Breakthrough to a new life

Posted on November 26, 2008 by valerie

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners;
of whom I am chief. 1 Timothy 1:15

For years I kept myself locked in a prison of regret, about my past.
I wonder…How could God ever use someone as sinful as me?

Jesus said, if you continue in my word, you will know the truth, and the truth
will set you free.

Reading God’s wonderful words, helped me to realize, God uses the weak and
foolish things of this word to confound the wise.

The story of Judah shows us God’s unconditional love, mercy, and forgiveness.

Judah was the fourth son born to Jacob and Leah. His father had 2 wives and
2 concubines, which resulted in the birth of 12 sons, and lots of strife in the
family.

Judah and his brothers hated his younger brother Joseph, because Jacob favored
him above all the other boys.

When Joseph was 17, Judah suggested to his brothers, they sell Joseph to
the Ishmeelites as a slave, for 20 pieces of silver.

To make matters worse, they dipped his multi-colored coat in goats
blood, and led their father to believe Joseph had been killed by wild
beasts.

Judah began drifting away for his family and married a Canaanite woman named Shua.
He followed his Uncle Esau’s mistake and married someone who did not believe
in the one true God.

He had 3 sons named Er, Onan, and Shelah. The children were raised
with mixed beliefs about worshipping the true God or the Canaanite idols.

Judah got a wife for his son Er, named Tamar. The Bible says…

And Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD; and
the LORD slew him. Genesis 38:7

In those days if a man died, his unmarried brother was supposed
to take the widow as his wife and raise up a heir in his brother’s
memory.

Judah told his second son Onan to go in to his brother’s wife
and raise up an heir for him. Onan did not want to give his
brother an heir, so when he went in to Tamar, the Bible says…

he spilled it on the ground…Genesis 38:9

And the thing which he did displeased the LORD: wherefore he slew him also.
Genesis 38:10

Judah told his daughter-in-law Shua to go back to her father’s house
and remain a widow until his son Shelah grew up. Then he could
be her husband and raise up an heir for his dead brothers.
Tamar went back to her father’s home to wait…

Judah sent her away because he thought she was responsible for his
son’s deaths, and didn’t want to loose his youngest boy Shelah.

After some time, Judah’s wife died. He went to Timnah to visit
a friend Hirah with his sheepshearers. Someone told Tamar that
her father-in-law was traveling to Timnah, so she took off her widow’s
clothes and covered herself with a veil. She was upset because her
father-in-law had not sent Shelah to marry her, now that he was a
grown man.

When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute and asked if he
could hire her services.

Tamar kept her face covered, so he would not recognize her and asked
what he would give her for sexual favors with him.

Judah offered to send her a young goat from his flock.

Tamar asked for something of his as a pledge of his faithfulness,
until he would send her the goat. She asked for his signet and the cord
and staff that was in his hand, to keep until he delivered the goat.

He went in with her and she conceived. Then Tamar went back to
her father’s house and put on her widow’s clothes.

Judah sent a young goat with a friend to pay her, but he could
not find her anywhere. He returned to Judah and said he was
unsuccessful at his attempts to find the woman.

Judah said she could keep the signet, cord, and staff so
their family would not be shamed by not paying her.

About 3 months later Judah was told that his daughter-in-law was
pregnant. He assumed she had become a prostitute and was
enraged. He said…

Bring her out and let her be burned!

When she appeared before him, Tamar showed Judah the signet, cord, and
staff and said… I am pregnant by the man who owns these.

Judah recognized them as his own and was very ashamed…

He said…

She has been more righteous than I, because I did not give
her to my son Shelah. And he never knew her again.

When she gave birth, God blessed her with twin sons.

When the midwife was helping with the delivery, one child stuck out his arm.
She tied a scarlet thread on his hand and said that he had come out first…
but suddenly he withdrew his hand and the other child came first…

She said…

How did you break through? May this be a breach upon you.

They named him Perez, which means breakthrough. When the second
son was born, he was called Zerah which means brightness.

This story is not a favored one because of the sordid content, yet we
must remember that God placed it in the Bible for a reason.

Many times an unwed mother feels ashamed or disgraced. She may
feel unwelcome by her friends, family, or people in the church.

Even though what Tamar did was not a good moral choice, God saw
the pain in her heart, when her father-in-law blamed her for his
son’s deaths and rejected her. She was sent home to remain barren
and was disgraced in the eyes of her friends and family.

God used people like Judah and Tamar, to show us his ways are not our ways.

Judah and Tamar made mistakes, but God forgave them.

The name Judah means That is Praise!

In Matthew 1:1-3 is the record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son
of David, the son of Abraham:

Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac was the father of Jacob, Jacob was the father
of Judah and his brothers, Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar.

This shows the lineage from Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation,
to Jesus.

In Revelation 5:1-5 Judah is mentioned again…

I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing
on both sides and sealed with 7 seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in
a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” But no one in
heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it.
I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside.
Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah,
the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its 7 seals.

From Jacob’s 12 sons, Judah was chosen to be a direct descendant
of Jesus Christ. When Judah was told that Tamar was pregnant, he
became self righteous and forgot about his own sins. He was
ready to burn her to death… But God showed Judah, his
sins through Tamar, and brought him to repentance.

God included the stories of the Bible to show us… by HIS amazing grace,
he can take anyone with a disgraceful past and make them into a
new chosen vessel.

Jesus chose the sick, the unlovely, the tax collectors, and the
prostitutes to tell his message of love and forgiveness.

The apostle Paul was a man who killed Christians, and yet God transformed
him into a powerful witness. He was allowed the privilege of writing
the words God spoke to him and wrote almost 2/3 of the New Testament.

Much of it was penned while he was locked away in a prison.

In 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 he wrote…

Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do
not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers,
nor male prostitutes, nor homosexual offenders, nor thieves, nor the
greedy, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom
of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were
sanctified, you were justified in the name of the LORD Jesus Christ, by
the Spirit of our God.

Satan and the world would like to keep us living in regrets of the past.
He wants to stop us from proclaiming the message of salvation,
because we are afraid someone might find out, we had a
past life that was less than perfect.

Because of fear and guilt, many feel unworthy to go to church or witness for Christ.
They avoid the Bible, because they don’t want to confront their sins and ask God
to help them change.

What is amazing about the story of Judah is. God chose to use
a son of incest, for the lineage of Jesus, over his legitimate
son Shelah.

Today you may feel lost and alone, afraid of the future.

I encourage you to leave your past at the altar of our LORD,
where I left mine.

Let him take you in his loving arms and heal the brokenness and pain in your heart.

No matter how ruined you think that your life is, the blood of Jesus
can cleanse every guilty stain.

Feel the wonderful release that comes from knowing your sins are washed away
and forgotten forever. You are forgiven and God loves you.

Like Perez you can breakthrough your past shame and the bondage of sin
and be transformed into a new creature.

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him
is not condemned; but he that believeth not is condemned already,
because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten
Son of God. John 3:17-18

Valerie Rousseau