
Addendum—The Council of Chalcedon
An ecumenical council was convened at Chalcedon in the year 451 A.D. to formulate the Doctrine of Incarnation of Jesus Christ.  The statement issued by the Council affirms the one person of Christ having two natures:
We. . . confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in Godhood and also perfect in manhood, truly God and truly man, of a reasonable soul and body; consubstantial with the Father according to the Godhood, and consubstantial with us according to the manhood, like us in all things except sin; begotten before all ages of the Father according to the Godhood, and in these latter days, for us and for our salvation, born of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, according to the manhood, one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-Begotten, to be acknowledged in two natures without confusion, without change, without division, without separation, the difference of the natures being by no means taken away because of the union, but rather the property of each nature being preserved and concurring in one Person and one Subsistence, not divided or separated into two Persons, but one and the same Son and only begotten God, Word, Lord Jesus Christ. . . .[18]
[1] The Creeds of Christendom by Philip Schaff 2009. ISBN 1-115-46834-0. Pg 211.
“Papal Definition of the Immaculate Conception”. Ewtn.com. Retrieved 2010-09-13
[2] Armour, Michael C (2002). A Newcomer’s Guide to the Bible. Joplin: College Press Publishing Company. p. 43.  ISBN 0899009018.
[3] Budge, Ernest Aldfred Wallis (2010). The Book of the Cave of Treasures. Whitefish: Kessinger Publishing, LLC. p. 127. ISBN 1169774628.
[4] Luther, Martin (1958). Luther’s Works, American Edition. St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House. Vol. 1, pp. 192–193.)
[5] Henry M. Morris, Ph.D. 1993. When God Became Man.  Acts & Facts. 22 (12).
[6] Dr. Jonathan Sarfati. Creation Magazine 35(1):34-37
[7] Henry M. Morris, Ph.D. 1993. When God Became Man.  Acts & Facts. 22 (12).

[8] Isaiah 59: 20
[9] Ruth 2:20; 3:1-4:17
[10] Luke 3:38
[11] 1Corinthians 15:45
[12] 1John 2:16
[13] Henry M. Morris, Ph.D. 1993. When God Became Man.  Acts & Facts. 22 (12).
[14] Isaiah 53:10-11
[15] Dr. Jonathan Sarfati. Creation Magazine 35(1):34-37
[16] Dr. Jonathan Sarfati. Creation Magazine 35(1):34-37; Rev. 13:8; Rev. 17:8
[17] Henry M. Morris, Ph.D. 1993. When God Became Man.  Acts & Facts. 22 (12).

[18] Schaff P., ed., `The Creed of Chalcedon,’ in `The Creeds of Christendom: With a History and Critical Notes,’ Baker: Grand Rapids MI, 1931, 2:62-63



The DNA of Jesus—Who Contributed?


The Gospels of Matthew and Luke record differing genealogies of Jesus.  Matthew lists the royal lineage of Jesus through King David and the kings of Judah ending in Joseph, Jesus earthly father.  Luke documents the lineage of Jesus from Adam to Mary, Joseph’s wife.  The genealogies list the same people from Abraham to King David, but diverge with different descendants following King David.  Matthew records the royal kingly lineage, as noted. But Luke’s record of Mary’s ancestors proceeds through David and Bathsheba’s older son, Nathan.[1]   His descendants are not as well known as the royal descendants of Matthew’s genealogy from King Solomon and beyond.
Every theologian and serious student of Scripture accepts the fact that Joseph’s royal lineage does not contribute any DNA to Jesus.  Although this lineage is through the Kings of Judah, it does not end in Jesus, the Son of God.  The genealogy ends at Joseph. Joseph adopted Jesus as His earthly father, so Joseph’s genealogy is credited to Jesus through adoption. That should not surprise anyone.  God adopts all believers in Jesus Christ into His family.  God has given each one a perfect eternal body and an eternal incorruptible heavenly inheritance.  He has also granted them the privilege of “hanging out” with God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, His perfect created beings, and believers from all time in His heavenly abode.  Yet none of these believers have God’s DNA.
But the Virgin Mary carried Jesus in her womb for nine months.  Each human infant has 50% of his/her DNA from the father and 50% from the mother.  God fathered Jesus, so that eliminates any DNA from an earthly father. But did Mary contribute the other 50% of Jesus DNA?  Was Jesus genetically related (at least in part) to His siblings?  The answers to these questions are less clear on the surface.  They will stir controversy, whichever side of the fence they fall.  Let us continue the investigation.
