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Articles 2014-2017
Hear this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and have come forth from the wellsprings of Judah; who swear by the name of the Lord, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth or in righteousness;
God’s purpose on earth among His people was rooted in the wellsprings of Judah. David, Israel’s greatest king was descended from this tribe, and the Messiah himself would come to be known as the Lion of Judah.
But when we consider Judah’s beginnings, we quickly learn that everything God has done historically in dealing with His people has been rooted in His mercy. Nobody at any time who has participated in His work among men was worthy or deserving in any way to be involved.
Consider Jacob, Judah’s father. He was a deceiver, a manipulator – a man who misled his dad Isaac so that he could get the blessing due his brother Esau. And because Esau then wanted to kill him, Jacob had to flee for his life.
As a result, he settled at his uncle Laban’s home to work for him. But just as he had deceived his father Isaac to get Esau’s blessing, so Laban in turn deceived him and Jacob wound up married to Leah instead of Rachel. Through such circumstances, God was at work on Jacob’s heart.
And when he was returning home and heard that Esau was approaching him with four hundred men, Jacob feared for his life. After trying everything he could think of to reconcile with his estranged brother, he finally began to cry out to the Lord with all of his heart. Jacob needed the blessing of God. I believe the blessing he received was that the Lord moved on Esau’s heart and changed it. The result was that instead of further division, the two brothers were reconciled.
And Jacob became Israel, one who wrestled with God and prevailed. As His sons multiplied, they then became the twelve tribes of the nation. But Judah had some problems. First, he married a Canaanite woman (Genesis 38). Then his eldest son who had married a woman named Tamar was so evil, the Lord killed him. And when the second son did not perform his duty with Tamar so that she might bear children for his older brother’s sake, the Lord killed him as well. So Judah sent her home to live with her father while his third son grew up. But he never followed through so that his third son could give children to Tamar for the sake of the eldest son.
So when Judah’s daughter in law heard that he was traveling to join those shearing his sheep, she veiled herself and positioned herself alongside the road dressed as a prostitute. And Judah became intimate with her not knowing who she was. In pledge of payment, he gave her his signet, cord, and staff. The result was that she became pregnant.
And when it became known that Tamar was expecting, Judah quickly proclaimed that she should die for her sin. So she sent the signet, cord, and staff to him informing him that the man who owned them was the father of her child.
So Judah acknowledged them and said, “She has been more righteous than I, because I did not give her to Shelah my son.” And he never knew her again.
But here is an amazing point. Tamar was pregnant with twins, one of whom was Perez, and he is in the genealogy of Christ.
Notice what the Law says.
No one born of a forbidden union may enter the assembly of the Lord. Even to the tenth generation, none of his descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord.
(Deuteronomy 23:2 ESV)
To be excluded from the congregation was to be disqualified from the rights of full citizenship. No one for ten generations in Judah’s genealogical line through Perez could be thought of as fully incorporated into the identity of the nation.
So God specifically revealed in His word at the end of the book of Ruth a man who was of that tenth generation.
Now these are the generations of Perez: Perez fathered Hezron, Hezron fathered Ram, Ram fathered Amminadab, Amminadab fathered Nahshon, Nahshon fathered Salmon, Salmon fathered Boaz, Boaz fathered Obed, Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered David.
Prior to Jesse, no one in his line could have qualified to be king. But now one of his sons could, and David was God’s choice. Not only that, the Messiah would come through his lineage.
The main point of our present study is that there simply was no basis for David to have pride in God’s choosing him. Looking back at his family tree, and seeing the sins of Judah, all he could do was to humble himself and with joy thankfully accept God’s calling.
This must be the response of us all. If you and I got what we deserved, we would be cast into hell. But thankfully, the gospel is not about what we deserve but about God’s abundant mercy. No one, neither Jew nor Gentile, neither rich nor poor, black or white, male or female has any basis for pride concerning our station in life, our vocation, or our servant-hood function in Christ’s body. God has shown us amazing mercy.
