Genealogy is a thing of the PAST...it's NOT your future!

Matthew 1 gives an account of the genealogy of Jesus.  You see a mix of people- good, bad and scoundrels!  I am going to talk about a few women listed.  The first we see is Tamar.  She originally married the oldest son of Judah, but he died.  Judah then had his second son (of three) “lay” with her to produce an offspring, well he did…but didn’t, so he also died (read Genesis 38 for all the juicy details).  Judah, still feeling the need to have Tamar produce an offspring from his family, offered his youngest son, but not until he was older.  Long story shorter...Judah lied, he did not give his youngest son.  So Tamar tricked Judah himself into sleeping with her, 9 months later she had twins.  Perez, the oldest twin, is Judah’s son from Tamar who is part of the line leading to Jesus. 

Next up on our list of “bad girls” is Rahab.  In Joshua 2 the bible says the spies “entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there,” however my bible has an “a” and the “a” reference indicates “prostitute” here could possibly be translated to “innkeeper”.  Whoa, in our language those are two very different occupations.  In addition to her possibly scandalous title, she lied to help out the men of God.  After which Rahab got married and bore Boaz, who is included in that same line, listed above, leading down to Jesus.  Some people ask “oh, so it’s ok to lie if you’re doing it for God?”  I most certainly cannot answer that; however I do know that if she had told the guards the men were hiding at her, she would have aided in their death, which could be considered murder, right?  You pray about it, and see what God tells you concerning her actions (which for me is not to worry about affairs of someone who is long gone & I will see in heaven).  .     

The last one I want to mention here is “Uriah’s wife”.  Bathsheba, that is her name, however in this genealogy her name isn’t given, simply “Uriah’s wife”.  This is from II Samuel 11 – 12.   I don’t know if I consider her a “bad girl”, more like in a bad situation.  In this story Bathsheba simply does what she is told.  King David calls for her, even though she is married and her husband (Uriah) is off fighting a war for King David…he still calls, has his way with her and then sends her home.   She gets pregnant, then David has her husband (Uriah) killed and takes Bathsheba for as his wife, the first baby dies, they get pregnant again, and behold Solomon is born.  I wonder if they list Uriah name instead of Bathsheba to honor him.  Uriah was nothing but a good, devout soldier who died because of another mans sin (wow, that sounds familiar!). 

The son of a scoundrel mother (and father, really) was used to continue the gene passing down the line to our Christ. 

The possible prostitute, who lied, has a son, who is in linage of Christ.

A woman who was used for pleasure, lost a baby (and husband), produced an heir in that same line to Christ, THE KING.

I say that to say this, Christ was perfect, his family…not so much.  As Christians we are now part of His family, and definitely not perfect.  He knows our sinful nature (which you can read about on another post), yet He continues to take our mistakes, mishaps and outright sins and make it work for His good, not our good HIS good, and the good of the kingdom.  This doesn’t mean it’s ok to sin because God will take care of it, sometimes He doesn’t.  This is an encouragement for those who may have a not so nice past- you don’t have to live in regret and despair!  Rise up child of THE KING, seek forgiveness and know God is waiting to aide in the restoration process.  You most likely will never forget past sins, but that is to remind us, keep us accountable, lest we fall into temptation again!  Embrace your past, regretting gets you no where, learn from and most of all, help others!