The scripture we just read was Matthew 1:1. The Bible is made up of the Old and the New Testament, and this is the first verse of the New Testament. It says, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.” This verse can be seen as the title of the Book of Matthew. Do you remember the God that was introduced in the song earlier? That God appeared to a man named Abraham around 4000 years ago. There are many gods in this world, aren’t there? People in the world are in contact with and encounter many gods.
But we believe that God is the one and only, which is why we capitalize “God.” When asked, “Who is your god?” we answer, “Our God is the one and only God, who is all-powerful”—which is why we capitalize “God.” But when this God appeared to Abraham back in those times, how could Abraham possibly know which god He was among the many gods in the world? However, when God appeared to Him, He spoke differently from other gods in the world. How do gods normally speak? They speak through spiritists or mediums. Although the Bible does not describe in detail how God spoke to Abraham at that time, it is still evident that God spoke differently compared to other gods.

God commanded him saying, “Abraham, get out of your country, from your family and your father’s house!” Rather than a command, He made a proposition to Abraham. “Leave your country and your father’s house! Leave your territory and country! Leave your family and relatives— the people whom you are living and working with!” In other words, He commanded Abraham, “Leave your father’s house! You have lived listening to your father’s words until now, but from now on, listen to My words!” That was the command He gave Abraham. However, usually gods don’t give commands like that, nor do they make such suggestions. Instead, they tell people, “Just worship me satisfyingly where you are. And I will prosper you!” They don’t have any concerns for anyone else. They have no concerns about other regions. They demand, “Serve me nicely here in your hometown!” Actually, they don’t like the person leaving their country. However, on the other hand, God told Abraham to leave his country.

And He continued to say, “I will make your name great!” This meant Abraham was going to be well-known. Next, He said, “You will become a great nation!” This meant that Abraham was going to form a huge nation. He would need at least a few million people to become a nation, wouldn’t he? After telling him that He would become a great nation, God said, “You will be a blessing! All nations and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you!”

When you hear that, does this God sound like a malicious god or a virtuous god? If He were a malicious god, He might have said something like this: “I will help you to become prosperous but get divorced with your wife! I will help you become prosperous but you need to deceive that person! I will make you prosperous but you must kill a person!” However, this God promised, saying, “I will bless you! Moreover, you will be a blessing so that all peoples and nations on earth will be blessed through you!”

In this way, this God was more than able to help Abraham even if Abraham departed from his home country. This means this God is not limited to a particular area or region. Also, this God had to be at least 4000 years old. Isn’t that why God who appeared to Abraham 4000 years ago is still having fellowship with us in the present time? In order to form a great nation, it will take hundreds of years or even a thousand years. A hundred or two hundred years won’t be enough. Hence, a time frame of at least a thousand years is necessary.

However, gods generally cannot help people for such a long time. As you are probably aware, the gods that mediums and shamans worship don’t help their descendants beyond the 10th or 20th generations. Even with ancestral rites, offerings are not held for ancestors of 10 or 20 generations ago. For how many generations are ancestral rites performed? It’s usually around four, isn’t it? Do you know why? Because only four generations of ancestors can enjoy the ancestral rite food. Demons from earlier generations don’t exist to eat the ancestral rite food. They are no longer here. After four generations, they vanish to some place. This is written about in the Bible. It says they go into the Abyss. Therefore, demons from earlier generations— prior to four generations ago— don’t exist here. Also, even if they wanted to be served, even if they wanted to help or harm anyone, how many generations could they affect? Only up to four generations. They can’t affect the fifth or sixth generation because they are no longer in this world.

So five or six generations would be roughly 120 years at most. But God promised to form a great nation through one man. That would take at least a thousand or even two thousand years to accomplish. Thus, it’s evident that this God is not restricted by time. Nor is He restricted by place. The believers of Jesus use a particular word to describe this attribute of God: “omnipresence.” He is not limited to a certain place. He is everywhere. Plus, He is eternal. He doesn’t help man for just 10 years or 20 years. He can continuously help someone, even after a thousand years. That is how God fulfilled His promises to Abraham.

