Jesus is . . .

Sorry for being absent.  I was on vacation last week and had trouble getting my computer to work well with me!  I wanted to just highlight a couple of last week's names in order to get caught up.  If you would like the calendar with each daily name, let me know and I'll email it to you.  Next month, it will be God's names for US.

First of all, let's talk about Faithful and True from last Tuesday, which is found in Revelation 19:11:  "I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war."

What I love about this verse is the fact that Faithful and True are capitalized, which tell me that they were not used a adjectives, but rather proper nouns.  That might not mean much to those of you who are non-grammar geeks like me, but it tells me so much.  Can those words describe Jesus?  Yes, of course!  But they not only describe Him, they are His very essence!  Faithful and True is who He is.

Remember, names were very important to the Jewish community.  Names were descriptive, informative, even innovative.  So for Jesus to be named Faithful and True tell us just how faithful and true He is!

On Friday, the name for Jesus was Almighty.  We see this name used in Revelation (“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”) and also we see this characteristic described in Matthew 28:18: " Then Jesus came to them and said, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.'"  No one less than the Almighty could be given all authority in heaven and earth.

Again, Almighty is capitalized, so it is a name, not simply a reference.  And the verse of Matthew tells us more about why He is so Almighty.

Today, Jesus is the Lion of Judah.  This name is found in Revelation 5:5:  '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 seven seals.'”   

My Sunday School class has been studying the book of Genesis, from beginning to end.  So, of course, we have studied the 12 Tribes of Israel, including Judah.  It's so interesting that Jesus - the King of Kings - would be descended from the Judah.  Judah was . . . less than high class.  Let me show you.

First of all, Judah married a Canaanite woman, which had been forbidden, and then his oldest son - Er - turned out to be wicked, and God took his life.  Er's wife was Tamar, and as was customary for his people, Judah gave Tamar to his second son, Onan, and told him to make babies with her.  But Onan didn't want to do that, so, as the Bible says, "he spilled his semen on the ground" to avoid pregnancy.  God didn't like that, so He took Onan's life, too.

Not such a good family tree at this point.  Now Judah's final son, Shelah, was too young to be married, so Judah sent Tamar back to her family's home to wait until Shelah was old enough to take her as his wife.  But secretly, Judah had no intention of bringing Tamar back into his family.  One day, when Tamar knew that Shelah was old enough, she heard that Judah was in town.  She disguised herself as a prostitute, and when Judah saw her . . . long story short, he slept with her.  (It's important to understand that he didn't know who she was.)

Judah pledged payment to her in the form of a young goat, and for collateral he left his staff and seal with her.  Later, he sent a servant to town with the young goat, but by that time Tamar had undisguised herself and went home, so the servant returned without Judah's collateral, his staff and seal.

Three months later, Judah hears that his daughter in law is pregnant, and he is incensed.  Pick up the story in Genesis 38:24-26:   "Judah said, 'Bring her out and have her burned to death!”  As she was being brought out, she sent a message to her father-in-law. “I am pregnant by the man who owns these,' she said. And she added, 'See if you recognize whose seal and cord and staff these are.'  Judah recognized them and said, 'She is more righteous than I, since I wouldn’t give her to my son Shelah.' And he did not sleep with her again."

This story makes me feel icky.  At first I felt even more icky to know that the Almighty came from that!  Couldn't God have found more suitable lineage than that?  Couldn't He have chosen less icky people than them?

Oh yeah.  That's right.  We're all icky.  And in a strange way, it gives me hope.  That if God can use those circumstances to bring His only son into the world . . . what might He be able do with me? 

I hope you remember that it doesn't matte where or who you came from on this earth.  It matters that you were fearfully and wonderfully made, knit together in your mother's womb by the creator.  He made you, He loves you, He chooses you.  And you have every opportunity to be with Him forever!