For it is clear that our Lord descended from Judah, and in regard to that tribe Moses said nothing about priests.

Hebrews 7:14

For Meditation

The choice of God is amazing. It is not based on human condition or perceived right. It is completely by grace, and that is what makes it so amazing. God’s grace rises above human sin and recklessness to reveal His incomprehensible love and mercy. God sovereignly chooses to establish His divine purposes and ultimate plan in His choices. Otherwise, how could Judah be the choice of God to carry the scepter of His Kingdom? (Gen. 49:10). How could our Lord Jesus Christ have descended from Judah? (Heb. 7:14). When we consider the life of Judah, particularly, his moral decline in the story of Tamar (Gen. 38), there is no human reason to support that honor.

In my dramatized and imagined series on “The Seal, Cord, and Staff,” I sought to highlight this utter sinfulness of Judah to accentuate his disqualification for anything close to the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Yet, through Perez, the younger of the twin boys born out of that egregious relationship between Judah and Tamar, his daughter-in-law, Judah became an ancestor of Jesus, the Son of God (Matt. 1:3).

In the story, God reveals His sovereign right to choose, despite our human condition or rank. He chose Perez over Zerah, the older one. It is all grace, and man has nothing to do with it.

We too are like Judah in our salvation. We are saved completely by grace through faith in Christ Jesus. We have no part in it (Eph. 2:8-9). It is a demonstration of God’s love for us as sinners (Rm. 5:8). It gives us a reason to rejoice and be thankful, for nothing could have given us an inheritance in God except His amazing grace through Christ Jesus.

Celebrate Christ and your salvation today.