What does the Scripture say? Who is Jesus Christ? “The Son of David, the Son of Abraham.” What does it mean by “son”? Abraham used the Hebrew language – Aramaic. However, in the language in which this scripture was written, the word for “son” is “ben” (בֵּן). And this word is used for both “son” and “descendant.” Hence, “ben” is used to say a descendant, son, grandson, or even a great- grandson. In other words, the word for son and descendant is the same. That is why Jesus Christ is called the Son of Abraham, that is, a descendant of Abraham.

But why is it said this way? God said to Abraham, “You will become a great nation and a blessing, and all nations will be blessed through you!” However, it later became apparent that fulfilling this promise was quite difficult. The reason for that is, even after 25 years since God made that promise, Abraham still had no son. Even at the age of 99, he still had no son. And his wife Sarah was 90 years old. How could she give birth to a child? Her menstruation had already stopped. It was impossible for them to have children. Nevertheless, the promise was that all would be fulfilled through Abraham’s son. It seemed impossible.

However, Abraham still believed. He believed that God was not bluffing but that He could definitely fulfill the promise. Why? Since God is almighty and nothing is impossible for Him, Abraham believed that though he may not have a son yet and his wife was 90 years old, God will be able to give him a son through his wife if He decided to and through that son, form a great nation. And actually, when he became 99 years of age, God appeared to Abraham and promised, saying, “Around this time next year, you will have a son!” And just as it was promised, a son was born to Abraham. When it was absolutely impossible to have a child, a son was born to Abraham. God’s promise, which at first appeared utterly impossible, was actually fulfilled. Through this, Abraham knew, “Even if it seems impossible for me to become a blessing, this promise will surely be fulfilled!”

Later on, when his son was a young man, God spoke to Abraham again. He said, “Offer your son as a sacrifice! Offer your son to God!” In those days, a sacrifice was offered as a burnt offering. But Abraham did exactly as he was told. At that time, he thought, “If I kill my son and offer him as burnt offering, what happens to the promise that God will make a great nation through my son?” Nevertheless, Abraham believed. Because God said He would do what He promised, Abraham believed that even if he killed his son, his son would live again. Therefore, he believed that God could even raise the dead.

God was very moved by this. So when Abraham lifted the knife to slay his son, God called out, saying, “Abraham! Abraham! Stop what you’re doing! Now I know that you truly believe Me and love Me!” God confirmed that He would fulfill His will through Abraham. God said to him, “I will give you a son, and he will possess the gate of his enemies!” This means he will utterly destroy his enemy.

In the old days, there were cities and one would have to break into the city to capture the enemy. If the gate is shut, he can’t enter. But God said to Abraham that his son (Seed) would possess the gate of his enemies. In other words, the son would conquer over his enemy. This was the promise. So even after that time, Abraham’s descendants waited for that son whom God promised Abraham about.

They waited, wondering, “Indeed, who will possess the gate of the enemy? Who will trample the enemy, break the enemy’s curse that has been placed upon us, and lead us and all the nations to be blessed?” The people of Israel had been waiting for Him whom they called the Messiah. They waited for the Messiah, that is, the son (Seed) that God promised Abraham. They waited, wondering who that son would be. So who is He? Who do you think He is? It is Jesus Christ, the One we believe presently. So, as it is said in Matthew 1, “the Son of Abraham – Jesus Christ.” That verse is telling us that the One God promised to Abraham is Jesus Christ. But remember, God promised Abraham about 4000 years ago. Yet Jesus came to the earth 2000 years ago. Isn’t that remarkable? Finally, after 2000 years, the promise was accomplished. Isn’t it incredible?

Another thing is, the man who wrote about Abraham was Moses, and he lived around 3500 years ago. But Jesus came to the earth 1500 years after him. Even though they lived in different times in history, they all fell into place. Who had done that? It was God. So God promised ahead of time, and although the person who received the promise died, He passed the promise on to the next person, and so on. Finally, 1500 years later, Jesus Christ appeared. So when people saw Him they knew, “Oh! He is the son (Seed) that God had promised to Abraham about 2000 years ago!” What is more, God promised Abraham that His son would deliver His people from the oppression of the enemy, break every chain, and be a blessing to all the nations. Jesus Christ, whom we believe in, is the One who has accomplished this.

