Precious had a question, she asked the Professor, “The next name on the dial is Matthan, who is he? I have never heard of him before.” Professor Ooops answered, “I have never heard of him either, but he is one of the ancestors of Jesus listed in the book of Matthew in the Bible.”
MJ asked, “Do you think he is violent like the last two kings that visited us? I do not think I can stand any more excitement like that!” The Professor answered, “We will find out when he gets here. I hope he is much calmer than Manasseh or Josiah!” Precious turned the dial to Matthan, and MJ pushed the button on the time machine.
Nothing happened for about 30 seconds, then the booth began to shake like a mosquito who had too much caffeine, there was the sound of thunder, and the air was filled with nothing!
The Professor opened the door of the time machine, and a very old man came slowly out of the time machine. He was not dressed in fancy clothes, he did not look rich, and he did not look important! The Professor said, “Ooops! I think we have the wrong person, we are using my time machine to bring the human ancestors of Jesus to our time for a visit with us. We were looking for Matthan, but obviously you could not be him.”
The old man slowly looked around the lab and looked at MJ, Precious, and the Professor and said, “My name is Matthan, but I do not know what you are talking about! Where am I, and who are you? The three of you are dressed in very odd clothes! Who is this Jesus you are talking about? I am just a common man who comes from an uncommon family. One of my ancestors was the great King David of Israel!”
MJ was excited! He asked Matthan, “What is it like to have a famous ancestor like King David? Do people treat you like someone special because you are part of the royal family?” Matthan shook his head sadly and then explained what had happened to his family over the years.
After King David and King Solomon, that were many kings in their family. Some were good kings like Hezekiah and Josiah, but some were very bad kings and did not follow God at all! The worst of the kings was King Manasseh. God will only tolerate evil for so long, and then He will take action! God sent many prophets to warn the kings that they needed to turn from evil and turn back to God, but most of the time they did not listen. Finally, God sent punishment for their evil ways, God allowed them to be conquered they the nation of Babylon. God’s chosen people were allowed to become slaves in Babylon because of their evil ways. They were slaves for 70 years and then God started to allow them to return to their own land.
Even though they were back in their own land, things were not the same as before; they were now a very weak nation, and they did not have their own kings anymore. Matthan knew that even though he was from the royal family, he would never sit on a throne and be a king. Those times were in the past. Matthan was just a common person now and he did his best to raise his family to know God and to follow God. Matthan was very sad because most people in his country only pretended to follow God, they did not love God with all the heart, soul, mind, and strength. Matthan knew that God had promised that one day a chosen Savior from the descendants of King David would be king again and remain king forever! This Savior would turn the people back to God, and He would save them from their evil ways! Matthan did not understand how this would happen, it seemed impossible, but he had to trust God and believe that somehow, at some time God would make it happen.
Matthan was very sad and discouraged because he had had great hopes for his great grandson, named Joseph. Joseph was a very good man who believed in God and followed God. He had gotten engaged to a good young woman named Mary who also loved God and followed God. Everything had looked so good, and Matthan had hoped that maybe their family would finally be blessed by God again in a special way, but now all those hopes had disappeared. They had found out that Mary was expecting a baby, and Joseph was not the father of that baby. God could not possibly bless a family that sinned against God like that. Matthan sighed deeply and said that he knew that his life was almost over, and that he would not live to see how God dealt with this problem, but he was very sad for his family.
The Professor went and sat beside Matthan told him the rest of this story. Mary had not done anything sinful! The baby she was going to have was a special baby! No man on earth was the father of this baby, the father of the baby was the Holy Spirit of God Himself! God would tell Joseph to get married to Mary and Joseph would be the earthly father of baby. Joseph and Mary would raise the baby. The baby’s name would be Jesus, and He would be the promised Savior. Because He would be both God and human, He would be able to pay for the sins of all people by dying on a cross and then rising from the dead! Anyone who believes in Jesus and prays to Him to ask for forgiveness will be forgiven and have a friendship with God Himself! It is the most wonderful news ever!
A big smile came across Matthan’s face and he said, “Now I know that God has not forgotten us! God will keep every promise that He made, and my great-grandson will be the promised Savior! Now I can return to my own time and die in peace! God is so good!” Matthan got up and slowly walked into the booth and said, “I am ready to go home now.”
Precious closed the door, and MJ pushed the button. Nothing happened for about 30 seconds, then the booth began to shake like a mosquito who had too much caffeine, there was the sound of thunder, and Matthan was gone!
Precious asked the Professor, “Why did you have Matthan come and visit us? Every other visitor has taught us more about God, but Matthan did not really teach us anything. You had to teach him about Jesus.”
The Professor explained that he chose to have Matthan come to visit them because there was nothing special about Matthan. Matthan was not a hero, he did not fight in battles, and he did not ‘save the day’. He was just a man who did not understand a lot about God, but he did believe in God and follow Him. Matthan still believed in God’s promises even though he did not understand them and could not see how the promise of the Savior could possibly happen. He was just a common man doing his best to raise his family in a way that would please and honor God. God usually chooses to use common people. God does not look for mighty warriors or superheroes, God looks for common people, like you and me, who love God and have a desire to serve Him to the best of their abilities.
Professor Ooops opened his Bible to I Corinthians 1:26-29 and read:
Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And He chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.
The Professor reminded MJ and Precious that if a person has great talents and abilities, it is very easy for them to brag about themselves and to become proud of themselves. God often chooses to use people with little talent or abilities so that everyone can see that it is God Himself who is doing the work, not the person.