Preserving the Judah Seed

Romans 5:1-5 1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; 4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope: 5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

Job 23:8-12. 8 Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him: 9 On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him: 10 But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. 11 My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined. 12 Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.

1 Peter 1:3-9

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: 7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: 8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: 9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.

Ephesians 2:10

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Too much of us still in us

Luke 10:38-41

38 Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word. 40 But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me. 41 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:

Bid- command or tell her

John 21:20-22

Jesus and the Beloved Apostle

20 Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who also had leaned back against him during the supper and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?” 21 When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” 22 Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!”

Matthew 20:21-22. 21 And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom. 22 But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able.

1 John 3:9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

Genesis 24:3 And I will make thee swear by the LORD, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell:

Genesis 28:1 And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan.

The Holy Spirit used Paul to say, we glory in tribulations because tribulations in the end bring forth the hope of God. Since He has chosen to use us in spite of our short comings and inadequacies. We have to trust His sovereign hand over the steps of our lives and the various changes that take place on the earth. We must believe that the providence of God is at work on the earth. What seems like famine and despair, trial and tribulation to most is really a springboard of opportunity for God to position His people in the right place at the right time for His will to be done.

We could use the character of Ruth and Naomi as an example. Famine ravaged the land. God’s people the characters in the story left the place of waiting and trusting God to move towards a foreign land of foreign God, which is followed by death, heartache, tragedy. In all of that, they return to Bethlehem and the story says that …her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech. The word can mean chance or providence. You choose how you want to see it. I know how I see it. I see the providential hand of God moving in all the circumstances both good and bad. He’s orchestrating circumstances and events to bring the world to the place He wants it to be and to position His people in the time and place that He wants them to be so that through them, He will accomplish His will through their lives.

In my mind, the individual lives of believers provide the individual moving parts of a symphony that moves the story of an opera. There are words that describe the harmonious relationship of sounds that move the music. There are words that describe slowing down, speeding up, sadness, happiness, but whatever the movement, they all seem to work in harmony together to move the purpose of the conductor towards an intended end. To move the work from a starting point to an end. All the various pieces of the orchestra are working in unison or harmony to bring the symphony to a successful end of what the composer intended.

One word that I did not find used in the dictionary of musical terms was Cacophony. This words origins was borrowed from the Greek Kakos meaning bad. Specifically there was a Greek word used in the American dictionary that I looked cacophony up in and the word was cacodemon—Bad. There is no place in a symphony for cacophony because the purpose is pleasantry not disappointment.

With that concept in mind, we tackle the thought of God’s plan as a symphony. The composer and conductor has a plan for a beginning and an end and the symphony is intended to be a harmonious work of multiple parts playing in unison.

Within the work there is both trial and tribulation. Within the work, there is tragedy and triumph, but what is not purposefully written within the work is cacophony. Let’s call it in God’s symphony an act of rebellion. It may be rebellion incited by deception. We may not have known that the move we were about to make would be an act that would move one of the pieces of God outside of the will of His symphony, but it does.

It’s not like He can’t replace the position. He can find another cello player or replace someone in the brass section. But He did have a specific plan for that particular French horn player who kept getting the same Charlie horse in his leg over and over and over again and finally through his repeated acts of discord and cacophony found himself no longer in the orchestra and no longer in the movement of the symphony of God. He or she may have thought that they happily joined another symphony but it’s not the symphony of God. It has a different composer and conductor altogether. It’s a plagiarized work that looks close to the original but it’s not the plan that God originated.

So there is a symphony of God and because of the cacophony of sinful rebellion injected into the opera, there are times of trial and tribulation that speed up or slow down the work in order to bring the pieces back into harmony.

The story of Judah is cacophony. God had already told the family through great grandpa Abraham not to marry a Canaanite and then grandpa Isaac told Judah’s daddy the same thing. So Judah’s decision to take Shua the Canaanite to wife was a direct Cacophany to the symphony of God. Let’s just talk Bible terms now. It was rebellion against God’s word. And it’s a big deal because it’s messing up God’s plan.

But you go on Judah, Christian, whatever your name is—Pastor. You do it your way and step outside of God’s will and then we will watch a succession of seed spilling and God’s plan being thrown upon the earth like it’s absolutely meaningless because it’s been placed in the hands of people who right now in their walk think they’re good but are more concerned about their own well being and happiness than they are the plan of God that they treat the seed of God with contempt.

Wow Judah is Judas (Matt 1:2,3). Judah sells Joseph for 20 pieces of silver and Judas sells Jesus for 30 pieces!! Wow, when praise don’t act right it results in prison but when it does it opens prison doors— Paul and Silas.

Another very interesting thing about this Judah story is the location of its placement within God’s overall movement of the story. If it were not for this story’s seemingly cacophonous interruption, there would be nine chapters solely dedicated to the story of Joseph and his seemingly unwarranted trials and tribulations.

Anyway, back to trials and tribulations sometimes trials and tribulations make no sense. There are those times where we know that we made wrong decisions or blatantly sinned and opened doors that caused us to venture down a wrong road but then we see the stories of Joseph and Job and we wonder— why Lord? Why is it that sometimes your people who love you have to face these trials and tribulations in life?

And then we add to the fact the thought of Romans 5 and hupomonae—we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; 4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope.

Then Job’s words “when he has tried me I shall come forth as gold” and the Peter’s words: 7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

And now I see Joseph juxtaposed or contrasted with Judah. Judah grabs a Canaanite woman and Joseph releases dreams from God about God’s plans for the future. Judah’s offspring spill their seed on the ground and Judah sells his brother to a band of Ishmaelites. Joseph runs from Potopher’s wife and Judah lies with what he thinks is a prostitute.

And Joseph goes through the trial and remains under in a God honoring way. He doesn’t understand. He just remains faithful to His God. He is propelled through the trial to a position. He is given an anointing by God to interpret dreams. His gift puts him in a position of prominence and his position results in the saving of a multitude. He states to his brothers:

And so that’s the extent of what Joseph was allowed to see regarding his trial. He was allowed to see that God used him to -reserve food in the midst of a famine. He was allowed to see that God saved multiple people from multiple nations. Maybe that was the prophetic meaning of the coat of many colors that he wore as a young boy I don’t know. He was even able to see how the prophetic dream that he was given in a way as a young man made more sense now as his brothers and dad in a sense bowed to him now that he had power to save them. But what he was not able to see was that hidden in the midst of the Israelites that would multiply in the land of Goshen was a prospering seed that had been preserved. A seed that came from the firstborn twin of Tamar and Judah his name was Pharez and Pharez and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram; And Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon; And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse; And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias; And Solomon begat Roboam; and Roboam begat Abia; and Abia begat Asa; And Asa begat Josaphat; and Josaphat begat Joram; and Joram begat Ozias; And Ozias begat Joatham; and Joatham begat Achaz; and Achaz begat Ezekias; And Ezekias begat Manasses; and Manasses begat Amon; and Amon begat Josias; And Josias begat Jechonias and his brethren, about the time they were carried away to Babylon: And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel; and Salathiel begat Zorobabel; And Zorobabel begat Abiud; and Abiud begat Eliakim; and Eliakim begat Azor; And Azor begat Sadoc; and Sadoc begat Achim; and Achim begat Eliud; And Eliud begat Eleazar; and Eleazar begat Matthan; and Matthan begat Jacob; And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