Originally, man couldn’t be blessed. Why? Because he was bound by the enemy. Who is the enemy? It’s not a visible being like a political leader or human adversary.  The enemy is an invisible being, which means man cannot know him. He is the devil. And under his power are countless demons. They are the ones that bring curses upon man. People generally think that they will be blessed if they do good. At first glance, that sounds right. One should be blessed if he has been good, right? But are we blessed when we do good? It’s not always the case, is it? The reason for that is due to the enemy. It should be the case that whoever works hard becomes successful. But does everyone succeed by working hard? Not always. We have an enemy. We have an opposer. If you exercise a lot, you should be healthy, shouldn’t you? If you eat well and exercise regularly, you should be healthy. But is that always the case? People develop cancer out of nowhere. They worked out and ate well, yet they developed cancer. Why is that? It is because of the enemy. Previously we didn’t know we had an enemy. But now we know. That enemy must be defeated first in order for us to be blessed. As long as the enemy is there, you won’t receive blessings despite your hard efforts. The enemy brings curses. He curses us.

As we have been leading our faith lives in the church, what we discovered is the fact that we have an enemy. More importantly, just as God promised Abraham, Jesus came and possessed the gate of the enemies. He took down the gate and captured the city. Thus, Jesus already destroyed the enemy. He destroyed the devil. He crushed the power of the enemy that brought pain, curses, and sickness upon mankind. Therefore, man no longer have to accept such things as his fate.

In the past, people used to consider their illnesses or poverty as their fate. They would say, “What terrible fate!” People think they were just born with bad fates. In some families, the mother-in-law is a widow, the daughter-in-law becomes a widow, and even the granddaughter becomes a widow. They might say, “There’s bad luck in our family!” However, it’s not fate or luck but the enemy. The enemy is behind it.

As I was a missionary in China, I traveled through many regions in China and noticed a commonality among the people. If a child was blind or suffered from a mental disability, in most cases, the child’s father, mother, grandfather, or grandmother was a medium. If anyone was a medium in the family, the grandchildren either had a mental disability or were blind. It was always the case. I didn’t do research on it. But when I asked the blind, the deaf, or mentally disabled while trying to help them, they would tell me, “My grandmother was a medium,” or “My grandfather was a medium.” The curse ran in the family and caused such conditions.

If the demon has a hold on someone, you would think it only affects their mind, right? But it’s not only mentally that people are affected; even their faces become distorted gradually. Demons not only disturb them mentally, but they can even distort their faces. In result, people become abnormal. Demons do exist. If we just leave them to be, how can we be blessed? In the past, people didn’t know what to do, so they performed shamanic rituals. But shamanic rituals only pacify the demons. After performing a ritual, demons pretend to be obliging for some time. But they torment the person again soon after. It’s like trying to pacify terrorists.

For countries like the United States, would they give money if terrorists demand it? No, they won’t. Why? Because they know that if they give in once, the terrorists are going to take more hostages next time to ask for more ransom. It will never end. Thus, they do not set a bad precedent of paying terrorists. Shamanic rituals are the same as paying the terrorists. For a time being, the demons may seem to back off. However, they will afflict again. Then the person will do another ritual. But the demons will torment the person again. This will worsen over time, and the person will never escape the curse.

However, when Jesus Christ came, He condemned that enemy— the devil and the demons— declaring their authority to be unlawful. They have already been sentenced. Two thousand years ago, the judgment has already taken place. For this reason, the devil no longer has the right to torment man. But he still does. How come? Because we don’t know about this. We keep thinking that everything is just fate, which is why he goes on afflicting us.

Let me give you an analogy. A corrupt police officer goes to a person and demands, “Pay me 600 dollars before I take you to court!” So he gets the money. Then he goes to the same person again and demands, “I’ll let you off, but you have to give me 600 dollars!” In this way, he makes money. Later, he gets caught and punished. He gets fired. But he doesn’t return his police badge. Although the people who know what happened to him won’t fear him anymore, other people still don’t know. So he goes up to them and says, “Hey! Give me money or else I will arrest you!” But if they find out that this police officer was fired, would they give him money? No, they wouldn’t. Instead, they would ring the police. The tables turn, and these people would say to him, “You’d better run before I call the police on you!” What does that ex-police officer do? He runs. He can’t fight back. He just quickly runs away, thinking, “How did they know?” But if, when he threatens and demands money, a person responds, “Please give me a chance police officer! Just this once!” then the ex-police officer keeps harassing that person, thinking, “He doesn’t know anything yet!”

