W h e n
everything goes on smoothly in life, it is easy to follow
Jesus. But when sorrows and sufferings come against our wishes, do we
follow our holy Lord without losing heart? Ruth followed the living God at the cost of
her land, gods and people. To follow Jesus who forsook all His heavenly excellencies and paid the
price with His life to redeem us, shall we forsake all the pride of the world as nothing?
Jesus said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow
Me” (Lk 9:23).
4. Bathsheba the sanctified
The fourth woman mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus is the beautiful woman, Bathsheba. But the Holy Spirit calls her
“the wife of Uriah” without mentioning her name. Matthew 1:6 says, “David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the
wife of Uriah.” Bathsheba was also responsible for David, the man of God's own heart, to commit adultery with her.
For the grave sin of Bathsheba, we people would have wounded her and broken her to pieces. But God forgave her sin
and gave her a place in the first chapter of Matthew. “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in
mercy” (Psa 103:8). We read the confession of David in Psalm 51. After the death of her child, Bathsheba having a broken heart
would have confessed her sin. The Lord who has promised, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Is 1:18), washed away her sin and sanctified her. Not only that, again
He gave them a son Solomon and “The Lord loved him” (2 Sam 12:24). Also God helped Bathsheba to get favour in the eyes of
the prophet Nathan (1 Ki 1:11-14).
After David, Solomon became the king and the Lord blessed him with wisdom and wealth. He built a magnificent
temple for the Lord. Three books of the Bible were written by Solomon. We would have rejected him as the “son of a harlot”.
But it pleased God that our Lord Jesus who is “greater than Solomon” (Mt 12:42) be born to the descendants of Solomon.
These four women in the genealogy of Christ Jesus were not holy ones. But Jesus who knew no sin did not hesitate to
identify Himself with sinners.
For many people, Christmas means enjoying with revelries, gambling, drunkenness, movies, etc., Beloved, Jesus was
not born for that. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tim 1:15). Whatever grave sin you are immersed in,
whatever language, religion or country you belong to, “... the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 Jn 1:7). After
removing our sins, He considers us as saints who have committed no sin. That is why Bathsheba received so much blessing!
The angel said to Joseph, “She will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS; for He will save His people
from their sins” (Mt 1:21).
5. Elizabeth who was good in relationships
Elizabeth was a descendant of Aaron. Her husband Zacharias was a priest. They were senior citizens and they had no
children. But there was no want of joy in the family. They both walked in all the commandments of the Lord; they were
blameless; they were righteous before God (Lk 1:6).
Today if a couple has no children, at once the husband considers remarriage. Zacharias, though well advanced in years,
his love for his wife never diminished. The reason is that the aged Elizabeth took care of her husband with love and did
everything a wife had to do for him. She was excellent in maintaining the family relationship. “The wise woman builds her
house” (Prov 14:1).
As the Lord had promised through the angel, in her old age Elizabeth conceived. When the angel Gabriel told Mary,
“Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son”, Mary thought that her relative Elizabeth would be the right
person to share the message; she went to her house and greeted her. As soon as the greeting was heard, the babe in Elizabeth's
December 2018 | www.bymonline.org | page 4