What Did Jesus Do

Of Abraham's Children and Stones
And do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father,' for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. - Mat 3:9 ESVWhat amazing words these must have been to the Jews hearing them. They were the descendants of Abraham, didn't that mean anything anymore? Why shouldn't we say to ourselves “We have Abraham as our Father”? Why would God raise up Children of Abraham from stones?All these questions and more must have been going through the minds of those who first heard them, whether the Pharisees in Matthew, or the entire crowd in Luke (3:8). These words made no sense, and they certainly do not make sense to most who read them today. The problem is that the Jews didn't (and still don't) understand what it means to be a child of Abraham. Most Christians today are equally unaware of what makes a person Abraham's descendant. It is obviously not your bloodline, if it were so the Jews would certainly have been able to say to themselves “We have Abraham as our father.” They would have been correct.Yet this sentence spoken by John the Baptist so many years ago implies that it is not bloodline that makes one a son of Abraham. In John 8, Jesus confirms this as well. When the Jews assert there that Abraham is their father, he tells them that if that were so “you would be doing what he did.” But what was it that Abraham did, how was Abraham made righteous? By faith, trusting in God was Abraham made righteous. By faith Abraham became God's son (Gen 15:6, Gal 3:6).The Jews, especially the Pharisees and their followers, were not able to say Abraham is their father because they had no Faith. They looked to themselves, their physical ancestors and their works as their salvation and the way to please God. They trusted the law, not the promise.If the Jews are no longer the children of Abraham, who in fact does that title belong to? It belongs to all those who have faith in Jesus Christ. Through faith, we have become the heirs of Abraham. (Rom 4). All who have faith are children of Abraham, and all of us were raised up to this status from stones, so to speak.Twice in speaking to the faithless descendants of Abraham, Ezekiel tells them that God will remove their Heart of stone and replace it with a Heart of Flesh. (11:19, 36:26) Even now, anyone without faith has a hardened heart, a Heart of stone. (Rom 2:5, Eph 4:18) Even now, the only solution is for God to create in us a clean heart, a Heart of Flesh, not stone. Only through this new Heart, which is completely the gift of God, is there life, salvation, and peace.God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. - Mat 3:9 ESVGod is not only able to raise up Children for Abraham from stones, but he does. Every conversion is a miraculous event in which a child of Abraham is raised from a spiritually dead stone. Every conversion is a heart transplant in which we receive a new heart of flesh, and our dead heart of stone with all of its sins and filth is given to Jesus Christ to bear. Jesus took it all on himself, and suffered the punishment we deserve. My old dead heart was crucified and buried with Him, a new man united with Christ arose.