Likewise, the enemy has been tormenting us all this time. But once we believed in Jesus, we discovered: “The enemy has no authority! He is already condemned. He is a lawbreaker!” We know that we have no reason to give in to them. Thus, when a curse comes upon us, we can say, “Get out of me, you lawbreaker!” However, if we don’t, and instead give in by saying, “Why are you only harassing me? Okay I’ll listen to you,” or take it in as our fate, the enemy will think, “This person doesn’t know Jesus yet! He doesn’t know that Jesus has already condemned this curse as unlawful! Then I will keep tormenting him!” In that case, the enemy will continue to distress us.

Therefore, we who believe in Jesus know this truth. Jesus is equal to God and is the One whom God sent. Moreover, He came and accomplished everything God sent Him to do. Jesus Christ is the One who came as the “Son of Abraham.” In other words, He came to bless all the nations, and for that, He demolished the gate of the enemy. We believe in this truth. Therefore, believers in Jesus do not consider these curses as inevitable but know they can defeat them. They can overcome them.

If my child is unwell and in pain, I don’t fret and worry, “What do I do?” Instead, I drive it out. I command, saying, “Get out!” If my child is sick, I say, “Get out!” Sometimes I also get sick. About a year ago, my knees started hurting. And the pain lasted for about three months. I’m still pretty young, yet because my knees were in pain, when I went down the stairs, I had to walk sideways. And it was the same for going up the stairs. Normally, I don’t do a lot of exercise. I am mostly on the desk all day. So I thought, “My body must be wrecked. People say that once you hit mid-40s, your health starts to decline, and that must be what’s happening to me!” I took it as an inevitable fate. Hence, I suffered for 3 months, walking up and down the stairs sideways.

But one day, on my way home in the evening, I was about to climb the stairs of the subway station. The stairs looked endless. Subway stations tend to have many stairs. So, as I was climbing up the stairs sideways, I noticed others who were much older than me walking up with ease. I felt a bit humiliated when I saw them, and then I came to my senses: “What am I doing? Jesus paid the price of my sins 2000 years ago and was scourged to take away my sicknesses too. So what am I doing right now? It’s not because of old age that I am unwell. I’m only in my mid-40s! It’s not age but the enemy!” And then I shouted, “Unclean demon! Get out! You unclean demon afflicting my knees, get out!” And do you know what I did next? I didn’t just walk up that long flight of stairs—I ran up. Whether I was in pain or not, I ran. I ran to the top, out of breath. What do you think happened after that? I don’t have any pain. It doesn’t hurt.

Now, I can jump up and down. The demon left at that moment when I acknowledged this truth. This is possible because 2000 years ago, Jesus died and was flogged. By His merits, I am healed today. Such things happened not only a couple of times but probably hundreds of times since I believed in Jesus. I’ve helped my family experience this, and even the people I don’t know.

This is what Jesus Christ has done. He has blessed all the nations. It wasn’t only Abraham’s flesh and blood that were blessed, but people like us who are not even related to him have been blessed through Jesus Christ thanks to Abraham. Thus, when the Bible says, “Jesus is the Son of Abraham,” it means “Jesus is the One who will liberate us from the enemy and bless all the nations!” And now, you have come to meet Him.

Now, shouldn’t other people come to meet Him through you? Your family should meet Him. Don’t think only about yourselves. God has always been mindful of not only you but others being blessed through you, just as He said, “Through you, all nations on earth will be blessed!” So don’t think only about yourselves but let your family, children, husband, relatives and friends be blessed through you. For that, you need to obey God’s word diligently. First, you need to experience and know God definitely. I bless you all to know and experience Him in Jesus’ name. I’ll pray.

Father God, help everyone who are here to surely know, meet, and experience Jesus Christ, who came according to Your promise. You have already destroyed the enemy, who had been hindering us from receiving the blessing. Now, You have given us a great blessing so that we can be the blessing for all the nations. Help everyone who are here to experience this blessing and possess it. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.