Scientists have only recently discovered genes, chromosomes and DNA over the last century. Even the combination of a man’s sperm with a woman’s ovum to form life at conception is a relatively new discovery, compared to the history of the human race. This discussion would not have occurred prior to the 20th century. All ancient civilizations believed human conception occurred by impregnating a woman with the “seed” of a man.  That is the main reason most ancient genealogies consist only of men.
Was Jesus in human flesh half God and half man?  No true student of Scripture would support that view.  Theologians have debated this issue for millennia. Jesus was fully God (100%) and fully man (100%).  Mythic stories of paganism portray gods and goddesses cohabiting with earthly men and women to produce half-gods with superhuman abilities. But the Bible does not portray the true God that way.  God does not interbreed with humans.  There is an implication in Scripture that God created angels who fell into sin and cohabited with earthly women, producing superhuman giants in the pre-flood world.[2] These angels were corrupt and performed an abominable thing in God’s sight.  He banished them to an eternal prison named Tartarus.[3]Would God perform the same despicable act upon a human woman that infuriated Him when it was performed by angels?
Jesus was legally related to both parents. His claim to the Messianic throne of David’s lineage is legitimate through adoption by Joseph.  But, was he genetically related to his parents and siblings?  As noted above, no one argues for a genetic connection to Joseph.  However, there is controversy regarding the possible genetic connection to Mary and her other children.  One can only speculate regarding the DNA make-up of Jesus, since, of course, there are none of His DNA samples to analyze.
DNA is a very fascinating molecule that testifies to the omnipotence and omniscience of a Creator.  DNA is found in all living things—plant, animal, and bacterial.  DNA codes for the production of protein molecules essential for reproduction, energy production, survival, and growth.  The DNA in each human, if placed end to end would reach from the earth to the moon more than 500,000 times! In book form, that information would completely fill the Grand Canyon more than 75 times! Yet, if one cell’s worth of DNA from every person who ever lived were placed in a pile, the final pile would weigh less than an aspirin!  What a marvelous creation of God!
The DNA in each human cell is packaged into chromosomes just prior and during each cellular division.  Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes.  The father donates one chromosome to each pair and the mother donates the other.  Only one chromosome pair determines the gender of the child.  The sex chromosomes are known as the X and Y chromosomes.  Females have two X chromosomes (XX) and males have one X and one Y chromosome (XY).  A sperm cell can carry either one X or one Y chromosome.  An ovum cell produced by the female carries only an X chromosome.  An infant must have a Y chromosome to be a male, and only the male can furnish that.
It seems there are only 3 options for considering the composition of Jesus’ DNA:
  1. Jesus has 100% Mary’s DNA with a divinely created Y chromosome to make Him male.
  2. Jesus has 50% DNA from a human female (Mary) and 50% DNA from God, to replace that of a human male.
  3. Jesus has DNA created entirely by God at the time of His conception.
Several have proposed God supplied a Y chromosome to add to the X chromosome of Mary’s egg cell (ovum), which programmed for the male gender of Jesus.  In so doing God bypassed defective genetic weaknesses of the Adamic (male) genome.  However, this is a fallacious argument, as 22 other chromosomes must be contributed to match the other 22 chromosomes Mary produced in her ovum cell.
The Roman Catholic Position
The Roman Catholic Church embraces the second option: Jesus has 50% DNA from a human female (Mary’s) and 50% DNA from God (to replace that of a sinful human male).  This enabled Mary to supply Jesus’ humanity.  God the Holy Spirit miraculously encapsulated the Divine nature in Jesus human body.  Mary and the Holy Spirit each contributed 50% to the end result.  But doesn’t Mary fall under the category of all humans who are born sinners? Catholic theologians cite Mary’s “Immaculate conception” as contributing a sinless human nature to Jesus.  Catholics believe Mary was without sin when she bore God’s Son.  Mary is considered the “Holy Mother of God.” She remained a virgin after delivering Jesus (according to the Catholic church). Therefore, Roman Catholicism insists Jesus’ other brothers and sister mentioned in Scripture (James, Jude, etc[4]) were not siblings but cousins—not birthed by the Virgin Mary. The Holy Scriptures teach Jesus’ siblings were born of Mary, who did not stay a virgin after Jesus’ birth.  But the question about whether they share Jesus’ DNA remains unanswered.  Let us further examine the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church.
