Genealogies and O'Hair

"When you list the genealogy in Matthew and Luke you come up with 60 generations total. Jesus Christ is 61. 

"If you start with Adam and count down, every tenth person in the genealogy is a person of typical prophetic significance. The 10th from Adam is Noah and another 10 is Abraham. You count 10 from Abraham and you get Boaz. The next 10th is Uzziah. You count 10 from him and you get Zerubbabel. Tenth from him is Joseph.

"Think about that. Tenth from Adam is Noah, Two great things about Noah is the Ark and the rainbow. Noah is an object lesson in the Bible, using Hebrews 11, about salvation. Salvation from the wrath of God, salvation of the seed line of the woman against Satan's attempt to destroy it. Noah comes out on the earth and God gave him exactly the same commission he gave Adam. Onto the new earth with a new promise.

"Then you go 10 from Noah and you come to Abraham, and where Noah saves the seed of the woman, the seed of the woman becomes the seed of Abraham and you have the Abrahamic Covenant and the seed line narrowed down to one generation.

"From Abraham you count ten and you come to Boaz, the Kinsman Redeemer from the Book of Ruth. Boaz is the great Bible type of that kinsman redeemer who comes and provides redemption.

"Ten from Boaz is Uzziah, king of Judah. He's the guy in Isaiah 6 where it's written, 'When King Uzziah died I saw the Lord high and lifted up.' Jesus quotes that passage in John 12 and says, 'The one they saw high and lifted up was me.' Uzziah reigned for 52 years and saw the Lord high and lifted up, picture of the kingdom.

"Ten from him is Zerubbabel. He is the one who led Israel back out of the Babylonian captivity into the land. There's the return of Israel into the land; a type of Christ.

"Then  you go 10 more and you come to Joseph, who is the earthly father of Christ. Six is the number of man; Jesus is the 61st. He starts the seventh but there aren't anybody ever after Him.

"When you come to Him He's the end; you don't need any more after Him because He's the end of the line and all the line finds its summation in Him. So the goal of it all is reached: 'He's the great No. 7.' You've got the perfection.

"So when the genealogies are laid out, they're laid out with a doctrinal purpose and symmetry. What you find as you study through Scripture is patterns even in things like genealogies.

"Somebody didn't just go down to the court house and run through a bunch of files and grab them up and throw them in the Bible. They're all there with consistent patterns designed to demonstrate God's purpose in providing His will being accomplished in life.

"They're put in Scripture to help you understand the validity of God's Word. Now, you have to study to get that. When people just read the Bible they never see these things. But you can't study the Bible until you start reading the Bible.

"I was just reading the new book by Bryan Ross and Dale Dewitt that gives a very comprehensive look at Pastor J.C. O'Hair and his ministry years.

"It starts out with an account about his early life and his conversion. The shorthand version of it has always been that his wife witnessed to him and he got saved, but the longhand version of it is that he was working in a town Down South and there wasn't a lot to do.

"He was at a restaurant by his hotel waiting to eat and he's walking around nervous and the lady running the place said, 'Why don't you sit down and read this book,' and she gave him a Bible.

"He was raised Catholic so he never knew much about the Bible. She said, 'Here, read this story about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in Daniel 3.' He said he read it and it was fascinating.

"He had supper and came back the next night and she said, 'Here, read this,' and she gave him the story in Daniel 6 about Daniel in the lion's den. That night he asked, 'Can I take this home and read it in my room?' and she said okay and invited him to come to her church. He went and heard a guy teaching the Book of Daniel and got interested.

"He met some other people and they shared the gospel with him, but he goes home and he's reading the New Testament now and as he did, he said he got under conviction and got saved in his room by himself.

"But how did it come about? It came about from a fellow who'd never seen a Bible, didn't know anything about the Bible, meet some people and starts reading a Bible and finding out that a lot of the religious things he'd been taught weren't in the Bible; they were just in religion."

(new post tomorrow)