But should we not emphasize our rights as God’s children? Some ministers do so consistently and then neglect the role of God’s mercy in His choosing us. It is true that we have many rights. To name just two, we have the right to come boldly into God’s presence (Hebrews 10:19 - 22) as well as access to every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (Ephesians 1:3). Not only this, Messianic Jews have the right based on God’s promise to expect the coming salvation of their nation. But if in our gospel we fail to emphasize that everything promised is rooted in God’s abundant mercy for us, that in ourselves none of us deserve His gifts and promises, then we will deceive ourselves and hinder God’s work in those to whom we speak.
But are not some of His children special to God? Actually, each of us is. The apostle John saw this truth in his own life. He was the disciple whom Jesus loved (John 19:26). Having read this, some have implied that Jesus favored him above others. But if the Scriptures teach anything, it is that God shows no partiality (Deuteronomy 10:17, Acts 10:34, 1Peter 1:17). God simply does not favor one above another.
When John referred to himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved, he was not saying that Peter was the disciple Jesus loved less. He was simply reveling in the special relationship he had with the Lord. When Jesus was in the room with him, it was as if no one else was present even if the room was crowded. If we all could enjoy our uniquely precious relationship with the Lord without thinking and speaking comparatively and competitively concerning others, we would go a long way toward Christian unity.
Again, God shows no favoritism; but He does make choices among us. His choice of Peter to open the door of His kingdom to the Gentiles was not a slight or a rejection of John, Andrew, or of any other apostle. It was simply His choice of Peter (Acts 15:7). His choice of Israel to be the nation through whom the Messiah would come made her special; but it did not make her the most spiritual of people, the most loved by God, or more deserving than others of His work in her midst (Acts 15:8 - 9).
Today, all of us must honor the choices He makes among us. But let us all bow before Him, consider others more important than ourselves (Philippians 2:3), and then extol His amazing mercy in calling us.
Looking further at Isaiah’s words in Chapter 48:
For My name’s sake I will defer My anger, and for My praise I will restrain it from you, so that I do not cut you off. Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. For My own sake, for My own sake, I will do it; for how should My name be profaned? And I will not give My glory to another.
While silver could be purified in a process involving natural fire, God’s people would be refined In a furnace of affliction. The Babylonian captivity would indeed be traumatic to the nation. But whereas Babylon would ultimately be destroyed, God’s people would be refined. Though they deserved destruction, God would defer and restrain His anger. And what He did in their midst would be for the sake of His name, His glory. And it would be rooted in His mercy.
After all, He had made many promises to His people. If He did not fulfill His word, His name could be profaned. The nations could say of Him that because of Israel’s sins, He was unable to bring His people to His stated goal for them. So He determined to show himself greater than their sin, their rebellion. And for His own name’s sake and for His own glory, He would succeed in establishing His kingdom among men.
The God we serve is greater than the sin of man, the rebellion of man, and the arrogant self-promotion of men. God, seeing what He had to work with in bringing to pass His purpose on earth saw exactly how much grace would be needed to succeed.
Today we look at the Church and we see her falling short of God’s ultimate intent. But our hope is not in our ability to get our act together; it is in His determination to glorify His name. He will succeed in bringing to maturity a corporate expression of Israel’s Messiah. This integrated corporate many-membered man will move with one mind, one heart, and one purpose. Israel’s Messiah will be revealed in every nation doing humbly the works of God. Stating the same thing with different terminology, God will succeed by His Spirit in purifying and unifying a glorious bride who will ultimately look like she belongs next to Him.
Neither the plots of the enemy nor the mixed motives of His own people will succeed in preventing our God from glorifying His name across the earth. And as the Church emerges internationally into the measured stature that belongs to the fullness of Christ, no man will dare to take any credit or point to himself in any way. For He shall fulfill His every word to us and in the end His glory and His name will be intact. Believers will point to the work of the Lord among us and with thankful hearts point to God’s amazing grace that produced the remarkable qualities of heaven among us. And all will acknowledge that our corporate roots are deeply embedded in His abundant mercy.
Donald Rumble – September 2016
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