The Catholic Church states the conception of the Virgin Mary in the womb of her mother, St. Anne, was free from the original sin obtained through the fall of Adam. The Catholic Church teaches Mary was conceived by normal biological means, but God kept her “immaculate” at the time of conception.  There is no Biblical support for this doctrine.  In fact, it bears similarities to mythical stories of the ‘queen goddess’ of ancient civilizations (Isis, Ishtar, Aphrodite, Venus, etc).
The Immaculate Conception is often mistakenly confused for the conception of Mary’s son Jesus Christ in her own womb. The Catholic Doctrine of Incarnation explains Mary’s virgin birth of Jesus, while Immaculate Conception espouses the sinless conception of Mary herself. Catholics teach Mary was sinless and conceived in perfection.[5] They therefore propose Mary contributed Jesus sinless human nature. Jesus’ DNA would then consist of 50% contribution from Mary, and perhaps more if God only added the ‘Y’ chromosome.
Catholic theologians admit the doctrine of Mary’s Immaculate Conception, as defined by Pope Pius IX was not overtly taught prior to the 12th century. They also agree Biblical Scripture can’t prove this teaching.[6] But they claim the doctrine is implicitly contained in the teaching of the church Fathers.
It was not until 1854 that Pope Pius IX, with the support of the majority of Roman Catholic bishops, proclaimed the papal bull Ineffabilis Deus, which defined the doctrine of Mary’s Immaculate Conception: “We declare, pronounce and define that the doctrine which holds that the Blessed Virgin Mary, at the first instant of her conception, by a singular privilege and grace of the Omnipotent God, in virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of mankind, was preserved immaculate from all stain of original sin, has been revealed by God, and therefore should firmly and constantly be believed by all the faithful.”
— Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus, December 8, 1854.[7]
The Protestant Position
Martin Luther initiated the Reformation and said: “Mother Mary, like us, was born in sin of sinful parents, but the Holy Spirit covered her, sanctified and purified her so that this child was born of flesh and blood, but not with sinful flesh and blood. The Holy Spirit permitted the Virgin Mary to remain a true, natural human being of flesh and blood, just as we. However, he warded off sin from her flesh and blood so that she became the mother of a pure child, not poisoned by sin as we are. For in that moment when she conceived, she was a holy mother filled with the Holy Spirit and her fruit is a holy pure fruit, at once God and truly man, in one person.”[8]  This is quite interesting as the discovery of genetics was still several hundred years into the future. Luther could not have known scientifically how God created a sinless human body for Jesus.
Most Protestants reject the doctrine of Immaculate Conception. They do not consider the teaching authoritative because it is not supported by Biblical Scriptures.
How can an infinite God, Who was from the beginning (John 1:2) be the same Who “was made flesh, and dwelt among us?” (John 1:1, 14). The Apostle Paul explains that Jesus Christ came in a body, which was not of sinfulflesh: “For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in thelikeness of sinful flesh, and as an offering for sin…” (Romans 8:3). This resolves the apparent paradox. But how could His body of flesh be received from Mary without also receiving her genetic inheritance, which is exactly what makes it sinful flesh?
The Catholics hold that Jesus could not be fully human if He had no genetic contribution from humanity (ie. Mary). God’s perfect solution was to use the “seed of the woman” (Genesis 3:15) for Jesus’ humanity and contribute His own portion to make Jesus God. Catholics also use the following verse from Paul’s letter to the Galations to support that Mary contributed Jesus’ humanity. God sent forth His Son, made of a woman. (Galatians 4:4). The Catholics espouse the sin nature of mankind is passed down through the seed of the male and they cite the Biblical Scriptures in Romans to support that.[9]
It is more likely Mary nourished and “made” the infant Jesus from a single cell being conceived (created) only by God.  She gave it a virgin birth, protecting it from any sinful genetic contribution from the ‘seed of man.’  But God the Holy Spirit conceived and created the initial cell of Jesus that ultimately grew into the baby child born nine months later.  This was God’s miraculous conception without a man and without a woman.  “when He cometh into the world, He saith, . . . a body hast thou prepared me” (Hebrews 10: 5). The author of Hebrews used the same Greek word “prepared” (katartizo), as he used a chapter later when testifying “the worlds were framed by the Word of God” (Hebrews 11: 3), acknowledging the same living Word who framed the worlds had also framed His own human body!  In that tiny cell in Mary’s womb resided all the information not only for His own growth into manhood, but also for the creation, preservation, and redemption of the whole creation.[10]
The Bible teaches that sin is present at normal human conception, as David the Psalmist stated: “Behold, I was shaped in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psalm 51:5).  Job also proclaimed: “No one can make something clean out of something unclean” (Job 14:4).  But Jesus’ conception was not of normal human reproduction.  God miraculously created Him in utero.
The Biblical record supports God intervened only once in human genealogy when Jesus became man. God picked Mary as the woman who would birth His Son because of His grace, not because He needed a sinless vessel to pass purity onto His son.  Mary provided nourishment and protection for God’s Son as He developed in her uterus. The virgin birth confirmed the purity of Jesus at childbirth.  So God the Holy Spirit placed a God-designed conception in the womb of Mary and she functioned as a surrogate mother.  God created His human nature.  Jesus existed eternally as Deity.  His God nature was never created, contrary to the teaching of Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses.
Isaiah prophesied of the virgin birth, which was indeed miraculous. “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign: Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14).   God created the universe and the world we live in with all the animal and plant life.  But the most amazing miracle God performed was His creation of the “second Adam” at conception.  He fashioned the first Adam on the sixth day of creation as a full-grown man without sin and in God’s image.  Adam was not born of a woman. He received no human DNA from earthly parents.  Yet he was fully human.  God created Jesus at conception in His image without any DNA contribution from earthly parents.  Jesus said to his disciples:
“If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him” (John 14: 7).
He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father?’ Do you not believe that I am in the father, and the Father is in Me? (John 14: 9-10).
Divinity joined humanity in that one instant of creation.  God planned the creation of His human Son from before the creation of the world.
And the angel answered and said unto her, “The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow you: therefore also that holy one which is to be born will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35).
An angel of the Lord appeared to him (Joseph) in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.  She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”  Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “Behold the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which translated means, “GOD WITH US” (Mt.1:20-23)
The Problem of Inherited Mutations
Inherent sin in the human genome produces inherited physical mutations. Over many generations, the human population has experienced myriads of genetic mutations, and these defects have been incorporated into the common human gene pool, affecting every infant ever born.  This is why the lifespan of men has declined from 900+ years in the pre-Flood world to 200+ years of Abraham’s contemporaries and ultimately to 70-80 years today.  Mary did not live to be 900 years old.  She was not martyred at a young age.  Her body suffered the ravages of imperfection.  She had a defective human genome and died a normal age (approximately 60) for a woman of that time.
All humans who have ever lived are genetically related to Adam (except Jesus).  For millennia (since the fall of Adam and Eve), every human has been born with an inherited sin nature.
For all of sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith (Rom. 3:23-25).
But later in the same book of the Bible God explains:
For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did; sending His own Son in the likenessof sinful flesh and as an offering for sin…(Rom. 8: 3a).
His body was truly “in the flesh,” but only “in the likeness of sinful flesh.” Jesus grew in the Mary’s womb like any other baby, yet he was different from all others. He was not genetically related to either Mary or Joseph, for both had an inherited sin nature. Jesus was sinless and without genetic flaw.  He was the spotless and sacrificial Lamb of God who offered Himself as a perfect propitiation (payment satisfactory to God) for the sins of mankind.
The Lamb of God had to be holy and unblemished to meet the requirements as an acceptable sacrifice for the sins of the world.[11]  God’s motive for the incarnation was to save His children—a virtual impossibility through normal human reproductive process.  Therefore, God miraculously created a single-cell conceptus to implant the uterine wall of the young virgin Mary.  The Lamb of God qualified as the sole Redeemer of mankind because He had no sin-nature, no genetic mutations, and no physical defects.  Yet Jesus was fully human.
Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people (Hebrews 2:17).
The virgin birth provided an important testimony of the Messiah’s birth, but the greatest of God’s miracles was His creation of Jesus’ humanity at conception.[12]  Jesus’ birth was natural in every way, including the full period of human gestation in Mary’s uterus.  God made His Son “like His brethren,” to experience all aspects of human life from conception through birth, childhood, adulthood and ultimately death on a cross. He was truly man in every detail, except for sin and its physical effects.
God specially created the humanity of His Son in full perfection, and placed Him in Mary’s womb free from inherited sin damage.[13]
Christ was “born of a descendant of David, according to the flesh,”[14] because His birth mother Mary was of the lineage of David.  Joseph also descended through the kingly lineage of David. Joseph adopted Jesus as His earthly father.  Jesus’ favorite name was “the Son of Man,” which was a legimate title because He shared the breadth of human experience from conception to death—except sin. Jesus fulfilled the title, “seed of the woman.”[15] His body developed and grew from a unique Seed planted in the woman’s body by God the Holy Spirit.
God directly formed a body for the second Adam just as He had for the first Adam.[16] God devoted His ultimate love and meticulous attention to design and create “the first man (Adam), of the earth, earthy” and “the second man, the Lord from heaven.”[17] The design for Jesus’ body was prepared before the very foundation of the world.[18] God likely had this very body in mind when He made the first Adam “in our image after our likeness.”[19] Then, “when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman that we might receive the adoption of sons.”[20]
Did Jesus have Mary’s DNA?
Referring to the beginning of this article on the DNA possibilities of Jesus, there were three options. The Catholic position has been presented, which holds either the first, or more likely the second option: Mary produced the 50% sinless human portion of Jesus’ genome and God the Holy Spirit produced the remaining 50% giving Jesus Divinity and His male gender.
However, the church has always taught Jesus is 100% human and 100% Deity (preexisting His incarnation as the Son of God -“the Word”).  The third option presented earlier satisfies all these requirements: Jesus has DNA created entirely by God at the time of His conception.  His Divine nature did not need to be created, as it was eternally present prior to His birth. God the Holy Spirit provided a human body untainted by the fallen sin-nature of Adam at conception and placed it in the uterus of a virgin, Mary.  She carried this child for the nine months of a normal pregnancy as a surrogate mother.  This infant had no mutations or defects because Jesus was truly created the “second Adam” in the image of God—like the “first Adam.”  God created the first Adam and Eve without sin as perfect adults.  Sin entered both of them at the fall, and subsequently infected the entire human race.  God similarly created Jesus human body at conception, so He could experience everything human from the beginning to the end of a human life. Hebrews 4:15 explains: “He was at all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” 2 Cor. 5:21 states: ” For He made him who had no sin to be sin for us. ”  God became man to sacrifice Himself for the sins of mankind.[21]  The name “Jesus” means “God saves.”
There is no need to manufacture an explanation for Jesus’ sinless humanity through His “sinless” mother, Mary.  Mary was also born in Adam’s sin nature, like all of mankind.  Her mother, Anne, was also a sinner.  Likewise, all of Mary’s ancestors were sinners.  God created a second Adam, perfectly human and without sin to be our “kinsman redeemer.”  The second Adam, Jesus, was infinitely, eternally God and a finite, but perfect human.  He is “the Lamb slain for the sins of the world” (John 1: 29).
The name “Adam” means man. If the first Adam was man then the second Adam, Jesus also had a human body, created by God at conception in Mary’s womb. The first Adam was a special creation of God with his own unique DNA (not obtained from any man or woman).  The second Adam was just like the first—except He was “God in the flesh.”  He had no inherited sin, no sinful flesh, and was absolutely pure from the day He was conceived, until the day he died.
Therefore, just as through one man (Adam) sin entered into the world and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned….So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men; even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men.  For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous (Rom. 5:12,18-19).
And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit” (1Cor. 15: 45).
Jesus had to be a perfect kinsman Redeemer to save mankind.
Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same….” (Heb. 2:14).
He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight” (Col. 1:21-22).
[1] Luke 3: 23-31
[2] Genesis 6: 1-7
[3] 2Peter 2: 4; Jude 6
[4] Matt. 13: 55-56; Gal. 1: 19
  • [5] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 490-493
  • “the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a
  • singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of
  • the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin” (Encyclical Ineffabilis Deus of Pope Pius IX)
[6] Frederick Holweck, “Immaculate Conception” in the The Catholic Encyclopedia. 1910
  • [7] The Creeds of Christendom by Philip Schaff 2009. ISBN 1-115-46834-0. Pg 211.
  • “Papal Definition of the Immaculate Conception”. Ewtn.com. Retrieved 2010-09-13.
[8] The Protestant faith by George Wolfgang Forell 1962.  ISBN 0-8006-1095-4. Pg 23
[9] Romans 5:12, 17, 19
[10] Henry M. Morris, Ph.D. 1993.  When God Became Man. Acts & Facts. 22 (12).

[11] 1Peter 1: 19; Hebrews 7: 26
[12] Henry M. Morris, Ph.D. 1993. When God Became ManActs & Facts. 22 (12).
[13] Morris, H. 1975. Creation and the Virgin Birth.Acts & Facts. 4 (10).
[14] Romans 1:3
[15] Genesis 3: 15
[16] Genesis 2: 7
[17] 1Corinthians 15: 47
[18] 1Peter 1: 20
[19] Genesis 1: 26
[20] Galations 4: 4-5
[21] John 1:29